Materials Development for English Language Teachers: A Practical Guide PDF

Materials Development for English Language Teachers: A Practical Guide Sasao Baleghizadeh, PhD Tehran 2019/1398 The Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities (SAMT) Ins...

Materials Development for English Language Teachers: A Practical Guide Sasao Baleghizadeh, PhD Tehran 2019/1398 The Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities (SAMT) Institute for Research and Development in the Humanities  Table of Contents Title Page Preface...................................................................................... Chapter I: Lesson Planning............................................................ 3 What Is a Lesson Plan?............................................................... 3 Reasons for Planning.................................................................. 4 What Should a Lesson Plan Look Like?............................................ 4 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................. 11 Chapter 2: Developing English Language Lessons............................... 13 Introduction............................................................................ 13 Principles of Effective Lesson Planning........................................... 13 Characteristics of a Successful Lesson............................................ 15 Coherence.......................................................................... 15 Variety.............................................................................. 15 Logical Ordering.................................................................. 16 Flexibility.......................................................................... 16 Typology of English Language Lessons.......................................... 17 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................... 19 Chapter 3: Developing Structural Materials...................................... 21 Introduction........................................................................... 21 Selecting and Sequencing............................................................ 22 Typical Activities..................................................................... 25 Discrimination Drills............................................................. 25 Alternation Drills................................................................. 26 v Title Page Repetition/Memorization Drills................................................. 28 Evaluating the Structural Syllabus................................................. 29 Sample Lesson........................................................................ 31 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................... 35 Chapter 4: Developing Functional-Notional Materials......................... 36 Introduction............................................................................ 36 The Functional-Notional Syllabus................................................. 37 Selection and Sequencing........................................................... 38 Typical Activities..................................................................... 41 Identifying the Intention of an Expression.................................... 41 Substitution Frames.............................................................. 42 Fill-in Dialogues.................................................................. 42 Short Rejoinders................................................................... 43 Selection of Alternate Forms.................................................... 43 Role Playing....................................................................... 44 Field Work......................................................................... 44 Evaluating the Functional-Notional Syllabus..................................... 45 Sample Lesson........................................................................ 47 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................... 51 Chapter 5: Developing Task-Based Materials.................................... 52 Introduction........................................................................... 52 Selection and Sequencing........................................................... 54 Task Types............................................................................ 60 The Task-Based Teaching Framework............................................ 62 Pre-Task Activities............................................................... 62 Task Cycle......................................................................... 63 Language Focus................................................................... 64 Evaluating TBLT..................................................................... 64 Sample Lesson........................................................................ 66 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................... 72 VI Title Page Chapter 6: Developing Materials for Teaching Grammar..................... 74 Introduction........................................................................... 74 Characteristics of Effective Grammar Materials................................. 76 Activity Types........................................................................ 79 Drills................................................................................ 79 Exercises............................................................................ 79 Focused Tasks..................................................................... 80 Grammar Lessons..................................................................... 82 Performance-Improving Grammar Lessons................................... 82 Awareness-Raising Grammar Lessons......................................... 83 Sample Lesson........................................................................ 84 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................... 87 Chapter 7: Developing Materials for Teaching Vocabulary................... 89 Introduction........................................................................... 89 Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Materials.............................. 93 Activity Types........................................................................ 95 Receptive Activities.............................................................. 95 Productive Activities............................................................. 99 Vocabulary Lessons.................................................................. 99 Conveying Meaning.............................................................. 99 Checking Understanding....................................................... I 00 Consolidating.................................................................... I0 I Sample Lesson....................................................................... 101 Discussion Questions and Activities.............................................. 104 Chapter 8: Developing Materials for Teaching Pronunciation............... 105 Introduction.......................................................................... 105 Characteristics of Effective Pronunciation Materials........................... l 07 Typical Activities................................................................... 108 Bowen's Technique............................................................. 108 Classification Activities........................................................ 109 VII Title Page Pronunciation and Spelling Activities........................................ 110 Listening Activities............................................................. 110 Reading Activities............................................................... 111 Pronunciation Lessons.............................................................. 111 Description and Analysis....................................................... 112 Listening Discrimination....................................................... 112 Controlled Practice.............................................................. 113 Guided Practice.................................................................. 113 Communicative Practice........................................................ 113 Sample Lesson....................................................................... 114 Discussion Questions and Activities.............................................. 117 Chapter 9: Developing Materials for Teaching Listening Comprehension.. 119 Introduction.......................................................................... 119 Bottom-up and Top-down Processing............................................ 121 Characteristics of Effective Listening Comprehension Materials............ 124 Types of Activities.................................................................. 126 Listening Comprehension Lessons................................................ 131 Pre-Listening..................................................................... 131 Extensive Listening............................................................. 132 Intensive Listening.............................................................. 133 Post-Listening.................................................................... 133 Sample Lesson....................................................................... 134 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................. 137 Chapter 10: Developing Materials for Teaching Speaking.................... 138 Introduction.......................................................................... 138 Characteristics of Effective Speaking Materials................................ 140 Typical Activities................................................................... 144 Dialogue Memorization/Adaptation.......................................... 144 Discussions....................................................................... 145 Role Plays........................................................................ 146 VIII Title Page Information Gap Activities.................................................... 147 Speaking Lessons................................................................... 148 Sa1nple Lesson...................................................................... 148 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................. 152 Chapter 11: Developing Materials for Teaching Reading Comprehension.. 154 Introduction.......................................................................... 154 Reading Processes.................................................................. 155 Characteristics of Effective Reading Comprehension Materials.............. 157 Practicing Skimming............................................................ 159 Practi cing Scanning............................................................. 160 Typical Activities................................................................... 162 Literal Comprehension Activities............................................. 162 Inferential Comprehension Activities........................................ 163 Evaluati on Activities............................................................ 164 Appreciation Activities......................................................... 165 Reading Comprehension Lessons................................................. 165 Sample Lesson....................................................................... 167 Discussion Questions and Acti vities............................................. 172 Chapter 12: Developing Materials for Teaching Writing..................... 174 Introduction.......................................................................... 174 Characteristics of Effective Writing Materials.................................. 177 Typical Activities................................................................... 179 Imitative Writing................................................................ 179 Guided Writing.................................................................. 179 Self-Writing...................................................................... 18 1 Real Writing..................................................................... 18 1 Writing Lessons..................................................................... 182 Sample Lesson....................................................................... 183 Di scussion Questions and Activities.............................................. 186 IX  Title Page Chapter 13: Developing Content-Based Materials.............................. 188 Introduction.......................................................................... 188 Characteristics of Effective Content-Based Materials......................... 190 Typical Activities.................................................................... 192 CBT Lessons.......................................................................... 193 Sample Lesson....................................................................... 194 Discussion Questions and Activities............................................. 196 Chapter 14: Choosing and Adapting Coursebooks............................. 197 Introduction.......................................................................... 197 Materials Evaluation................................................................ 198 Choosing a Task to Evaluate................................................... 20 I Describing the Task............................................................. 20 I Planning the Evaluation......................................................... 20 I Collecting the Jnformation for the Evaluation............................... 20 l Analyzing the Information...................................................... 201 Reaching Conclusions and Making Recommendations.................... 202 Writing the Report.............................................................. 203 Adapting Materials.................................................................. 203 Discussion Questions and Activities.............................................. 207 References............................................................................... 212 x  Preface Materials Development for English Language Teachers: A Practical Guide is a textbook specially written for undergraduate students who intend to take their first degree in English language teaching (ELT). Moreover, it can be used by students at MA TESOL programs and teacher trainees in pre-service courses offered by private English language schools. The book consists of 14 chapters which present the basic principles and techniques for designing and developing a variety of effective Engli sh language (EL) lessons. Apart from the first chapter which serves as an introduction to essential elements of lesson planning, and the last chapter which offers a set of guide Iin es on selection and adaptation of coursebooks, the rest of the book is based on a typology EL lessons proposed in the second chapter. According to this typology, EL lessons fall into four categories: a) syllabus-based lessons, b) system- based lessons, c) skills-based lessons, and d) content-based lessons. Chapters 2 through 5 address three widely-used syllabuses (i.e., structural, functional -notional, and task-based) and present the basic principles and typical activities needed for developing pertinent materials based on each. Chapters 6 through 8 are concerned with language system-based lessons and discuss how materials related to grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation teaching are made. C hapters 9 through 12 are devoted to language skills and guide readers through principles and procedures for developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Finally, chapter 13 introduces how the four language skills along with language components can be integrated through subject matter content. Most chapters follow a uniform format in which characteristics of effective materials, typical activities, and related lesson types are first introduced. This is followed by a sample lesson which gives readers an idea of how to develop their 1 own lessons. The last part of each chapter includes a set of discussion questions and activities. Most chapters appear in a flexible order of presentation and hence can be presented in any other order depending upon the course instructor's decision. The chapters are of varying length and in many circumstances it is possible to cover two chapters within one session. It is hoped that the present textbook will provide useful material for prospective teachers with the aim of improving their lesson planning skills. Sasan Baleghizadeh April 2012 Tehran, lran 2 Chapter 1 Lesson Planning What Is a Lesson Plan? There is no doubt that a lesson plan is a framework for a lesson. Metaphorically, if we think of a lesson as a journey, then the lesson plan would be the map. It shows us not only where to start and where to finish but also the route to our destination. All good teachers have some type of plan when they step into the classroom. It can be as s imple as a few hurried notes - sometimes even a mental checklist - or as complex as a detailed well-typed lesson plan, depending on how experienced the teacher is (Jansen, 2001 ). Novice teachers may be required to produce very detailed lesson plans, which must clearly show what is happening at any particular time in the lesson. However, as teachers gain more experience, they develop the ability to plan more quickly and may go to their classes with a short list of notes or even with a plan just in their heads! Whatever form it takes, a lesson plan is evidence that the teacher has done some thinking. In other words, the teacher has imagined the lesson before it happens, which strongly shows a high level of professionalism and commitment to what is expected of him or her (Harmer, 2007a; Scrivener, 2005). Therefore, for inexperienced teachers a lesson plan is a must and for more experienced teachers, a source of convenience. In short, a lesson plan is a valuable document that reveals what happened in a given class, ranging from the target population co the teaching philosophy of the instructor. 3 Reasons for Planning Perhaps the most important reason for planning is that the teacher needs to identify his or her aims for the lesson. A good teacher must know what it is that his or her students are expected to know or do at the end of the lesson. Following Harmer (2007a, p. 156) and Purgason (l 991 , p. 420), we wi ll see further reasons for planning below. 1. A lesson plan is a mechanism for decision making, wh ich should help the teacher think about what materials to take into the class, how to sequence the activities, how much time to devote to each task, etc. 2. A lesson plan is a reminder or map which enables the teacher to face the students with more confidence as to what will happen as the next episode. It saves the teacher from walking into the dark, groping for what to do or say next. 3. A lesson plan is a valuable resource when it comes to assessment. A record of previously taught lessons indeed helps the teacher when it is time to make a quiz, midterm, or final exam. 4. A lesson plan is a necessity when the teacher has to miss a class. It is an invaluable guide for the substitute teacher, who is expected to take over and teach what has been planned for the day. 5. A lesson plan is of particular importance when a teacher is to be observed for the sake of assessment. In such cases, elaborate lesson plans are needed so that the supervisor can have a clear idea of what the teacher had intended to teach and judge how well it was carried out. What Should a Lesson Plan Look Like? It is almost impossible to say exactly what a lesson plan should look like. This is obvious because different institutions and trainers have different formats and preferences. However, there are a number of fixed elements present in every lesson plan. Figure 1-1 illustrates the essential components of a typical formal lesson plan (Harmer, 2007b). 4  Lesson Plan Elements Short Description the learners who we are planning the lesson for timetable fit where the lesson fits in a sequence of classes what we want learners to know or to do by the aims end of the lesson what tasks and activities should be done for each procedures stage anticipated problems and possible things that learners may find difficult and actions solutions we should take to deal with them materials and teaching aids things that we should take into the classroom ways in which learners work at different stages, interaction patterns i.e., individually, in pairs, in groups, or as a whole class timing length of time for each stage tasks and activities to be done in case there is extra materials some time left homework what learners are required to do for the next class Figure 1-1. Essential elements ofa lesson plan. What follows is a more detailed explanation for each element. 1. The Learners. This part of the lesson plan should tell us who the students are, how they behave, and what can be expected of them, as in the following exampl e: The Learners The students in this IELTS preparation class are between the ages of 20 and 28. There are ten girls and eight boys, all of whom are university students. Because the class starts at 6:30 in the evening, they are often a bit tired. However, since they are highly motivated, they will get involved easily once they are given an interesting I1stening or reading task. 2. Timetable Fit. This part should tell us where and how the lesson fits in a 5 sequence of classes, i.e., what happens before and after it. It is important that the teacher think about the role of this lesson within the framework of a set of lessons. The following example tells us how a typical timetable fit should be developed. Timetable Fit This is the third week of the course. The class is held on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30-7:00 P.M. In the previous lesson, the students learned how to name objects using structures like "What's this called in English?" or "What do you call this in English?". They also practiced how to use demonstrative adjectives, i.e., this, that, these and those. Some of them had difficulty pronouncing "those'', which should be practiced a bit more at the beginning of this lesson. 3. Aims. The most important element of any lesson plan is the part where the teacher should say what the aims of the lesson are. This is also an important requirement on training courses or while being observed by a supervisor. In such cases, the teacher is often expected to offer a clear statement of aims before s/he starts the lesson. This can be a useful training discipline as it forces the teacher to concentrate on deciding what activities to choose to attain specific outcomes for the learners. Moreover, it enables the supervisor to use those aims as assessment criteria to evaluate the quality of the teaching. The best classroom aims are specific and directed toward an outcome. If you say, "My aim is that my students should/can... by the end of the lesson", you will be able to say whether that aim has been achieved or not. An important point is that aims should reflect what we hope our students will be able to do, not what we are going to do. A statement like "I am going to teach them the future continuous" is not an aim at all, because it simply says what the teacher is going to do. A lesson, more often than not, has several aims: a main aim in addition to a number of subsidiary aims. Obviously, the main aim is the most important thing that the teacher wants the students to achieve. The subsidiary aims, however, are the skills that the students must be able to practice well in order to achieve the main aim of the lesson. For example, we might say that our main aim is to improve the students' reading ability, but the subsidiary aims are to practice guessing the 6 meaning of unknown words from the context, identifying pronoun references, and predicting content. Aims can be stated like the following examples: Aims 1. To allow students to practice making polite requests in the context of making holiday arrangements. 2. To give students practice in reading both for gist and for detail. 3. To enable students to understand the difference between the present perfect and the present perfect continuous. 4. To help students appreciate differences between formal and informal style according to audience. 4. Procedures. This element of the lesson plan shows two important things: what activities are going to be used and how they are going to be sequenced. The issue of how one activity leads into another reflects an important quality of any good lesson, namely coherence. An effective lesson is one in which students know when one activity has finished and another is about to begin. It is perhaps a good idea to write the different stages of the lesson on the board at the beginning of each class so that students will realize where they are in the lesson sequence. Thus, when planning lessons, we need to think carefully about what acti vities (and in what order) we will go through and how we will move from one stage to another. One more point to remember is that procedures arc usually expressed in terms of imperatives as in the following example: Procedures I. Write the following rubric on the board: One of us Both of us can Neither of us 2. Explain the meaning of each phrase above and elicit ways of completing the pattern. For example, "One of us can play tennis. Neither of us can speak French." 3. Divide the students into pairs. Give them a rough time limit - say ten minutes 7  within which they must try and generate as many true sentences as they can about themselves, using the rubric. One member of each pair should be appointed to write down the sentences that arc generated. 4. Ask the student responsible for writing lo read out some of the interesting sentences about his or her group and use this as an opportunity to draw out the students, inviting them to tell the class a little more about the things they have said they can do. (Thornbury, 2005a) 5. Anticipated Problems and Possible Solutions. A good lesson plan should try to predict potential problems and offer solutions lo deal with them, as in the following example: Anticipated Problems Possible Solutions Students may not know the difference Give them further examples, referring between "could" and "could have" in to real-life events. Activity 1. Students may not be able to visualize Show them a picture to illustrate it. what life in a desert island looks like in Activity 2. 6. Materials and Teaching Aids. A good plan should predict what materials and teaching aids are needed for each particular activity. Materials might range from simple objects and realia (e.g., kitc hen utensils) to high-tech equipment (e.g., a video projector). 7. Interaction Patterns. The lesson plan should clearl y show details of classroom interactions (e.g., who will be working with whom) in the different activities. Some teachers simply say group work or teacher working with the whole class. Others may prefer to use certain symbol s as an efficient way of giving this information such as T=teacher; S=an individual student; C=the whole class, creating the following patterns: T ~C = the teacher working with the whole class 8  S, S, S = students working on their own S ~ -7 S = students working in pairs SS ~ -7 SS = pairs of students in discussion with other pairs GG = students working in groups 8. Timing. The plan should identify the approximate time needed for each activity. 9. Extra Materials. In some cases, a lesson might proceed faster than we had anticipated, so we may need additional materials. Thus, it is sensible, especially in fonnal planning, to list additional activities and materials such as showing students a video clip, a picture story, etc. 10. Homework. Finally, a good lesson plan should specify what activities students are expected to do as homework. The following is an example of part of a lesson plan which aims to introduce and practice the language of asking for and giving directions to elementary students. Teacher's Name: Farid Mahdavi Date: March 25 Length of Class: 90 Minutes Level: Elementary There are 15 students in this class, 6 men and 9 women. Most of them are between 28 and 40 years old. They Class Description are all government employees and have had little exposure to spoken English. This is the fifth week of the course. Ss were taught the structure of "there is" and "there are" in the previous session. Besides, they learned the vocabulary for frequently used city buildings such as a hotel, Timetable Fit restaurant, bank, etc. They are now able to make simple sentences like "There IS a restaurant near my apartment" or "There are not any hotels m my neighborhood." Aim To teach Ss how to ask for and give simple directions. 9  Anticipated Subsidiary Interaction Aids and Timing Procedure Problems and Aims Pattern Materials Solutions Ask Ss who they usually To get Ss to ask for talk and to 5' directions S ~ 7S introduce when they the topic. don't know an address. To get Ss to P: Ss may not become Ask Ss to know the familiar listen to a meaning of CD player with typical JO' number of certain words. T7C Ss' language of short S: Teach these textbook asking for conversations. words in and giving advance. directions. To help Ss better Teach Ss the understand 5' language of the structure T7C the board imperatives. of imperatives in English. Give Ss the P: Some Ss To provide map of a city. may use their Ss with an Tell them to LI. opportunity photocopy ask for and S: The teacher JO' to freely GG of the city give directions should provide practice the map for different them with more language of locations on model directions. the map. dialogues. Ss will watch a video clip 111 which a tourist asks for Extra Materials direction. Homework Ss will do the assigned pages from the workbook. 10 Discussion Questions and Activities J. How much detail needs to go into a lesson plan? How docs this depend on the situation and the teacher? 2. Why do you think the lesson plan of a novice teacher is more detailed than that of an experienced teacher? 3. How much autonomy are you comfortable with when it comes to lesson planning? Which teaching situation would you prefer: one in which lesson plans are given to you and you are expected to closely follow them or one in which you are given a textbook and told to write your daily lesson plans? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each situation. 4. Using the format introduced in this chapter, write a plan for a lesson on the present perfect. 5. The procedures in the table below show a sequence of activities for a lesson with the main aim of developing intem1ediate students' confidence and skill in informal conversation. The subsidiary aims for the lesson (A-H) are in the wrong order. Put them in the right order so that they match the correct procedures. Procedure Subsidiary Aims I. Students move around the A To give students fluency practice. classroom to find students with To practice using target language in a matching halves of sentences. meaningfu l context. 2. They talk in pairs about what B To develop peer correction skills. they find difficult in 1istening to informal conversation. 3. They hear an informal con versa- C To listen for detailed information. tion and identify speakers, place, To focus students' attention on target and situation. language. 4. They listen again and fi II m D To practice gist listening. missing phrases in the transcript. To create a context. 11  Procedure Subsidiary Aims 5. Repetition drill : students practice E To get students actively involved. key phrases. Pairs practice To put students into pairs. simple two-line exchanges using key phrases. 6. Pairs write and practice their F To give students confidence in speaking own conversation from role through controlled practice. cards, using key phrases where possible. Several pairs perform and record conversations. 7. Class comment and suggest G To review the whole lesson. improvements to grammar and To give the teacher feedback. vocabulary. 8. Students discuss what they have H To raise awareness of what the lesson learned. aim will be. To encourage personal involvement. (The TKT Course, p. 88) 12 Chapter 2 Developing English Language Lessons Introduction In the previous chapter, the most essential elements that should go into a formal lesson plan were introduced. For example, it was argued that before walking into the class, a teacher should have a clear idea of the target aims and procedures, namely what s/ he wants the students to learn, through which activities, and in what order. While deciding on aims and procedures is a necessary step toward effective lesson planning, it is not sufficient. There are a number of other things that a teacher ought to know while developing English language (EL) lessons such as (a) principles of effective lesson planning, (b) characteristics of a successful lesson, and (c) the typology of EL lessons. This chapter wi ll address these three issues. Principles of Effective Lesson Planning There are a number of considerations underlying effective EL lesson planning. Some of these principles, according to Brown (2001, pp. 57-59) and Purgason ( 1991 , pp. 419-420), are as follows: 1. What is taught should be defined by learner needs. This suggests that activities should be clearly related to the things the learners will need to do with English in the real world such as writing a postcard, listening to weather forecast, etc. 2. What is taug ht should be defined by real language use. This means that whenever possible authentic materials beyond sentence level should be used and students "do" rather than " learn about." 13  3. Lessons should be structured for maximum learning. This means that (a) objecti\eS should be defined, (b) activities or tasks should aim at attaining the set objectives, and (c) learners should be informed of the objectives and clearly instructed in how to do the activities. 4. Leaming should be student-centered. In other words, learners should take active roles in their own learning. 5. Activities should reflect actual communication. In other words, they should have the following features: a. Information gap. One person in the exchange knows something the othcr(s) do not. b. Choice. Participants choose both what they will say and how they w ill say it. c. Feedback. Participants evaluate communication according to how well the aims of the communication have been accomplished. 6. Meaningful learning should be promoted. This suggests that activities should discourage rote-learning and instead encourage long-term retention. Moreover, whenever a new item is introduced, it should be related to the students' existing background knowledge so that it becomes associated with w hat they already know. 7. Activities should be intrinsically motivating. This means that they should (a) give learners a sense of achievement and sat isfaction, (b) appea l to the genuine interests of learners, (c) encourage learners to discover new things for themselves, rather than simply being told, and (d) present a reasonable challenge to learners by not being too easy or too difficult. 8. Activities should encourage different types of interaction such as (a) teacher-learner interaction, (b) learner-learner interaction, and (c) learner-text interaction. It is perhaps impossible to follow a ll the principles outlined above while developing an EL lesson. However, the more one takes care of them, the more effective the planned lesson wi ll tum out to be. One good thing about these principles is that they can be used as evaluation checklists, based on which it could be judged whether a lesson enjoys an underlying theoretical rationale or not. 14 Characteristics of a Successful Lesson A successful EL lesson should possess four important qualities: coherence, variety, logical ordering, and flexibility (Harmer, 2007b; Jansen, 200 l ). Coherence A successful lesson should have a sense of coherence and flow. This means that the lesson should not look like a sequence of discrete activities. For example, if there are three separate activities within a lesson, there has to be some connection between them. Thus, it would not make sense to have learners listen to an audio track, ask a few comprehension questions and then shift to a completely different activity totally unrelated to the listening. Now if the second activity lasted for a few minutes and then something completely different were attempted, then this lesson could be called an incoherent one. Variety Variety is the spice of every successful lesson. It is an important quality both in a sequence of lessons and in a single lesson. As a rule of thumb, teachers are advised to avoid doing the same kinds of things in the same order, e.g., always beginning the lesson with a listening activity or always ending it with a pair work. Similarly, a lesson which is entirely taken up with only one activity is likely to make the learners bored. In addition to being more interesting and pleasant, a varied lesson is likely to cater for a wider range of learning styles and strategies. Below is a list of things through which teachers can bring about variety in their lessons. tempo 7 quick and fast-moving or slow and reflective interaction pattern -7 individual, pairs, groups, whole class skill 7 productive or receptive level of difficulty 7 non-demanding or requiring effort concentration content 7 changing from one subject to another mood -7 light or serious; happy or sad; tense or relaxed exciting or calming 7 "stirring" (lively and active) or "settling" (calming down) activities (Ur, 1996) 15  Thus, for example, if a teacher wishes to quicken the pace of the class, s/he can do a guessing-game task and if s/he wants to slow down, s/he can have the students do a reflective activity such as reading a poem. Likewise, s/he can stir the class by having students take part in debates with controversial topics and s/he can settle the students through a dicto-comp, which has the effect of calming them down. Logical Ordering The components of a successful lesson follow one another in a log ical order. The following guidelines by Ur ( 1996) suggest how this ordering could be achieved. I. Put the harder tasks earlier. On the whole, students are fresher and more energetic earlier in the lesson and get progressively less so as it goes on, particularly if the lesson is a long one. Therefore, it stands to reason to put the tasks that demand more effort and concentration earlier on (e.g., learning new material, or tackling a difficult text) and the lighter ones later. Similarly, tasks that need a lot of student initiative work better earlier in the lesson, with the more structured and controlled ones later. 2. Have quiete r activities before lively ones. It can be quite difficult to calm down a class - particularly of children or adolescents - who have been participating in a lively, exciting activity. Therefore, if one of the central lesson components is something quiet and reflective, it is better to put it before a lively one, not after it. The exception to this is when there is a rather tired class of adults; here "stirring" activities early on can refresh and help students get into the right frame of mind for learning. 3. End on a pos itive note. This does not necessarily mean that the class should end with a joke or a fun activity, though of course it may. For some classes it may mean something quite serious, like a summary of what was achieved at the end of the lesson. Another possibility is to give a task which the class is very likely to perform well and which will generate feelings of satisfaction. The point is to have the students leave the classroom feeling happy. Flexibility This last quality of a successful lesson, which deals with how a lesson ts 16 _............. -------------~-- operationalized, suggests that a lesson is something that should help, not hinder the teacher. Good teachers are those who think on their feet and know when it is time to change an activity, regardless of what the planned lesson says. There are two typical scenarios that would require a lesson to be flexible. One is when an unforeseen problem happens and the other is when a golden opportunity arises. Imagine, for example, that you have planned for a dialogue to be prepared and acted out in twenty minutes, but when the students start working on this activity, they need more time. Needless to say, the plan will have to be modified. A similar decision will have to be made if the class suddenly faces an unexpected language problem. In this case, the teacher can either bypass the problem and keep going, or s/he can seize this opportunity as an ideal time to fix this problem, revising the plan accordingly. There are other unforeseen problems that can alter the original route the teacher had intended to pass through. For example, the tape/CD player docs not work; the teacher forgets to bring the photocopied materials s/he was relying on; or the students look at the planned reading text and say they have done it before. All these problems suggest that the lesson should be mutable. But a happier scenario - one in which a golden opportunity arises - is also possible. Suppose that during a discussion phase a student suddenly says something really interesting or asks a thought-provoking question that could trigger a lively class discussion. In such a situation when this golden opportunity suddenly comes up, it would be unwise to stop it and carry on with the planned lesson. Rather, the teacher should try to use it as a context to generate genuine communication in the class. These golden opportunities, called magic moments by Harmer (2007a), therefore, are extremely precious and should not be sacrificed just because the teacher was not prepared for them. Typology of English Language Lessons The last issue that should be taken into consideration while developing an EL lesson is which type of lesson we wish to make: is it a reading lesson, writing lesson, or an integration of both? For this reason, it would be a good idea to become familiar with various types of EL lessons. Figure 2-1 represents various types of EL lessons. 17  Syllabus-Based Lessons System-Based EL Skills-Based Lessons Lessons Lessons Content-Based Lessons Figure 2-1. Typology of English language lessons. As the Figure 2-1 shows, the main categories include syllabus-based lessons, language system-based lessons, language skills-based lessons, and content-based lessons. Syllabus-Based Lessons. These lessons originate in different types of syllabuses (e.g., structural , functional-notional, or task-based) and reflect the learning theories that they support. For example, the structural syllabus is a common type of syllabus in which a list of grammatical items is sequenced in such a way that learners gradually master the whole grammatical rules of English. Or the functional-notional sy llabus is one in which the syllabus is arranged in terms of language functions such as inviting, requesting, complaining, etc. Thus, unlike a structural lesson in which the learners study present progressive, in a typical functional-notional lesson they learn how to introduce themselves. System-Based Lessons. The language system is divided into three areas of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. H ence, it is possible to have three other types of lessons: grammar lessons, vocabulary lessons, and pronunciation lessons. Skills-Based Lessons. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are the four major language skills, each of which can serve as a basis for generation of a specific lesson intended to strengthen them. Thus, it is poss ible to have listening lessons, reading lessons, etc. 18  Content-Based Lessons. These lessons, as the name suggests, are those in which English and a subject matter are integrated. Obviously, this happens when a subject such as history, art, biology, etc. is taught through English. These various lesson types along with pertinent typical activities and illustrating samples will be elucidated respectively in the next chapters. Discussion Questions and Activities I. Why is it important to think of a good ending for your lesson? What are some examples of good and poor endings? 2. How can effective lesson planning help with variety in your classes? 3. What are magic moments in a lesson? Why should you appreciate them? 4. Look at a unit in a textbook you are familiar with. Is the order of activities reasonable? If not, what changes do you suggest? 5. What follows is a short listening lesson from American Headway 2 (p. 61 ). How do you evaluate it in terms of coherence, variety, and logical ordering? a. Do many people in your country go on vacation in January? Where do they go? Where would you like to go for a January vacation? Write a sentence and read it to the class. b. T 8.4 Listen to Fatima, Ali, and Toni giving advice about visiting their country in the month of January. Who is from Egypt? Who is from Switzerland? Who is from Mexico? c. T 8.4 Listen again and complete the chart. Compare your answers with a partner. Weather and Clothes Things to Do, Places to Go Food and Drink Fatima Ali Toni d. Answer the questions. I. Who talked about money? What did he/she say? 2. Who suggested going on a boat trip? Where? 3. Which of these countries would you like to visit? Why? 19  Speaking e. Put the words in the correct order to make questions. I. weather I is I like I in I what I the I January ? 2. take I clothes I what I should I I ? 3. can I things I kinds I of what I do I I? 4. special I any I there I places I are I that I should I visit I [ ? 5. food I you I recommend I do I what? 6. Choose another vacation destination you know. Ask and answer the questions in Exercise 5. 20 Chapter 3 Developing Structural Materials Introduction There is no doubt that the structural or grammatical syllabus is the most familiar of syllabus types. It has served materials writers and language teachers for a long time. Since the inception of the audio-lingual method in the 1950s, it has formed the backbone of many popular and widely-used textbooks such as English 900 (English language services, 1964) and Lado English series (Lado, 1977). In this type of syllabus, grammatical items, graded from easy to difficult, are the point of departure for designing language courses (White, 1988). According to Wilkins ( 1976), this kind of syllabus is a synthetic one. A synthetic language teaching strategy is one in which the different parts of language are taught separately and step-by-step so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of the parts until the whole structure of the language has been built up. (p. 2) The above definition by Wilkins suggests that in a structural syllabus, language is broken down into smaller units (e.g., grammatical items in addition to a list of words) and then it is taught piece by piece. This view, as Wilkins observes, exposes learners to limited samples of language in that each lesson in the syllabus pivots on one particular grammatical feature. This is based on the assumption that language rules are learned in an additive fashion, which refers to the complete mastery of each item before a new one is introduced (Nunan, 1988). It is therefore the learners' task to put these items next to one another and re-synthesize the language that has been presented to them in a broken fashion. 21  The transition from lesson to lesson in the structural syllabus is in such a way that the first lesson prepares the ground for the second lesson and the third lesson grows out of the second. Figure 3-1 borrowed from McDonough ( 1981 , p. 21) illustrates this more clearly. We can see that lesson (m) introduces the -ing form after students have sufficiently practiced the combination of adjectives followed by to be verbs through lesson (I). Then it is time for lesson (n) to reintroduce existential there inasmuch as to be has been sufficiently drilled. This is then followed by lesson (o) where students need to use their knowledge of existential there to make sentences using mass and count nouns. The rest of the episodes go on as illustrated in Figure 3-1. Lesson (I) has drilled copula and adjective combinations: She is happy Lesson (m) introduces the -ing form: She is driving a car Lesson (n) reintroduces existential there: There is a man standing near the car Lesson (o) di stinguishes between mass and co unt nouns: There are some oranges and some cheese on the table Lesson (p) introduces the verbs like and want: I like oranges but not cheese Lesson (q) reintroduces don't previous ly known in negative impera ti ves: I don't like cheese Lesson (r) introduces verbs with stative meaning: I don't come from Newcastle Lesson (s) introduces adverbs of habit and thus the present simpl e tense; or rather, present these in simple aspect: I usually come at six o'clock Figure 3-1. Sequence of lessons in a typical structural syllabus. Selecting and Sequencing An important consideration in any syllabus type is how the material should be 22 selected and sequenced. As mentioned previously, the main components of the structural syllabus are vocabulary and grammar. The following criteria mentioned by Mackey ( 1965, pp. 298-300) and White ( 1988, pp. 48-50) are used for selection of vocabulary. Frequency, which refers to the total number of occurrences of an item in a specific corpus of language. There is no doubt that the larger the sample, the more reliable the frequency figures are likely to be. The General Service List by West ( l 953) is one of the best known published frequency counts. Coverage, which deals with the number of things that can be said by a given word. For example, a verb like go is a suitable word to be taught in the first few lessons of a structural syllabus in that it can be used instead of a number other words such as travel, move or walk. In other words, it covers a great number of uses. Range or dispersion, which is complementary to the criterion of frequency. Words selected for language teaching should not only have a high frequency but also appear in a wide range of different language samples. For example, based on a given corpus, a word might have a high frequency but a narrow range, which suggests that the word does not appear in a variety of texts. Thus, words with the highest frequency and the widest range are the most useful words for the purposes of language teaching. Availability, which refers to the ease with which a lexical item is remembered and used by native speakers of a language. For example, salt and pepper are equally available to a native speaker of English despite the fact that they rank very differently in terms of frequency. Learnability, which includes five factors: (a) similarity of the L2 word to its LI equivalent (e.g., Spanish madre and English mother), (b) demonstrability of a word (e.g., the concrete noun like car is easier to learn than an abstract noun like transport), (c) brevity (e.g., a short word like car is easier to learn than a longer word like automobile), (d) regularity of form (e.g., a new verb with regular past tense is easier to learn than a new verb with an irregular past form), and (e) the learning load represented by a new word. Some words are easy to learn because one or more components are 23  already known (e.g., raincoat would be an easy word to learn if both elements are a lready known separately). Opportunism, which refers to things avai lable within the immediate environ- ment. Opportunist items include certain classroom vocabulary such as blackboard, whiteboard, marker, chalk, video, etc. Many of them might not be in high frequency word lists. However, the need for them on opportunist grounds is obvious. Centers of interest, which refer to a variety of areas such as food, clothing, work, etc. Obviously, selection of vocabulary on this basis ought to be informed by a survey of the learners' interests. Likewise, the criteria in relation to selection of grammatical content, according to Wilkins ( 1976), are mentioned below: Simplicity, which means that simpler rules and structures should be taught before more complex ones. Regularity, wh ich means that the most productive linguistic structures should be taught before those which have low producti vity. Frequency, which means that grammatical fonns which are ra rely used should be taught at later stages of language learning. Contrasti ve difficulty, which means that the early stages of language learning should be devoted to practicing language fonns w hich present the fewest contrastive difficulties. As for sequencing the selected materials, no single criterion 1s used and empirical evidence is not sufficient. In practice, sequencing decisions are intuitive ly based on simplicity, frequency, a nd need. Vaiden ( 1983) has summarized the structural sequences used in a number of English textbooks. Despite the fact that she concludes there is great similarity in their sequencing, in reality, there is varying order in presentation of certain structures. Based on her findings, for example, the future tense was presented before the present perfect in two textbooks and after it in two others. Or the present progressive was presented much earlier than the past in one textbook and after the past in two other textbooks. These findings reveal that the issue of sequencing is still a relatively unresolved problem in structure-based materials. 24 Typical Activities Undoubtedly, structural lessons lay emphasis on mastery of target grammatical structures and naturally draw on a variety of grammar-oriented drills. The major activities that structural lessons heavily rely on are introduced below. I. Discrimination Drills A. Pattern Recognition B. Context Recognition C. Function Coding II. Alternation Drills A. Morpho-Lexical Drills B. Syntactic Drills 1. Expansion 2. Completion 3. Reduction 4. Transfonnation 5. Integration II I. Repetition/Memorization drills (Paulston and Bruder, 1976) Discrimination Drills Discrimination drills are basically testing drills m which students choose the correct response. The teacher is advised not to spend so much time on them because they have students talk about language rather than use them. Pattern Recognition. These drills help students discriminate similar grammatical patterns. For example, in the following drill, students should identify the difference between singular and plural nouns. Directions: If you hear a sentence in the singular, raise one figure; if plural, raise two fingers. T: The girl is tall. S: (I) T: The girls are tall. S: (2) T: The boys are lost. S: (2) 25  Context Recognition. A certain structure may have various functions. These drills ascertain whether students have understood the various functions conveyed by a given structure. For example, in the following drill, students should recognize various functions of modal could. T: Could you tell me the time? S: Request T: Could she play tennis before she came here? S: Ability T: Could you come later? S: Possibility Function Coding. These drills are the reverse of context recognition drills. Thus, instead of decoding a specific function, students have to encode it. In the following drill, students should sort out the meanings of various modals. T: cut the grass (necessity) S: You must cut the grass. T: lift the box (ability) S: 1can lift the box. T: go on a diet (advice) S: You should go on a diet. Alternation Drills These drills fall into two categories: morpho-lexical and syntactic drills. Motpho-lexical Drills. These dril ls focus on morphological structures or lexical items like frequency adverbs, comparative adjectives, etc. They include a variety of substitution drills such as sing le slot, double slot, etc. The following is an example of a double slot substitution drill. Pattern: We don't eat many apples. T: buy/vegetables S: We don't buy many vegetables. T: read/books S: We don't read many books. Syntactic Drills. These drills involve syntactical relationships of grammatical features such as question fom1ation, formation of negative statements, word order, etc. They include various types introduced below. 1. Expansion. These drills encourage students to expand the sentences that they hear given the teacher cues. In the following drill, students expand a set of sentences using frequency adverbs. 26  T: The boy needs help. (often) S: The boy often needs help. T: He's hungry. (always) S: He's always hungry. T: The teacher arrives late. (never) S: The teacher never arrives late. 2. Completion. These drills are like expansion drills in that students should add to the sentences that they hear. However, they are not restricted in what they want to say and can complete the given sentences in their own way. For example: T: Carol has lived in Paris _ _ _. S: Carol has lived in Paris for three years. T: We saw the new movie. S: We saw the new movie last week. T: Rita has taught English. S: Rita has taught English since last winter. These drills are helpful because they help students express their own ideas. 3. Reduction. These drills are the converse of expansion drills in that they encourage students to make the sentences that they hear shorter. They are mostly used for practicing pronouns. For example: T: The car's expensive. S: It's expensive. T: The boy' s tall. S: He's tall. T: All of the people are present. S: Everyone is present. 4. Transformation. In transformation drills, the order of words in the cue is changed in the response. These drills can be used to practice a variety of structures such as indirect speech, question formation, passive voice, etc. For example: T: Someone broke the window. S: The window was broken. T: They have robbed the bank. S: The bank has been robbed. T: They have cleaned the rooms. S: The rooms have been cleaned. 5. Integration. Integration drills require students to combine two utterances into one and are useful in practicing coordination, relative clause formation, and other complex structures. In the following drill, students practice combining two sentences to produce too +adjective + infinitive structure. T: This car is expensive. S: This car is too expensive for me to buy. I can't buy it. 27  T: These chairs are heavy. S: These chairs are too heavy for us to lift. We can't lift them. T: This question is difficult. S: This question is too difficult for Bob to Bob can't answer. answer. Repetition/Memorization Drills These drills are normally dialogues that students are required to either repeat or memorize. According to Rivers ( 1981 ), dialogues are of two general types: conversation-facilitation and grammar demonstration. Conversation-facilitation dialogues provide students with useful phrases through which they can learn to communicate. They should be short and centered around one situation. These dialogues are often memorized because of the usefulness of the phrases they contain. Grammar-demonstration dialogues, on the other hand, are intended to introduce target grammatical structures to students. They provide contextualized examples based on which students will work out grammatical rules. Because of the necessity to introduce certain grammatical rules, grammar-demonstration dialogues tend to be longer than conversation-facilitation dialogues and may have more stilted and artificial sentences. Students do not normally have to memorize grammar-demonstration dialogues. Rather, they often study these dialogues for the sake of language analysis. The first dialogue below is an example of a conversation-facilitation dialogue and the second, an example of a grammar-demonstration one. Dialogue 1 E: Hello. I: Hello. How can I help you? E: Could you repair these boots, please? I: Sure. What's the problem? E: They need new heels. I: No problem. When do you need them? E: As soon as possible. 28 I: Is Thursday afternoon OK? E: Yes. That's great. (New American Streamline: Departures) Dialogue 2 Nancy: Where are you going? Joan: I'm going to get my purse. Nancy: Why do you want your purse now? Joan: I need some change. l 'm going to get some coffee. Nancy: Oh, is the coffee man going to be here soon? Joan: He's here now. Nancy: Now! What time is it? Joan: It's ten forty-five. Nancy: Are you going to get something to eat too? Joan: No, I' m not hungry. Nancy: Well, I'm going to get a sandwich. I didn't have any breakfast. Joan: Hurry up. He isn't going to stay here all day. (Modern American English: Book 2) Evaluating the Structural Syllabus Despite the many criticisms launched on structure-based materials, they have a number of obvious advantages which make them popular (Krahnke, 1987). One reason for their popularity is the issue of familiarity. Grammar is often expected in a language class and usually constitutes familiar content. This is the case mostly in English as a foreign language (EFL) settings where students expect the language course to contain the basic grammar of the language. Another reason for the popularity of structure-based materials is that their content is easy to describe. Noun, verb, adjective, etc. are commonly used terms in the language profession, and there is general consensus about what they mean. The same thing, however, is not true about other language components, say functions. Thus, for example, the grammatical concept of the past tense tends to be more easily defined than the functional concept of complimenting. 29  A third reason for the popularity of structure-based materials is ease of assessment. Because of the relative finiteness of grammatical knowledge and its relatively clear definition, assessment tasks can easily be made to determine how much students have learned. It is obviously easier for a language teacher to develop a test of grammar than a test of language functions. This is one of the reasons why many language teachers feel more confident with a structural course. The structure-based materials, however, suffer from a number of disadvan- tages as follows. The first major problem observed by Nunan ( 1988) is that people use language for a variety of communicative functions, yet there is no one-to-one correspondence between form and function. On the one hand, a single form can be used to express a variety of functions, and on the other hand, a given function can be realized by more than one fonn. This form/function disjunction makes the process of syllabus design complicated for the textbook writer who wishes to adopt a structural-functional approach. Figures 3-2 and 3-3 clearly illustrate this difficulty. Form Functions Gloss Directions That's the way to the scenic view. The cliffs arc over there. Warning Be careful ! Suggestion Let's go for a walk along the cliff top. Figure 3-2. A fonn expressing different functions. Function Forms May I have a cup of tea, please? It's freezing cold. I wish I could have some tea. Request I'm dying for a cup of tea. ls the kettle on? Figure 3-3. A function reali zed through different forms. A second drawback of structure-based materials is concerned with a lack of correspondence between the learners' built-in sy llabus (the natural route of acquisition) and the external syllabus (the order of presentation of materials in 30 textbooks) imposed on them. This suggests that the process of acquiring a second language is marked by a more or less fixed route of developmental sequences, while the sequence of presentation of the materials in a given textbook might not necessarily overlap with the natural route of acquisition. According to Pienemann (1985), the acquisition of grammatical structures is determined by how those items are easy or complex to process psycholinguistically, rather than how easy or complex they are grammatically. For example, let's consider the third person -s morpheme. Grammatically speaking, this is a very easy item to explain to learners: in simple present third person singular statements, add "s/es" to the end of the verb. Thus, "I often eat out on weekends" becomes "She often eats out on weekends". This simple grammatical form, however, is admittedly difficult for learners to master and use spontaneously. As Pienemann ( 1985) argues, this difficulty is due to the fact that the form of the verb is governed by the person and number of the noun or noun phrase in the subject position. The learner has to hold this person and number in working memory and then produce the correct form of the verb. Hence, the difficulty is created by short-term memory constraints, not by grammatical difficulty. And finally, according to Krahnke (1987), structure-based lessons are likely to mislead learners into believing that they are learning a language, while they are learning the facts of language. Some teachers argue that the learners' request to receive instruction in grammar would be a good reason to offer it. Nevertheless, such demands on the part of the learners must be examined more carefully. More often than not, they ask for this instruction simply because it is more familiar to them and makes them feel more secure. Sample Lesson What follows is an adapted version of a structure-based lesson from Lado English series: Book 3. Analyze the lesson in tenns of how the passive construction has become the focus of the lesson. 31  Unit3 MEMORIZE David: Hello, John. Why are you so happy? John: 1 was invited to spend my vacation at the beach. David: Who invited you? John: That's my secret. I was invited by "friends". David: Did you ask to be invited? John: No, I was just invited. David: Was I invited too? John: Well, yes, you are. You are invited by me. David: But don't you have to ask your " friends" first? John: My "friends" are my parents. We were invited by them! SUBSTITUTE I. I was invited to spend my vacation at the beach. holiday birthday free time 2. Who invited you? told asked saw STUDY Passive construction: I was invited by them. Notice the change from object to subject: Active: They invited ME. Passive: I was invited by them. 32  r ~ Active: The mailman brings I THE MAILI. i Passive: THE MAIL is brought by the mailman. \. I. The object (ME, THE MAIL) becomes the passive subject(/, THE MAIL). 2. The subject (they, the mailman) becomes the passive agent (by them, by the mailman). 3. The verb (invited, brings) becomes passive (was invited, is brought) with be + past participle. PRACTlCE Change to passive construction. They invited me. --+ I was invited by them. Everyone he re speaks English. --+ English is spoken by everyone here. I. Mary prepares dinner every night. 2. John answered the question. 3. Philip told me. 4. f asked Helen. 5. Mr. Fox teaches this class. SPEAK Jane: Hello, Alice. Why is John so happy today? Alice: He was invited to spend his vacation in Florida. Jane: Who invited him? Alice: We wanted to keep it secret. Jane: Did he ask to be invited? Alice: No, he was invited by "friends". Jane: Well, who are those friends? Alice: His parents! David was asked to go, too. Jane: Were they excused from classes? Alice: Yes, they were excused by their teachers. 33  READ Vacations for everybody were made possible only in recent years. Now, vacations are planned by everyone. New vacation resorts are opened every year. Some locations are preferred in summer; others are preferred for winter. The beach is usually preferred in summer. Our favorite place is decided months in advance. Things have to be planned carefully. Father likes to fish. His fishing things are put in the car. Everyone likes to swim. So swimsuits arc put in the car, too. Books are wanted by everyone. Hats are needed for protection against the sun. Music is liked by everybody at the beach. Therefore, books, hats, and the radio are all taken to the beach. At the beach, father fishes. We swim, we play, we talk, and we read. Jokes are told and new friends are made. By then we're tired, so we go home. Sometimes a rest is needed after the vacation. But old places are discovered again. Familiar things are liked. And vacation memories are told and retold to anyone who will listen. Vacations should always be planned in advance. Are yours? Answer the Questions. 1. By whom are vacations planned now? 2. What place is usually preferred in summer? 3. What things are taken to the beach? 4. What is done at the beach? 5. What happens after vacation? 6. When is our favorite place selected? PRONOUNCE smg tongue swinging sang hang bringing sung hung drinking rmg king sinking rang wmg hanging rung thing young Sing a song. Bring the ring. Hang the thing. The ring was hung. 34 COPY Copy each word in an appropriate sentence in the same group. Change the form of the word if necessary. 1. Everyone took a.......... to swim in the ocean. rest 2. John needed a.......... after his exercise. sm 3. Did you.......... everything in the car? sun 4. His father told him that to kill was a........... put 5. The.......... is hot in the Mediten-anean. swimsuit Discussion Questions and Activities 1. Synthetic syllabi are often contrasted with analytic syllabi. What are analytic syllabi and how do they differ from synthetic ones? 2. Think of a statement like the one in Figure 3-2 which could have several possible functions in different situations. 3. What are the reasons for the popoularity of the structural syllabus? 4. Choose a grammatical point and develop a structural lesson for a group of elementary students. Don't forget to prepare a lesson plan first! 5. Below are a number of statements which characterize conversation- facilitation (CF) or grammar-demonstration (GD) dialogues. Put a checkmark in the appropriate box. No. Characteristic CF GD l They lead students to inductive recognition of the rule or the paradigm. 2 They provide students with a stock of useful expressions. 3 They may be memorized to the point where the useful segments, rather than the original utterances, are available for immediate use. 4 They often carry long and artificial sentences. 5 Well written and well presented, these dialogues can provide students with a wealth of authentic language. 6 They perfonn a simi lar function to that of the conversationally- oriented reading passages with which some textbooks begin. 35 Chapter 4 Developing Functional-Notional Materials Introduction We will begin this chapter with a brief comparison between the formal and functional views of language, as this will pave the way for our subsequent discussion on functions and notions. According to Littlewood ( 1981 ), the fonna l or structural view of language concentrates on the grammatical system and describes how linguistic e lements can be combined. For example, it explains the operations for producing the passive "My wallet has been stolen" rather than the active "Somebody has stolen my wallet" and elucidates the word-order rules that make us interpret sentences differently. The formal v iew is not sufficient on its own to describe how language is used as a tool for communication. Let us take a very simple sentence like "Why don' t you close the w indow?" as an example. From a structural perspective, there is no doubt that this is an interrogative. Although different grammars may describe it in different ways, none would argue that it is a declarative or an exclamation. From a functional perspecti ve, however, the sentence is a bit ambiguous. It may function as a genuine question, i.e. , the speaker may wish to know why somebody has not closed a wi ndow, or it may function as a plea, a suggestion, or even a compla int. In other words, although the structure of the sentence is stable, its communicative function is variable and depends on specific situational and social factors. T his is a very important observation because the commun icati ve function of sentences is closely linked to the context where they are produced. 36 The Functional-Notional Syllabus The functional-notional syllabus focuses on what people want to accomplish through language. Do they want to complain about something? Do they want to introduce people to each other? Do they want to ask for permission to do something? These are all examples of language function s, namely the communicative purposes for which people use language. Further examples of functions are agreement, greeting, prediction, requesting, apologizing, etc. Notions are categories of meaning and include concepts like time, place, duration, instrument, quantity, etc. (Nunan, 1988). Another important term used in the literature of functional-notionalism is exponents. As Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983) argue, exponents arc the language utterances or statements which grow out of a particular function, situation, and topic. They are the language forms that a speaker uses to express his or her message. As mentioned before, the exponents that speakers produce depend on a variety of situational and social factors. Let us look at the possible exponents in one example of a request. Can you tum down the radio? Please turn down the radio. Would you turn down the radio? Would you mind turning down the radio? I wonder if you would turn down the radio. Obviously, the choice of any one of the above exponents depends on where we are and who we are talking to. In other words, it depends on what the situation is. According to Finocchiaro and Brumfit ( 1983), a situation includes: I. The persons who are taking part in the speech act. Are they about the same age? Are they males or females? Which language are they using to speak? (their native tongue? the native language of one of them? a second language for one or both of them?) How many people are there? What are their social roles? (Is it a father talking to his son? a student talking to a teacher? a manager talking to an employee?) What are their attitudes toward each other? (Are they friends, enemies, strangers, or acquaintances?) 2. The place where the conversation occurs. Is it in the speaker's native land or is it in a foreign country or region which s/he is visiting or to which s/he has 37 moved? ls it in a house, an office, a place of worship, or a movie theater? 3. The time it is taking place. Is it a usual daily occurrence? Is it a frequent or infrequent happening? What is the duration of the conversation? Is it time-bound or time-free, e.g., "Good evening" or "Hello"? 4. The topic or activity which is being talked about. The psychological attitude and the reaction of the listener will differ depending on the type of invitation, for example. Is it a pleasant social invitation or is it a teacher inviting a student with the words, "I'd like to see you in my office tomorrow to talk about the mistakes in your essay"? Therefore, a language learner should be aware of which exponent to use in which situation. Saying " I wonder if you would mind turning down the radio" to a close friend would be as out of place as saying "Can you tum down the radio?" to a university chancellor! Thus, the primary goal of the functional-notional approach is to teach learners how to express a language function by using the right exponent in a given situation. Selection and Sequencing As mentioned before the content of the functional-notional syllabus is determined by what the learners need to do with the language and what kind of meanings learners need to express in the language. There are several well-known lists of what functions and notions to select, one of which is the one proposed by Wilkins (1979, pp. 88-89). According to Wilkins, the following are the categories of communicative functions: I. Modality. These are utterances in which the truth value of the propositional content is modified in some way such as: a. certainty b. necessity c. conviction d. volition e. obligation incurred f. obligation imposed g. tolerance 2. Moral evaluation and discipline. These are utterances involving assessment and judgment such as: a. judgment b. release c. approval d. disapproval 38  3. Suasion. These are utterances designed to influence the behavior of others such as: a. suasion b. prediction 4. Argument. These are categories relating to the exchange of information and views such as: a. information asserted and sought b. agreement c. disagreement d. denial e. concess10n 5. Rational enquiry and expos1t1on. These are categories relating to the rational organization of thought and speech such as implication, hypothesis, verification, conclusion, condition, result, explanation, definition, cause, etc. 6. Personal emotions. These are expressions of personal reactions to events, either positive or negative. 7. Emotional relations. These are expressions of response to events usually involving an interlocutor such as: a. greeting b. sympathy c. gratitude d. flattery e. hostility 8. Interpersonal relations. This refers to selection of forms appropriate to relationship of participants in the event such as: a. status (formality) b. politeness For example, the category of suasion includes functions such as persuading, suggesting, advising, proposing, begging, etc. Or the category of disapproval within moral evaluation and discipline includes communicative functions such as blaming, reprimanding, accusing, condemning, deploring, etc. The notional or semantico-grammatical categories, according to Wilkins (1979, pp. 86-87), are subcategorized as: I. Time a. point of time b. duration c. time relations d. frequency e. sequence f. age 39  2. Quantity a. grammatical num ber b. numerals c. quantifiers d. operations 3. Space a. dimensions b. location c. motion 4. Matter Reference to the physical world is principally a matter of deciding the semantic fields within which the team er will operate. A notional analysis is less valuable than an analysis in terms of situation and/or subject-matter. 5. Case a. agentive b. objective c. dative d. instrumenta l e. locative f. facti ti ve g. benefactive 6. Deixis a. person b. time c. place d. anaphora These categories of functions and notions are of immense help to the material s writer who wishes to develop a functional-notional coursebook. However, the two problems of selection and seq uenc ing are still in the way. To solve the first problem, namely which functions to select from the long list of available items, the proponents of the functional-notional syllabus have suggested that the course content be based on an analysis of the learners' needs. According to Richards (200 I), needs analysis is done for a variety of purposes, one of which is "to find out w hat language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as sales manager, tour guide, or university student" (p. 52). Needs analysis, therefore, seems to be more suitable for specific courses with learners with spec ific needs because the communicative needs of a fli ght attendant are obviously different from those of a hotel receptionist. Regarding the problem of sequencing the communicative functions in a g iven syllabus, no objective criteria have so far been offered. 40 Typical Activities What follows is a description of typical activities that can be used with functional- notional materials based on McKay ( 1980). Identifying the Intention of an Expression Asking learners to identify the intention of a language sample is a technique that can be used with one utterance or with extended discourse. The following exercise asks students to match a single utterance with the correct language card: Intention Language I. making a suggestion A. What time's your plane? 2. showing enthusiasm B. Why don ' t you go and see a dentist? 3. greetings C. That's wonderful! 4. showing sympathy D. Hello, Tom. Fancy seeing you here! 5. asking for information E. I think it was a very stupid thing to do. 6. giving an opinion F. Oh, I am sorry. I really am. The problem in using this technique with isolated utterances is that there is no contextual framework to determine the intention of the speaker. For example, if "What time's your plane?" is addressed to a stranger at the airport, it could serve the intention of a greeting. The advantage of using this technique with extended discourse is that the learners are provided with a context for interpreting the utterance. The following exercise shows how this strategy could be applied to a reading lesson: In the following selection, underline all the sentences which make a prediction. For each prediction indicate whether it is a certain or tentative prediction. Circle the sentence which makes a recommendation. In respon se to current international pressure and Japan's own need to sell and invest abroad, companies can anticipate various Japanese moves to demonstrate the country's openness to foreign investment and goods. Below the surface, however, reluctance to accept foreign investment on equal terms will prevail among many industry associations and provincial authorities. As in the past, Japan 's climate for foreign investment will also be influenced by attempts by certain industrial groups and by MITI itself to strengthen the competitive position of Japanese enterprises against foreign companies in both local and 41 foreign markets. Even so, the net outcome will be greater opportunities for foreign firms to invest in Japan and easier routes to do so. For those seeking to export to Japan, there will also be major new opportunities in the next five years. For both reasons, companies should reassess the position of Japan in their overall global strategy. Substitution Frames In both spoken and written English classes, substitution frames can be used to familiarize learners with the possible expressions of a function. This is illustrated below: Recei ving a call for someone who is away from the office: Expressions of politeness I' m sorry I' m afraid Sorry but Explanation She's at a meeting. He's sick today. She's out of town. He's on holiday. Offer to take a message Could I take a message? Would you care to leave a message? Is there any message? Fill-in Dialogues In order to introduce learners to the structural constraints involved in expressing a particular function , short dialogues can be constructed which require learners to fill in only the missing expression. As the following exercise demonstrates, the learner cannot fill in