Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

ELE3104 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS
TOPIC 1: LESSON PLANNING
Principles of Lesson Planning
Identifying Target Group
Teacher need to identify the target group pupils.
The factor that need to be considered:
o Background of pupils family, daily life
o Area of the pupils live rural or city
o Level of cognitive of pupils
o The exposure level to the English
Characteristics of successful English learners:
Have positive attitude towards English and speakers
of English
They motivated to learn English for certain reason
Make effort to get into situation where English is used
and often use it.
Consciously try out new strategies for learning and
remember new vocabulary
Prepare to take risk, make mistake in the use of
language and try to improve it.
Integration of Language Skills
Sometimes it is necessary to integrate other skills in
the focus skill in a lesson.
Remember that, it is difficult for pupils to master the
skill, thus the integration of skills need to be done
correctly to ensure pupils learn the language better.
Guide to plan an integration of language skills
o Think of what children usually do when listening
to, speaking about, reading or writing
o Think of what language (vocabulary and
structure) pupils need to do activities.
o Decide what language students already know /
learnt.
o Check the amount of time available and decide
how much can be taught.
o Think of interesting task that student can do to
make they learn the target skill.
Selection of Language Content
Four basic skills in English:
o Listening
o Speaking
o Reading
o Writing
Integrated skills:
o Grammar
o Vocabulary
o Literature
By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Educational Emphasis
Infusion of Thinking Skills
o Incorporated in the learning outcomes to enable
learners to solve simple problems, and express
themselves creatively in English.
ICT Skills
o These skills have been added to cater for
schools that have ICT facilities.
o Schools that do not have ICT facilities are not
obliged to teach these skills.
o Include working on computers and using
courseware.
Value and Citizenship
o The values contained in the secondary Moral
Education syllabus have been incorporated in the
learning outcomes and include patriotism and
good citizenship.
Multiple Intelligence
o This is illustrated, for example, in the way
children interact and talk with one another (verbal
intelligence), and the application of kinesthetic
intelligence as seen in role-play activities.
Learning How to Learn
o Incorporated in outcomes to enable learners to
take responsibility for their own learning even at
an early age.
o Enable learners to remember words, recall ideas,
and look up meanings of words in simple
dictionaries.
o Set learners on the path to become independent
life-long learners.
Knowledge Acquisition
o Make use of subject matter disciplines such as
science and geography, and incorporate
educational emphases such as the environment
and consumerism to provide contexts for
language use.
Future Studies Preparation of Real World
o Meet the challenges of the real world by focusing
on language use in society.
o Achieved through structuring the curriculum in
terms of the interpersonal, informational and
aesthetic uses of language.
o Also achieved by making use of real-life issues
for classroom.

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Format of Lesson Plan
General format of lesson plan:
o Subject
o Year
o Date
o Time
o Theme
o Topic
o Focused skills
o Integrated skills
o Learning outcome
o Intended learning outcome / behavioural
objective
o Vocabulary
o Sentence pattern
o Previous knowledge
o Moral values
o Thinking skills
o Multiple intelligence
o Resource
o Stages of lesson :
Set induction
Presentation
Practices
Production
Closure

Topic 2: Testing and Evaluation

Principles of Language Testing and Evaluation
Testing is a systematic way to measure changes in
an individual behaviour. (R.M. Gagne,1965)
Required pupils to show explicitly in the form of
activities
Measuring instrument: observation and formal test
(e.g.: exercise, quiz)
Always happened in the class during the lesson and
on-going process.
Purposes / Aim
Determine pupils behavioural changes
Determine pupils achievement in certain
lesson
Place pupils in suitable group according to
result
Motivate pupils to revise / improve
Train pupils make appropriate preparation for
public examination

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Criteria of a Good Test

A good test need to fulfil the following principles:
The purpose of the assessment
and task fluffiness
Determine the reasons why you are
assessing the students
Design an assessment that will fulfil your
needs
The validity and reliability of the
assessment
Ensure assessment is both valid - in that it
tests a relevant skill or ability
Reliable - in that the same result would be
achieved if assessment repeated later.
The referencing of the assessment
To compare the candidates abilities with a
common measure objective criteria or
candidates performance
The construction quality of
assessment items
Consider the difficulty level of the items
Consider how well the assessment
differentiates between the candidates - to
provide maximum information the assessment
The grading of the assessment
Grades awarded are very concise summaries
of students abilities.
Should be clear and easily understood

Test Characteristics
Validity
o Refer to what level the test is able to measure
what it is supposed to measure
o Also can be said as tests for determining whether
the test is measuring the concept / skills that the
teacher thinks is being measured
Reliability
o Refer to the degree to which a measurement
procedure produces similar outcomes when it is
repeated.
o When designing an assessment, need to consider
whether the results achieved will be consistent.

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Objectivity
o Refer to the accuracy of an examiner in marking
any candidates answer.
o Examiners need to give same marks of the same
answer of candidates according to marking
scheme
o Closed-ended question has highest objectivity
rather than open-ended question.
o To improve the marking for open-ended question,
the analytical marking scheme and moderation.
Administrability
o Refer to the smooth implementation of the testing
process in room / examination room.
o The whole process of conducting the test from
beginning stage of preparing the question papers
until the ending stage of marking the candidates
answer script can be carried out smoothly.
Assessibility
o Refer to the result of the candidates
achievement which can easily interpret and
assessed by the way providing clear and useful
information according to the objective of the test.
o This mean:
The result is easily collected and converted to
statistical form
Clear picture of interpretation that can guide
the analyser to make follow up action
Types of Tests

Concept

Aim

Activity

Time

Target

Coverage

Record

Follow
Up
Action

Formal paper &

pencil / oral test
within suitable
period

The whole class or

year (cohort)
Cover a few learning
units or certain
schooling level
Profile record /
certificate

Place pupils in
suitable group /
class
Plan and modify
lesson /
curriculum /
panels plan
Award certificate
based on
achievement in
examination

Formal and Informal Evaluation

Formative and Summative Assessment

Aspects

Format

Informal
observation /
questioning and
discussion
Formal paper &
pencil test in short
time
Individually, groups
or whole class
Cover certain skill
(informal) or a few
skill (formal)
No record (informal)
and the use of check
list / performance
record (formal)
Correct
weakness
immediately /
carry out
remediation /
enrichment
Replacing pupils
in suitable
learning group

Formative

Summative

A type of formal and

informal test to
assess the
effectiveness of skill
mastering and
progress of learning
in class.
To ascertain the
effectiveness of skill
mastering and
pupils progress
To correct
weaknesses
immediately in class
To carry out formal
or informal test
individually, in group
or in class during
learning
To carry out after
teaching one or
several skills

A type of formal test

to access pupils
achievement in
certain schooling
level

To determine pupils
achievement based
on a few learning
units and arrange
their grades level
accordingly
To use a few period
to carry out formal
test in class or year
(cohort)
To carry out after
teaching a few
learning units

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Formal

Informal

Formal assessments
have data which
support the
conclusions made from
the test (standardized
measures)
Standardized
measures
Pupils will be assessed
and graded according
to standardized grade
Pupils achievement
written in % or grade
(standard score)

Informal assessments
are not data driven but
rather content and
performance driven.

Assess overall
achievement, to
compare a student's
performance with
others
More to quantitative
measurement

Non-standardized
measures
Pupil will be assessed
according rubric scores
Pupils achievement
written in score (such
10/15 in non-standard
score)
Assess criterion
referenced measures
or performance based
measures
More to qualitative
measurement

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Written test, oral test,
examination,
coursework, monthly
test

Questioning and
discussion,
observation, selfassessment test,
homework, in class
exercise

Norm-referenced Evaluation
o Obtained normal graph from candidates score

Norm-referenced and Criterion-referenced Evaluation

CriterionAspects
Norm-referenced
referenced

Concept

Aim

Uses

Target

Question
Characteristic

Grading

Coverage

Example

Relativeachievement
evaluation (shows
performance of
group of candidates
in form of normal
graph)
To compare and
distinguish
performance
between candidates
/ group
Summative test to
distinguish
candidates in
performance level of
distinction, credit,
pass and fail
Comparison of
performance among
candidates
Arranged from easy
to hard, and with
discrimination
among candidates
Passing mark /
grading is
determined after the
test result
Wide range of
learning skills
Public examination
as UPSR, PMR &
SPM

Objectivereferenced
evaluation
(determine
individual
achievement based
on minimum
criterion fixed earlier
To determine ability
to master learning
based on the certain
fixed criterion
Formative test to
improve T&L based
on the test result

Determination of
performance
individually or in
small group
Have almost the
same level of
difficulty based on
learning objective
Passing mark /
grading is
determined before
the test is carried
out
Limited learning
skills
Oral test, MUET,
Coursework, written
exercise

Alternative Assessment
An on-going process involving the student and
teacher in making judgments about the students
progress using non-conventional strategies.
(Hancock,1994/1)
Form of alternative assessment:
o Portfolios
o Scrap book
o Rubrics & checklists (criterion-reference)
o Anecdotal records teacher, or person who is
observing, writes down their observations of the
student providing a record of student growth,
strengths and needs.
o Oral performances
o Projects
o Performance tasks
Reason / Purposes:
Students are able to display knowledge in many
different ways.
Students who are not skilled test takers will be able to
succeed in showing their abilities and therefore build
self-esteem.
Alternative Assessment methods do not interrupt
class time as do traditional tests, but instead are
measurements of day to day growth.
Gives ongoing information on strengths and
weaknesses of each student providing the teacher
opportunity to work within those.
Not tied to a specific culture or language, but rather,
is free from prejudice and unfair assumptions.
Directly connected with the curriculum and therefore
provides a direct reflection of what is being taught

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Test Specifications
Also known as Test Specification Table (Jadual
Spesifikasi Ujian - JSU) in Malaysian school.
Purpose of preparing Test Blueprint
o To guide for teacher to construct questions follow
accurately to test blueprint
o To ensure the appropriate weightage for various
topics and their skills level reflect accurately the
pupils overall ability.
Important elements:
o Topics / skills
Refer to curriculum specification
o Skill level
Follow the Bloom Taxonomy level (6 levels)
For diagnostic test simply use 3 levels easy,
moderate and hard
o Number of items of according topic and skill level

TOPIC 3: THE TEACHING AND ASSESSING OF

LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
Principles of Teaching Listening
Purposes of Listening
Maintaining
good social
relations
Academic
purposes

Purposes of
Listening

Entertainment

Obtain
information

Aim of Teaching Listening in KBSR

Develop pupils ability in understanding the
information they had listened.
Encourage pupils to respond to what they had heard
in various ways.
Able to respond to a number of familiar topics by the
end of the primary school.

Approach to Teaching Listening in the KBSR

Auditory Discrimination
o Distinguish specific sounds from a background of
different sounds
o Recognize the meaning of sound signals heard.
o Enjoying speech rhythms and patterns of sound.
o Understand and interpret intonation patterns.

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Comprehension Skills
o Follow directions
o Note details
o Understand main ideas and supporting details
o Listen and respond critically to faults in argument
o Make inference
Types of Listening Activities
Process Involved in Listening
Hearing vs
Listening

Listening is
an active
process

Processes
Involved in
Listening

Top-down
Processing

Bottom-up
Processing
Hearing vs Listening
o People do not pay attention to everything we
hear.
o People begin listen when they pay attention to
the sounds they hear and make an effort to
interpret them.
Top Down Process
o Listener hears something and it remind him of
something in the previous knowledge.
o Listener tries to relate what he had heard with
what he already knows.
o This will help listener to understand the
knowledge better.
Bottom Up Process
o What the listener hear does not trigger anything
in his previous knowledge.
o Slow building up of meaning block by block.
o Much harder.
o Teach students on how to listen to the meaning,
not sound and words.
o Try to guess the meaning of unknown words from
the context.
o Work at understanding the whole message.
Listening is an Active Process
o Good listener constructs meaning when they are
listening.
o Do not passively receive what speaker says.
o Identify main ideas.
o Agree and disagree with the speaker.
o May be disappointed or satisfied with the ideas.

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Listening in a Foreign or Second Language
People learn new things or words by repeatedly
hearing in their environment.
This is how little children learn their own mother
tongue.
People in urban areas are familiar with English
compared to the people in the rural areas.

o Length of text
Try to not use very long texts because
they tire the listener and put a strain on
his short term memory
Content of text
o

Relevance
Choose texts that are relevant to pupils
interest level, their maturity and the
communicative need for English.

Difficulty of argument of concepts

A short text with many ideas may be
harder than a long text with very few
ideas.

Redundancy
Texts where ideas are repeated in many
different ways are easier than texts
where there is no repetition of ideas.

Unfamiliarity of content
When the content is unfamiliar, the
listener will have difficulty understanding
what he hears.

Selection of Learning Materials

Speakers
o Number of speakers
If there are more speakers, the listener
will have to deal with :
Interruptions
Changes of turns
Changes of speakers
Monologue is easier to follow than a
dialogue
o Variety of English
The more familiar a listener is with a
particular variety (the accent, the
regional words and phrases used, etc.),
the easier he would find the listening.
o Speed of delivery
People who speak fast are generally
more difficult to understand than those
who speak slowly
Type of text
o Amount of planning
Pre-planned talks are easier than
unplanned or spontaneous speech like
conversations.
o Amount of performance features present
The texts that are spontaneous are more
difficult than scripted texts that do not
have any of these features.
o Amount of support available
Face to face communication
Gestures
Facial expressions
Pictures and illustration
o Level of sophistication of language
Avoid texts with words and structures
beyond the listeners understanding

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Listeners
o Level of language proficiency
Do not choose a listening text with too
many difficult words and sentences that
are long and complex
o Attention span
Decide on the length of the listening
input because younger and less able
pupils generally cannot concentrate for
very long.
o Interest
Affect the learners motivation
Determine what kind of input will interest
the pupils.
o Previous knowledge
Difficult to understand the text and to
respond to it if the listener has very little
or no previous knowledge.

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Situation
o Amount of background noise
Learn to make sense of what we hear, in
spite of the noise
The ability to cope with noise comes at a
rather late stage but for pupils in the
earliest stages, distinguishing the sounds
of the new language above the noise in
the background may be very frustrating
o Number of chances for listening to the input
Earliest stages: allow pupils to listen
many times
Later stages: learners need to cope with
listening to the input only once
Task
o Difficulty of task
Simplifying the listening task
To find out which items on a list the
speaker mentions.

Guidelines/Principles for Teaching Listening

Make sure pupils understand clearly
Provide a context for listening
Pupils know what they are listening
Ask straightforward question of the overall text
Prepare the pupils for the main listening task (prelistening task)
Ask questions that are appropriate for the level of
proficiency of the student and type of text
Use formats and that require minimum writing
Arrange the questions in the order
Do not ask questions on information closely packed
together on the tape
Give chance to read through the question before
listening to the tape
Make sure at least some of your questions require
higher order skills
Decide on the number of times the students would be
able to listen
Encourage the students to ignore the bits they do not
understand
Make sure that distinguishing between one speaker
and another is not difficult
Check all recorded material
Ensure the quality of the tape is excellent
Choose a period that is suitable for a listening lesson
Finding the best listening input and listening tasks
that pupils enjoy it.
By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Teaching Listening Strategy

For Beginner Learner
Characteristic
o Many people in this group cannot even
distinguish an English speech sound from the
noises in the environment.
o They have no idea where a word or phrase
begins and where it ends.
o They have no idea of the rules of English
pronunciation or grammar.
Suggested T&L strategies:
o Length of input
Do not give more than one to three
minutes worth of listening materials to
process at any one time.
o Type of input
Use teacher-made material with the
following features;
i. Short basic sentences
ii. Clear pronunciation
iii. No background noise.
Select word/ideas/events that can be
visual supported e.g.:
i. Actions
ii. Objects
iii. Colours
iv. feelings
Pupils at this stage will have to listen and
understand are words related to object in
the classroom.
i. Chalk, chair, stand up, Take out
your books, close your bag.
Use a great deal of visual support in the
form of pictures, gestures, facial
expressions and dramatization.
Conduct activities that focus on specific
aspects of listening:
i. Minimal pair discrimination.
ii. Statement using intonation pattern

o Speed of delivery
Do not slow down your speech to much.
This does not help the pupils
o Outcome of listening
Do not expect full comprehension.
Build in a lot of redundancy so they can
get the answers without too much
difficulty or anxiety

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

For Intermediate Learner
Characteristics:
o Pupils have fairly good grasp of phonemic
system of English.
o They would still have difficulty with authentic
texts.
o They would not be able to handle such as
features as hesitations, false starts, background
noise.
o Intermediate student can remember longer
phrases and sentences.
Suggested T&L strategies:
o Length of input
They can listen to longer stretches of say
5 to 10 minutes each time
o Type of input
Their listening input can include two-way
communications with more than one
speaker.
At least some of the input must be
authentic or semi-scripted so that they
can develop strategies for dealing with
normal speech.
When you first introduce non-scripted,
authentic material, make sure there is a
lot of redundancy.
With less proficient students, the
listening input can be given in two
versions: authentic and edited.
At this level, pupils still need guided
practices in specific aspects of listening
skill.
At this level of global comprehension,
you can set question that focus on
discourse level (e.g. at the level of
paragraph or argument)
Focus on such skills as predicting
outcomes and drawing conclusion.

American English
Australian English
Assessing Listening
Kind of
Listening Test

Test specific aspects of

listening
(Discrete feature tests)

Test skills in accomplish

different types of
listening tasks
(Task-based tests)

Discrete feature tests

o Minimal pair test
Choose one of two alternatives (50% chance
element in the test)
Various combination of the same sound
contrast
E.g.: Listen and discriminate the initial sound
of transport
bicycle
motorcycle
helicopter
car
Task-based tests
o Text selection:
Choose kind of listening task: E.g.:
listen to instruction
Number of speaker in listening text
Talk / Story that read aloud easier
to be understood rather than
conversation / story that told
Presentation of text ; read aloud or
taped (Tape the test is more
recommended)
o Editing text for taping:
Ideally : use real language
A lots of interruption in real conversation

For Advance Learner

Characteristics:
o By this stage, the student would have become
very proficient in the language.
o They can process the language almost
automatically without paying conscious attention
to it.
Suggested T&L strategies:
o Use a variety of text.
o Select the kinds of texts that useful for students
present and future needs.
o Students should be given practice in listening to
all the major varieties of English
British English
By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Teacher needs to edit the written text so that it

more like spoken text
Identify most important ideas and say more than
one way in the text
Join sentence using simple conjunction
Do not read the text very slowly, otherwise give
slightly longer pause between sentence.
Text should not too long. Preferable : 3-4 minutes
for young children

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

o Construct items:
Decide skill will be tested and
weightage will be given in each
skill
When listening, the pupils write in
the same time
Writing is the way pupils express
the understanding
Try to minimum the writing when
the test
Objective item:

1. The
alternative
need to be
simple

2. The items
follow
through the
sequence of
the tape

3. Chance
given to
read first
the question
before
listening

Short-answer item:
Chance to look the question first
Arrangement of question is according to tape
sequence
Should be enough interval between items ;
allow pupils to finish writing the answer
o Channel conversation
To record pupils understanding in nonverbal way
E.g.: Draw a face according to description
listened
Put in details into an incomplete picture
based on description listened
Label the equipment used in the process
o Summary close
Prepare a
summary of
main points

Pupils fill in
the blanks in
the summary
after listen

Train auditory
memory : for
higher level

o Listening to the tape

Considered to :
How many times listen
What condition would they listen
Students read question
Listen the tape & write down the
answer
Listen the tape again (check)
Write final answer
By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)

Compilation of Notes of ELE3104

Principles of Teaching Speaking

Topic 7: The Teaching and Assessing of Literature

for Primary Schools

Types of Speaking Activities

Purpose of using Literature in the Language Classroom

Designing Activities based on Literary Texts

Integrated Activities
Assessing Literature
Assessing Speaking
Topic 8: The Teaching of Grammar
Topic 4: The Teaching and Assessing of Reading
Skills

Approaches in Teaching Grammar (Overt and Covert)

Purpose of Teaching Grammar

Principles of Teaching Reading

Techniques and Activities for Teaching Grammar
Reading Readiness (First Steps)
Assessing Grammar
Stages in a Reading Lesson
Strategies in Teaching Reading
Integrated Activities

Topic 9: Integration of Language Skills and

Language Content

Assessing Reading

Purpose of Integration
Ways of Integration

Topic 5: The Teaching and Assessing of Writing

Skills
Principles of Teaching Writing
Writing Readiness (First Steps)
Stages in a Writing Lesson
Strategies in Teaching Writing
Integrated Activities
Assessing Writing

Topic 6: The Teaching and Assessing of

Vocabulary, Spelling and Dictation
Purpose of Teaching Vocabulary, Spelling and Dictation
Techniques and Activities for Teaching Vocabulary,
Spelling and Dictation
Assessing Vocabulary, Spelling and Dictation

By Cg Mohd Ridzuan al-Kindy (IPG KDRI)