Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
ao Ensino do Ingls
para Jovens e
Adultos
Rosa Maria Neves da Silva
Lingustica Aplicada
ao Ensino do Ingls
para Jovens e
Adultos
REITOR
Joo dos Reis Canela
VICE-REITORA
Maria Ivete Soares de Almeida
DIRETOR DE DOCUMENTAO E INFORMAES
Huagner Cardoso da Silva
EDITORA UNIMONTES
Conselho Editorial
Prof. Silvio Guimares Medicina. Unimontes.
Prof. Herclio Mertelli Odontologia. Unimontes.
Prof. Humberto Guido Filosofia. UFU.
Prof Maria Geralda Almeida. UFG
Prof. Luis Jobim UERJ.
Prof. Manuel Sarmento Minho Portugal.
Prof. Fernando Verd Pascoal. Valencia Espanha.
Prof. Antnio Alvimar Souza - Unimontes
Prof. Fernando Lolas Stepke. Univ. Chile.
Prof. Jos Geraldo de Freitas Drumond Unimontes.
Prof Rita de Cssia Silva Dionsio. Letras Unimontes.
Prof Maisa Tavares de Souza Leite. Enfermagem Unimontes.
Prof Siomara A. Silva Educao Fsica. UFOP.
REVISO LINGUSTICA
ngela Heloiza Buxton
Arlete Ribeiro Nepomuceno
Aurinete Barbosa Tiago
Carla Roselma Athayde Moraes
REVISO TCNICA
Admilson Eustquio Prates
Cludia de Jesus Maia
Josiane Santos Brant
Karen Trres Corra Lafet de Almeida
Kthia Silva Gomes
Marcos Henrique de Oliveira
DESIGN EDITORIAL E CONTROLE DE
PRODUO DE CONTEDO
Andria Santos Dias
Camilla Maria Silva Rodrigues
Clsio Robert Almeida Caldeira
Fernando Guilherme Veloso Queiroz
Francielly Sousa e Silva
Hugo Daniel Duarte Silva
Marcos Aurlio de Almeida e Maia
Magda Lima de Oliviera
Sanzio Mendona Henriques
Tatiane Fernandes Pinheiro
Ttylla Ap. Pimenta Faria
Vincius Antnio Alencar Batista
Wendell Brito Mineiro
Zilmar Santos Cardoso
Este livro ou parte dele no pode ser reproduzido por qualquer meio sem autorizao escrita do Editor.
EDITORA UNIMONTES
Campus Universitrio Professor Darcy Ribeiro
s/n - Vila Mauricia - Montes Claros (MG)
Caixa Postal: 126 - CEP: 39.401-089 - Telefone: (38) 3229-8214
www.unimontes.br / editora@unimontes.br
Ministro da Educao
Aloizio Mercadante
Vice-Reitora da Unimontes
Maria Ivete Soares de Almeida
Pr-Reitora de Ensino
Anete Marlia Pereira
Coordenadora da UAB/Unimontes
Maria ngela Lopes Dumont Macedo
Autor
Rosa Maria Neves da Silva
Sumrio
By way of presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
UNIT 1
What is applied linguistics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
UNIT 2
What does it mean to learn a foreign language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
UNIT 3
What does it take to teach a foreign language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
UNIT 4
How is the foregoing material applicable to the classroom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Learning Activities - AA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
APPENDIX
Annex 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Annex 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Annex 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Annex 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Annex 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Annex 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Annex 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
By way of presentation
Welcome back to a new school term! During this term you will be introduced to a new
field of study, one which is of the utmost importance to yourself as an English learner and a
prospective English Language Teacher: Applied Linguistics. Through the next units you will read
about this subfield of Linguistics mainly as connected to foreign/second language teaching. The
readings are complemented with a number of varied activities and practical examples aimed
to combine theory and practice. In the 'clues', 'glossaries', and 'learn more' sections you will
find additional explanation and guidelines, and the references offer you a selection of reliable,
useful sources of material to expand your knowledge I am sure you will profit from every lesson
and agree to the importance of this tool to your learning and teaching. I invite you to read and
study and carefully complete all the activities proposed for each of the four units of this 90-hour
course. Hope you enjoy this course. Happy learning!
The objectives for this course are:
Provide the student with an insight into the scope, means and purposes of Applied
Linguistics.
Provide the student with a discussion of the concepts of learning and teaching.
Provide the student with an overview of major approaches and methods to foreign
language teaching.
Provide the student with the opportunities to apply those concepts and teaching
approaches and methods.
Provide the student with a discussion of language learning assessment.
Provide the student with an actual sample a communicative lesson aiming to
demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the Applied Linguistics concepts, teaching
approaches and methods.
After completing the readings and activities proposed here, the student/prospective
teacher is expected to
Have a better understanding of the concepts, scope, means and purposes
of
Applied
Linguistics.
Have a better understanding of the impact of developing the various competencies
involved in foreign language learning.
Have a better understanding of the implications of learning and teaching.
Have a better understanding of the cultural implications of foreign language teaching and
learning.
Be able to make better informed decisions concerning approaches, methods, activities,
procedures to adopt for their English classes.
Have a better understanding of the communicative approach and its implications
advantages and disadvantages to teaching English as a foreign/second language.
As a teacher, manage to design meaningful reading comprehension, speaking and writing
activities, or select such activities from reliable sources to meet the objectives of teenager
and young adult foreign language learners.
As a teacher, manage to design appropriate, valid and timely assessment questions
and activities compliant to the teaching methodology selected, the content and the
objectives of the course.
The Author
UNIT 1
As you can see, Applied Linguistics accounts for a number of issues, all of them involving
language, so to those questions I would add: How can foreign language users achieve proper
interaction? What level of competence should we expect from foreign language learners? How
does the choice of methodology impact actual language learning?
Applied linguistics is an area of work that deals with language use in
professional settings, translation, speech pathology, literacy, and language
education; and it is not merely the application of linguistic knowledge to
such settings but is a semiautonomous and interdisciplinary domain of work
that draws on but is not dependent on areas such as sociology, education,
anthropology, cultural studies, and psychology. (PENNYCOOK,2001, s/p)
Pennycook somehow repeats Davies and Elder (2004) and other authors like Moita Lopes
(1996) view of Applied Linguistics, and clearly stresses its interdisciplinary nature which renders
it as not entirely autonomous, but combined to other fields of study.
As you go on reading and learning about this field of study, you will see that authors agree
in one point, that is, that Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of investigation just as
Pennycook had pointed - which offers the necessary theoretical and descriptive foundations for
the investigation and solution of language-related problems, mainly those concerning language
teaching and learning. It also tries to understand and explain how communication is actually
carried out in real life, while identifying difficult contexts and challenging issues.
Particularly in Brazil, Applied Linguistics developed to include case studies on the language
learning process, error analysis and foreign language reading aimed both at understanding the
teaching/learning process and modifying the conditions of the language classroom to achieve
the objectives proposed. To accomplish this task the teachers are expected to have some good
knowledge of language theories and language teaching approaches as well so that they can
develop extensive and in-depth research on the language learning process, foreign language
learning and learning results in actual formal contexts, that is, the classroom.
CLUE
All cartoons and figures
from the Web used
in this textbook are
copyright-free, allowed
for free download and
use.
TASK
Read Chapter 1: Afinal,
o que Lingustica
Aplicada? In MOITA
LOPES, L.P. da Oficina
de Lingustica Aplicada:
A natureza social
e educacional dos
processos de ensino/
aprendizagem.
Campinas, SP: Mercado
das Letras, 1996.
and
CELANI, M.A.A. Afinal
o que Lingustica
Aplicada? In:
PASCHOAL, M.S.Z. &
CELANI, M.A.A. (org.)
Lingustica Aplicada:
da aplicao de
lingustica lingustica
transdisciplinar. So
Paulo: EDUC.
List the main points of
agreement between
those authors.
11
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
CLUE
The following
abbreviations are
largely found in
the literature and
very useful to you:
ESL(English as a
second language),ESOL
(English for speakers
of other languages),
andEFL(English as a
foreign language)
all refer to the use
or study of English
by speakers of other
languages.
More recently, this
new abbreviation has
been added to the list
above: EIL (English
as International
Language),
identifying English
as an intercultural,
multicultural,
intervarietal form of
language that allows
wider communication
between nations and
region inside nations,
and is the language
currently used for
science, technology
and international trade.
ELT(English
language teaching),
TESL(teaching English
as a second
language),TESOL
(teaching
English to speakers of
other
languages),
andTEFL (teaching
English as a foreign
language)
12
Outside the field of language teaching and learning, Applied Linguistics is also concerned
with problems of translation and interpretation; bilingualism and multilingualism; computermediated communication; conversation analysis; corpus linguistics; critical discourse analysis;
discourse analysis and pragmatics; forensic linguistics; language assessment; language for
special purposes; lexicography; literacy; multimodal communication; rhetoric and stylistics.
According to Brown, K. (2005), teaching is still a major concern of Applied Linguistics in
various parts of the world, where applied linguists approach issues like speech pathologies
and the levels of literacy of social groups, language processing and communicative differences
between social/cultural groups.
Simply put, and for the purposes of this course, we will accept that Applied Linguistics is a
subdivision of Linguistics which developed into an independent interdisciplinary field of science.
It is of particular interest to language teachers in what concerns the implications of foreign/
second language teaching and foreign/second language learning/acquisition and the solution of
language-related problems in specific situations of the real world.
Some authors make a clear distinction between Applied Linguistics and Linguistics-Applied
studies. Among those, Davies & Elder (2004) understand that Applied Linguistics engages
in trying to explain social issues concerning the use of language, while the aim of LinguisticsApplied studies is more abstract to explain and test theories on language.
In this course we will not engage in theoretical discussions about what Applied Linguistics
is or is not; on theoretical controversies arising from the viewpoints of different authors, but yet
on what most directly interests you as a student and a prospective English teacher. From now on,
that is how I intend to address you as a prospective English teacher, as you are taking a Curso de
Letras. By the way, lets start by asking: How would you introduce yourself to an American, saying
that you are um (a) aluno (a) do Curso de Letras? So, the next sections will offer you insights
on the many aspects that I find useful for you to develop as a proficient learner and a teacher
prepared to offer the best English teaching job when you start performing your classroom
activities. My purpose is to make this course as much resourceful and helpful as possible for you
to meet your needs and goals.
Let me remind you that learning to be a teacher depends equally, among others, on
developing your knowledge of English syntax, phonology, morphology and semantics, and
your understanding of the culture underlying the English language. Then remember to refer to
the other textbooks provided for your course Anglo-American Culture, Morfologia da Lngua
Inglesa, Fonologia da Lngua Inglesa, Introduo Lngustica, Gramtica da Lngua Inglesa - as they
will be very helpful in many ways.
GLOSSARY
CORPUS LINGUISTICS:
The study of language
based on real world
samples from which
a set of rules on that
particular language
is derived. Before the
computer was available
to linguists, researchers
used to interview a
group of pre-selected
people to collect
language samples;
the interviews were
recorded on tape. The
advent of the computer
allowed for a larger,
automated collection
of real life samples.
INTERDISCIPLINARY:
What is said of: 1.
a discipline which
combines concepts,
approaches and
views from other
two or more fields
of study; 2. Research
using methods and
insights from various
established fields of
study.
LINGUISTICS Linguistics is the
science of human
language.
LEXICOGRAPHY:
Editing or making
of dictionaries; the
principles and practices
guiding dictionary
making.
LITERACY: Ability to
read and write about
printed material
coherently and
critically.
STYLISTICS: The study
of the use of language
style elements, like
metaphors in specific
contexts; the study
and interpretation of
texts from a linguistic
perspective.
13
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
LEARN MORE
Foreign language
is understood as
language learned in
a community that
has another mother
tongue, and therefore
is not used for everyday
conversation by the
learners outside the
classroom, e.g., English
learned in Brazil.
Second language is
the language learned
by immigrants while
living in a foreign
country, where that
language is used in
everyday life, e.g.,
English learned in the
US by Brazilians living
there.
For a broader
understanding of
Corpus Linguistics,
you should refer to
this article by Daniel
Krieger: Corpus
Linguistics: What It
Is and How It Can Be
Applied to Teaching,
at http://iteslj.org/ The
Internet TESL Journal,
Vol. IX, No. 3, March
2003.
And for a better
understanding of what
Applied Linguistics is
about, read
http://www.filologia.
org.br/revista/40suple/
introdao_a_
linguistica%20.pdf
where you find this
article in Portuguese:
Introduo
Lingustica Aplicada
e sua utilidade para
as pesquisas em sala
de aula de lngua
estrangeira, by Doris de
Almeida Soares.
On Error Analysis, refer
to Contribution of Error
Analysis to Foreign
Language Teaching, by
Vacide ERDOAN, at
*http://efd.mersin.edu.
tr/dergi/meuefd_2005_
001_002/pdf/
meuefd_2005_001_
002_0261-0270
_erdogan.pdf
14
English or Portuguese colonial European languages combined with vocabulary and grammar
of the colonized people. Most creoles have now disappeared, but some survive, for example, in
the Caribbean and Western Africa. Inthe island nation ofHaiti, a French-African pidgin became
the creole language.
As a foreign language speaker you are not expected to produce a mumbo jumbo type of
language or discourse, or else you will not make yourself understood, and as a teacher, you will
have to provide your students with some coherent language.
Finally, let us have a quick look at dialects. A dialect is a variant of a language. Within your
broader language community, that is, your country, you find a variety of regional speeches
marked by the diversity of vocabulary, that is words that are typical of a specific area, or words
that are attached different meanings depending on the region they are used. Dialects of this
type are called regional dialects. Dialectal boundaries called isoglosses (fronteiras dialetais) do not match political or geographic boundaries. Therefore, do not expect to find differences in
the pronunciation of the r in porta only because you have crossed the border between So Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro, for example. Isoglosses function somehow like the sound waves you see here:
the changes in language move slowly across geographic borders.
Figure 01: Sound waves
Source: Targethd.net, disponvel em
http://targethd.net/2009/03/19/gadgets-fita-adesiva-sonora-voce-conhecia-isso/.
Acesso em: 02 abr. 2012.
Additionally, social dialects identify the linguistic status of speakers within a society.
In our own communities, we are aware of forms that are considered better or worse, words
and grammar forms that are used only by educated people, people who speak the standard
form of the language, people who did not receive much language education, people whose
pronunciation is typical of certain social groups. In the United States, particularly in Charleston,
South Carolina, r-less speech, that is, not pronouncing the r in words like bear and court is
associated with aristocratic, high-status groups, therefore a mark of linguistic prestige; in New
York City, however, the same r-less speech is typical of working-class, low-status people.
1.2.1 Competencies
The quotes above include such terms like society, culture, context of situation,
communication. In any foreign language setting language learning has one and only purpose:
enable the individuals to dive into a new culture and interact in contexts of situation which
may also be entirely new. To do so, language users have to develop their communicative
competence, or how language is used by members of a speech community to accomplish their
social interactional purposes. The diagram below shows elements comprising communicative
competence as viewed by Canale and Swain (1980).
According to Hymes (1972), communicative competence requires the speaker to have
proper control of the following interacting systems:
In sum, to make it easier for you to understand it, you can say that communicative
competence involves the Whs of communication: when to engage in a conversation, speak,
what to say or talk about, whom to talk to, when, where, in what manner, or how to say
something or be silent.
For proper interaction in contexts of situation which may be entirely new, the foreign
language speaker must develop their grammatical competence, cultural competence,
sociolinguistic competence, strategic competence all together contributing to what is called
communicative competence. It is the task of foreign language teachers to give their students
opportunities to develop these multiple competencies aimed to prepare them to properly
use their most important human communication tool. Let us then learn more about such
competencies.
One day an English grammar teacher was looking ill.
A student asked, Whats the matter?
Tense, answered the teacher, describing how he felt.
The student paused, then continued, What was the matter? What has been the matter?
What might have been the matter... ?
This joke, at this point used as merely motivational, is a good example of how simple
language, easy words put together may create interesting forms of misunderstanding.
LEARN MORE
This paper on
Diversidade e Unidade:
A Aventura Lingustica
do Portugus, by Rosa
Virgnia Mattos e
Silva, provides a very
interesting analysis of
language variance. I
highly recommend its
reading as knowledge
of our own language
is a valuable support
for our learning of a
foreign language. It
is available at http://
cvc.instituto-camoes.
pt/hlp/biblioteca/
diversidade.pdf .
Another reading I do
recommend is this
book by Henriette
Walter, A aventura das
lnguas no ocidente,
Mandarim, 1997, where
you will find useful,
curious, interesting
and sometimes
funny information
about languages like
Portuguese, French,
Italian, Spanish, Danish,
German, English, and
others.
TASK:
TASK 1
Grammatical competence involves the identification of the set of rules which governs a
persons understanding of what is and is not correct and acceptable in the language they speak.
It therefore implies
mastering the morphology, the vocabulary and the mechanics of pronunciation (letters,
syllables words), intonation and stress of a language, e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
recognizing a verb in a sentence and a subject independent of the syntactic configurations
in which they occur, e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
15
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
using proper agreement of two or more items: they agree if they are both marked for the
same grammatical distinction, e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
telling which of a set of non-adjacent words in a sentence go together and which do not, e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
identifying reference in a sentence, that is, what a specific word refers to, e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
identifying how one sentence relates to another semantically (e.g. different words or
arrangement, same meaning) or syntactically (e.g. different words, same structure), e.g.,
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
TASK - 1
The previous marked items are all followed by e.g., but no actual examples were provided. Your task is to
provide two English examples for each of the five implications above.
TASK 2
Figure 03: What
snapping can do!
Source: The Funny Times.
Disponvel em
http://pewari.may.
be/2011/03/21/when-english-teachers-snap/.
Acesso em: 02 abr. 2012.
Identify and correct the grammar error in the cartoon (Figure 3) by providing two different forms of
asking the same thing.
2. What cultural aspects are shown in the cartoon?
16
TASK
Identify which of these
utterances are formal
and which are informal.
1. I feel real good.
I feel really good.
2. As the final price
of ten dollars was
reasonable, I decided
to accept it.
It was, like, ten bucks,
so I said okay.
3. You can find out all
about the survey in
chapter 10.
Details of the survey
are to be found in
chapter 10.
The number of
infected patients is
increasing.
4. The number of
infected patients is
going up.
TASK
Both the cartoon on the figure 5 and
the text are good examples of language and
discourse misuse, filled with obscurities,
ambiguities, incoherence. Of course, it takes
some language and cultural knowledge for
the reader to identify the various types of
misuse in those authentic texts, which native
speakers do easily.
1. Pick up the grammar error in Lulas text
and find what is obscure or ambiguous
in the text.
2. Pick up five examples of misuse in Bushs
text, including incoherence.
17
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
Can the English language survive after Bush? Here is a collection of George Bushs
quotes:
The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.
If we dont succeed, we run the risk of failure.
One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is to be
prepared .
I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments inthe future.
The future will be better tomorrow.
We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment
to Europe. We are a part ofEurope.
Public speaking is very easy.
A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
For NASA, space is still a high priority.
Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
It isnt pollution thats harming the environment. Its the impurities in our air and water that
are doing it.
Its time for the human race to enter the solar system.
GLOSSARY
COHERENCE: The
quality or state of
cohering, especially
a logical, orderly,
and aesthetically
consistent relationship
of parts; logical or
natural connection
or consistency (www.
thefreedictionary.com).
COHESION: Proper use
of linguistic elements
to make a discourse
semantically coherent.
18
19
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: Thats correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the
Secretary
General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You dont want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the
U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Ya ssir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.) Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we
should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food in the
Middle East?
Source: Email circulating on the Internet
In the cartoon (FIG. 07) and in the text you have just read you may find interesting examples
taken from an English-speaking culture, namely, the American culture. Observe how one simple
cartoon offers a good amount of cultural information, and is therefore a rich source of teaching
material, starting from reading and understanding the text.
20
References
BLOOMFILED, Leonard. Outline Guide for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages, 1942.
BROWN, K. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 2. ed. Oxford: Elsevier, 2005.
DAVIES, Alan & ELDER, Catherine ( Editors). The Handbook of Applied Linguistics, Blackwell
Publishing, 2004.
DUQUETTE, L. La crativit dans les pratiques communicatives in A. M. Boucher, A. M.
Duplantine, R. Leblanc, Pdagogie de la communication dans lenseignement dune
language trangere. Bruxelles: De Boeck-Wesmael, 1988.
GRICE, H.P. Logic and conversation In Cole, P. & Morgan, J. (eds.) Syntax and Semantics,
Volume 3. New York: Academic Press. pp. 41-58, 1975.
HALLIDAY, M.A.K. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and
Meaning. London, Edward Arnold, 1978.
HYMES, D.H. On Communicative Competence In: J.B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics.
Selected Readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 269-293.(Part 2),1972.
KRIEGER, Daniel Corpus Linguistics: What it is and how it can be applied to teaching,
available at The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 3, March 2003.
SAPIR, Edward Sapir Language.New York: Harcourt Brace, p.8, 1921.
TASK 1
Read the text contained
in the cartoon above.
Identify the cultural
aspects and the
language items used to
indicate them. How do
those aspects compare
to the Brazilian culture?
2. Refer to http://www.
fujishima-h.ed.jp/
teacher/materials/
American%20Gestures.
pdf - American
Gestures: A Lesson for
Elementary Students.
Read it carefully then
make a list of the
gestures commonly
used by Americans and
compare them with the
gestures used in Brazil,
if any, for the same
contexts.
LEARN MORE
For a more detailed
understanding of
the role of culture
in foreign language
teaching and learning
refer to the textbook
on Anglo American
Culture, by Helena
Maria Gramiscelli
Magalhes, 2011.
GLOSSARY
UTTERANCE (enunciado) - A string
of words produced
on a particular event
of oral interaction;
a complete unit of
speech in conversation,
in general bounded by
silence.
21
UNIT 2
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LEARN MORE
Metalanguageis the
language statements or
language symbols used to
describe language itself,
that is, use English sentences or symbols to describe
the grammar, syntax,
semantics and phonology
of the English language.
The language learning/acquisition process basically implies going through the stages of:
retrieval of information.
processing of information.
transfer or encoding of information.
In doing so, the foreign/second language
learner develops some kind of intermediate,
self-contained, specific form of language,
termed interlanguage, as proposed by
Larry Selinker (1972). This interlanguage
creates a language system with grammar
rules and vocabulary that, in general, do
not belong to either his native language
or the foreign/second language being
learned. What is created is then some kind
of third language marked by mechanisms of
transfer or interference (negative transfer),
overgeneralization, simplification, avoidance,
overuse and fossilization. These mechanisms
are all learning strategies that the learner uses
in an attempt to master the rules of the new
language.
Transfer occurs when a rule of the
native language is successfully used in the
foreign language, that is, it is acceptable
and also correct in that language, e.g., verb
agreement, like in Ele gosta (not Ele gosto)*
He likes (not He like). Interference (negative
transfer) occurs when the student selects a
rule from his native language which does
not apply to the foreign language, therefore
producing an ungrammatical sentence, e.g.,
* I like of oranges. Interference also occurs
when the learner uses the so called false
friends, that is, false cognates, words like
advocate or actual, for example, which he
erroneously believes to mean *advogado
or *atual, for their graphic or phonological
similarity with Portuguese words. The Hu
is on First? gives you a good example of
phonological interference leading to a lot
of misunderstanding. Overgeneralization
is the broad application of a specific rule of
the foreign language itself in situations in
which a native speaker would not, e.g., use
plural suffix s for all nouns, irrespective of
exceptions in English. Simplification implies
keeping general, simple forms of language,
like the adjectives good and nice, instead of
more specific which are applied in multiple
contexts; or child-like speech, somehow
indicating that the speaker has not yet
mastered proper target forms. Avoidance
24
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
TASK
Refer to ANNEX 2 Motivating Learners:
Understanding
Language Acquisition.
Read it and produce a
brief summary of the
main points of the text.
This task allows you to
exercise your listening
comprehension and
your writing skills.
information
randomly,
spontaneously
sometimes, and orderly, in a linear sequence
otherwise. This type of learning is also termed
informal learning, somehow synonymous to
acquisition, or learning by natural exposition
to the real world.
Formal learning, on the other hand,
results from the implementation of
knowledge, skills or practices offered by
school instruction or study, which add to
our behavior, attitudes, viewpoints. In the
language classroom, the learning that arises
from explanations, exercises, tests, drills, case
studies, guided and free activities involving
the English grammar, semantics, phonology
and related culture. In this type of setting,
particularly in your language classroom,
you can identify a variety of learning styles.
In Figure 09 you find a student who is selfidentified as Abstract-Sequential. What does
that mean? This type of learner is researchoriented, logical, systematic, usually viewed
as a nerd. Abstract learners tend to acquire
information through observation, thinking
and analysis while concrete learners demand
doing, feeling, acting, therefore having some
kind of direct experience with the information
provided.
As a teacher, the more you identify your
students learning style the easier it is for
you to find the right activities to propose to
them. Among your students you will find, for
instance, active learners, those who enjoy
teamwork, retain and understand information
more quickly by discussing or applying it,
and reflective learners, who like to work
alone while thinking about the information
provided in class. These learners exercise their
receptive skills (listen and read) as a tool to
learn, contrary to active learners who feel they
have to be more productive, that is use their
productive skills (speak and write) to learn.
Sensing learners are distinct from
intuitive learners; they enjoy learning facts
rules of grammar, and feel safe following
well-established rules. Intuitive learners, on
the other hand, prefer to discover possibilities
26
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may have many times asked yourself: Why
learn languages? The answer for yourself is
the same you should have for your students,
who most certainly must be convinced and
motivated to learn. First, let us remember
that the ability to learn languages is not
limited by economic background, ethnic
background, nationality, gender, race, religion,
or age. Despite the individual differences
concerning abilities and strengths, everyone
can develop language ability to some degree.
Learning another language not only adds to
your general knowledge, but also expands
References
MINAS GERAIS. Contedo Bsico Comum de Lngua Estrangeira do Ensino Fundamental do
6 ao 9 Ano. Belo Horizonte: 2008.
LADO, Robert Linguistics Across Cultures. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor. 1957.
BRASIL. Mistrio da Educao. Parmetros Curriculares Nacionais de Lngua Estrangeira.
Braslia: 1998.
SELINKER, L. Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209-241. 1972.
28
UNIT 3
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
LEARN MORE
An important
distinction must
be made between
grammatical/syntactic
functions subject,
predicate, object
and complement
- and communicative
functions - apologize,
describe, invite, reason,
comment, criticize and
a number of others.
30
Being
an
umbrella
term,
the
communicative
approach
typically
encompasses a number of trends, methods,
practices, procedures, activities, all of them
with a view to prepare the learner to use
language effectively in the real world.
The approach acknowledges the socialinteractional nature of language, its role as an
intervening tool for social relations, a mirror
for an underlying culture.
By now you have already mastered a
number of concepts and may be wondering
which methods, practices, activities to adopt
for your teaching. The Parmetros Curriculares
Nacionais (PCN) lngua estrangeira (1998),
clearly stress the communicative scope of
foreign language teaching in the Brazilian
context. Under the provisions of the PCN, our
schools must then adopt methods/trends that
provide the learner with activities, procedures,
tasks to allow them to develop their
productive and receptive skills accordingly,
therefore being prepared for perform his role
in the society.
To meet the provisions of the PCN for
the Brazilian schools the foreign language
learner is expected to be able to understand
the social-interactional nature of language,
identify and apply simple culture-specific
patterns in conversation; develop appropriate
pronunciation and intonation; reapply
grammar forms and vocabulary to appropriate
contexts; identify and apply the levels of
language register formal, semi-formal and
informal; infer word and sentence meanings;
understand the general and specific meanings
of written texts; create simple meaningful
chunks; produce short, coherent texts.
LEARN MORE
Go to ANNEX 3 and
read about the Audio
Lingual Method for
features and scope,
then suppose you
teach in a school where
the audio lingual is
the method to be
used in your English
classes. Create a set
of drills based on the
description of typical
Audio-Lingual Method
drills.
GLOSSARY
DRILL: A drill is defined as
a learning exercise aimed
at perfecting facility and
skill, especially by regular
practice.
LEARN MORE
CONSTRUCTIVIST
LEARNING - Learning
is viewed as an active,
contextualized process
of constructing
knowledge based on
personal experiences
and hypotheses of
the environment,
and on the previous
knowledge and
experiences of the
learner. This view of
learning was supported
by a number of works
by Vygotsky and
Piaget, among which I
suggest that you read,
if you are interested in
those theories, PIAGET,
Jean. A Linguagem
e o Pensamento na
Criana. Trad. Manuel
Campos. Rio de Janeiro:
Fundo de Cultura,
1959; VYGOTSKY,
Lev Pensamento e
linguagem. So Paulo:
Martins Fontes, 1987.
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
situations in which they could be used. It
emphasizes the processes of learning or
receiving knowledge, memorizing knowledge
by repetition and start practicing it when
such knowledge becomes a personal skill
and habit. To achieve this, students learn
vocabulary and practice reading skills.
LEARN MORE
PHATIC EXPRESSIONS
are those expressions
used to establish a
mood of sociability,
introduce some
conversation
while not actually
communicating
information or ideas.
When you meet
someone and say
How are you?, for
example, you do
not really want the
other person to give
you any information
about him or her, but
simply to have it as
an introduction to a
conversation, or merely
a general form of
greeting.
32
Group B
You are a salesperson in a gift shop of a
well-known shopping mall. At work this
morning, you were instructed to do your best
to sell some Calvin Klein belts which
were left from the last season. The store
manager told you that for each belt sold
the salesperson in charge will receive an extra
sales commission. At this exact m o m e n t
somebody is entering the shop. Be prepared
to help your customer.
In this scenario the basic communicative
functions practiced are argumenting /
convincing/ asking.
The procedures, always based on
teamwork, are developed in three stages:
rehearsal, performance and debriefing.
During rehearsal the students prepare
the conversation based on the script they
received for the scenarios and supported by
research, discussion and experimentation.
They are allowed to research whatever
means they may have concerning grammar,
lexicon and culture. Performance is the stage
when the actual conversation occurs. It
encourages the learner to take risks and feel
self-confident as they learn that there
is no pre-determined or a one-and-only
language form or communicative strategy
in conversation. During performance, the
teacher takes notes and does not interfere. It
is during debriefing that the teacher discusses
the pertinent occurrences observed during
performance and guarantees the solution of
the problems and mistakes observed during
the performance.
TASK
Provide a list of 10
collocations, 10 frozen
expressions and 10
semi-fixed expressions
in English.
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
LEARN MORE
Go to http://www.
kenlackman.com/files/
LexicalActivities
Book102.pdf
for more information
on the The Lexical
Approach.
GLOSSARY
COLLOCATION:
a lexical pair of
content words like
in communicative
approach, pretty girl,
speak fluently. Groups
of words like by the
way or get up do not
fit into the concept
because they include
both function and
content words. In
English, some words
naturally collocate (go
well together) with
others.
CONTENT WORD
or FULL WORD, or
LEXICAL WORD - any
word belonging to the
open class of words,
that is, words which
carry meaning in a
sentence: noun, verb,
adjective.
FUNCTION WORD or
GRAMMATICAL WORD
- (palavra gramatical) a
word belonging to the
closed class of words,
that is, words which do
not carry content and
are used as a syntactic
(or construction)
marker. In the examples
above, the words by,
the, up.
TARGET LANGUAGE
The foreign/second
language being
learned.
34
It is clear, however, that Lewis is not saying that you, as a teacher, should not correct your
learners errors, or give less attention to grammar. Remember that fluency requires a certain
level of accuracy. What he proposes is giving first priority to the lexicon instead of grammar. So
you can make your classes more interesting by leaving grammar rules to be learned inductively,
primarily from observation. Essentially, learning should follow the sequence observe create
hypotheses experiment, instead of the traditional sequence present practice produce.
As you can see, this is primarily a constructivist/communicative proposal, centered on the
learner. The learner himself observes specific language strategies, creates his hypotheses about
them and tries his own forms based on those hypotheses. In fact, when engaging in conversation,
the speaker has to risk using creative forms of language; when reading a foreign text the reader has
to observe and create hypotheses about the content of the text to achieve understanding.
Figure 12: Hold your
teeth!
Source: http://www.proz.
com/forum/fun_with_
images/221038-how_
to_pronounce_the_th_
sound_in_english.html.
Acesso em: 02 abr. 2012.
LEARN MORE
Refer to http://www.
powershow.com/
view/147203- ZGM3Z/
Teaching_Techniques_
and_Strategies_in_
Foreign_Languages_
flash_ppt_presentation
and to
Richards, Jack C. &
Rodgers, Theodore
Approaches and
Methods in Language
Teaching. Cambridge
University Press, 2001
to read about foreign
language approaches
and methods.
TASK
TASK
After reading, refer to ANNEX 4 - Teaching Reading: Strategies for Developing Reading Skills and
produce a short lesson based on the following text:
Since 1977, Bollywood movies have been staged and filmed at 16 air-conditioned studios spread
over 520 acres in a place called Film City, located in the northern Mumbai suburb of Goregaon.
Now the Maharashtra government thinks its time to make Bollywoods office a state-of-theart, one-stop-shop for filmmakers as well as a major tourist attraction.
Future tourists will have access to shoots and sets and theres a Bollywood museum also
being planned on Film City premises.
According tonews reports, special sections will be built on sets to allow tourists to watch
shoots in progress through mirrored walkways that will ensure minimal interference.
Production houses will be offered discounts if they hold shoots on sets that are along the
virtual tour route.
We want the Film City to become one of the best places for filmmaking, Film City public
relations officer Saini told media.
We also want it to become a sought after tourist spot. However, we wont open the entire Film
City for tourism purposes. There will be just few places that will be open to the general public.
We have decided to work on this plan because we used to get many requests from people
so we thought why not do something so that people can see what happens inside a film set and
get a closer look at Bollywood? he added.
Mumbais Film City to open to tourists
Plan has visitors allowed onto actual film sets and able to see shoots in progress
Source:http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/visit/mumbais-film-city-open-tourists911279?hpt=hp_bn10 on Sept.13, 2011.
Rethinking education for the 21st Century, Colombian philosopher and educator Bernardo
Toro (1997 Colombia) clearly states that there is no democracy without a quality education to
enable the child to understand the surrounding context and this has to start from developing
the reading comprehension and writing skills of children.
Initially Toros giving first priority to reading and writing may appear simply as
acknowledgment of the usefulness and recurrence of reading in todays world. The code is,
however, a call to the accountability of the reader, their responsibility for misinterpreting texts,
reading superficially, which may lead to dangerous results. What Toro does is to authenticate
the status of the written text as the most important and enduring documentary record ever
created. His Code also reminds of that reading is the primary form of achieving a comprehensive
understanding of the world, and this gives us reason enough to choose teaching a foreign
language through reading.
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
Teaching through reading enables the teacher to reach a larger number of learners at the
same time while offering the learners equal learning opportunities; enables learners to develop
the other skills for language as a whole is a natural combination of oral and written elements and
writing and oral activities result from the text content and comprehension. Reading in a foreign
language implies allowing the reader to enjoy a psycholinguistic guessing game (GOODMAN,
1967). Of course, when you read you do not guess all the time, but this is one of the strategies
readers use to grasp the meaning of the text. Anyway there is clearly an interaction between
thought and language while developing the abilities to infer, preview, create and confirm
hypotheses, draw conclusions, and guess!
The linguistic content acquired through the written text must inevitably be reapplied to
other communicative contexts and situations. In fact, reapplication to real life is a key element
of the actual objective of language learning. As reading is a receptive skill, the receptive
competence acquired becomes the semantic and structural content of the productive skills, that
is, speaking and writing, therefore creating what I call a boomerang effect.
It is clear then that the option to give first priority to a specific skill, in this case reading,
does not mean to exclude the other skills. Human languages are not realized through one skill
only; human beings do not develop the four skills equally. If I asked you about your Portuguese,
you would probably tell me that you are better at speaking than at writing, or better at reading
than at speaking. So why expect something different from yourself or your students, moreover
when learning a foreign language? In fact all this only reflect the natural, necessary balance of
human nature. Being aware of this balance only adds to a better understanding of the learners
difficulties while contributing to reduce the teachers anxiety and concerns.
Finally here is a note on reading in the real world and reading in the instructional
context. Basically, the distinction between these two types of reading is saying that one is
reading for pleasure while the other is reading for information. However, a good selection
of texts can provide the learner with pleasant information! Krashen argued that pleasure
reading is an important source of comprehensible input for language acquisition, and that
the basic requirement
is that the story or main idea be comprehensible and the topic be
something the student is genuinely interested in, that he would read in his
first language (Krashen, 1982)
36
LEARN MORE
Access the page below
for more information
on creative writing.
http://www.
teachingenglish.org.
uk/articles/creativewriting-languagelearners-teachers
and
http://www.learnnc.
org/lp/pages/672 for
writing and Second
Language Teaching
TASK
Go to
http://elpweb.com/
materials/wp-content/
uploads/2006/03/
Writing_3_Activity_1.
pdf and
http://elpweb.com/
materials/wp-content/
uploads/2006/04/
L2%20W%20task1%20
activity3.pdf
and complete the
exercises.
These are interesting
examples of how to
propose simple guided
writing activities.
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
38
References
PENNYCOOK,Alastair Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, 2001.
CANALE, M. and SWAIN, M., Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second
language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1:1-47. , 1980.
Di PIETRO, R. J. Strategic interaction: Learning languages through scenarios. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1987.
GOODMAN, K.. Reading: A psycholinguistic guess game. Journal of the Reading Specialist,
May, 126-135. 1967.
HALLIDAY, M.A.K.Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold, 1973.
KRASHEN, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Pergamon, 1982.
LEWIS, Michael. The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward, LTP Language
Teaching Publication, 1993.
MAGALHES, Helena Maria Gramiscelli. Anglo American Culture. Caderno da UAB, 2011.
RICHARDS, Jack C. & RODGERS, Theodore. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
Cambridge University Press, 2001
Scarcella, R.C., & Oxford, R.L. The Tapestry of Language Learning: The Individual in the
Communicative Classroom. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1992.
TOMALIN, B. and STEMPLESKI S., Cultural Awareness. Oxford University Press, 1996.
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Writing_3_Activity_1.pdf
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/672
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Writing_3_Activity_1.pdf
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/L2%20W%20task1%20activity3.pdf
39
UNIT 4
Theme Unit
Make them hear you
Communicative Functions: reasoning, justifying, stating facts, informing about personal
conditions, expressing anguish and fear, asking for help...
Linguistic strategies: simple past narrative, discourse markers of time and place, linking
words, modals used to indicate possibility and advice, regular and irregular verb forms used to
express feelings and conditions.
Context of Situation: diplomacy and the citizen in trouble.
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
Competencies to be achieved: use specific language to write letters, use modals to
indicate possibility and advice, describe specific conditions and express anguish and fear.
Applicability: Be able to produce formal letters for a specific purpose and in different
contexts of situation.
42
CLUE
Functional Grammar Recall
Narrative in the past
Narratives are usually written in the simple past tense of verbs. The simple past is used
whenever we tell stories, tell of events in a sequence and mention a single event that was
completed in a past time.
Example: The kidnappers agreed to release the hostages when the family paid the
ransom.
Note: The simple present can equally be used in narratives.
b. Rewrite paragraph 2 using simple present narrative.
c. Rewrite these affirmative and negative statements of facts using the simple present
1. We knew nothing about this cocaine.
____________________________________________________________________________
2. The man seemed to be so nice.
____________________________________________________________________________
3. They didnt believe me.
____________________________________________________________________________
4. He explained to the police that we had nothing to do with that smuggling.
____________________________________________________________________________
5. The van that we were riding in was driven by a Canadian.
____________________________________________________________________________
d. Match the columns to find the words or expressions that are similar in meaning.
1. a small truck
2. authority
3. dope smuggling ring
4. on behalf of
5. hidden
6. asking for a ride
7. confessed
8. frightened
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
hitchhiking
van
concealed
official
scared
people who smuggle drugs
for
admitted
e. The word smuggle means bring drug into a country illegally. Other words can be formed
from smuggle by adding suffixes. Lets practice using them accordingly.
Example: Smuggling is a crime.
1. The van driver was a ________________.(smuggler, smuggling, smuggle, smuggled)
2. He was used to _______________ cocaine.(smuggler, smuggle, smuggling, smuggle)
3. The police questioned them for hours: Did you __________that cocaine? (smuggler,
smuggle, smuggling, smuggled)
4. Colombians are famous for ____________ drugs. (smuggling, smuggler, smuggled,
smuggle)
5. He ___________________ drugs for years. Although illegal, that activity made him a
rich man. (smuggling, smuggle, smuggled, smuggler)
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CLUE
GRAMMAR RECALL
Relative Clauses
Relative clauses are used to explain, describe, specify, detail a situation, express
concepts and viewpoints. Who, whom, what, which, where, when or that introduce a
relative clause and refer to a word previously expressed:
The kidnapper, who was arrested, pleaded guilty.
who was arrested = relative clause
who = the kidnapper
communicative function = detail a situation
The city where the police caught them is named Tacaremba.
where the police caught them = relative clause
where = the city
communicative function = indicate place
Relative clauses can be paraphrased by simple sentences containing an adjective.
The kidnapper, who is very intelligent, claimed innocence.
The intelligent kidnapper claimed innocence.
f. Lets practice by completing the sentences below. Use the verbs in parentheses.
Communicative function: expressing concepts.
A cocaine smuggler is a person ____________________________ (smuggle).
Hitchhikers are travelers ____________________________________ (hitchhike).
Prisoners are criminals___________________________________________ (jail).
A policeman is an officer________________________________________ (arrest).
An ambassador is a diplomat _________________________________ (represent).
g. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate relative pronoun: that, what, when, where, who,
whom, which.
The couple in jail said: Smuggling is a crime ________ we did not commit.
A kidnapper is a person _______ takes people as hostages.
The American couple says that they didnt know the friend with___________ they were
travelling was a criminal.
Tourists are now used to visiting the jail ____________ the smugglers were kept.
The van ________ we were riding in was driven by a Canadian man.
Springtime is the time ________ most tourists go to Tacaremba.
44
1. Indicate the paragraphs where these ideas are found so that you have a general mapping
of the text: Paragraph 1, 2, 3 ou 4
Ms. Monte describes the situation in detail. ( )
She explains the reasons for the arrest of the Americans. ( )
The sender asks the Embassy authorities for help. ( )
The sender describes where they are arrested. ( )
Nicole asks the authorities to inform her family about their condition. ( )
The American lady explains how the suspects met the driver of the van.( )
Mr. Montes wife introduces the subject. ( )
Guided Writing
The jumbled text below is the letter the Consul General wrote in reply to the prisoners
request for help. Organize it to produce the actual letter.
Very truly yours, Grant Moore Zimmer. We understand your concern and will do our best to
assure you of a fair trial. Consul. October 22, 1998. At that time, I will give you a list of lawyers.
We shall also try to notify your family. In reply to your letter of October 20, Im writing to let you
know that we have contacted Emlio Gonzles, the Director General of Tacaremba Security. Dear
Ms. Monte. He has arranged for me to visit the prison where you are being held on Monday of
next week. American Embassy. Tacaremba.
Imagine that you are a foreigner in trouble abroad. Write a letter to the Embassy of your
country describing the situation and asking for help. (15 to 20 lines)
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2. Country Profile
Imagine a nation bearing the conditions described below. Based on the information
supplied, how would you rate such a country?
The country is largely dependent on mineral resources and agricultural production.
Men are responsible for family support. Many are not professionally prepared to start a
business of their own.
Women still have domestic roles and some are not allowed to work outside home.
Birth rate is high. Life expectancy: 60 years. Health services are inadequate.
55% literate. Few schools are in the rural areas.
Monetary unit has been slightly devaluated but inflation has been somehow under control
in recent years.
Political prisoners have been recently released but strikes abound and illegal political
movements are still active.
Crime rates are high. Drug abuse is a reality among teenagers and children.
Traffic is a mess. The country does not have a car industry and has lowered the
number of imported cars in recent years.
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Appalling
Use the stars above to rate the country for each of its aspects. Now justify your answers.
Select from the words next to the stars and the others below to create your sentences: because,
as, moreover, however, although, due to.
Teamwork: Using the information in activities I and II, create a profile of your country. Be
prepared to justify your choices.
Source: Neves da Silva, Rosa Maria & Magalhes, Helena Maria Gramiscelli. Reading the
World: COMPREHENSIVE COLLABORATIVE INTERACTION, 2001.
Key to exercises in ANNEX 6
References
NEVES DA SILVA , Rosa Maria & MAGALHES, Helena Maria Grramiscelli. Reading the world:
comprehensive collaborative interaction, 2001.
46
Summary
UNIT 1
This unit contains:
An overview of the concepts, scope, means and purposes of Applied Linguistics;
A discussion about the various definitions of the object of teaching and learning language,
including the nature and scope of language supported by quotes from well-known
researchers.
A brief overview of regional and social dialects.
A discussion of the implications of the various competencies involved in foreign language
learning.
A discussion of the various types of competencies: communicative, grammatical, strategic,
pragmatic, cultural, sociolinguistic.
Activities based on selected texts and cartoons aimed to give you an opportunity to apply
and exercise the foregoing discussions.
UNIT 2
This unit contains:
A broad discussion of the core concepts of learning
A discussion of acquisition and learning as some form of informal and formal foreign
language learning
A discussion of learning and performance strategies used by foreign language learners,
like interference, transfer, overgeneralization, avoidance, overuse, fossilization, error and
mistake, pragmatics.
A discussion of the various learning styles as used by foreign language learners, including
visual, verbal, active, reflective, sensitive and intuitive learners.
A discussion of learning difficulties including an overview of Contrastive Analysis and its
contribution to lesson planning, understanding and previewing learners errors
A discussion of the setting of a new self experienced by foreign language learners,
as a result of having to adjust to a new culture and use proper communicative strategies.
Activities based on selected texts and cartoons aimed to give you an opportunity to apply
and exercise the foregoing discussions.
UNIT 3
This unit contains:
A discussion of the basic notions of approaches, methods, activities, procedures.
A description of the Structural Approach, followed by a detailed overview of the
foundations and scope of the Audio-Lingual Method showing its contribution to foreign
language teaching, the types of activities included: drilling, repetition, gap filling, and the
introduction of the audio-visual lab.
A discussion of the foundations and scope of the communicative approach; communicative
approach as un umbrella term, recommendations of the PCNs,
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UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
A discussion of interactive methods including an overview of the foundations and scope of
Strategic Interaction, as proposed by Robert Di Pietro, including a sample scenario; priority
given to speaking while developing the other skills as support to speaking.
A discussion of the foundations and scope of The Lexical Approach, as proposed by ichael
Lewis; the notion of meaningful chunks; the notion of language as grammaticalized lexis
and not lexicalized grammar; the notion of collocation.
A discussion of a reading approach including the pedagogical reasons supporting the
recommendations of the PCN for the choice of a reading approach to English teaching in
Brazilian schools.
A brief overview of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) as one of the trends under the
Communicative Approach
A discussion of writing, including guided and free writing followed by a suggestion
of activities.
Activities based on selected texts and cartoons covering the various approaches and
methods presented, aimed to give you an opportunity to apply and exercise the foregoing
discussions.
UNIT 4
This unit contains:
A sample lesson prepared to meet the provisions of the PCNs, following the Communicative
Approach, where you learn by completing the activities, preparing a similar unit, and
commenting on the lesson.
48
References
Basic
BRASIL. Secretaria de Ensino Fundamental/MEC. Parmetros Curriculares Nacionais lngua
estrangeira. Braslia, 1998.
JORDO, Clarissa Menezes A lngua estrangeira na formao do indivduo. Paran: UFPR,
2004.
LOPES, Luiz Paulo M. A nova ordem mundial, os parmetros curriculares nacionais e o ensino
de ingls no Brasil: a base intelectual para uma ao poltica. In: BARBARA & RAMOS OLIVEIRA,
Marta Kohl de. Jovens e Adultos como sujeitos de conhecimento aprendizagem. Faculdade
de Educao/USA. XXII Reunio Anual da ANPED, 1999.
Supplementary
BROWN, K. (Editor). Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 2. ed. Oxford: Elsevier, 2005.
BROWN, H.D. Principles of language learning and teaching. New York, Longman,2000.
CANALE, M. and SWAIN, M., (1980), Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to
second language teaching and testing. In: Applied Linguistics 1:1-47.
CORDER, S.P.. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
CORDER, S.P.. Introducing applied linguistics. Middlesex: Penguin, 1973.
DAVIES, Alan & ELDER, Catherine (Ed.) The Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell
Publishing, 2004.
De SAUSSURE, Ferdinand. Cours de linguistique gnrale. Compiled by Charles Bally and
Albert Sechehaye, 1916.
Di PIETRO, Robert J. Strategic Interaction: Learning Languages through Scenarios. Cambridge
Language Teaching Library, 1987.
GOODMAN, K. (1967). Reading: A
theReadingSpecialist, May, 126-135.
psycholinguistic
guess
game. Journal of
GRICE, H.P. Logic and conversation In: COLE, P. & MORGAN, J. (Eds.) Syntax and Semantics.
Volume 3. New York: Academic Press, 1975.
HALLIDAY, M.A.K. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and
Meaning. London: Edward Arnold, 1978.
HALLIDAY, M.A.K. Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold, 1973.
KLEIMAN, A.B. Afinal o que Lingustica Aplicada? In: Intercmbio. So Paulo: LAEL/PUC, 1990.
KRASHEN, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Pergamon, 1982.
LACKMAN, Ken. Lexical Approach Activities: A Revolutionary Way of Teaching, available at.
Disponvel em: http://www.kenlackman.com/files/LexicalActivitiesBook102.pdf. Acesso em: 02
abr. 2012.
49
UAB/Unimontes - 8 Perodo
LEWIS, Michael. The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward. LTP Language
Teaching Publication, 1983.
LEWIS, Michael. Implementing the Lexical Approach: Putting Theory Into Practice. Hove:
Language Teaching Publications,1997.
MAGALHES, Helena Maria Gramiscelli. Anglo American Culture. Caderno Didtico da UAB, 2011.
NEVES DA SILVA, Rosa Maria & MAGALHES, Helena Maria Gramiscelli Reading the World:
comprehensive collaborative interaction, 2001.
NUNAN, David. Collaborative language Learning and Teaching. Cambridge University Press,
1992.
NUNAN, David. Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge University
Press, 1989.
PENNYCOOK, Alastair.Critical Applied Linguistics: a critical introduction. Routledge, 2001.
RICHARDS, Jack C. & RODGERS, Theodore. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
SCARCELLA, R.C., & OXFORD, R.L.. The Tapestry of Language Learning: The Individual in the
Communicative Classroom. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1992.
SELINKER, L. Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209-241, 1972.
STREVENS, P. Applied Linguistics: an overview. In: GRABE, W.; KAPLAN, R.B. Introduction to
Applied Linguistics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, p.13-31.1991.
TOMALIN, B. and Stempleski, S. Cultural Awareness. Oxford University Press, 1996.
TORO, Jos Bernardo. Os cdigos da modernidade. Trad. e adaptao: Antonio Carlos da Costa.
Colmbia: Fundacin Social, 1997.
TRAGER, G. The Field of Linguistics.Norman: Battenberg Press, 1949.
Additional
SOARES, Doris Almeida. Introduo Lingustica Aplicada e sua utilidade para as
pesquisas em sala de aula de lngua estrangeira. Available at: http://www.filologia.org.br/
revista/40suple/introdao_a_linguistica%20.pdf
CELANI, M.A.A. Afinal o que Lingustica Aplicada? In: PASCHOAL, M.S.Z. & CELANI, M.A.A. (Org.)
Lingustica Aplicada: da aplicao de lingustica lingustica transdisciplinar. So Paulo: EDUC.
ERDOAN, Vacide. Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language
Teaching.
Available
at:
http://efd.mersin.edu.tr/dergi/meuefd_2005_001_002/pdf/
meuefd_2005_001_002_0261-0270_erdogan.pdf.
MATTOS E SILVA, Rosa Virgnia. Diversidade e Unidade: A Aventura Lingustica do Portugus.
Disponvel em http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/biblioteca/diversidade.pdf.
KRIEGER, Daniel, Corpus Linguistics: What It Is and How It Can Be Applied to Teaching.
Available at http://iteslj.org/ The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 3, March 2003.
MOITA LOPES, L.P. da. Oficina de Lingustica Aplicada: A natureza social e educacional dos
processos de ensino/aprendizagem. Campinas: Mercado das Letras, 1996.
PIAGET, Jean. A Linguagem e o Pensamento na Criana. Trad. Manuel Campos. Rio de Janeiro:
Fundo de Cultura, 1959.
50
Sites:
Cartoon
Center
for
the
cartoons/2008/10/100308.html
American
Progress:
http://www.americanprogress.org/
http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/biblioteca/diversidade.pdf .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_vocabularies_of_American_English
By Steve Kelley,Times-Picayune: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/
082211 (1) By Nick Anderson: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/
http://www.rumoatolerancia.fflch.usp.br/node/7 Lingustica e Preconceito
http://www.fujishima-h.ed.jp/teacher/materials/American%20Gestures.pdf
http://youtu.be/7Ehnci3fJXs - Popeye Private Eye
http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/xcultcomm.shtml
http://iteslj.org/
http://www.tlumaczenia-angielski.info/linguistics/applied-linguistics.htm
http://efd.mersin.edu.tr/dergi/meuefd_2005_001_002/pdf/meuefd_2005_001_002_0261-0270_
erdogan.pdf
http://serc.carleton.edu/images/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/learning_styles.jpg
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/608/02/
http://www.powershow.com/view/147203-ZGM3Z/Teaching_Techniques_and_Strategies_in_Foreign_
Languages_flash_ppt_presentation
http://www.kenlackman.com/files/LexicalActivitiesBook102.pdf
http://esl.about.com/od/smalltalk/Small_Talk.htm
http://www.mnispi.org/cartoon/2001/index.htm
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Writing_3_Activity_1.pdf
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/672
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Writing_3_Activity_1.pdf
http://elpweb.com/materials/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/L2%20W%20task1%20activity3.pdf
http://www.brainstuck.com/
51
Learning Activities - AA
1) In 500 words provide a brief overview, in English, of what you learned about the scope of
Applied Linguistics.
2) In your opinion, should the teacher give priority to one or more competences in relation to
the others? Explain.
3) Review the concepts of fossilization, interference, transfer, overgeneralization, avoidance,
overuse, simplification and provide five actual English examples of each.
4) How does the choice of methodology impact the development of those competencies?
5) What level of competence should be expected from foreign language learners?
6) How can foreign language users achieve proper interaction?
7) What distinguishes a communicative activity from a non-communicative learning activity?
Create one learning communicative activity and one non-communicative activity that you
could apply in your classroom.
8) Design a communicative lesson giving first priority to speaking.
9) What type of learning evaluation would you propose for your learners? Create a
communicative evaluation activity for your students.
10) Suppose you offer your students this simple question for which you want affirmative
answers: Do you like apples? and you get the following answers:
Yes, I do.
Yes.
Sure.
A lot.
I like apples.
Which answers would you accept if you are using a structural approach to teaching? Which
answers would you accept if you are using a communicative approach to teaching? Are
there right/wrong answers, better/worse, more/less frequently used, more/less formal,
polite/impolite? How would you grade your students?
53
APPENDIX
Annex 1
In this section I have attached a few resources obtained for free download in the Internet.
The idea is to guarantee your access to those resources, as they can be removed from the Web.
When Yes means No or Maybe-- Avoiding Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings in
Global Business
An American businesswoman comes away from a meeting delighted; she finally got her
Japanese supplier to agree to a price. A few days later, she receives questions about price. Its
almost as if she imagined the meeting. Whats going on here? she asks. We agreed on the
price already, didnt we?
The businesswoman recalls all the Um-hmms and Yesses she heard in the meeting. They
agreed to the price, they said yes, she mutters to herself. They even nodded and smiled.
Welcome to the world of intercultural business communication -- a world fraught with
frequent misunderstandings, frayed tempers and mistrust. This American Businesswoman is not
the first or last to feel frustrated in this way. Other people have misunderstood a yes response.
Ways of Communication
The businesswoman needs to understand that irrespective of language, different cultures
communicate in different ways. Good communication American style is to say what you mean
precisely, in as straightforward a manner as possible. Be direct, get to the point, say what the
bottom line is. For other cultures, this style is rude, abrasive and self-centered.
Many cultures--including Japanese, go to great lengths not to be direct. The risk of
disharmony with other group members is too great to be outspoken. Its better to agree to
somebody face and negotiate with them afterwards than to blatantly disagree. In our opening
scenario, the Japanese supplier appeared to say yes, but continued to negotiate a price, days
after the supposed agreement. Direct communicators like Americans in general, consider this
indirectness deceptive, two-faced and lacking in integrity. What do you think?
Goals of Communication
The goals of communication vary across culture and languages. In the US, speech is often
used to demonstrate eloquence, power or lack thereof. The presidential debates are good
examples of this. So too are the expressions For the sake of argument or Ill play the devils
advocate and... But in many Asian cultures, the goal of communication is to achieve consensus
of opinion and to promote group harmony. Yes can mean no, maybe, or even weve got to
think a little more about this and we dont want to fall out with you.
Styles of Communication
So how do you know when yes really means no? Simply listen to the silent messages and
read the invisible words. US culture, with its long tradition of rhetoric, values verbal messages
greatly. Other cultures are more sensitive to non-verbal means of communication, such as:
Body posture;
Hand gestures;
Facial expressions;
Eye contact;
How close people stand to each other.
Misunderstandings and blunders result from failing to recognize and understand many
forms of non-verbal communication. Going back to our opening scenario, the businesswoman
remembers the nods and smiles. But what did they mean in the context of that business
meeting? Not what the American businesswoman thought. They meant disagreement,
displeasure, uncertainty. The lesson to be learnt here is that similar gestures and facial
expressions are often used differently across cultures. The meaning of a smile is not universal.
Neither is a frown. So, avoid misunderstandings in communicating across cultures:
Be conscious of body language and non-verbal messages
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What message is communicated in the smiles, frowns, head movements or silence?
Watch eye contact
Reserve judgment on the correct amount of eye-contact. Some cultures encourage plenty,
others frown upon it. You may have to adjust the amount of eye contact according to the status
of the person youre talking to.
Listen without interrupting
Americans are often considered too talkative. People from other cultures may interpret
many interruptions as disrespectful.
Summarize what you hear often
Keeping in mind point #3, clarify what you think you have heard, rephrasing as simply as
possible.
Speak slowly, enunciate and avoid idioms
Only 5% of the world population speaks English as a first language. You may be doing
business with a person who speaks fluent English but who has difficulty understanding your
accent, the idioms, jargon or slang you use. Remember, the simpler the English, the better.
Source: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/xcultcomm.shtml
Annex 2
56
Annex 3
The Audio-Lingual Method
1. The Audio-Lingual Method
(1)is an oral-based approach.
(2)drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns.
(3)has a strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology.
2. How has the behavioral psychologyinfluenced the Audio-Lingual Method?
(1)It was thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the
target language was through conditioninghelping learners to respond
correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement.
(2)Learners could overcome the habits of their native language and form
the new habits required to be target language speakers.
3. Define a backward build-up drill (expansion drill). State its purpose and
advantages.
(1) Definition: The teacher breaks down a line into several parts. The students
repeat a part of the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then,
following the teachers cue, the students expand what they are repeating
part by part until they are able to repeat the entire line. The teacher begins
with the part at the end of the sentence (and works backward from there) to
keep the intonation of the line as natural as possible. This also directs more
student attention to the end of the sentence, where new information typically
occurs.
(2) Purpose: The purpose of this drill is to break down the troublesome sentence
into smaller parts.
(3) Advantages:
(a) The teacher is able to give the students help in producing the troublesome line.
(b) Having worked on the line in small pieces, the
students are also able to take note
of where each word or phrase begins and ends in the sentence.
4. Define a repetition drill.
Students are asked to listen carefully to the teachers model, and then they have to repeat
and attempt to mimic the model as accurately and as quickly as possible.
5. Define a chain drill. State its advantages.
(1) Definition:The chain of conversation that forms around the room as students, one-byone, ask and answer questions of each other. The teacher begins the chain by greeting a
particular student, or asking him a question. That student responds, and then turns to the
student sitting next to him.
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(2)Advantages:
(A)A chain drill gives students an opportunity to say the lines individually.
(B)The teacher listens and can tell which students are struggling and will need more practice.
(C)A chain drill also lets students use the expressions in communication with someone else,
even though the communication is very limited.
6. Define a single-slot substitution drill. State its purpose.
(1) Definition: The teacher says a line, usually from the dialog. Next, the teacher
says a word or a phrasecalled the cue. The students repeat the line the
teacher
has given them, substituting the cue into the line in its proper place.
(2) Purpose: The major purpose of this drill is to give the students practice in
finding and filling in the slots of a sentence.
7. Define a multiple-slot substitution drill. State its purpose.
This drill is similar to the single-slot substitution drill. The difference is that the teacher gives
cue phrases, one at a time, that fit into different slots in the dialog line. The students must
recognize what part of speech each cue is, or at least, where it fits into the sentence, and
make any other changes, such as subject-verb agreement. They then say the line, fitting the
cue phrase into the line where it belongs.
8. Define transformation drill.
Students are asked to change one type of sentence into anotheran affirmative sentence
into a negative or an active sentence into a passive.
9. Define Question-and-answer drill.
This drill gives students practice with answering questions. The students should answer the
teachers questions very quickly.
10. Define contrastive analysis.
Contrastive analysis is the comparison of two languages (a comparison
between the students native language and the language they are studying).
11. What is the importance of contrastive analysis in the Audio-Lingual
Method?
It helps the teacher to locate the places where s/he anticipates her/his students will have
trouble. Also, a contrastive analysis between the students native language and the target
language will reveal where a teacher should expect the most interference.
12. State the main principles of the Audio-Lingual Method.
1. Language forms do not occur by themselves; they occur most naturally within a
context.
2.
One of the language teachers major roles is that of a model of the target language.
3. Language learning is a process of habit formation.
4. It is important to prevent learners from making errors. Errors lead to the formation of
bad habits.
5. Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits.
6.
Students should overlearn, i.e. learn to answer automatically without stopping to
think.
7. Students should acquire the structural patterns; students will learn vocabulary
afterward.
8. The learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the native
language.
9.
Speech is more basic to language than the written form. The natural order of skill
acquisition is: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
10. Language cannot be separated from culture. Culture is the everyday behavior of the
people who use the target language.
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20. How is evaluation accomplished?
It would be discrete-point in nature, that is, each question on the test would focus on only
one point of the language at a time. Students might be asked to distinguish between words
in a minimal pair, for example, or to supply an appropriate verb form in a sentence.
21. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Student errors are to be avoided if at all possible through the teachers awareness of where
the students will have difficulty and restriction of what they are taught to say.
22. What are the main techniques associated with the Audio-Lingual Method?
23. Discuss as a technique of the Audio-Lingual Method.
1) Dialog memorization
a) Dialogs or short conversations between two people are often used to begin a new lesson.
b) Students memorize the dialog through mimicry.
c) In the Audio-Lingual Method, certain sentence patterns and grammar points are
included within the dialog.
d) These patterns and points are later practiced in drills based on the lines of the dialog.
2) Backward build-up (expansion) drill (see question No. 3)
3) Repetition drill (see question No. 4)
4) Chain drill (see question No. 5)
5) Single-slot substitution drill (see question No. 6)
6) Multiple-slot substitution drill (see question No. 7)
7) Transformation drill (see question No. 8)
8) Question-and-answer drill (see question No. 9)
9) Use of minimal pairs
The teacher works with pairs of words which differ in only one sound; for example, ship/
sheep. Students are first asked to perceive the difference between the two words and later
to be able to say the two words. The teacher selects the sounds to work on after s/he has
done a contrastive analysis.
10) Complete the dialog
Selected words are erased from a dialog students have learned. Students complete the
dialog by filling the blanks with the missing words.
11) Grammar game
Games are used in the Audio-Lingual Method. The games are designed to get students
to practice a grammar point within a context. Students are able to express themselves,
although it is rather limited in this game. There is also a lot of repetition in this game.
24. Highlights of the Audio-Lingual Method.
(1) Language acquisition results from habit formation.
(2) The habits of the native language will interfere with target language learning.
(3) The commission of errors should be prevented as much as possible.
(4) The major focus should be on the structural patterns of the target language.
(5) A dialog is a useful way to introduce new material.
(6) A dialog should be memorized through mimicry of the teachers model.
(7) Structure drills are valuable pedagogical activities.
(8) Working on pronunciation through minimal-pair drills is a worthwhile activity.
60
Annex 4
Teaching Reading: Strategies for Developing Reading Skills
Using Reading Strategies
Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically
transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language
they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going
word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end.
When they do this, students are relying exclusively on their linguistic knowledge, a bottomup strategy. One of the most important functions of the language instructor, then, is to help
students move past this idea and use top-down strategies as they do in their native language.
Effective language instructors show students how they can adjust their reading behavior
to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They help students
develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation.
Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include
Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the
structure and content of a reading selection;
Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and
vocabulary and check comprehension; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to
make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make
predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content;
Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text
structure, confirm or question predictions;
Guessing from context: using prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as
clues to the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up;
Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the
information and ideas in the text.
Instructors can help students learn when and how to use reading strategies in several ways.
By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing, predicting,
skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how the strategies work
and how much they can know about a text before they begin to read word by word.
By allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting activities as
preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class time to these activities
indicates their importance and value.
By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps students
learn to guess meaning from context.
By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them approach
a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what strategies they actually
used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice of strategies.
When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading
experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language.
Reading to Learn
Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports
learning in multiple ways.
Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input. By giving students
a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to
absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in
authentic contexts. Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the
elements of the language work together to convey meaning.
Reading for content information: Students purpose for reading in their native language
is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be
useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content information in the
language classroom gives students both authentic reading material and an authentic
purpose for reading.
Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials that are
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designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and worldviews of
the people whose language they are studying. When students have access to newspapers,
magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and monolithic
cultural stereotypes begin to break down.
When reading to learn, students need to follow four basic steps:
1. Figure out the purpose for reading. Activate background knowledge of the topic in order
to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate reading strategies.
2. Attend to the parts of the text that are relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the
rest. This selectivity enables students to focus on specific items in the input and reduces
the amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory.
3. Select strategies that are appropriate to the reading task and use them flexibly and
interactively. Students comprehension improves and their confidence increases when
they use top-down and bottom-up skills simultaneously to construct meaning.
4. Check comprehension while reading and when the reading task is completed. Monitoring
comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension failures,
helping them learn to use alternate strategies.
Source: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm
Annex 5
English for Specific Purposes: What does it mean? Why is it different?
Laurence Anthony
Dept. of Information and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Okayama 700, Japan
anthony at ice.ous.ac.jp
1. Growth of ESP
From the early 1960s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to become one
of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today. Its development is reflected in the
increasing number of universities offering an MA in ESP (e.g. The University of Birmingham,
and Aston University in the UK) and in the number of ESP courses offered to overseas
students in English speaking countries. There is now a well-established international journal
dedicated to ESP discussion, English for Specific Purposes: An international journal, and
the ESP SIG groups of the IATEFL and TESOL are always active at their national conferences.
In Japan too, the ESP movement has shown a slow but definite growth over the past few years. In
particular, increased interest has been spurred as a result of the Mombushos decision in 1994 to
largely hand over control of university curriculums to the universities themselves. This has led to
a rapid growth in English courses aimed at specific disciplines, e.g. English for Chemists, in place
of the more traditional General English courses. The ESP community in Japan has also become
more defined, with the JACET ESP SIG set up in 1996 (currently with 28 members) and the JALT
N-SIG to be formed shortly. Finally, on November 8th this year the ESP community came together
as a whole at the first Japan Conference on English for Specific Purposes, held on the campus of
Aizu University, Fukushima Prefecture.
2. What is ESP?
As described above, ESP has had a relatively long time to mature and so we would
expect the ESP community to have a clear idea about what ESP means. Strangely, however,
this does not seem to be the case. In October this year, for example, a very heated debate
took place on the TESP-L e-mail discussion list about whether or not English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) could be considered part of ESP in general. At the Japan Conference on ESP
also, clear differences in how people interpreted the meaning of ESP could be seen. Some
people described ESP as simply being the teaching of English for any purpose that could
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4. The Future of ESP
If the ESP community hopes to grow and flourish in the future, it is vital that the community
as a whole understands what ESP actually represents. Only then, can new members join with
confidence, and existing members carry on the practices which have brought ESP to the position
it has in EFL teaching today. In Japan in particular, ESP is still in its infancy and so now is the ideal
time to form such a consensus. Perhaps this can stem from the Dudley-Evans definition given in
this article but I suspect a more rigorous version will be coming soon, in his book on ESP to be
published in 1998. Of course, interested parties are also strongly urged to attend the next Japan
Conference on ESP, which is certain to focus again on this topic.
5. References
Dudley-Evans, Tony (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multidisciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. (Forthcoming)
Hutchinson, Tom & Waters, Alan (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learner-centered
approach. Cambridge University Press.
Johns, Ann M. & Dudley-Evans, Tony (1991). English for Specific Purposes: International in
Scope, Specific in Purpose. TESOL Quarterly 25:2, 297-314.
Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal. In M. Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the
art (1-13). SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Source: http://www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/abstracts/ESParticle.html
Annex 6
Writing and English as a Second Language
Strategies for helping English Language Learners throughout the writing process.
THE WRITING PROCESS AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
The process approach to writing is ideally suited to the second language learner since
listening, speaking, and reading can be so naturally integrated with it.
Pre-writing
Pre-writing is essential for the writer whose first language is not English. Especially at the
lower levels of proficiency, students have a limited lexicon and therefore often have difficulty
expressing their ideas. Therefore, teachers or other students may need to assist second language
students to generate vocabulary and grammatical structures relevant to the topic. Models and
samples are often helpful.
Brainstorming depending on the students level of language, the writing down of ideas
can be done by the teacher or by native English speaking students; the teacher may need to
provide some guidance by asking questions to elicit vocabulary and structures associated
with the selected topic.
Word banks generated by the students or as assigned by the teacher
Drawing and sketching enable students to illustrate ideas for which they do not have the
language
Discussion with native English-speaking peers or with the teacher
Note-taking (often with the use of charts)
Graphic organizers for eliciting, organizing and developing background knowledge
Dictations give learners some alternative models for addressing a writing task
Researching and gather data by viewing videos, reading, talking, interviewing, and
searching reference books or internet
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Proficiency Level
Description
Strategies/Activities
Novice
Intermediate
Advanced
Source: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/672
Annex 7
Key to exercises in Unit 4
Text organization
a. Take out from the text discourse markers that carry the ideas of:
Place - in jail, on the border, in Santa Maria, Tacaremba, in the van, in two small cells, in a cell
duration of time - when
addition - and
purpose - so that
cause because
alternative - perhaps
Guided writing
October 22, 1998.
Dear Ms. Monte.
In reply to your letter of October 20, Im writing to let you know that we have contacted
Emlio Gonzles, the Director General of Tacaremban Security. He has arranged for me to visit the
prison where you are being held on Monday of next week. At that time, I will give you a list of
lawyers.
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__6__
__1__
__5__
__2__
__8__
__3__
__4_
__7__
hitchhiking
van
concealed
official.
scared
people who smuggle drugs
for
admitted
d. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
e.
f. The couple in jail said: Smuggling is a crime that/which we did not commit.
A kidnapper is a person who takes people as hostages.
The American couple say that they didnt know the friend with whom they were
travelling was a criminal.
Tourists are now used to visiting the jail where the smugglers were kept.
The van that we were riding in was driven by a Canadian man.
Springtime is the time when most tourists go to Tacaremba.
Text comprehension
In paragraph 1
In paragraph 2
In paragraph 3
In paragraph 4
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Applicability
Diplomacy and international relations
Diplomacy and territory
Diplomacy and population
Diplomacy and crime
Diplomacy and commerce
Diplomacy and technology
Diplomacy and science
Diplomacy and propaganda
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