Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
PST131J
Semester 1 & 2
Department Language Education,
Arts and Culture
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This tutorial letter contains important information
about your module.
Dear Student
The second semester is drawing to a close and I hope that you are already preparing for the
examinations. I do not discuss the assignments in detail in this tutorial letter, but I share a few ideas
about the teaching of languages.
I want to thank those students who have really made an effort to do the assignments.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Hearing, reading, speaking and writing are language skills that need to be taught. Quite a number of
activities can help learners to acquire these skills.
Reading
Separate the different frames of cartoons and ask learners to work in groups to put the cartoons
together in the correct sequence.
Listening
This includes wordplay, sentence completion, listening to directions, listening to a story told or read by
the teacher, listening to oral instructions or directions and identifying sounds. Invite different speakers to
address your learners about different interesting topics.
Writing
Try our new starting points, encourage discussion during the writing process, encourage a wide range
of writing activities such as keeping a journal and involve learners in self-assessment. Beware of too
much writing. Display learners' work and publish or make a book (a story or poetry) written and
illustrated by the class.
Speaking
Show the learners a cartoon and ask them to pretend they are the characters in the cartoon. In other
words, the learners should interpret the characters in the cartoon and talk to one another without the
original cartoon in front of them. They have to react spontaneously.
PST131J/201
Thinking
We often think of language skills only include listening, speaking, reading and writing. However,
underlying all of these is the ability to think. The ability to think is an important aspect of language.
Experience has taught us that learners improve their ability to think if they have a school programme
rich with challenging and authentic language experiences. A good teacher focuses on the intimate
connection between thinking and language.
The following three examples of activities can help learners to acquire hearing skills:
The learners listen to a song while reading the lyrics of the song. The lyrics should have missing
or wrong words and the learners should fill in the missing words or correct the wrong ones.
The learners listen to a talk by the headmaster or to a discussion on a radio talk show. They
should identify five main points and write them down, or answer questions about what they
have heard.
The learners listen to a talk on the radio and discuss it in their groups afterwards.
Reading logs
When learners use a variety of reading materials in different situations during the day, it may be a good
idea that individual learners keep a reading logbook in which they record what they have read. This
logbook serves as a diary of reading experiences and should be a separate notebook with an index page.
Reading conferences
Teachers should hold regular reading conferences with their learners. Conferences consist mainly
of the following:
Checking and discussing learners' logs, and discussing what they have read or found interesting
Reading the same text silently and discussing it to enable the teacher to assess the learner's
understanding
Reading aloud from familiar material to give the teacher the opportunity to listen as the learner
interprets the text with voice tones, inflections and so forth
Reading aloud from unfamiliar material that contains unknown words and language usage
Undertaking interesting tasks identified by the teacher
Writing at the teacher's request or voluntarily in response to a text that has been read (to share it
with the teacher)
Assessment of reading
The following should be taken into account when you evaluate reading: intonation, reading speed,
fluency, volume and accent.
Assessment of oral competency
Examples of criteria are: participation frequency, fluency, shyness, tentativeness, stuttering,
enthusiasm, politeness, courage, self-confidence, clarity, creativeness, sense of humour, sense
of drama, level of abstract ideas used, and a child's favourite topics chosen to talk about.
Assessment of listening
Ask the following questions: Does the child
Listen respectfully?
PST131J/201
Assessment of writing
Among the factors to be considered are: content, sentence length, types of sentences used,
spelling, vocabulary, effectiveness of communication, punctuation, correctness of language,
sequence of ideas and paragraphing.
Word chain/webbing
Another useful method is to construct a word chain about a topic. This helps to develop and
expand the learners' vocabulary. Write down the theme in the middle of the blackboard. Next
write down words that relate to this theme; each word should warrant its own paragraph. Link
these words to the theme. Next, expand each word. The "chain" can subsequently be used to
write a longer assignment.
Teachers may suggest an ordinary topic (for example "My dog") or a more complicated
one (for example "Volcanoes").
Flashcards
Rover
disappeared
yesterday
afternoon.
My
dog
disappeared
on
the
mountain.
PST131J/201
A LESSON PLAN
The way you start a lesson will determine whether the class pays attention or gets bored. You
have to raise their attention during the first few minutes of the lesson by explaining what you
want them to do. Think of creative ways of starting a lesson.
Bear the learners' existing knowledge in mind when you plan a lesson. If this lesson is a follow-up
lesson, find out what they remember about the previous lesson. Try to link new material to their
prior knowledge or experience. This is why it is such a good idea to choose themes from their
daily lives.
Check completed homework to determine whether they have learned what you wanted them to
learn during the previous lesson. Identify gaps in their knowledge and revise the work to ensure
that they understand it.
Ask yourself the following questions when you are planning the introduction to a lesson:
How can I use the introduction to find out what the class already knows about the new
material?
How can I start the lesson by linking it to the learners' previous experience or existing
knowledge?
How can I use the introduction to build a bridge between their prior knowledge and the
new material I plan to teach them?
How can I raise their interest and how can I motivate them?
Presentation of material
The middle phase forms the largest part of the lesson. During this phase the material is
presented systematically in a logical sequence. When planning the lesson, decide exactly what
you and the learners will do during this phase. Make sure that your planning allows all learners to
participate in the lesson and that all of them are kept actively busy. Remember to follow a
learner-oriented approach instead of a teacher-oriented approach. When you present the lesson,
keep checking whether you still have their attention; make sure you remain on track to reach
your objectives. Everything you do has to be planned carefully. If you note that the class does not
understand the work or that some learners are struggling to follow you, there is no point in
proceeding according to plan: you have to take action immediately. In other words, always have
a plan B ready.
Teachers should know precisely what they want to say or do, how much time should be allocated
to activities, how the learners should be motivated and what the learners should do. If your
planning meets these requirements, the lesson will succeed.
It gives you the necessary feedback on what they have learned and what comes next. An
assessment will show you whether your objectives have been achieved or not.
It gives the learners the feedback they need to pinpoint their successes and failures.
It helps you to understand your class, their abilities and their needs.
It motivates and encourages the class. The learners can be given an oral test to find out
whether they followed the main outlines of the lesson. The teacher can check whether
anything was not clearly understood and perhaps remedy any shortcomings right away.
PST131J/201
You can also give a homework assignment, which you can mark the following day. Homework
assignments should be given due thought. They usually fall into one of three categories: (1)
preparatory activities, (2) extensions of classroom activities and (3) practical reinforcement or
drill. If you want a class to do preparatory activities, practise role-play or prepare for a reading
lesson, give clear instructions and explain why it is important to do the preparation.
REVIEWING
After you have planned and presented a lesson, you have to review it. Ask yourself the following
questions:
Did some of them learn nothing at all? What can I do to help them?
Did they have an opportunity to apply the new vocabulary, syntax and language functions I
had taught them?
The following information about the format of the examination paper are of the utmost importance.
The examination paper consists of FOUR questions.
There are no choices. All four questions are compulsory.
Question 1 (multiple-choice questions) = 20 marks
Question 2 = 25 marks
Question 3 = 30 marks
Question 4 = 25 marks
The question paper is one two-hour paper.
Some questions require factual knowledge, for example knowledge of the principles of the
communicative approach.
Other questions are open-ended questions, where you have to give your own examples such as a
lesson plan or flash cards.
The questions may be similar to (but not the same as) the questions in your assignments.
Write clearly and legibly.
Number your answers correctly in accordance with the numbering system used on the examination
paper.
Please remember to enter the numbers of the questions in the column on the front page of the
examination script.
Keep your answers brief and to the point.
Answer only what is expected of you.
Make sure that you give facts were applicable; do not generalise.
10
PST131J/201
Nativist theory
Individual have capacity for learning but no Nativism essentially says that we have an
specific capacity for language learning
thoroughly as we do
the
You can use the following headings when you plan a lesson:
Topic/theme
Learning outcomes
Teaching media
Pre-knowledge
Introduction
Teacher activities
Learner activities
Conclusion
Assessment
Question 3
How to make a word freeze
Collect a set of pictures
Find matching words
Cut them out and put them into envelopes
Separate the words and the pictures
Play the game in pairs
Pictures and words are placed face up between the two players
Question 4
a. Reasons for listening
9 comprehension
9 giving instructions
9 identification and discrimination of sound
9 selecting and rejecting note taking
9 role play
12
PST131J/201
YES
NO
Good luck with the examinations. Please contact me if you have any problems while preparing for the
examinations.
Best regards
Dr MJ Taole
Tel: 012 429 3541 (w)
E-mail: taolemj@unisa.ac.za
13