Oxford's teachhing methods of english language

Oxford's teachhing methods of english language

Contents

|Contents |2 |

|Introduction |3 |

|Theory part: The use of games |4 |

| Note-taking |10 |

|Practical part : Grammar games: |14 |

|Speed |14 |

|Spot the differences |15 |

|Tipycal questions |16 |

|Achievements |16 |

|Reported advioce |17 |

|Picture the past |18 |

|Impersonating members of a set |18 |

|No backshift |19 |

|Incomparable |20 |

|One question behind |20 |

|Sit down then |22 |

|Only if |22 |

|Two-word verbs |23 |

|The world of take |25 |

|A dictionary game |26 |

|Eyes |27 |

|Umbrella |28 |

|Listening to time |29 |

|Guess my grammar |30 |

|Puzzle stories |30 |

|Word ordwer dictation |31 |

|Grammar lessons taking notes: |33 |

|Passive voice |33 |

|Context and meaning |34 |

|Subject matter note taking |36 |

|Conclusion |37 |

|References |38 |

Introduction

This course work presents two teaching methods widely approved in

Oxfrord Universities: grammar and vocabulary games and the variations of

taking notes during the lesson.

Both of methods are embodied in the theory and practical part. As a

theory part I give research works of professional lavguage teachers who

studied the methods they considered as useful and effective and put their

opinion and reseach works on the press. I’m very grateful to them for

sharing their experiences with us. So this part of my work describes the

method itself, gives tests proving its effectiveness and touches some

problem spots of it. Next I offer practical part containing examples of

taking these methods in the classroom.

None of these methods presented here is any brand new discovery for the

language teacher. Every teacher used to practice them in his/her work,

there’s only a try to add something new to well known and allegedebly usual

techiques (like note-taking), to study them deeper and show more

interesting and useful side of them. In short words some suggestions to

make them work better.

The reason I’ve chosen this theme is the wish to know more about how to

make the lesson more interesting and useful at the same time. I’ve

benefitted much by collectiong and studing all this material I present here

and hope you’ll find this work worth reviewing.

The Use of Games

For Vocabulary Presentation and Revision

by Agnieszka Uberman

|Vocabulary acquisition is increasingly viewed as |

|crucial to language acquisition. However, there is |

|much disagreement as to the effectiveness of |

|different approaches for presenting vocabulary |

|items. Moreover, learning vocabulary is often |

|perceived as a tedious and laborious process. |

|In this article I would like to examine some |

|traditional techniques and compare them with the |

|use of language games for vocabulary presentation |

|and revision, in order to determine whether they |

|are more successful in presenting and revising |

|vocabulary than other methods. |

|From my teaching experience I have noticed how |

|enthusiastic students are about practising language|

|by means of games. I believe games are not only fun|

|but help students learn without a conscious |

|analysis or understanding of the learning process |

|while they acquire communicative competence as |

|second language users. |

Vocabulary teaching techniques

There are numerous techniques concerned with vocabulary presentation.

However, there are a few things that have to be remembered irrespective of

the way new lexical items are presented. If teachers want students to

remember new vocabulary, it needs to be learnt in context, practised, and

then revised to prevent students from forgetting. We can tell the same

about grammar.Teachers must make sure students have understood the new

words, which will be remembered better if introduced in a "memorable way".

Bearing all this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ a variety of

techniques for new vocabulary presentation and revision.

Gairns and Redman (1986) suggest the following types of vocabulary

presentation techniques:

1. Visual techniques. These pertain to visual memory, which is considered

especially helpful with vocabulary retention. Learners remember better

the material that has been presented by means of visual aids. Visual

techniques lend themselves well to presenting concrete items of

vocabulary-nouns; many are also helpful in conveying meanings of verbs

and adjectives. They help students associate presented material in a

meaningful way and incorporate it into their system of language

values.

2. Verbal explanation. This pertains to the use of illustrative

situations, synonymy, opposites, scales (Gairns and Redman ),

definition (Nation) and categories (Allen and Valette ).

3. Use of dictionaries. Using a dictionary is another technique of

finding out meanings of unfamiliar words and expressions. Students can

make use of a variety of dictionaries: bilingual, monolingual,

pictorial, thesauri, and the like. As French Allen perceives them,

dictionaries are "passports to independence," and using them is one of

the student-centered learning activities.

Using games

The advantages of using games. Many experienced textbook and methodology

manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities

but have a great educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most language

games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the

correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not

peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. A similar opinion is

expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns against

overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language

teaching. There are many advantages of using games. "Games can lower

anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely" (Richard-Amato).

They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students

more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen). They also

enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which

are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote

Richard-Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities,"

break the ice, "[but also] they are used to introduce new ideas". In the

easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember

things faster and better (Wierus and Wierus ). Further support comes from

Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way of practising language, for

they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real

life in the future.

Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of

these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see

beauty in a foreign language and not just problems .

Choosing appropriate games. There are many factors to consider while

discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very

careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the

learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must

correspond to either the student's level, or age, or to the material that

is to be introduced or practised. Not all games are appropriate for all

students irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various

topics, materials, and modes of games. For example, children benefit most

from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing

between groups and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practise or

reinforce a certain grammatical aspect of language have to relate to

students' abilities and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the

task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student'sexperience.

Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time

necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but according

to Siek-Piskozub, the teacher can either allocate more or less time

depending on the students' level, the number of people in a group, or the

knowledge of the rules of a game etc.

When to use games. Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when

there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a

game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments

when the teacher and class have nothing better to do". Games ought to be at

the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be used

at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully

chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher's aims connected

with a game may vary:

1. Presentation. Provide a good model making its meaning clear;

2. Controlled practise. Elicit good imitation of new language and

appropriate responses;

3. Communicative prastice. Give students a chance to use the language .

Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners

recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in

this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and

entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and

implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote

communicative competence, and generate fluency. However, can they be more

successful for presentation and revision than other techniques? The

following part of this article is an attempt at finding the answer to this

question.

The use of games for presenting and revising vocabulary

Vocabulary presentation. After the teacher chooses what items to teach,

Haycraft suggests following certain guidelines. These include teaching the

vocabulary "in spoken form first" to prevent students from pronouncing the

words in the form they are written, placing the new items in context, and

revising them..I shall now proceed to present practical examples of games I

have used for vocabulary introduction and revision.

Description of the groups. For the purpose of vocabulary presentation, I

chose two groups of third form students. With one of them I used a

presentation game and with the other translation and context guessing. In

both groups, students' abilities varied-ranging from those whose command of

English was very good, able to communicate easily using a wide range of

vocabulary and grammatical structures, and those who found it difficult to

communicate.

After covering the first conditional and time clauses in the textbook, I

decided to present students with a set of idioms relating to bodily parts-

mainly those connected with the head (taken from The Penguin Dictionary of

English Idioms ). The choice of these expressions was determined by

students' requests to learn colloquial expressions to describe people's

moods, behavior, etc. Moreover, in one of the exercises the authors of the

textbook called for examples of expressions which contain parts of the

body. For the purpose of the lesson I adapted Gear and Gear's "Vocabulary

Picture-Puzzle" from the English Teaching Forum (1988). Students were to

work out the meanings of sixteen idiomatic expressions. All of them have

Polish equivalents, which made it easier for students to remember them.

Description of vocabulary picture-puzzle

To prepare the puzzle, I cut two equal-sized pieces of cardboard paper into

rectangles. The selected idioms were written onto the rectangles in the

puzzle-pieces board and their definitions on the game board. On the reverse

side of the puzzle-pieces board, I glued colorful photographs of landscapes

and then cut the puzzle-pieces board into individual pieces, each with an

idiom on it. The important thing was the distribution of the idioms and

their definitions on the boards. The definitions were placed in the same

horizontal row opposite to the idioms so that when put together face to

face each idiom faced its definition.

Puzzle Pieces Board

The idioms and their definitions were the following (all taken from The

Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms p.77):

1. to be soft in the head: foolish, not very intelligent;

2. to have one's hair stand on end: to be terrified;

3. to be two-faced: to agree with a person to his face but disagree with

him behind his back;

4. to make a face: to make a grimace which may express disgust, anger;

5. to be all eyes: to be very attentive;

6. to be an eye-opener: to be a revelation;

7. to be nosy: to be inquisitive, to ask too many questions;

8. to be led by the nose: to be completely dominated by, totally

influenced by;

9. long ears: an inquisitive person who is always asking too many

questions;

10. to be all ears: to listen very attentively;

11. to be wet behind the ears: to be naive, inexperienced;

12. a loose mouth: an indiscrete person;

13. one's lips are sealed: to be obliged to keep a secret;

14. to have a sweet tooth: to have a liking for sweet food, sugar, honey,

ice cream, etc.;

15. to grind one's teeth: to express one's fury;

16. to hold one's tongue: to say nothing, to be discrete;

The task for students. Work out the puzzle by matching the idioms and

their definitions. First, put puzzle-pieces on the desk with the word

facing up. Take one and match the idiom to the definition. Having done

that, place the puzzle-piece, word-side-up, in the chosen rectangle. When

you have used up all the pieces, turn them over. If they form a picture of

a landscape, the choices are correct. If not, rearrange the picture and

check the idiom-definition correspondences.

The game objectives. To work out the puzzle, students had to match

idioms with their definitions. The objective of the game was for each pair

to cooperate in completing the activity successfully in order to expand

their vocabulary with, in this case, colloquial expressions.

All students were active and enjoyed the activity. Some of their

comments were as follows: "Very interesting and motivating" "Learning can

be a lot of fun" etc.

Students also had to find the appropriate matches in the shortest time

possible to beat other participating groups. The element of competition

among the groups made them concentrate and think intensively.

Translation activity. The other group of students had to work out the

meanings of the idioms by means of translation. Unlike the previously

described group, they did not know the definitions. The expressions were

listed on the board, and students tried to guess their proper meanings

giving different options. My role was to direct them to those that were

appropriate. Students translated the idioms into Polish and endeavored to

find similar or corresponding expressions in their mother tongue. Unlike

the game used for the purpose of idiom introduction, this activity did not

require the preparation of any aids. Fewer learners participated actively

or enthusiastically in this lesson and most did not show great interest in

the activity.

Administering the test. In order to find out which group acquired new

vocabulary better, I designed a short test, for both groups containing a

translation into English and a game. This allowed learners to activate

their memory with the type of activity they had been exposed to in the

presentation.

The test checking the acquisition of newly-introduced reading vocabulary

I. Match the definitions of the idioms with the pictures and write

which idiom is depicted and described:

1. to be inexperienced

2. to listen very attentively

3. to be terrified

4. to be dominated by someone

5. to be attentive

6. to be insincere, dishonest

The proper answers are the following:

1. d ., to be wet behind the ears

2. a ., to be all ears

3. e ., to have one's hair stand on end

4. f ., to be led by the nose

5. b ., to be all eyes

6. c ., to be two-faced.

II. Translate into English (the translated sentences should be the

following):

1. He is soft in the head.

2. She is two-faced, always criticizes me behind my back.

3. Mark has a sweet tooth, so he is not too slim.

4. Will you hold your tongue if I tell you something?

5. Why are you such a loose mouth?

6. Don't be nosy! This is none of your business.

Analysis of the results. Group I received an average mark of 3.9 as

compared to 3.4 obtained by group II. In other words, the group which had

learned vocabulary through games performed significantly better. However,

it is especially interesting and surprising that group II also received

high scores for the game. Even though learners in group I had the material

presented by means of translation, most students got better marks for the

game.

Summing up. Even though the results of one activity can hardly lead to

informative conclusions, I believe that the results suggest that the use of

games for presentation of new vocabulary is very effective and enjoyable

for students. Despite the fact that the preparation of a game may be time-

consuming and suitable material may be hard to find, teachers should try to

use them to add diversion to presentational techniques.

Revising vocabulary

Many sources referred to in this article emphasise the importance of

vocabulary revision. This process aims at helping students acquire active,

productive vocabularies. Students need to practise regularly what they have

learnt; otherwise, the material will fade away. Teachers can resort to many

techniques for vocabulary consolidation and revision. To begin with, a

choice of graphs and grids can be used. Students may give a definition of a

given item to be found by other students. Multiple choice and gap filling

exercises will activate the vocabulary while students select the

appropriate response. Teachers can use lists of synonyms or antonyms to be

matched, sentences to be paraphrased, or just some words or expressions in

context to be substituted by synonymous expressions. Doing cloze tests will

show students' understanding of a passage, its organisation, and determine

the choice of lexical items. Visual aids can be of great help with

revision. Pictures, photographs, or drawings can facilitate the

consolidation of both individual words as well as idioms, phrases and

structures. There is also a large variety of word games that are "useful

for practising and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced"

(Haycraft). Numerous puzzles, word squares, crosswords, etc., are useful

especially for pair or group work.

I shall now present the games I have used for vocabulary revision.

Description of the group. I gave teachers a questionnaire to determine

their view of using games for vocabulary teaching. In response to the

questionnaire, many teachers said they often used games for vocabulary

revision. Some claimed they were successful and usually more effective than

other methods. To see if this is really true, I decided to use a crossword

puzzle with a group of first year students.

The crossword puzzle. After completing a unit about Van Gogh, students

wanted to expand their vocabulary with words connected with art. The

students compiled lists of words, which they had learnt. In order to revise

the vocabulary, one of the groups had to work out the crossword puzzle.

Students worked in pairs. One person in each pair was provided with part A

of the crossword puzzle and the other with part B. The students' task was

to fill in their part of the puzzle with the missing words known to their

partner. To complete the activity, learners had to ask each other for the

explanations, definitions, or examples to arrive at the appropriate

answers. Only after getting the answer right could they put it down in the

suitable place of their part of the crossword. Having completed the puzzle,

students were supposed to find out what word was formed from the letters

found in the shaded squares.

Students enjoyed the activity very much and did not resort to

translation at any point. They used various strategies to successfully

convey the meanings of the words in question-e.g., definitions, association

techniques, and examples. When everyone was ready, the answers were checked

and students were asked to give examples of definitions, explanations,

etc., they had used to get the missing words.

The other group performed a similar task. Students were to define as

follows:

I. Define the following words: shade, icon, marker, fresco, perspective,

hue, daub, sculptor, still life, watercolor, palette, background.

II. Find the words these definitions describe:

1. a public show of objects

2. a variety of a colour

3. a wooden frame to hold a picture while it is being painted

4. a pale or a delicate shade of a colour

5. a picture of a wide view of country scenery

6. an instrument for painting made of sticks, stiff hair, nylon

7. a painting, drawing, or a photograph of a real person

8. a piece of work, especially art which is the best of its type or the

best a person has made

9. painting, music, sculpture, and others chiefly concerned with

producing beautiful rather than useful things

10. a line showing the shape (of something)

11. a person who is painted, drawn, photographed by an artist

12. a picture made with a pen, pencil, etc.

Analysis of results. The results show that the crossword puzzle, though

seemingly more difficult since it required the knowledge of words and their

definitions and not mere recognition and matching, was easier for 27.4% of

the learners and granted them more points for this part of the test. For

the majority of the students (nearly 60%) both activities proved equally

easy and out of the group of thirteen, eleven students had the highest

possible score.

Summing up

These numbers suggest that games are effective activities as a technique

for vocabulary revision. Students also prefer games and puzzles to other

activities. Games motivate and entertain students but also help them learn

in a way which aids the retention and retrieval of the material (This is

what the learners stated themselves).

However, the numbers also show that not everyone feels comfortable with

games and puzzles and not everyone obtains better results.

Although one cannot overgeneralise from one game, student feedback

indicates that many students may benefit from games in revision of

vocabulary.

Conclusions

Recently, using games has become a popular technique exercised by many

educators in the classrooms and recommended by methodologists. Many

sources, including the ones quoted in this work, list the advantages of the

use of games in foreign language classrooms. Yet, nowhere have I found any

empirical evidence for their usefulness in vocabulary presentation and

consolidation.

Though the main objectives of the games were to acquaint students with new

words or phrases and help them consolidate lexical items, they also helped

develop the students' communicative competence.

From the observations, I noticed that those groups of students who

practised vocabulary activity with games felt more motivated and interested

in what they were doing. However, the time they spent working on the words

was usually slightly longer than when other techniques were used with

different groups. This may suggest that more time devoted to activities

leads to better results. The marks students received suggested that the fun

and relaxed atmosphere accompanying the activities facilitated students'

learning. But this is not the only possible explanation of such an outcome.

The use of games during the lessons might have motivated students to work

more on the vocabulary items on their own, so the game might have only been

a good stimulus for extra work.

Although, it cannot be said that games are always better and easier to cope

with for everyone, an overwhelming majority of pupils find games relaxing

and motivating. Games should be an integral part of a lesson, providing the

possibility of intensive practise while at the same time immensely

enjoyable for both students and teachers. My research has produced some

evidence which shows that games are useful and more successful than other

methods of vocabulary presentation and revision. Having such evidence at

hand, I wish to recommend the wide use of games with vocabulary work as a

successful way of acquiring language competence.

Note-taking

A Useful Device

by Clara Perez Fajardo

Has it ever happened that you read or listen to something, and

shortly afterwards when you want to recall it, you can only remember

a small part? Have you ever thought of how many interesting ideas you

have missed, just because you have not taken a few seconds to note

them down as they occurred to you? Everyday happenings pass through

time and can never be recalled again if they are not recorded either

on a tape or with a video camera. But, not many of us have these

devices always handy. What we do have available is a simple sheet of

paper, a pencil, and our five senses. Taking notes on what takes

place not only permits us to remember but also facilitates our oral

and written communication.

Regardless of their age or level, students tend to rely too much on

their memory, instead of taking notes. For this reason, I began

devising different tasks which demand the recall of facts that the

students would have only if they had taken notes. The results have

motivated me to do further research on the topic through interviews,

reading, and analysis-all the time noting down the information I was

obtaining.

The note-taking process

In order to reconstruct a complete account of what one perceives through

listening, reading, observing, discussing, or thinking, it is necessary to

take notes either simultaneously with the act of perception or after an

interval of just a few seconds. We cannot expect to remember everything we

perceive, and despite the advantages of training our memory, it is better

to have notes taken at the moment things happen.

Language educators have approached note-taking from different perspectives.

McKeating (1981) sees note-taking as a complex activity which combines

reading and listening with selecting, summarizing, and writing.

Grellet (1986) advises helping students to establish the structure of a

text so they can pull out the key ideas and leave out nonessential

information. Nwokoreze (1990) believes that "it is during the note-taking

stage that students reach the highest level of comprehension."

Two main aspects concerning note-taking:

It involves the combination of different skills, i.e.; listening or

reading, selecting, summarizing, and writing.

It requires the selection of relevant information from the nonessential.

Moreover, most authors see note-taking as a complex activity which must be

approached gradually. When teaching the skill, Raimes suggests that

elementary-level students can be given a skeleton outline to work with when

they take notes, so that their listening is more directed. Advanced

students can listen to longer passages and make notes as they listen.

Murray refers to a "rehearsal for writing," which begins as an unwritten

dialogue within the writer's mind: what the writer hears in his/her head

evolves into notes. This may be simple brainstorming-the jotting down of

random bits of information which may connect themselves into a pattern

later on.

Note-taking involves putting onto paper the data received through any of

our senses. These data could range from simple figures, letters, symbols,

isolated words, or brief phrases to complete sentences and whole ideas.

Most teachers instruct students to take notes while perceiving . However,

Nwokoreze insists on the need for first listening long enough to make sure

the essence of the information is perceived before taking notes. The

decision on whether the notes are to be taken at the moment of perception

or shortly afterwards depends on the complexity of the task and the ability

of the note-taker. Consequently, if we are to take notes with figures,

letters, or single words to fill in a pre-designed skeleton, we can do it

at the same time we receive the information; whereas notes which require

selection, summarizing, and organization ought to be taken later.

Guided note-taking

As teachers, we must decide what sort of help our students need for every

task we assign. The guidance we give for taking notes will depend on

various aspects. One of them is language level. Raimes suggests providing

beginners with a skeleton outline to fill in or expand to make their

listening more directed. She also proposes letting the advanced students

listen to longer passages and make notes as they listen.

Guidance provided will depend on the degree of difficulty of the task

involved. The reasons for taking notes and the follow-up activities are

also important. If the students only take notes of simple figures, letters,

or single words as the basis for a discussion to take place immediately,

they will not need much guidance. But if they are supposed to take notes of

a higher complexity to use in writing a report for homework, they will need

more preparation.

Using note-taking in our classes

Assuming an extreme position when defining the concept of note-taking, we

can say that even checking or ticking items on a list is a form of note-

taking, as long as what students have to "tick" represents the content of

the reading or listening passage. If we give students a multiple-choice

exercise, a list, or Yes/No questions, and ask them only to tick the

correct answer, they will be taking notes. This could be considered the

most basic form of note-taking. Nevertheless, if we analyze the task in

detail, we find it is not as simple as it seems. To answer accurately, the

students will first have to understand the statements and determine whether

their choices are correct or not. Furthermore, they have to predict and

speculate about what they are going to perceive.

When revising any topic we may practice it and use this technique giving

students a skeleton to fill in while listening. Example:

|Hypertension |

|Instructions: |

|Listen to the interview with the patient and tick (v) the correct |

|answer: |

|Patient's |Mrs. Kelly. | |

|name: | | |

|Main |high blood pressure headache | |

|Symptoms: | | |

| |dizziness | | |

|Other |obesity |blurred vision | |

|Symptoms: | | | |

| |trouble breathing |swollen ankles | |

| |urinary problems |pain in the back | |

| |chills and fever | | |

|Past |heart disease |chest pain | |

|History: | | | |

| |kidney infection | | |

|Family |hypertension |diabetes | |

|History | | | |

| |kidney disease |stroke | |

| |heart attack | | |

|Any other information? |

With this last question, we are prompting the students to note down

other information, not limiting them only to what the chart asks for. Not

all the students will be able to take further notes, but the most skilled

will not get bored while their classmates are engaged at a more elementary

level.

Another instance that calls for note-taking is reporting on medical cases.

To do this, the class may be divided into teams of three or four students.

Each team prepares a case for the others to analyze. One variant would be

having each team first brainstorm, then prepare a skeleton outline with the

sort of information they need the other team to provide in order to write a

full case report. Once ready, they exchange skeletons, brainstorm again,

and note down the information the skeleton forms ask for. The teams should

give neither the diagnosis nor the treatment. As soon as they finish, they

swap these "problem-cases," analyze them, and confer on the diagnosis,

treatment, and prognosis of the patient. Next, they write a full case

report that everyone reads and discusses. The class then moves around,

reads, and comments on them. Finally, they decide which of the skeleton

forms are better and which reports are the most coherent and faithful to

the information provided.

A simpler variant would be having each team ask for the information orally

from one another, take notes on it and then report on the case orally or in

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