3 Potential problems
o Are there any special difficulties related to the structure’s form or meaning? An example of a difficult form is should not have had, as in I shouldn’t have had that third piece of cake – with its number of ‘parts’ and the double name. There may be difficulties of pronunciation, depending on the first language of your students. Structures which contain problematic sounds such as /ə/ or /θ/ will need special attention. An example of a difficulty of meaning is needn’t have + past participle, especially when confused with didn’t need to: or I used to do … and I was used to doing…
o Can the language structure be confused with any other item in English, or with an item in the students’ mother tongue?
How do you decide what approach to take?
Once you have decided what structure to teach, the way you aid the students’ understanding and practice the language can depend on a number of factors:
o Whether the structure is completely new, is familiar to at least some of the students but has not been focused on before, or has been presented before and is now being revised. Generally, the less familiar the language item the more controlled practice you need;
o the nature of the language: for example, whether it is the meaning and use or the form which is complex. The use of the present perfect is difficult to grasp for man students (I’ve been here since 3 o‘clock – where in many languages it would be I am here since 3 o’clock). On the other hand, it is the complexity of the form rather than the meaning of the third conditional, with its many ‘parts’, which generally causes difficulty (If my alarm clock hadn’t been broken I wouldn’t have been late for the lecture);
o Whether the structure is more likely to be written or spoken. Some structures are mainly found in the written form and do not lend themselves to spoken practice activities – for example, this sentence from a formal letter: I enclose ((the invoice/brochure/estimate). On the other hand, the students need practice in saying such utterances as It’s a great (party/day/show), isn’t it?
o the student:
- their level;
- their age;
- whether you can or want to use their mother tongue for explanation;
- the attitude of the group – how confident the students are, whether they feel they already ‘know’ the language item, etc;
- their language-learning background and expectations of how language is presented – whether, for example, they expect ‘traditional’ teacher-centered approach;
- Their preferred language-learning style – for example, some students like to study grammar in an overt way while others (particularly children) are not interested in talking about the language and using such labels as gerund or demonstrative adjective.
What approaches can be used to present or revise language structure?
There are a number of different approaches. The factors mentioned in the previous section will help you decide what kind of approach to take – different ways may be suitable, depending on the students and the language being dealt with. One of the ways in which the approaches differ is in the amount and type of practice activities used: for certain language items and with certain students much more controlled practice is required, whereas on other occasions the practice can be freer. It’s also important to remember that a variety of approach is interesting and motivating for students – so it’s a good idea to try to vary the ways you present and practise language.
Visual/oral contexts
Pictures, mime and realia can be used to illustrate the meaning and to establish a context in which the target structure is set. Often the context is built up orally by the teacher with the help of visual aids and elicitation from the students.
Example
To present:
Structure: past simple – some irregular verbs: went, had, fell, broke, took, was/were
Function/use: telling a story/anecdote (about a skiing accident)
Visual aids: a postcard of a ski resort and a series of hand-drawn pictures showing ‘me’, the teacher (I went skiing/I fell/ I broke my leg/ They took me to hospital/ I was in hospital for Christmas) and the scar on the teacher’s leg!
The teacher can introduce the topic by showing the postcard and asking if any of the students know the resort, etc, and by establishing that this happened in the past – last year, just before Christmas.
By showing the pictures and by mime the teacher elicits any words the students know, tells the story and introduces the target language (i.e. the past simple of irregular verbs). After the context has been established the verbs are highlighted and practised. (For a further example of this type of lesson, see What are the possible stages in a lesson using he inductive approach? on p. 136.)
When is it useful to present language through a visual/oral context?
The introduction of structures in this way is often used:
· if the students are at a low level and the teacher wants to keep extraneous language to a minimum;
· if the students are young and would not be so interested in an overt focus on the grammar rules of the language item;
· if the meaning and use of the language is complex and so clear, simple, but generative context is needed: you can create a context which provides a number of examples of the target language, which allows students to have plenty of controlled practice;
· if a single language item is being introduced;
· if you want to create a context that the students can relate to: if the situation is personalized in some way it will be more interesting and memorable to the students;
· if you want the situation to be unambiguous (unless there is a good reason to be ambiguous).
What are the disadvantages of this approach?
o The language can be contrived and artificial.
o It can be time-consuming to set up a new context for each new language item (although often ‘mini-contexts’ can be set up to illustrate the meaning of two or three words – see Section 2: Vocabulary).
o It is quite teacher-centered, as the teacher is ‘up-front’ at the beginning of the lesson.
o It demands a lot from the teacher by way of a ‘performance’.
o Higher level and/or older students may feel this approach is ‘less serious’ than one which explains the ‘rule’ at the start, as described below.
Texts
As was pointed out in Chapter 5, as well as providing a means of practising listening and reading skills, texts can provide a natural context for language exploration and a pool from which particular language items and structures can be drawn, analyzed and practised. The texts can be very varied: reading texts such as newspaper and magazine articles, stories, biographies, information leaflets and booklets, letters, reports, notices, etc; listening texts such as conversations, interviews, short talks, radio or television programmes, songs, etc. Texts which are intrinsically interesting and which give the students something to communicate about are especially useful as a vehicle for introducing and practising language.
Clearly, written texts provide a more suitable context for language which is mostly found in the written form: for example, I look forward to … (your reply/our meeting/ receiving your estimate) – as in a formal letter. And listening texts are more useful for introducing language which is generally spoken, for example: See you …(later, soon, tomorrow, net week, etc).
When is it useful to present language through texts?
The presentation of language in this way is often used:
o when students are of intermediate level and above. Because the texts from which the language is taken are often authentic or adapted from authentic material, this way is especially suitable for students who already have some language.Authentic texts give exposure to language as a whole and not just grammatical structures in isolation, providing opportunities for natural acquisition of less familiar language as well as learning/studying of the focus language area;
o if the meaning and use of the structure is complex and the meaning of the new item is clearly illustrated by the context present in the text;
o if the new structure is being introduced in contrast with language which is already familiar and which is also present in the text;
o if a number of items are being introduced – perhaps several exponents of a function (for example, several ways of giving advice in a conversation between friends);
o if the structure has been encountered before. A way of revising language is to take it from a new and interesting context. Texts can always contain new vocabulary, even if the structures have been met before. This helps get over the ‘not the past simple again!’. Problem – i. e. when students need revision of areas that they have practised before and feel they are not making progress;
o if you want the presentation and practice of a particular structure to be integrated naturally into skills work. The language item can be drawn from a reading or listening text, isolated and focused upon, and then practised naturally in, for example, a speaking or writing tasks where the structure can get used more freely;
o when you use the students’ coursebook. Many modern coursebooks contain texts chosen (or adapted) from authentic material to illustrate particular structures which fit into the structural syllabus of the course.
Are there any problems in using texts for presenting language?
If they are not available in the coursebook it isn’t always easy to find authentic texts or to create texts which contain natural examples of the structure you want to introduce, particularly if the surrounding language is to be of the ‘right’ level, i. e. ‘comprehensible’. For this reason it’s not so easy to introduce language through texts to lower level students. Texts which are specially written to illustrate the target language and which are simple enough for the students to cope with are often very contrived and unnatural.
However, this approach should not be ruled out. If they are well chosen, there is no reason why short authentic, or at least ‘semi-authentic’ or simplified texts. Should not be used with low-level students. You may have to adapt a reading text or construct a semi-authentic listening text by getting someone (perhaps another trainee or a teacher) to record a monologue using the structures you want to illustrate. If you give the person some notes to work with but let him or her speak spontaneously, you can get a more authentic – sounding listening text.
It does take a relatively long time to use this kind of material. The overall meaning of the text must be within the grasp of the students before individual language items are picked out; the text may contain language which has to be dealt with before you can concentrate on the target language. This is only all right if the lesson is seen as consisting of skills work leading on to a focus on particular language items, and time is allowed for these stages.
If you choose a text for skills work the structures it illustrates well may not be the ones that fit into the structural syllabus of the course the students are following. Bear in mind that particular text-types lend themselves to the presentation of particular structures: for example, simple stories contain the simple past, and a text of someone talking about his or her personal experiences will usually contain natural instances of the present perfect.
Another disadvantage with authentic texts is that they often don’t give you enough examples of the target structure.
Short dialogues
Dialogues are a type of text – a spoken text which we listen to, although for teaching and learning purposes we also look at them in their written or transcribed form. Although they are a type of text, it is worth considering them separately from reading and other listening texts as they are often used as a model for speaking practice of structures.
Dialogues are often used as an alternative, or in addition, to introducing language through visual means, especially with lower level students.
Example
This dialogue could be used with low-level students to introduce the question form and the short answer of the verb to be in the present simple. It also revises Sorry? as a way of asking for repetition.
At the airport Customs
Customs officer:Is this our bag?
Woman traveler: Sorry?
Customs officer:Is this our bag?
Woman traveler:Yes, it is.
Usually the teacher introduces the characters and the situation through pictures/board drawings and elicitation – Who’s this? Where are they? etc. The understanding of the new language is checked (see p. 138). The students repeat the lines of the dialogue after the teacher and then take turns to play the roles, perhaps in open pairs first, then in closed pairs. It is a generative situation in that new vocabulary items can then be introduced (in this dialogue, for example, suitcase, camera, handbag, etc) and more sentences containing the same structures can be elicited and practised: Is this your suitcase? etc.
When are dialogues useful?
Dialogues are useful from time to time, particularly at elementary level, mainly for the following reasons:
o You can write the dialogue so that it focuses on the language you want to introduce and doesn’t include distractions such as unknown vocabulary.
o You can make the language vivid and memorable, with a clear situation and location, and sharply distinguished characters, often aided by pictures and props.
o Dialogues provide a controlled setting for language items and conversational features.
o They are very useful for introducing language functions. For example, asking the way, at lower levels.
o Dialogues can be used to generate a number of practice sentences. For example, with the dialogue above, the teacher, by using picture prompts, can elicit these questions from students: Is this your suitcase? Is this your camera? and get the same replies from ‘the woman’.
o It is easy to introduce pairwork practice, as the dialogues naturally have two parts. Pairwork practice often begins with repetition/imitation of the ‘model’ dialogue, but often this controlled practice can be followed by freer, more ‘meaningful’ communication. Dialogues lend themselves to information gap activities in which each student in the pair has access to different information which he or she can feed into the dialogue.
o They can be a springboard for more improvised language practice. If the practice tasks can be made more creative and open-ended the students have some degree of choice over what they say. For example, the last sentence of a dialogue can be left open.
Example
This dialogue practises language for making suggestions:
It’s Rosie’s birthday next week. What shall we get her?/What about… (the students choose). That’s a good idea because… or No, because…
A dialogue can often lead into a cued roleplay, such as the one in Task 3 on p. 43. See also Setting up activities on p. 44. Dialogues can also be used to illustrate the different social identity and the relationship between the speakers, and the kind of language they would use. For example, the way you ask a close friend to lend you enough money to buy a cup of coffee would be different from the way you ask a bank manager for a large loan.
What are the disadvantages of using dialogues?
o If dialogues are uncommunicative, predictable and not mixed in with other approaches to presentation they can be boring.
o They are rarely useful of students above elementary level, who benefit from seeing language within a wider context, no in isolated chunks.
o Because they are idealized, they don’t prepare students for the unexpected – in real life people don’t always play their part as set down in the dialogue practised in class! For example, the Customs Officer in the dialogue on p. 132 is just as likely to say Your bag, is it? as he is to say Is this your bag?
o It is not always easy to find or create a dialogue which is naturally generative, and in order to make them generative the dialogues can often be rather artificial and repetitive.
Giving or working out the ‘rule’
In this way of presenting a structure, the teacher explains the rules or patterns of form and use and maybe, in a monolingual group, translates the structure into the students’ mother tongue. You can start the lesson by telling them explicitly what language you are going to deal with: for example, Today we are going to look at how we use the third conditional: of example – If you’d woken me on time I wouldn’t have been late. Then you can go on to give the rules of grammar and use then set up some practice.