ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS

 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS 

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION: "This method emphasizes reading, writing, translation and the conscious learning of grammatical rules. Its primary goal is to develop literary mastery of the second language. Memorization is the main learning strategy and students spend their class time talking about the language instead of thinking in the language. The curriculum requires the memorization of paradigms, patterns, and vocabulary, with translation being used to test the acquires knowledge. Consequently, the role of L1 (that is, mother tongue or native language) is quite prominent.

FOR DETAILED NOTE CLICK HERE 

Read More

 

PREPOSITION 

 

What is Preposition?

Prepositions are derived from two words Pre + position. Here Pre means before and Position means placed. Hence A preposition is a word or phrase which is placed before a Noun and Pronoun. Preposition or prepositional phrase shows the relationship between the noun and the pronoun with some other words in the sentence.

Forms of Preposition

There are four forms of the preposition.

(i) Simple Preposition: The preposition of one word is called a simple proposition. As- ‘In, of, to, at, by, for, from, off, on, out, through, till, up, with, down.’

(ii) Compound Preposition: Preposition formed by adding a Prefix to a Noun, Adverb or Adjective is called a Compound preposition. Outward they look like one-word prepositions but in fact, they are compound words. As – ‘About, above, across, along, amidst, among, amongst, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, inside, outside, underneath, within, without.’

(iii) Phrase Preposition: Some phrases also serve as Single prepositions. As – ‘According to – in the consequence of’,

‘Agreeably to – in course of’, ‘along with – in favour of’, ‘away from – in front of’, ‘because of – in lieu of’, ‘by dint of  – in order to’, ‘by means of – in place of’, ‘by reason of – in reference to’, ‘by virtue of – in regard to’, ‘by way of – in spite of’, ‘conformably to – instead of’, ‘for the shake of – in the event of’, ‘in accordance with - in account of’, ‘in addition to – owning to’, ‘in (on) behalf of – with a view to’, ‘in case of – with an eye to’, ‘in comparison to – with reference to’, ‘in compliance with – regard to’.

(iv)  Participle Preposition: Some present participle are also used as prepositions as – ‘Concerning, considering, barring, during, notwithstanding, pending, regarding, respecting, touching’.

Use of Preposition 

Generally, prepositions are used before their objects (Table, Office, tea, Delhi). For Example

(i) The book is on the table.

(ii) He is in his office.

(iii) She comes from Delhi.

In the above sentences in, on, from are prepositions. A preposition may have two or more than two objects. The preposition will be used before the first of all these objects. For Example

(i) The cattle graze in valleys and pastures.

(ii) She is very fond of grapes, apples and oranges.

Rule 1: Preposition is used after the Object

(A) When the object is Relative Pronoun ” that’, Then the preposition is placed at the end of the sentence. For Example

(i) This is the book that you asked for.

(ii) That is the car that you travelled by.

(iii) I know the men that you are talking to.

(B) Also when the object is some understood (hidden) Relative Pronoun. The preposition is placed at the end of the sentence. For Example

(i) That is the men (whom) I was talking of.

(ii) There is the book (that) you are looking for.

(C) When the object is an Interrogative Pronoun (Who / Whom / Which / what). The preposition is placed at the end of the sentence. For Example

(i) What are you looking at?

(ii) Whom are you going with?

(iii) Which of these houses do you live in?

(D) Sometimes for the shake of the emphasis the object is placed at the beginning of the sentence. In that case, the preposition is also placed at the end of the sentence. For Example

(i) Him I deployed on.

(ii) This I insist on.

(iii) That you must speak out.

(E) In the Passive Voice also the preposition is also placed at the end of the sentence. For Example

(i) He can be relied upon.

(ii) Was the proposal agreed to?

Rule 2: Omission of Preposition

In some situations, the preposition is not used, there either is not required, or it is omitted.

(A) No preposition is used before the transitive verb. For Example

(i) I shall meet you again. (‘Meet with you’ is wrong)

(ii) They caught the thief. (‘Caught to the thief’ is wrong)

(iii) I read a book. (‘read of a book’ is wrong )

(iv) We have done our work. (‘have done of our work’ is wrong)

(B) Before the expression of Place and Time, No preposition (for, from, in on ) is used. For Example

(i) I came here last week. (‘In  last week ‘ is wrong)

(ii) I am going abroad. (going for abroad is wrong )

(iii) Please wait a minute. (‘wait for a minute’ is wrong )

(iv) She is waiting outside. (waiting on outside is wrong )

(C) When some expressions of time (such as morning, evening, day, night, month, year, etc. ) have some qualifying words such as this, that, next, every, last, all used before them, no preposition is used. For Example

(i) He went this morning

(ii) He met me last evening.

(iii) He is coming again next week.

Note: but if these expressions of time having no qualifying words before them, then no preposition is used. For Example

(i) He went in the morning.

(ii) He met me in the evening.

(D)  No preposition is used before Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.  For Example

(i) Please come tomorrow.

(ii) He is returning today. (Not ‘on today’)

(E) No preposition is used before Home. For Example

(i) I am going home.

(ii) I go home every Sunday.

Note: But If there is a possessive adjective before home, or if home is used in the sense of house, we use an appropriate preposition before it.

(F)  If two verbs are used in the sentence and both the verbs have to take different preposition, we must use appropriate preposition for each verb separately. For Example

(i) I have been thinking about and waiting for you since morning.

(ii) He has been looking for and enquiring after you for a long time.

(G) There are some verbs that take no preposition after them. These include ‘Attack, await, accompany, assist, request, investigate, inform, obey, comprise, order, rich, resemble, resist, violate, “. It is wrong to use any preposition after the above-noted words, but this error is often committed. For Example

(i) America attacked on Iraq. (no ‘on’)

(ii) I await for your instruction. (no ‘for’)

(ii) I shall assist to you (no ‘to’)

Some Typical Preposition 

In / Into

In is used to show the position of the rest of the thing within another thing, while shows a thing in motion, something moving inside something else. In = Position of rest, Into = Position of motion. For Example

(i) The table is in the room.

(ii) There is a tiger in the cage.

(iii) The bell fell into the wall.

(iv) The tiger moves into the cave.

In / Within

‘In’ expresses the time range – up to the last point/moment of the given period, while within expresses the limit before the last moment of the given period. For Example

(i) He will return in (at the close of) a week‘s time.

(ii) He will return within ( in less than/before the close of ) a week’s time.

In / At

In points to a large area of time or place, while at refers to a small area or fixed point of time and place. Therefore, we use ‘in ‘ for countries, states, bigger cities and ‘at’ for villages and towns. Similarly, we use ‘in’ for a large range of time, and ‘at’ for a fixed point of time. For Example

(i) He lives at Agra.

(ii) He lives in Bombay.

(iii) He lives in Utter Pradesh.

Note: The is one difference between ‘in’ and ‘at’. At refers to a stationary position, while in refers to a state of motion. For Example

(i) The train is in motion.

(ii) He is at home.

(iii) The work is in progress.

On / Upon

‘On’ refers to a state of rest or stationary position, while upon refers to a state of motion. For Example

(i) He jumped upon the table.

(ii) The book is on the table.

With / By

‘With‘ is used for instruments (lifeless), while ‘By’ is used for living person or Agent. For Example

(i) The letter was written with a ball-pen.

(ii) The letter was written by Ram.

(iii) The branch of a tree was cut with an axe.

Between / Among

Between is used for two persons, things or ideas, while among is used for more than two. For example.

(i) Divide this property between two brothers.

(ii) There is a passage between two lanes.

(iii) He passed the night among the aliens.

Till / To

‘Till’ is used for time, and ‘to’ is used for place. For Example

(i) He worked till 8 O’clock.

(ii) He came to the outer gate.

Since / From

‘Since’ is used before a noun or a phrase to show a certain point of time. It is used in Perfect tense only. ‘From’  is also used to show a point of time but it is used in non-perfect tense. Remember that both since and from show only a point of time, not a period of time. We can since Friday, or since 1995, or since today, but we can not say since four days or from a week. For Example

(i) I have been living in Canada Since 1990.

(ii) I studied English from the age of six.

Note: for a period of time we use ‘for’. For Example

(i) I worked in this office for six months.

(ii) I have been living in Canada for five years.

Beside / Besides

‘Beside’ mean by the side of, while ‘besides’ means in addition to. For Example

(i) He came and stood beside me.

(ii) He has a scooter besides a car.

Among / Amongst

Both these words have almost the same meaning and usage, but among is more popularly used. But there is one difference in the usage.   ‘Amongst’ must be used in those sentences in which the word coming after it begins with a Vowel. For Example

(i) He is very popular amongst us.

(ii) He is very popular among the students.

On / At

Both these can show a time. But ‘On’ is used for a fixed date or day. While ‘At; is used for hours. For Example

(i) I shall come on Sunday.

(ii) I shall come at 5 p.m.

For / During 

Both these show period of time, but the difference between them is that ‘for’ is used for an indefinite period, while ‘during’ is used for a definite period. For Example

(i) He has gone for a long time.

(ii) He is on leave for a month.

(iii) He will stay with me during June.

Of / Off

‘Of’ is a preposition of joining, while ‘off’ is a preposition of separation. For Example

(i) He is off duty today.

(ii) He jumped off the roof.

(iii) A member of the family, page of a book, student of a college, one of many etc.

 

Read More

LISTENING SKILL

 LANGUAGE – II

PEDAGOGY

(PART – I)

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Teaching English to speakers of other languages can be looked at from many different angles. One useful way is to look at the teaching process as the teaching of various language skills.

There are, in general. Four language skills, each based upon the modality of emphasis. These are: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills.

Generally speaking, it is emphasized that we first teach listening, then speaking, then reading and writing. However, in real-life situations of language communication, these skills are interdependent in many ways, even though they can be taught independently to some extent.

LISTENING SKILL

Listening in English is attending to and interpreting oral English. Listening is necessary to develop speaking skill. The student listens to oral speech in English, then separates into segments the stretch of utterances he hears, groups them into words, phrases and sentences, and finally, he understands the message these carry. Listening prepares the students to understand the speech of the native speakers of English as they speak naturally at a normal speed and normal manner. 

There are three approaches to listening: Interactive (listening to a message and doing something as a consequence) and one-way communication or non-interactive (just listening and retaining the message, in activities such as conversations overheard, public address announcements, recorded messages etc.) and self-talk. Listening to the radio and watching TV and films, public performances, lectures, religious services, etc. generally reflect non-interactive listening. Responding to the commands given reflects interactive listening, which in fact, is equally widespread in communicative situations. Self-talk is also an important process by which internal thinking and reasoning are carried out.

In the classroom, students listen in order to repeat and to understand. In listening to repeat, students imitate and memorize linguistic items such as words, idioms, and sentence patterns. This is an important beginning task and focus of listening exercises. However, it is listening to understand that is real listening in its own right.

Students listen to understand as part of using English for communication purposes. In listening to understand, students may be involved in the question-oriented response model of learning or in the task-oriented response model of learning. In the question-oriented response model, students may be asked to listen to a sentence, a dialogue, a conversation, a passage, or a lecture and asked to answer questions that may be presented in the form of true/false statements, multiple-choice questions, fill in blanks or short answers. In the task-oriented response model, students may be asked to listen to a passage and accomplish the task described in the passage through interaction with others or by themselves.

Remember that research indicates that most students have difficulty with listening skills, even when listening to their native language. Among other factors, because of the phenomenon of stress (some syllables of a word may be stressed while others may not be), most learners of English have difficulty in mastering the correct placement of the primary and other stresses in English (this could lead to misunderstanding the meaning of a word, phrase or sentence.) As a consequence, listening proficiency in English is to be cultivated with great care.

 

(PART – II)

Listening skill is related to audio sense. It is a passive activity. Listening occurs when someone is speaking. Listening means that audio sense makes sense to the sound which is created by speech. It helps a person in understanding.

The skill of listening can be developed through systematic teaching. Listening operates on two levels:

          1. Recognition

          2. Selection

Listening must be developed among students. Therefore, practice should be given to students in two kinds of speech:

          1. Formal

          2. Informal

A child should be trained in both forms of speech.

CONDITION OF LISTENING

The listening skill requires the following conditions for its situation of happening:

1. The sound created by the speech must have some sense or meaning. The sound should be supported by the action.

2. The person should be attentive to the sound which reaches his audio sense.

3. The person should be able to understand the meaning of words conveyed through sounds.

4. The person should have a favourable attitude to the speech or sound by speaking.

5. The audio sense of the person should be normal.

THE OBJECTIVES OF LISTENING SKILL

The listening skill has the following objectives:

          1. It makes speech effective.

          2. Listening is the basis of good learning of the language.

          3. In a teaching-learning situation the students are the passive learners.

          4. It facilitates verbal interaction among the person and the group.

5. The main objective of listening is to develop an understanding of concepts, facts, ideas and feelings.

6. One can react properly only after listening actively and attentively.

FUNCTIONS OF LISTENING

          1. Listening for locating.

          2. Listening to performing a physical task.

          3. For putting things into sequential order.

          4. Transferring information from one place to another.

          5. Listening for perception (The power of understanding).

AUTHENTIC LISTENING ACTIVITIES

          1. Exercise in class.

          2. Students should listen to T.V. and radio.

          3. Face to face conversation with a teacher who is good at conversation.

LISTENING IN REAL LIFE 

There are two ways in which we listen:

          1. Casual Listening – Sometimes we listen with no particular purpose in mind and often without much concentration. Examples of this are listening to the radio while doing homework. Usually, we do not listen very closely, we listen only to something. Afterwards, we may not remember what we have heard at that point of time.

          2. Focused Listening – When we listen carefully with a particular purpose to find or get some information we need to know. For example, listening to the news on the radio. In these situations also we listen but not with equal concentration, we only listen to what is relevant to us and what we think is important for us. Usually, we know beforehand what we want to listen and this helps us to listen better and in a proper way, we remember the same.

          Besides these, we have appreciative listening, critical listening and discriminative listening.

THE WEAKNESS THAT AFFECT LISTENING (ENGLISH)

         1. Inadequate range of words and phrases that are understood.

         2. Inability to maintain attention.

         3. Inability to understand fast speech.

4. Inability to understand pronunciation other than the personal or regional pronunciation. 

MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED FOR LISTENING PROPERLY

         1. The students should enrich their vocabulary knowledge.

2. Dictation helps in sharpening attention. Listening to broadcasts or recordings or films also help in it.

3. Specially prepared recordings and tape recorders can also be of great help.

4. The students should learn the correct pronunciation for each word.

5. Te teacher can adjust his/her speed and clarify the capacity of the class and then gradually speed up.

 

QUESTIONS:

1. Good speech is the result of –

a. Good speaking     b. Good reading    c. Good listening    d. Good referring

Answer: c. Good listening.

2. Telling interesting stories to young learners is primarily meant for improving their –

a. Listening skills    b. Speaking skills    c. Reading skills    d. Writing skills

Answer: a. Listening skills. 

3. ‘While listening’ means a stage

a. When students are listening to a recording of a natural conversation.

b. When students are listening for pleasure.

c. Where the students attempt a listening task.

d. When a listening activity is introduced.

Answer: a. When students are listening to a recording of a natural conversation.

 4.  Which of these is not a step in the listening process?

a. To stop talking    b. Receiving    c. Misinterpreting    d. Responding

Answer: c. Misinterpreting.

5. Which of these is the first step in the listening process?

a. Stop talking        b. Receiving    c. Interpreting            d. Responding

Answer: a. Stop talking.

6. _____ is the last step of the listening process?

a. Stop talking        b. Receiving    c. Interpreting            d. Responding

Answer: d. Responding.

7. Which of these is the second step in the listening process?

a. Stop talking        b. Receiving    c. Interpreting            d. Responding

Answer: b. Receiving.

8. Which of these is the third step in the listening process?

a. Stop talking        b. Receiving    c. Interpreting            d. Responding

Answer: c. Interpreting.

9. Listening is a ________ mental process that play vital role in our daily life?

a. Absorbable           b. Visible        c. Invisible                d. Eco able

Answer: c. Invisible.

10. Listening is the function of

a. Audio sense        b. Video sense    c. Lingual sense       d. None of these.

Answer: a. Audio sense.

 

 

 

 

 

Read More