Discipline

Task 1
How do you define a DISCIPLINED CLASS?
Enter your suggestions into the comments to this blog entry.


Task 2
Read the following texts describing various class situations. In pairs/groups discuss possible reactions of the teacher.

ONE
The teacher of a mixed class of thirteen-year-olds is working through a class reader in an English lesson. He asks Terry to read out a passage. 'Do we have to do this book?' says Terry. 'It's boring.' Some members of the class smile, one says 'I like it', others are silent awaiting the teacher's reaction.
(from E. C. Wragg, Class Management and Control, Macmillan, 1981, p. 12)

TWO
The teacher is explaining a story. Many of the students are inattentive, and there is a murmur of quiet talk between them. The teacher disregards the noise and speaks to those who are listening. Finally she reproaches, in a gentle and sympathetic way, one student who is talking particularly noticeably. The student stops talking for a minute or two, then carries on.
This happens once or twice more, with different students. The teacher does not get angry, and continues to explain, trying (with only partial success) to draw students' attention through occasional questions, (adapted from Sarah Reinhorn-Lurie, Unpublished research project on classroom discipline, Oranim School of Education, Haifa, 1992)

THREE
The teacher has prepared a worksheet and is explaining how to do it. He has extended his explanation to the point where John, having lost interest in the teacher's words, begins to tap a ruler on his desk. At first the tapping is occasional and not too noticeable, but John begins to tap more frecuently and more noisily, building up to a final climax when he hits the table with a very loud bang. The class, startled by the noise, falls silent, and looks at both John and the teacher to see what will happen.
(adapted from E. C. Wragg, Class Management and Control, Macmillan, 1981, p. 18)

FOUR
The teacher begins by giving out classroom books and collecting homework books.
Teacher (to one of the boys): This book's very thin.
Boy1: Yeah, 'tis, isn't it.
Teacher: Why?
Boy 1: I've been drawing in it.
Boy 2: He's been using it for toilet paper, sir.
(Uproar)
(adapted from E. C. Wragg, (ed.) Classroom Teaching Skills, Crcom Helm, 1984, p. 32)

FIVE
The students have been asked to interview each other for homework and write reports. In this lesson they are asked to read aloud their reports. A few students refuse to do so. The teacher tells these students to stand up before the class and be interviewed by them. They stand up, but do not relate to the questions seriously: answer facetiously, or in their mother tongue, or not at all. The teacher eventually sends them back to their places, and goes on to the next planned activity, a textbook exercise.
(adapted from Sarah Reinhorn-Lurie, Unpublished research project on classroom discipline, Oranim School of Education, Haifa, 1992)

Examples from Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: 
Practice of Theory, CUP 1996



https://www.thoughtco.com/classroom-management-reduce-student-discipline-7803

Accuracy and Fluency

First, read this article reflecting the teacher's opinion. Does it correspond with your school experience? Which group did you belong to at high school? Consider your position in other  foreign languages than English.

TASK 1

Read the texts in the following links. Order the suggestions according to your own preference: start with the strategies that will suit you best.

Accuracy

Fluency

TASK 2

How are these quotations connected to the relation between accuracy and fluency?

"grammatical accuracy on its own is a dead end, unless used to receive and produce interesting and purposeful meanings within the context of real-life language use." (Ur 1996: 78).

"A communicative approach, properly conceived, does not involve the rejection of grammar. On the contrary, it involves a recognition of its central mediating  role in the use and learning of language. (Widdowson 1990: 98)

"... it is wrong to imply that teachers  are confronted with two mutually exclusive choices when it comes to teacher grammar: either avoiding the teacher of grammar altogether, or returning to a 'traditional' form-focused approach. (Nunan 1991: 151). 

TASK 3

Use a textbook. Identify tasks/exercises which focus on accuracy/fluency. Discuss your choice with your classmate.

Make a list of typical tasks focused on ACCURACY. 

___________________

Teaching Grammar - Approaches and Methods

grammar-translation vs. direct method

natural acquisition or communicative approach

the specific purpose of learning languages should be defined first

other factors: age, level, abilities, background + tradition (textbooks);

effectivness in relation with the goals and purposes

in general: learn or acquire?

G-T:    "Divide the whole of the English language up into manageable bite-sized chunks, and then introduce these to the students, one chunk per lesson, so that they gradually and systematically accumulate a complete picture of the language.

COM:   Create an environment where a lot of language, known and unknown, is met ... and where the students are helped with the new language only when they already have some awareness of it, and have curiosity or questions about it." (Scrivener 1994: 114).

inductive         X         deductive

covert              X         overt

“…there are no studies that provide evidence that overt grammar instruction is essential.”

“... no one should dismiss grammar instruction altogether, because there is no empirical evidence that to do so is ultimately more beneficial to second-language learning. Indeed, some of the alternatives may be harmful in the long run." (Celce-Murcia 1988: 14)

Dangers:

overemphasis on communicative function at the expense of grammatical accuracy

___________________

TASK 4 - Questions to consider:

Which items of English grammar should be taught covertly/overtly and why?

Which items of English grammar should be taught inductively/deductively and why?

Should we base teaching grammar on comparative principles and translation?

To which extent are we authorised to use simplification?

Present your ideas on the system of articles, give examples.

Hot Tip: Air-flight approach – higher level gives less details but the pattern is more recognisable.

Information Gap

What is information gap?
Search online for info-gap materials used for ELT.

HOMEWORK: What are the drawbacks and benefits of an information-gap-based task in ELT? Refer to your recent experience with the preceding task.
Enter your suggestions to the comments to this blog.


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Training communication

·      functions related to contextual, situational and social meanings

·      satisfying communicative needs

·      language as an instrument for social interaction (role-play)

guided dialogues, role cards with indirect clues, real information + structure training

asking for advice, giving instructions

E.G. "Excuse me, where is the post office?" - "It’s opposite the theatre."

Purposes of communicative activities:

·      whole-task practice (not only separated items)

·      motivation - related to life goals

·      natural learning

Functional communication activities

(sharing = resctricted access to information)

1.             sharing information with restricted cooperation

a)  identifying pictures

b)  discovering pairs, sequences, location

2.             sharing information with unrestricted cooperation

a)  discovering differences

b)  following directions

3.             sharing and processing information

a)  reconstructing sequences

b)  pooling information to solve a problem

4.             processing information = full access to all facts

a)  plan what to take for a trip, desert island, Moon...

b)  prepare an itinerary

            ‘read, think and speak’

Features:

less predictable, less controlled

expressing and respecting individuality

more like a real life