Post on 29-Oct-2014
ELT METHODOLOGY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
1.1 Overview of Language Teaching Methodology......................................................1
1.2 Scope and Objectives of the Assignment...............................................................1
2.0 Communicative Language Teaching – Lesson Plan.....................................................2
2.1 Overview.................................................................................................................2
2.2 Description of the Lesson Plan...............................................................................2
3.0 Justification of Choice of Activities................................................................................4
4.0 Teaching and Learning Reflection..................................................................................6
4.1 Overview.................................................................................................................6
4.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Activities..........................................................6
4.3 Suggestions for Improvement................................................................................7
5.0 Conclusion........................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................10
Appendix A – The Lesson Plan................................................................................................11
Appendix B – Observation Sheet.............................................................................................21
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Overview of Language Teaching Methodology
Rodgers (2001) stated that language teaching has become a profession in the last century. With
that, there concept of “methods” of language teaching has emerged. The methodolgoy refers to
a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language
learning. Due to the focus on language teaching methodology, there have been many
approaches in teaching language such as the silent way, direct method, suggestopaedia, audio-
lingual method, total physical response, grammar translation method, community language
teaching and communicative language teaching. In the Malaysian education context, the
popularity of communicative language teaching (CLT) has made it as one of the main
approaches to use in teaching English in the classroom (Kettle, 2008).
1.2 Scope and Objectives of the Assignment
This assignment explores the use of a selected language teaching approach; in this case, the
selected approach is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to teach the specific skills of
speaking and listening in the classroom. A lesson plan is developed and presented in this
assignment report which highlights the activities of the lesson plan. Additionally, a short essay is
written to provide justification for selecting the activities by relating these activities to the CLT
approach. Also, a reflection of the teaching and learning activities is also written in this
assignment report that highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the activities, as well as to
provide recommendations/changes that should be made to the activities together with the
rationale for changes.
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2.0 Communicative Language Teaching – Lesson Plan
2.1 Overview
The lesson plan is developed to teach speaking skills to Primary Three students with low to
intermediate proficiency in the English language. The lesson plan focuses on speaking skills,
based on the curriculum specification for English KBSR Year Four: “Narrating the events that
took place”. The lesson takes 60 minutes to complete with activities that included incidentally,
other language skills such as listening, reading and writing. The activities in the proposed lesson
plan are based on the learning theme for English KBSR Year 4 (Curriculum Development
Centre, 2003). The activities are adapted to develop students’ speaking skills while integrating
with other language skills.
2.2 Description of the Lesson Plan
A description of the lesson plan is provided below:
Date 23 March 2012
Time/Duration 8.00 – 9.00 am (60 minutes)
Year 4
Enrolment 25 students
Language Level Low intermediate
Topic Food – Variety of food in the canteen
Learning Outcome At the end of this class, the students will be able to:
Participate and contribute in a conversation about
food
Prior knowledge Familiar with food available in the canteen
Curriculum Specification 2.2. Talk confidently on topics of interest in simple
language;
2.3 Express thoughts and feelings and talk about
things heard, read, seen, and viewed in simple
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language;
General objectives At the end of the lesson, students are able to:
(i) talk about foods found in the school canteen;
(ii) give opinion about improving food in the school
canteen
Specific objectives At the end of the lesson, students are able to:
(a) tell a friend(s) about the type of food found in
the school canteen
(b) share their opinion about the quality of food in
the canteen
(c) give at least one idea to improve food in the
school canteen
Moral value Sharing, respect for others
Teaching and learning procedures Picture, articles, worksheets, board
Note: The Lesson Plan and its Teaching and Learning Aids are appended in the Appendices
Section
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3.0 Justification of Choice of Activities
The 60-minute lesson plan includes a set induction stage using food demonstration with a
homemade sandwich. The use of the realia was to initiate conversation by the students about
food and leading the discussion to food in the canteen. The first and second activities use a
game approach with word puzzle and matching picture-word as a fun way to learn. These
activities create conscious awareness to the pronunciation and spelling of active vocabulary
relating to canteen food. The activities were done in small group to promote cooperation and
generating small talks (to enhance speaking skills) among the students. The next activity
includes the use of short discussion to enhance critical and creative thinking. The writing
exercise was guided so that students are able to produce coherent sentences. The activity
outline in Worksheet B gives the students guideline to structure their group’s discussion as well
as to create lyrics for their song. The next activity involves active speech production in an
implicit manner through the use of song and lyric. Through singing, the students incidentally
improve their pronunciation skills while sharpening their listening skills as they listen to their
teacher and friends. The lyrics help the students to improve their spelling skills. The closing
activity uses a picture to raise students’ curiosity and lead them toward critical thinking and
higher order thinking (synthesizing, analyzing).
The activities in the lesson plan provided the students with tools and opportunity to
enhance their language skills particularly speaking, as well as other skills – listening and writing.
These activities complied with the underlying principles of CLT approach which according to
Rodgers (2001) and Richard and Rodgers (2001) are as follows:
Learners learn a language through using it to communicate
Authentic and meaningful communication is the main goal of the classroom activities
Fluency is given emphasis in communication
Communication involves the integration of several language skills
Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error
In all the activities, the students were exposed to speaking and listening opportunities
and were using the skills as they participate in the activities through their communication efforts.
The communication was related to something authentic and meaningful; in this case, a
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discussion about the food in the canteen. Fluency was also given emphasis in the
communication process as the teacher include activities that get students to enrich their
vocabularies and notice as well as use the words in both oral and written form. Thus, students
were able to pronounce and spell the words familiar in the canteen context correctly. The
activities were also designed to enable students to use their speaking skills as well as listening
and writing. The students also used learning skills such as scanning and skimming, and
interpersonal skills. The activities centered on the students as the teacher played the role as
facilitator. Students construct their own meaning as they depend on their schemata (prior
knowledge about food in the canteen) which are refreshed through the games activities and
used prominently in their communication efforts. Brown (2001) stated that students in a
communicative class ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in
unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom. Classroom tasks must therefore equip students
with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts. These aspects have been
included in the activities of the lesson plan.
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4.0 Teaching and Learning Reflection
4.1 Overview
The teaching and learning reflection involved having a colleague to be an observer during the
classroom activities. An observation sheet was developed to provide the teacher with a writing
tool to record the responses of the students, their participation and teacher’s classroom
management ability. The teacher’s responses were documented in the observation sheet,
shown in Appendix B.
4.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Activities
Based on my own reflection of the activities and my colleague’s observation comments and
ratings, I felt that the activities to a certain extent have fulfilled the learning objectives. The
students were provided with contextual activities in a situation they are familiar with. The varied
activities in games, group activities, singing, discussion and others gave them the chance to
express thoughts and feelings as well as talk about things they are familiar with in a simple but
fluent language. Based on the general and specific objectives, the students’ main
communication efforts were talking about food in the canteen and sharing information with their
friends in their conversation. However, my colleague and I observed that participation in all the
activities is not 100%. The weaker students sometime stay silent and do not speak unless being
spoken to directly. Also, the use of other language (Malay) also lessens the effectiveness of the
lesson activities. The students however, did their best to speak in English with some help from
their friends to supply them with vocabulary for completing their sentences. The students were
using the English term for the food but most of the sentences in their conversation are in Malay.
Nevertheless, the students have enriched their vocabulary with new words relating to food in the
canteen and learn how to state like and dislike of a particular food.
Some of the activities were easy such as the word puzzle game and the picture-word
matching activities. The students were able to search the words easily. Thus, the activity was
finished early. I used some of the extra time to generate more conversation with the students.
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There are also activities such as the singing activity that was given a short time period. The
students like the activity but felt that it was not enough (time) and reluctant to finish the lesson
as they want to sing some more. Therefore, the weakness in this aspect is lack of planning and
anticipation of the students’ learning styles and preferences.
The activities also showed that students have no setbacks to using English in singing
songs. All the students, including the weaker ones enjoyed and participated 100% in the
singing. This indirectly makes up for their inactivity during the conversation and discussion
activities. However, the singing activity was short for them, and only able to build several lines of
lyrics for the students to sing. It did led to the discovery of new words, their meanings and use in
context such as ‘delicious’, ‘spicy’, ‘fragrant’, ‘stinky’, ‘sour’, and so on.
4.3 Suggestions for Improvement
Based on the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson plan, the following suggestions for
improvement are given.
(a) Lesson follow up
The students have been exposed to a rich vocabulary input relating to food in the
canteen. There should be follow up of this speaking lesson such as using the world of
knowledge about food and bringing them into a specific writing class. It can also be used
in a grammar lesson to enhance students’ knowledge about adjectives. This ensures
that the knowledge they gained from this lesson is used to enhance other language skills
in another follow up lesson.
(b) Rules ‘Only English in the Classroom’
One of the weaknesses of the activities was use of Malay in the classroom especially
during the conversation and discussion. In future lesson, a strict rule of ‘Only English in
the Classroom’ should be adhered to complete with rewards and punishment. This
abides the behaviorist approach to learning, stating that response to stimulus and
reinforcing good behaviour with positive (rewards) and negative (punishment)
reinforcement can help students to learn the language effectively (Baum, 2005). To help
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the students to develop confidence and skills to speak in English, the teacher may put
sentence model written on poster paper and pasted in the classroom so that this guides
the students in constructing their speech. This suggestion is recommended because the
effectiveness of the activities depends on the students’ use of English in their
conversation and discussion.
(c) More time given to activities that students like
More time should be given to activities that students like, such as singing activity. This
will generate more active participation and encourage incidental use of the language, as
advocated in the CLT approach (Rodgers, 2001). Newton (2001) stated that singing is a
form of communicative approach and an efficient way to learn vocabulary. He explained
that singing provides the vocabularies that students can use productively and
repetitively.
(d) Prepare activities that match students’ ability level
The games activities were too easy for the students as they may have been familiar with
the vocabulary related to food in the canteen. To improve the activity, the teacher may
use questions that lead to the word in the word puzzle. For example, “Food that is long,
brownish and often found between two buns” will lead to “Sausage”. This will be more
challenging and generate higher thinking order as well as promoting critical and creative
thinking.
The proposed suggestions above can help to improve the activities in the lesson plan.
Through these improvement, the students will be able to enhance their speaking skills even
more and at the same time, having fun while learning.
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5.0 Conclusion
The lesson plan developed in this assignment is based on a communicative language teaching
approach which is most commonly used in the teaching and learning English in most Malaysian
classrooms. The activities presented in the lesson plan are geared towards providing the
students with a contextual situation where they can participate in communicative activities. As
shown by the lesson plan, there are a variety of activities that we can use in a CLT classroom.
However, the success and effectiveness of the activities depend on the students’ level of
participation. Strengths and weaknesses of the activities must be determined and further
improved in future lessons.
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REFERENCES
Baum, W.M. (2005) Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution. Blackwell.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Longman Pearson Education, White Plains, New York.
Howatt, A. (1984). A history of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kettle, M. (2008) Teaching Grammar: Rethinking the Approach. In H. Gaudert (Ed). The Teaching of Grammar. Malaysia: Sasbadi-Malaysian English Language Teaching Association. pp. 175-190
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language Teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rodgers, T.S. (2001). Language Teaching Methodology, CAL Online Resources, September Issue Paper, http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/rodgers.html
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Appendix A – The Lesson Plan
Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
Set induction
5 minutes
Food Demonstration
The teacher brings
homemade
sandwiches from home
Teacher asks
questions
Do you bring
homemade food to
school?
Do you buy food
from the canteen
during recess?
Which is better,
homemade food or
canteen food?
[Teacher calls out
students’ name to
respond to her]
Whole class
Students give
responds to
teacher’s question
Rationale:
To bring students’
focus to the
lesson content
Materials:
Homemade
sandwich
(realia)
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Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
Activity 1
10 minutes
Word Puzzle Game
The teacher gives
instruction on how the
game is played
Small groups are
formed
Teacher asks students
to find at least 5 items
from the puzzle
Teacher asks students
to say out the food
they find in the puzzle
Small Group
Students form
group of 4
Students highlight
5 items from the
puzzle
Students calls out
the food in the
puzzle
Rationale:
To provide
vocabulary on
type of food in the
canteen
Materials:
Word puzzle
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Activity Sheet: Word Puzzle
S A U S A G E R U I
R E A I J L I I H G
G N A S I L E M A K
B U N F J A G C N E
A G T G P O G I L J
R G F R I E D M E E
I E E R T Y G D J D
C T F B I S C U I T
E A C A K E D F G J
U L L A B H S I F R
Bun, Sausage, Nugget, Cake, Nasi lemak, Biscuit, Rice, Fried Mee, Egg, Fish ball
Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
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Activity 2
10 minutes
Matching word-pictures
Teacher distributes
Worksheet A
Teacher asks students
to match the food item
to the picture
Teacher asks
questions
What food is this?
Can you find this
food in the
canteen?
Do you like this
food?
What other food
can you find in our
school canteen
Teacher writes down
other food items found
in the canteen
Teacher asks students
to pronounce the food
in the list
Small Group
Students match
food item to the
picture
Students responds
to teacher when
called out
Students read out
the food in the list
Rationale:
To relate food in
the puzzle to the
canteen as a
context and also
to improve
students’
pronunciation
Materials:
Worksheet A
Whiteboard
Worksheet A
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Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
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Biscuit
Egg
Bun
Fried rice
Fried mee
Nugget
Fish ball
Cake
Sausage
Nasi lemak
Activity 3
10 minutes
Group Discussion
Teacher distributes
Worksheet B
Teacher asks students
to discuss about food
in the canteen
Food they like and
why
Food they don’t like
and why
Food they want the
canteen to sell and
why
Teacher asks students
to write their answer in
the worksheet
Small Group
Students discuss
and give respond
to the questions
Students complete
the worksheet
Rationale:
To encourage
students to share
ideas among
themselves
Materials:
Worksheet B
Worksheet B:
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We like to eat _______
Because its _____________
We don’t like to eat _________
Because its ________________
We want ________ in canteen
We want __________ in canteen
Because ____________________
Because ____________________
Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
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Activity 4
10 minutes
Sing a Song
Teacher distributes
Worksheet C
Teacher gives
instruction for the
activity
Teacher teaches
students to sing the
song
Teacher asks students
to sing their song
using lyrics they made
in Worksheet B
Small Group
Students sing
along with teacher
Students sing their
song based on
their lyrics
Rationale:
To present group
output in a
creative way
Materials:
Worksheet B
Worksheet C
Worksheet C:
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Sing a song (Lyric ‘Happy birthday’)
We liked to eat sandwich
Because its so yummy
We don’t like to eat sweets
because it is too sweet
We want fried mee in canteen
We want fried rice in canteen
because it is delicious
because it is my favorite
Stage Teaching activity Student’s activity Remarks
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Closure
10 minutes
Show a Picture
Teacher shows a
picture
Teacher asks students
if they can have the
food
Teacher impart moral
value about healthy
diet
Teachers summarizes
the lesson
Whole Class
Students respond
to teacher
Rationale:
To wrap-up the
lesson and
inculcate moral
value
Materials:
Picture A
Picture A:
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Appendix B – Observation Sheet
Rate the students’ participation, students’ response and teacher’s management ability using 1 – 5 (1 = the least satisfactory, 5 = the most satisfactory) and your comments
Stage Students participation
Students’ response Teacher’s management ability
Set induction
3 3 4
Comments:The students shows more interest about the food and do not answer the teacher unless the teacher ask specifically from someone (say out name of student)
Activity 1
4 4 4
Comments:The game was easy. Students can find the words easily.
Activity 2
3 3 4
Comments:The game was easy. Most responses from those who are good in English. The weaker ones kept silent.
Activity 3
3 3 3
Comments:Malay is used in the conversation of the students. The teacher has to keep reminding students to speak in English. Only the better ones tried; the weaker ones remain silent.
Activity 4
5 5 5
Comments:Students definitely like this activity
Closure
3 3 4
Comments:Students still want to sing and don’t want the class to end
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