Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
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Pronunciation
At the advanced level, a reasonable accuracy in the pronunciation of individual sounds has certainly been achieved. Rather than striving for an unattainable perfection Teaching English to Adults 199 in this area, it is infinitely more valuable to turn one’s attention to stress, rhythm and intonation. This will probably have been neglected. If the teacher does no more than get his students to use the strong forms and weak forms in all the right places, he will have done them an inestimable service, for their spoken language will to the untutored native’s ear give a much more accurate reflection of the learner’s status as an advanced student of English. So often a person with years of learning and impeccable knowledge of grammar and vocabulary will appear like a raw novice when he produces too carefully articulated sentences. Apart from the teaching techniques suggested in Chapter 5 to deal with this sort of problem, it is worthwhile suggesting to adults that they read a non-technical book such as J.D. O’Connor’s Better English Pronunciation. The chapter ‘Words in Company’ in this book makes very valuable corrective reading. When made aware of a problem, an advanced student, with guidance, is often his own best teacher. There is a great deal to be said at advanced levels for the teacher assuming more and more the mantle of tutor. At the early stages of learning, the teacher is responsible for choosing the material to be taught, presenting it and ensuring to the best of his ability that it is learnt. The advanced student brings with him an already considerable history of language learning, and probably a keen awareness of his own strengths and weaknesses. He is therefore more able to share in the choice of material to be covered and in the learning process. Once alerted, for example, to the importance of register and connotations of words, he will learn as much from the extensive reading of English newspapers and novels as he will from any formal lesson his teacher may give him on these topics. The teacher-tutor’s business, therefore, is to point to the difficulties, give guidance as to how they might be tackled, and monitor progress, but it is less and less to teach a particular topic and assume it is then dealt with. Adults live in a world where English is very important to them. Professionally, it may be quite essential. Socially it is likely to be very useful with the increasing mobility of societies. Even in the home, there may be a need for English—even if it is just dealing with the children’s Teaching English to Adults 200 homework or watching an American film on TV without subtitles. The need is widespread and likely to persist throughout life. But most people are not in the position to contemplate English lessons throughout life. So one of the most essential services the teacher-tutor can perform for his students is to equip them to help themselves after they leave him, to equip them to shoulder the whole responsibility for their future progress. Going to see the latest Oscar-winning film in English at the cinema is then an end in itself, but also a continuation of a learning process of which they are in control. The trend towards permanent education, as it is called, must surely be right, as the world never stands still, nor should one’s knowledge of it. The teacher of advanced students must prepare for the future as much as teach for the present. 201 Chapter 14 The English Department There has been very little discussion in the past of the role of the English department in promoting good language learning conditions, yet those who visit schools frequently can immediately tell when there is a well-organised department because of the feeling of commitment and excitement which is generated by the members of the department, and this usually communicates itself to the students as well. The role of the department is to enable all English teachers to operate as effectively as possible by providing all necessary support and encouragement, and the role of the head of department is simply to cause this to happen. In the rest of this chapter, a large number of suggestions are made of ways in which a department can be organised most effectively. Each situation has its own problems, and no list will exhaust the possibilities, but it is fair to say that any institution which does not provide the following support for all its English staff is making life unnecessarily hard for them: (a) a nominated person who will be responsible for running the department; (b) a range of as many as possible appropriate textbooks for consultation by staff, and machinery for easy access; (c) access regularly to duplicating facilities, and support for co-operative development of materials for all aspects of language work; (d) a range of basic books suitable for reference by students (like the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, which may be too expensive for individual students to buy); The English Department 202 (e) materials suitable and in sufficient quantity for extensive reading work by students; (f) a reference library for teachers; (g) basic audio-visual equipment (according to the facilities available), with a minimum in most institutions of one large taperecorder and a number of portable cassette recorders, plus spare tapes and cassettes; (h) a place to use as a base for the department’s possessions, at least a few shelves and a cupboard, and ideally somewhere where members of the department can meet as well; (i) access to a range of simple visual materials, like wall charts, flashcards, portable blackboards and pieces of softboard, realia, etc. Obviously not all institutions are rich enough to be able to afford all these facilities, but they are a minimum to aim at, and most of these items are not expensive to gather and maintain over a period of several years. 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