Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition

Basic Principles
46
Another variable in the presentation process is the
teaching mode. One cornerstone of behaviourist theory was
the insistence on the primacy of the spoken word. Nothing
was to be written before it had been said: nothing was to be
said before it had been heard. This principle probably
continues to hold good for many young learners and for all
whose goal is primarily a mastery of the spoken language,
but provided that spelling pronunciations are guarded
against (and English is not a particularly phonic language)
many students find it helpful not only to hear and say new
items of language, but also to read and write them during the
presentation process. As in any teaching situation,
theoretical considerations must give way to considerations of
how the learners involved can benefit most.
Basically, during English language lessons the teacher is
only involved with three processes: presenting new material,
practising familiar material and testing it. And up to 90 per
cent of his time is taken up by practice of one kind or
another. Ways of practising listening and speaking, reading
and writing are dealt with in subsequent chapters, but the
way in which this practice is related to presentation and
woven into the fabric of each lesson is of the very essence of a
teacher’s professional expertise. Lessons should be planned
and executed so that new language material is soundly
integrated with the old. This calls for a sensitive shift from a
presentation stage during which the learner’s focus of
attention is on the new material through early practice where
the attention is gradually diverted, into a later practice stage
during which the new material is being handled without
conscious attention. The shift of attention can be achieved by
a gradual increasing of the contextual depth and interest,
also by the teacher’s sensitive adjustment of the pace of the
teaching. Like a stream, a good lesson flows more rapidly
over the shallower sections and more slowly over the deeper.
The question of student errors during practice is often
hotly debated. A behaviourist would argue that by making
mistakes the learner is practising the wrong things and
developing undesirable habits: therefore learners should
never be put into the position of making errors. A mentalist
view assumes that errors are inevitable, that learners at any
given point of their growing competence have command of

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Basic Principles
47
an interim grammar which is by definition imperfect, that we
actually learn from our mistakes. There is truth in both
arguments. Certainly repeated errors become confirmed and
unless the learner is made aware of them he cannot learn
from them. On the other hand, that very strict kind of
control on a class’s language practice which makes error
almost impossible is rarely of interest, is rarely motivating.
The skilled teacher is able to ensure that during presentation
no incorrect language is heard or used and that his gradual
relaxation of complete control during the subsequent
practice maintains interest and enables him to make the
learners conscious of any mistakes as they arise.
Motivation is a basic principle of all kinds of teaching. It is
true that there is a certain superficial satisfaction in getting
things right. But the student who is satisfied by doing
mechanical language exercises correctly has the same
superficial motivation as the needlewoman working on
samplers, the learner driver operating a simulator or the tyro
nurse giving injections to sandbags. The language student is
best motivated by practice in which he senses the language is
truly communicative, that it is appropriate to its context,
that his teacher’s skills are moving him forward to a fuller
competence in the foreign language.
Ultimately, however, it is the teacher’s professional
judgment which must count. Every human being is a potential
foreign language learner, no less than he is a potential patient:
and just as no doctor accepts a patient’s own diagnosis and
prescription, no professional language teacher can take the
view that the customer is always right. Professionalism
consists of the operation of a complex of judgment and skills
which are soundly based on basic principles of which the
layman is usually unaware. It is against the background
knowledge of the principles discussed above that the three
lessons of Chapter 2 are best evaluated and the procedures and
techniques of subsequent chapters are best exercised.
Suggestions for further reading
J.E.Alatis, H.B.Altman, R.M.Alatis, The Second Language Classroom,
Oxford University Press, 1981.

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Basic Principles
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C.J.Brumfit and J.T.Roberts, Language and Language Teaching,
Batsford, 1983.
S.P.Corder, Introducing Applied Linguistics, Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1973.
J.Haycraft, An Introduction to English Language Teaching, Longman,
1978.
E.W.Stevick, Memory, Meaning and Method, Newbury House, 1976.
D.A.Wilkins, Linguistics in Language Teaching, Arnold, 1972.

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49
Chapter 5
Pronunciation