Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
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The best general and detailed account of the secondary school (in a second language situation) is: J.A.Bright and G.P.McGregor, Teaching English as a Second Language, Longman, 1970. 187 Chapter 13 Teaching English to Adults Adults learning English bring to the task a mature personality, many years of educational training, a developed intelligence, a determination to get what they want, fairly clear aims, and above all strong motivation to make as rapid progress as possible. These are formidable qualifications which far outweigh any disadvantages, and make teaching adults a challenging and satisfying experience. An adult is no longer constrained by the educational system or parental pressure to learn English, so the problems of dealing with conscripts do not exist. Since people choose to be present in an English class, the opposite is more the case—the tertiary teacher’s task is to utilise and channel his student’s motivation so that his specific needs and aims are optimally fulfilled. There is considerable diversity in the tertiary sector and the rest of this chapter looks at some of the important areas and their problems. Higher education in the state system Many English teachers find themselves in or attached to university or polytechnic English departments throughout the world in the capacity of assistants or lecturers. Generally speaking, the framework of the studies is fixed and the syllabus, usually preparing for a final examination, settled. The teacher’s challenge is to bring to life the language, literature and civilisation it is his charge to teach. Teaching English to Adults 188 The proficiency in English language on entrance to the English department varies from country to country throughout the world. In countries close to England with long traditions of English teaching and an efficient secondary feeder system, the standard of the new entrants is likely to be generally high. There will always be room for advanced English teaching, with specialisation in certain areas. Beyond improving the advanced student’s use of the language, it should be possible at this level to increase his knowledge about English—that it is English as a content subject as well as a skill. Many departments offer a course in the history of English, which provides valuable insights into why English is the way it is today. A higher priority is a description of contemporary English presented as a formal system in as much detail as time will allow. Strongly to be recommended for this purpose is R.Quirk and S.Greenbaum’s University Grammar of English. A good new grammar is S.Chalker’s Current English Grammar from Macmillan. It is also worth reading through an introduction to the principles of language—R.Hudson’s Invitation to Linguistics or J.Aitchison’s Linguistics are fairly basic; somewhat more advanced are D.Bolinger and D.A.Sear’s Aspects of language and V.Fromkin and R.Rodman’s An Introduction to Language. Many less developed countries pose different problems. Often the intake is of very mixed ability. A few people may have spent several years in Britain or America, others may have attended the English department because other departments of their first choice had no more places available, and their knowledge of English is very poor. Yet these people, and many in the middle, find themselves in the same class. There are two main ways to deal with these heterogeneous, very mixed ability groups—one administrative, the other pedagogic. Administratively it is best to devote all the class hours to intensive language work directed towards a Language Barrier exam which everyone must pass before going on to the degree course proper. Those who can pass it immediately should be allowed to proceed—but it is important to pass in all areas. Many people who have spent years in an English-speaking country may be orally fluent but quite incapable of expressing themselves in writing. The Language Barrier exam should be set as early as possible, but it |
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