Question 1 (10 points)

Take a unit from a coursebook which you are using with your students at the moment. If
you are not teaching, refer to a coursebook you have used recently.
Analyse how the coursebook deals with the four skills, relating your analysis to the
theory which has been examined in this subject.

Note:Use the approach taken to analyse materials in this subject as a model for the
format and analysis of examples in your assignment. In other words, your assignment
should use similar headings to those used in this subject. You also need to send clearly
legible and referenced photocopies of the material which you analyse in your
assignment, as an Appendix, to your course tutor.

Student response

ASSIGNMENT
Book: Upper Intermediate Matters
Authors: Jan Bell & Roger Gower
Unit 1: Memories

In order to perform the assignment of the Developing Language Skills

subject, and taking into consideration the fact that I have been
working with the same material for some time, I decided to select
Upper Intermediate Matters. This is a book written by Jan Bell and
Roger Gower who designed this two-part course interested in providing
both teachers and high-level learners with some material containing
what can be used to meet their needs. The course, as available in
Colombia, is made up by the teacher’s book, students’ book, workbook
with a key and two class-cassettes. Every part of the course contains
twenty units and the quantity of hours per unit, according to the
authors, is six, which in my case is extended to at least twelve.

Since I follow the approach presented in the material to study the

subject as the model, I will use the same organisation, format and
analysis procedure, starting with reading, moving on to listening,
then speaking and finally writing. This will not pose a serious
problem due to the way the unit is presented. However, a couple of
sections, i.e. grammar and vocabulary review, will not be included
anywhere due to the lack of identification with just one skill.

1. READING
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The coursebook offers a wide variety of topics which are well-covered
in every unit. These themes are chosen to relate aspects of vocabulary
and grammar to examples of a real use of the language. Therefore,
every reading text, at least in the unit selected, has a common
feature: the fact that it was written with a purpose other than being
pedagogical. The texts I will be analysing occupy on Grellet’s list,
the kind corresponding to newspaper, magazine and biographical texts.
Nevertheless, other sections presented in the same unit also deal with
other kinds as notes, dictionary and instruction texts (see page 8 in
the unit), but they will not be studied in depth since they are not
directly connected to promote and sharpen the reading skills.

The four passages that appear on page 7, which is the main part of the
unit for our purpose of studying reading, and the activities, are what
is going to be studied in depth.

1.2 ORGANISING PRINCIPLES

1.2.1 APPROACH
Both the texts and the activities planned in the reading section seem
to follow the main principle of Smith’s (1971) and Goodman’s (1967)
strategy-based approach that takes reading as a unitary process where,
even though other skills are used, they cannot be broken down into
separate skills. This is easily observed in the way the exercises are
to be performed, without an overt reference to vocabulary or the
phonetic system. On the contrary, the activities conduct us to
identify the practice of some strategies determined by the same nature
of the task, for instance, exercise 2 implies the use of inference.

Again, the reading activities ask the learners neither to break down
texts into smaller chunks, nor to work on a specific skill. As the
tasks endorse interpretation, inference (see exercise 2), and promote
discussion (exercise 3), they involve the learners in using all the
cueing systems accessible to them to do with a good comprehension of
the passages without any attention on what could be measured a
prerequisite of reading. i.e. being able to pronounce and to
discriminate between particular sounds, understand the meaning of the
words by the context, identify the punctuation code, etc.

Considering what Widdowson (1978) has called ‘usage’ and ‘use’, the
texts in the unit uphold learning more from the ‘use’ position. The
passages were not written specifically to ‘teach the language’ and
this is realised by some facts such as their sources (magazines or
books), their authors (having nothing to do with language teaching),
or the characteristic of showing the key features of the language
studied in the unit on a model basis and not as a constant repetition
of the particular structures or lexis studied in this section. What's
more, there is an obvious communicative function in each text that
goes beyond the reinforcement of the target sentence patterns.

1.2.2 AUTHENTICITY
Following Lynch’s (1996) definition of authenticity, I will classify
the texts in the reading section as authentic. To explain why the
texts are authentic we have to summon up the notion of genre by Swales
(1990). This is a text-type which has a distinctive form and content
and which is socioculturally recognisable as serving a particular
function. With this in mind, there is evidence that the four passages
have certain characteristics conventionally required to fit in the
magazine, newspaper and book genres. The texts have been culled from
authentic sources (The Genius – Tell Freedom – The Sunday Times
supplement – Unreliable Memoirs) and are doing the job of informing
and entertaining albeit they are read “outside the normal
sociocultural environment” by English as a foreign language learners.

When the learners face the passages they are acquainted also with the
interaction between their schemas of the genre, that is what they
already know, and the incoming information. In this way, what was
presented at the beginning of the unit, in the speaking section (see
page 4) claims high importance and is immediately related to the
biographical experiences mentioned in the texts.

The activities are aimed at demanding authentic responses from the

learners to the text. Exercise number 1 expects that the student
relates his/her own feelings to those expressed by the authors in the
passages and to find certain degree of identification with them.
Exercise 2 suggests a reading between the lines effort to achieve a
good level of understanding of information contained in the texts.
Exercise 3 makes learners exchange opinions based on their
comprehension and personal experiences.
From my own view I can say that, in agreement with Grellet (1981), it
would be pointless to simplify the texts here offered. Learners are
mostly encouraged by having to deal with words they do not know but
which can be easily guessed by the context. That is the case of
“loathe” in “At the time I was traumatised. I loathed dogs from that
day forward…” which once figured out, becomes one of the favourite
words in the students’ repertoire. The grammar is also better left
untouched; otherwise the texts will not serve as model giver of the
grammar content in the unit.

1.2.3 TYPES OF QUESTION

The activities put forward three types of questions, all of them
considered as part of what underlies in the mind while reading with a
communicative purpose. Applying Widdowson’s (1978) taxonomy of the
types of questions. The ones in exercises 1 and 3 are of the wh- kind
but they are also part of the polar-type since questions such as the
one in 3C can only be answered using information which is not overtly
presented in the text, but which is connected to a personal
experience. Those of the second activity fit into the truth assessment
type because they have to be chosen as feasible or not.

1.2.4 A TOP DOWN BOTTOM UP APPROACH

The main reading section in the unit has an unambiguous tendency to a
top-down approach. It makes learners read the four passages attending
to global meaning and using their existing knowledge of the world
rather than the particular linguistic features of the text. In spite
of the previously said, there is also evidence of the bottom up
strategy as in the case of the examples serving as models for the
grammar presented such as the one in the second text “My mother and
father would lie on the grass talking…” but this is more left for the
teacher to decide on whether to place the emphasis on either of the
two strategies.

Quoting Stanovich (1980) this seems to be an advantage of the reading

texts in the unit:
More recent research indicates that both bottom up decoding strategies
and top down strategies may be used in learning to read, and that
efficient reading may require the integration of both bottom up and
top down strategies.

1.2.5 PROCESS IMPLIED IN THE ACTIVITY

To what extent what the unit offers can be considered active is
demonstrated below. Regarding the activities, such as the one in
exercise 1b, where students have to use the text as a means to prompt
personal life events, one can conclude that the authors are trying to
construct meaning from the same texts using the learners’ schemas.

It is not the text itself what the tasks suggest to deal with, it is
the potential meaning realised by the interaction between text and
reader what comes out. Students must compare (in exercise 1b) the four
texts and at the same time, be open to be affected using their
schematic knowledge to define which extract is the one they like the
best or the one that reminds them something of their own childhoods.

Other aspect that contributes to build up the idea of the reading

activities and texts as part of an active process is that showed by
exercise 3. Here, there is a direction to work in pairs and discuss
four points. These four questions involve the students in a
cooperative learning methodology where they can give their own points
of view on the text without having the disappointment feeling for not
giving the perfect response since all views, well supported, are
accepted as answers.

1.3 ACTIVITIES
The activities or microskills that are found in this material are in
exercise 1 part A, extracting ideas or skimming; in part B, reacting
to the text; exercise 2, inferring and checking comprehension;
exercise 3, checking comprehension, dealing with unfamiliar words (in
the second question part A), inferring and reacting to the text.

1.4 CONCLUSION
The presentation of the activities in the reading section is efficient
and fulfils the requirements of a class that is given on a
communicative methodology basis. As the general aim, understanding the
gist can be suggested. The place of the skill and its role within the
unit is well-selected becoming an activity that reinforces and extends
the practice of the language on some specific structures dealing with
how to express past experiences.

One suggestion that can be made to improve the activities in general,

is addressed to the teacher and has to do with the way vocabulary is
handled. Not all learners reaching this level have the confidence to
feel satisfied guessing at least six new words or expressions (as I
counted words which might be completely new to students, such as
“dotty with rage” or “pigtail”). So the vocabulary might be better
introduced beforehand.

I have found the exercises rather valuable for the learners who tend
to read finding some amusing and interesting life experiences. Some of
those experiences might make learners achieve certain degree of
identification.

2. LISTENING
2.1 INTRODUCTION
In the unit analysed, there are two sections of listening. One of them
is appropriately dealing with a communicative top-down approach, which
is a text about an interview with the singer Gloria Estefan while the
other follows a more bottom-up approach that is centred on the
discrimination and practice of two prosodic features of the language
such as stress and intonation.

2.2 ORGANISING PRINCIPLES

As in all listening exercises coming along with coursebooks, there is
a restriction due to the artificiality or the lack of direct access to
the speaker. Real communication on this issue is hardly ever
obtainable given that the message is heard and understood in only one
way and the required feedback, which is gotten by having interaction
with the one in charge of transmitting is not available. The exercises
proposed in this unit are not the exception.

Following Brown and Yule’s (1983) distinction between the

interactional and transactional purposes of communication, I will
locate the text and the activities on page 5 in the category of the
latter. Exercise 1 is centred on making learners get some training in
understanding the gist. For the rest of the exercises, even supposing
more attention is paid to details, the dialogue used for the activity,
as well as the task, indicate that the answers come up in response to
a speaker’s need to give the listener information rather than
happening as part of their social relationship.
The exercises that appear as part of the pronunciation review, on page
6, are part of what Widdowson (1983) refers as the systematic
knowledge. This is other facet the unit considers and the authors have
decided to include as a way to improve the overall performance and
competence of the learners in both, speaking and listening,
considering that once they accurately perceive the patterns of the
stressed words in a short conversation, and the differences in meaning
according to the place where a sentence is stressed, they are going to
be able to transfer that comprehension in a production stage, i.e.
from listening to speaking.

The interview students listen to, for the reason of being authentic,
represents a good model of what listening in real life is, noticing
what the materials in the subject classify like the production
factors. There is use of clauses as units, students can find many
examples of reduced forms, false starts, different rates of delivery
(like that used by the interviewer being slower), there is a native
rhythm and stress, and some cohesive devices proper of the spoken
discourse are also recognised.

2.2.1 PROCESS
The listening text chosen by the authors to be part of the unit,
stipulate an active role from the learners. By using relevant,
internal information triggered out in the pre-listening part, it is
expected that the students construct their own interpretation of what
Gloria Estefan has said. Listeners are not just thought as receivers
and recorders.

The tasks here set require from learners to reveal in an observable

way their comprehension of some aspects of what has been said.
Therefore, what the students do with the input (information given by
Gloria Estefan), has to be processed actively and demonstrated in a
response, also called output, that can be self-assessed or evaluated
by someone else.

The role of the listener, by the same nature of the source and means
(a tape) cannot be different from that of auditor. In the text there
are two people that are interacting and who are perceived as the
direct participants in a mutual, active process. On the other hand,
the students and the teacher in the classroom environment have no
right to reply or plead in such a conversation flow. However, the
audience is invited to give their views on a characteristic Gloria
said she had (exercise 3.1). Of course, in a non-reciprocal
communication since their opinions are not going to be validated by
the original speaker.

2.2.2 CLASSROOM CONSIDERATIONS

The authors relied on what a teenager or adult might know about the
singer to decide on the activities. The fact somebody world wide
famous and broadly recognised is the speaker, makes the input be used
to construct knowledge which is added up on the learners’ shemas.
Besides, the photo can serve as stimulus to make the learner feel more
confident because he/she is going to face a text about something
he/she could already know beforehand.

The assumption of listening in the book goes beyond the timetabled

session linked to the name of the skill. The unit shows that listening
includes the exploitation of a recorded material linked structurally,
functionally and thematically with the learning focus.
The text is both authentic and genuine. Based on Widdowson’s (1978)
distinction, the interview is a genuine example of ‘real’ English as
well as the pronunciation section. However, some exercises are
considered non-authentic as they are projected to move within the
range of the linguistic practice, as in the sentence stress part (see
page 6).

Even though the analysis is performed in just one unit, it can be

observed that the book as a whole is concerned with the notion of
grading. At this stage, in the first unit, the text is less demanding
in terms of vocabulary, grammar and length than in further units. The
tasks are also thought to be less complex and the response required
asks nothing different in the first three exercises than what the
learners is expected to do under conditions similar to those in which
he/she hears any other interview.

2.3 ACTIVITIES
Consideration is placed on the importance of pre, while and post
stages in the listening practice. This is done in the first text which
is aiming at communication and includes looking at a picture,
speculating and class discussion as pre-listening; labelling, seeking
specific items of information, and text completion as while listening;
and an activity not included in Underwood’s (1989) typology that
relates the text to a personal experience.

In addition to the exercise cited, the pronunciation part involves

activities that lead students to sharpen their ears and understand
features of the phonetic constituent of the language. Learners only
have to listen and underline as the way to prove understanding.

2.4 CONCLUSION
The unit follows the principle of the Natural Approach of presenting
language which is one level beyond the learners’ competence. As
Krashen (1981) explained, this is done with the aid of extralinguistic
context and our knowledge of the world.

By analysing the activities we can say that input conditions and the
texts are not plainly set for the learner to understand everything. On
the contrary, learners go through comprehension problems that arise
while recognising information in a flow of words or while answering
the questions in the activities. There are conditions in the
performance of the activities that will make learners become aware of
gaps in their internal L2 systems, gaps that they will attempt to fill
achieving learning.

3. SPEAKING
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Speaking is found as one skill that is promoted with a communicative
aim in this unit. It serves many purposes all of them linked with what
the language is intended and covers different aspects of the learning
process.

No higher importance is placed on this skill which is kept balanced

along with the other skills. The structure of the unit sets speaking
as the provider of the theme of the unit and from this the other
skills are worked. At the same time, in spite of having the heading
speaking and speaking review, these are not the only sections that
make the learners use the language orally, this skill is also
practiced in other sections such as the last part of listening (page
5) or the last one in reading (page 7). Then again there is no
exclusion of the rest of the skills in the speaking section as we see
it connected to writing.

The two sections of speaking on pages 4 and 5, take me to distinguish

between two different purposes. Both fluency and accuracy are taken
into consideration and students are led to perform different tasks to
improve and practice or to achieve a degree of self awareness so that
they can assess their own performance and analyse what they have to
correct or what they have to work harder on.

For organisational and practical effects, I will be exploring how the

unit deals with speaking, supporting my observation on the two
sections of speaking on pages 4 and 5 and I will leave apart the other
segments corresponding to other skills where speaking is encouraged.

3.2 ORGANISING PRINCIPLES

3.2.1 APPROACH
The unit considers the speaking skill as an interaction in which,
apart from using knowledge and the strengthening of some motor-
perceptive skills (Bygate, 2003), there must be a request to employ
interaction skills that involve making decisions on what is going to
be communicated and how it is going to be done, in a classroom
environment ruled by social relationships.
What comes out as evidence in the proposed tasks of the speaking
section is a clearly normal and logical order, systematised by the
instructions, of what underlies when communication takes place. First
part begins showing some photos and some words in a yellow box that
encourage learners to find relations between what they suggest and
their personal lives. Later on, once the decision on what to say is
made, there is a proposal to start speaking. Thinking is motivated as
a previous stage before speaking. The same happens in the second part
of page 4 and in the first exercise of the speaking review section.

Performing the language in this unit requires that the participants

negotiate meaning and manage the interaction jointly. This is implied
by the way the tasks propose working. A group work is suggested in
every activity which, according to Long and Porter (1985) allows more
talk for each of the students, and a greater variety of talk. It is
also noted by the same authors that doing so, the learners spend more
time negotiating and checking on meanings in small groups, and they do
not appear to correct each other more or less than the teacher does in
teacher-fronted situations.

In the book the authors follow one of the systems suggested by Brumfit
(1979) related to the organisation of the stages of language learning
in the classroom. This specifies the possibility to allow learners to
communicate as far as they can in the classroom about topics of
interest, with the teacher giving new items only when it is obvious
that the learners are in need of them.

3.2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE

The spoken language encouraged in the unit could be thought to be as
close to what the natural spoken language would be, as the learner’s
competence allows it to be. Offering a topic, such as the childhood or
the strengths or weaknesses while speaking English, the authors
endorse what for Littlewood (1981) is part of a series of activities
of social interaction that consider the classroom as a social context
where there is room for conversation or discussion sessions.

In spite of the learners having time for planning, organising and

executing their messages, some time must be given for them to explore
their phrasing and their meaning as they speak. This will give the
chance for learners to have little improvisations, to take short cuts
to avoid unnecessary effort in producing individual utterances. This
often leads speakers to abbreviate the message and produce
‘incomplete’ sentences or clauses, omitting unnecessary elements where
possible.

Obviously, it will be easier for speakers to create the messages if

they use fixed conventional phrases and finally, it will be inevitable
that they will use devices to gain time to speak.

3.2.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM AND GROUPING

As part of a communicative approach, the unit develops speaking by
means of the use of the target language. To reach this aim, it is
important to create a classroom environment flexible and encouraging
enough for the student to feel comfortable and eager to participate,
where there is freedom for inaccuracy and where the student is aware
of his/her possession of a series of tools that allows a speaking
practice despite all constraints he/she can be faced to.

The use of this material also implies a careful setting up and an

instruction follow up clearly enough for the output to include all the
required ingredients in the activity. To attain that the teacher must
be quite skilful to identify problems likely to happen before, during
and after the task. On the contrary, the student might lose the focus
and, for instance, in exercise number 1, page 4, understand that
he/she must be speaking not about past experiences but about their
present.
A last implication has to do with the group management. While
suggesting students working in groups, as the activities 2b page 4 or
1b page 5 instruct, it is important for the learning process choosing
or mixing groups so that most of the profit is obtained. Nevertheless,
what the unit proposes, happens to be an advantage because as Roberts
(1981: 33) states:
I would recommend allowing time for students to study the task, and
the information, and come to some preliminary decisions prior to the
group forming […] In each of the […] activities the individual is
asked to make a personal choice without discussion.

3.2.4 TOPIC OR TASK?

Despite the unit being based on memories and considering that in any
section the same topic line is followed, activities are based on tasks
rather than on topics.

Activities such as asking a learner to tell a past experience when

he/she was very happy or very frightened, create a communicative use
of the language. Skills are then exploited to negotiate meaning due to
the fact that what is intended is to communicate ideas clearly. This
includes the way the learners make sure themselves that there is
understanding during an exchange. What Widdowson (1983) called
‘convergence’ is applied, since there is the implication of a mutual
comprehension over an individual one.

3.3 ACTIVITIES
The categories of activities included in the speaking section of the
unit are of the dialogue type, except the one in exercise 2b, which
suggests the existence of a series of questions and answers starting
from some words written on slips serving as “prompters” of such
questions and answers.
On the other hand, the activities make the language used handy by the
instructions and the information that the teacher provides to
students. In this way, a freedom control is exerted on the speaker to
limit their ‘interaction’ decisions.

Applying Harmer’s (1983) distinction among the “practise” and

“communicative” activities, I find a backup to evidence how
communicative the unit is. The exercises fit in the interpersonal
exchange group that are part of the communicative activities since
they hearten pair or small group work aimed at finding out aspects of
the experience or interests from the speaker.

3.4 CONCLUSION
The way speaking is handled goes hand in hand with the way the other
skills are presented. A communicative scope achieves that the learner
feels motivated to express aspects of his/her own life through the
target language.

Without taking into account the fluency development, the unit implies
the learner getting a high degree of self-confidence that allows
him/her to improve the competence in the language by being self aware
of his/her strengths and weaknesses.
Special attention should be paid to the way activities are understood
and developed, especially while in group work. It is important to sit
beforehand to foresee the type of problems that could come out in the
complete development of the activities in order to obtain the best
result out of what is presented.

4. WRITING
4.1 INTRODUCTION
As well as the other skills developed in the unit, writing follows a
topic to put forward a number of activities interrelated in the whole
process. In this section, which closes the unit, writing comes as the
conclusive exercise that puts altogether the ideas rising in speaking,
listening and reading as models, and in grammar and vocabulary
practice to make a product that satisfies a number of indicated
requirements.

Hedge (1988) places this exercise in the creative writing type.

Emphasis is given to what the students say rather than to linguistic
accuracy and this could cause that learners feel satisfied sharing
personal information with somebody who has a real interest in knowing
about it.

4.2 ORGANISING PRINCIPLES

4.2.1 WRITING AS A PARTICULAR WAY TO PRESENT DISCOURSE
The assumption that the difference in the process to produce
communication between writing and speaking is considered in this unit.
Analysing the activities here suggested and the aim of what the
product of writing is, we can notice that the characteristics listed
by Ur (1996) are pertinent. One facet such as organisation is even
guided step by step all along the process. The writer needs at some
point to begin to ‘convert’ plans and ideas into temporary text and
moves from thinking about writing to do it. That is exactly what the
first task, where students have to start taking notes, recommends.
(Harris, 1993:55).

The written discourse to expand in the unit is an autobiography and

the way the unit deals with it is very natural. There is no
distinction if we contrast creating the same type of text in English
or in Spanish, the steps to follow seem to be the same and the
consideration of being a personal activity that communicates a message
which has to be as clear as possible to an intended reader, is set
overtly.

4.2.2 A PROCESS APPROACH

As part of one of the three principal ways of approaching the task:
focus on form, focus on the writer, and focus on the reader (Raimes,
1993), that at the same time lead to three movements (traditional,
process, genre), the activity corresponds to the process category.

The tasks suggest a complete line of actions to be done in a

sequential order. They move learners from the generation of ideas and
the collection of data (exercise 1) through the final version of the
autobiography. There is prominence on the creativity and the
unpredictability of writing. On the other hand, the focus on the form
based on imitation or adaptation models is left aside.

In spite of having been criticised by Zamel (1983); Raimes (1985), the

stages stated in the activity trail the order of the model presented
by Tribble (1989) as prewriting – composing – revising – editing,
where learners are specified what to do, in other words they plan,
collect data and make notes, later on they compose a first draft, then
they do some correction and reorganisation and finally they check
grammar, lexis, surface structures and cutting out what is not
important.
The process writing presents a lot of advantages. It pursues a
communicative intention. Much of the value of this approach has
derived from its revitalizing effect on classroom writing practices
and from its appreciation of the importance of the experiences that
learners bring with them to the classroom.

4.2.3 AUDIENCE
The unit in the students’ book does not entail the use of a particular
audience. However, the teacher’s book proposes “to give students
motivation out the final version” (Bell and Gower, 1994). Perhaps
telling learners that the autobiographies will be put on the classroom
walls for others to read, will encourage a reason to write.

This context will open the possibilities for an audience being other
students, the whole class or the teacher. Any of these readers should
respond as genuine and interested readers rather than as judges and
evaluators. Even coming from the teacher, a response like “I found
your autobiography rather appealing. I did not know your father was
also a teacher” is more suitable and appropriate for the approach than
spotting the grammar mistakes. Raimes (1983) formulates her own
response to a text about how a student’s family cope with stress or
get relaxed.
“You have told us about two members of your family. Now I am wondering
what the others do to relax! Do they like music too?
(Raimes 1983:142)

In this example the learner is left in no doubt that the teacher has
been interested in the text and has interacted with the content of
what is being said. Raimes’ comments encourage the learner to lengthen
the text and build upon what has been written already.

4.2.4 FEEDBACK
The intention of the writing activity is focused on giving an
appropriate organisation to a created text with a communicative value.
In this context feedback has real life significance and is not just
provided by the teacher. Learners will assume that when they write
their autobiographies they have to try and fulfil the readers’
expectations by presenting information about their own lives which
might be considered unique or that could touch the readers’ own
feelings.

Little attention will be paid to form in the product as the activity

and the teacher’s book indicate. Nevertheless, during the process the
teacher can play the role of ‘formative’ evaluator, helping the
learner with grammar, vocabulary, logical organisation, punctuation
and other aspects, hoping that the corrections or ideas granted are
incorporated in the students as learning.

The use of a classmate as a peer corrector is also regarded. Learners

will put their autobiographies on the classroom walls for others to
read, with or without the author’s name on it as indicated in the
teacher’s book. This will give a chance for developing skills on
learners, to interact with the writer to confirm information, to
suggest other paths to take or to correct mistakes.

4.3 ACTIVITIES
The activity being part of a creative writing proposal, involves the
learner in the task, making use of personal experiences as lived by
the writer. By following a series of steps, an edition process is
applied having the student committed in an improvement task where
there will be need to go back once and again, to revise and change a
plan partially or radically in order to cope with new routes to
achieve a well-elaborated text that can satisfy the reader.

4.4 CONCLUSION
Jan Bell and Roger Gower cover all language skills in a communicative
approach. Writing cannot be the exception and uses real information to
make learners fill information gaps in a communication exchange where
roles are adopted by learners in a classroom environment that provides
the atmosphere to use the language as a means and not as an end.

The brief presentation and the few directions made by the authors give
the opportunity for the teacher to adapt the activities and make them
more suitable to meet the learners’ needs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BELL, J and GOWER, R. (1994): Upper Intermediate Matters. Harlow:
Longman.
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Correct answer

Score (Ungraded)

Grader comments William: This is a very good piece of work. Your analysis is
exhaustive, coherent and easy to follow.
Your writing is well organized and your examination and reflection evidence that you
master the theoretical background of the subject.
Keep on working hard.
Claudia

Quiz score adjustment +9

Total score 9 / 10 = 90.0%