General principles in teaching language skills

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Lecture outline
Discuss learners attitudes and motivation Explain learners levels of abilities Discuss general principles for remedial and enrichment activities Analyse purpose for remedial and enrichment activities
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Learners attitude and motivation

Attitudes form a part of ones perception of self, of others and of the culture in which one is living Second language learners benefit from positive attitude. Negative attitude may lead to decreased motivation

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Contd.
Motivation : a state of cognitive arousal which provokes a decision to act as a result of which there is sustained intellectuals and/or physical effort so that a person can achieve some previously set goal' Williams and Burden,1997:120) Motivation .. Is as much a matter of concern for the teacher as it is for the learner , it depends as much on the attitudes of the teacher as on the attitudes of the students (Rodgers 1996:66)
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Types of motivation
Extrinsic: caused by external factors. e.g. a desire to be assimilated into the culture of speakers of English (integrative motivation) Intrinsic: the keenness or desire to learn English for its own sake.

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Learners attitude and motivation in successful learning

Positive attitude and Motivated student Wants to learn English Successful in learning

Experiences satisfaction

Develops competence and performance

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contd
Teachers role : -provoke interest and involvement -encourage by deeds and words Learners role: - take responsibility of own learning - dont just wait to be taught - Must be aware that teachers cannot teach them English unless they are prepared to take some of the strain. Real motivation comes from within each individual . Laily Yahya 7 ( Jeremy Harmer, pp8 1998)

Learners levels of abilities

Slow learners: lower intelligences, need more time to grasp a concept /complete a task, need individual attention and assistance to perform satisfactorily Average learners: no extra talents or skills / great individual differences in needs, interests and experiences/regular mainstream pupils fast learners / High flyers : intelligent and capable/ high scores in aptitude and intelligence/very motivated & creative (Nesamalar Chitravelu et.al, 2005)
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Levels of abilities (Harmer 1998)

Beginner: Those who dont know any English Elementary : able to communicate in a basic way , Can string some sentences together , take part in story telling & take part in predictable interactions Intermediate: a basic competence in speaking and writing and an ability to comprehend fairly straightforward listening & reading Advanced: level of English is competent, allowing them to read unsimplified fact & fiction , communicate fluently with native speakers (Harmer, 1998)
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Principles of Remedial and enrichment activities

- Level of relative learning difficulty: same skill different input - Nature of skill to be taught - Effect on motivation - Coherence between units of learning - The importance of the item/skill - How much is required for the item/skill to be learnt - The level of proficiency and interest of the pupils
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Purpose for remedial and enrichment

- To deepen pupils understanding of appropriate contexts for use, - to give sufficient repetition to improve - Providing for reinforcement, recycling and enrichment - balance treatment between the 4 skills

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Enrichment
To prevent from boredom if tasks has been completed earlier than other pupils Challenge critical and creative thinking Allows experimentation with language Pupils can be given supplementary materials for them to work on their own Texts/materials chosen suited to their level of proficiency
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Remedial
to provide ideas and language help(notes) Guided with linguistic models Simpler tasks (low level thinking skills)\a lot of extralinguistic help (listening task Expected outcome simpler Linguistically easier tasks Accompanying visuals/pictures/key words Provide scaffolding , Lots of motivation Laily Yahya and encouragement to continue tasks 13

Recapping the lecture

Discussed learners attitudes and motivation Explained learners levels of abilities Discussed general principles for remedial and enrichment activities Analysed purpose for remedial and enrichment activities
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Tutorial
Group work List ways of motivating learners and discuss their effectiveness based on SBE Categorise learners levels of abilities based on class observation during SBE Conduct a Round robin discussion on principles and purposes for remedial and enrichment activities

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