The validity of using artificially constructed written text as the basis of language learning activity at the acquisition of oral skills is being increasingly questioned.
How do you use intensive text study in your teaching to practice oral skills? Do you think the methods you use are valid ones?
[ Notes from a teacher development session given by Robert O'Neill in 1980 ]
1. Easy to use [ Life history / Typical day / Future ambitions / Descriptions of towns & places / descriptions of appearances ]
2. Compression
3. Transferability [ Dialogue to Text or visa-versa ]
4. Permanence of record [ unlike dialogue ]
5. Can generate more ideas
6. Can focus on a particular range of ideas.
A) Parallels
B) Rhetorical transformation e.g. complaint to a shop from letter to telephone conversation (one sided dialogue)
C) Discussion & Extension.
I was born in … … is a city/town in the West/East/South/Central part of ...
When I was ..., I attended ... for ... years.
When I was ..., it was my ambition to ...
For the last ... years, I have been ....
Example 1: Text of your letter, but you decide to complain by phone. The manager's side of the conversation is given e.g. 2 Read description of an experiment. Now change the description into a set of directions (Passive to Active)
Lesson Plan 1. Short Text 5-8 min. Lead-in *Arouse interest in theme *Preview some of the main points in text *Preview some of difficult lexical or grammatical features. Establish interaction in the class and interface between class experience & text.
Lesson Plan 2. Presentation 15 min *1st for gist comprehension *2nd for detailed comprehension *3rd certain parts for very fine comprehension.
Lesson Plan 3. Extension 20 min Employ a variety of extension practices such as * Role play based on text *Rhetorical transformation *Discussion *Related Function & Structure practice *Story development.
Lesson Plan 4. Closure Phase 5 min *Refocus on main points of lesson (What have we done/learned?) *Summarize (Get Ss to summarize too) *Relate main points of lesson to previous lessons. *Preview future lessons; show what has NOT been learned.
English In Situations by Robert O'Neill [ Oxford University Press ]
This book is the bible of the short text used for grammar presentation. It brought Robert O'Neill to the attention of English language publishers in the 1960s and demonstrates a thorough command of the situational contexts in which language forms most frequently occur. Unfortunately, the publisher missed the opportunity of updating this very useful work and making its layout more attractive. It is therefore very difficult to get hold of and you will have to search databases for used or rare books. Robert's approach to structural syllabus design (the ability to generate language forms) tied to situational context and narrative (understanding meaning and use) led to the immensely successful Kernel Lessons series, published by Longman. If your school is still lucky enough to possess audio cassettes for Kernel Lesson Intermediate &/or Kernel Lessons Plus language laboratory drills, then you have some of the best self-access material that you could offer learners who wish to produce grammar orally instead of plodding through written exercises confined to testing receptive knowledge at an unrealistically slow pace.