Ted Power
English Language Learning and Teaching
Teaching Index
Approaches & Methods in Second Language Teaching
See also Published materials for English Language Teachers. The following articles are suitable for teachers and students on TEFL Certificate or Diploma Courses or on 'TEFL / Applied Linguistics related' MA or MBA Degree Courses.
- 01 English Pronunciation and Listening to spoken English
- Priorities and materials for phonology and phonetics
- English vowel sounds - the 12 monophthongs
- Presentation and practice of the 8 English diphthongs
- Materials to practise Final Consonant Clusters in English
- Specifying the priorities for pronunciation teaching
- Teaching intonation, rhythm and stress
- Speech versus written English
- Listening to spoken English: techniques for L2 learners
- Should spoken English be the principal objective in language learning?
- idiom, cliché, jargon, slang, motto, phoneme, allophone, redundancy
- 02 Syntax & Semantics
- Ways of presenting grammar
- Short Texts for production and grammar presentation
- Dialogues for grammar-presentation or conversation-facilitation
- Function & Form: uses of the Present Perfect Tense
- Grammar content of FCE as covered in leading exam course books 1979-1987
- Key developments in the teaching of English vocabulary during the mid 20th century
- The importance of concordancers and corpuses in vocabulary learning and teaching today
- Choosing a dictionary for English language learning
- Functional and linguistic analysis of occupational varieties of English
- Specialist English dictionaries and companion workbooks to develop vocabulary
- 03 History and Practice of TESL /TEFL methods & approaches
- Audiolingualism (drilling as habit formation)
- Cognitive Theory (awareness of the rules) Mentalism
- Notional | Functional approach i.e. setting (topic areas) | speech acts (social purpose of utterance)
- The Communicative Approach - the theoretical background
- Communicative Language Teaching and task-based learning
- Definitions of learning
- 04 Language Acquisition Forum on current methods & approaches and the role of the teacher
- "The appeal & poverty of CLT" (Robert O'Neill: March 2000)
- "The limits of functional/notional syllabuses" (Robert O'Neill: 1997)
- "Crucial differences between L1 and L2 Acquisition" (Robert O'Neill: 1998)
- "Dogmas and Delusions in Current EFL Methodology" (Robert O'Neill: 1999)
- "The Myth of the Silent Teacher" (Robert O'Neill: April 1994)
- Verbal characteristics of good teacher-talk. How to be a good teacher: the most common tips.
- What makes a good teacher? Use marketing clichés, catch-phrases and jargon in your answers.
- 05 Principles Syllabus and Course Design
- Selection and Grading of Structural items
- Questions to consider when designing a syllabus (Ron White)
- A critique of Breen's Process Syllabus (Ted Power)
- Motivating large classes of captive language learners in poorly resourced MLT environments
- Planning a visit with captive 12-13 year-old UK learners of French to Boulogne, France
- A list of criteria for evaluating the Main Course Book
- 06 Methods of Testing and Assessment
- INDEX: to Language Testing Objectives
- Objectives of test types: a) aptitude b) placement c) diagnostic d) achievement e) proficiency
- What are a) discrete point tests b) tests of integrative skills?
- Subjective and objective testing techniques
- Standardized tests ("psychometric objective" & "linguistic realistic")
- The main requirements of an efficient test - the problem of "test rubric"
- Item analysis - the facility value of an item and its discrimination index
- The problems of assessing communication in a second language L2
- What are a) norm-referenced tests and b) criterion-referenced tests?
- Test reliability and validity: the most important aspects of both for the teacher / tester?
- 07 Developing a Placement Test
- Getting started & types of test to avoid
- Content specification
- The Placement Test
- Marking instructions and Answer Key
- Item Analysis for selective deletion Placement Tests set on an incline of difficulty
- Testing the test 1: Item analysis: facility value and discrimination index
- Testing the test 2: Statistical measures of the Mean, Standard Deviation and Reliability
- Reliability versus Validity
- Accommodating "complete beginners" during a 60-minute Placement Test and Bibliography on Language Testing
- 08 A Multiple Choice Placement Test designed for quick marking and optimum validity
- Part 1 Grammar
- Part 2 Vocabulary
- Part 3 Reading Comprehension
- Part 4 Listening Comprehension
- Tape Script for Part 4 Listening Comprehension (cassette, minidisk or teacher can read aloud)
- Protecting TEST QUESTION PAPERS for re-use by subsequent intakes of students
- ANSWER SHEETS WITH GRIDS and OVERLAYS for easy marking
- Using computers or computer labs with or without Internet to administer and mark the test
- 09 English Language Teaching songs and games
- Folk songs listed by Level and frequency of problematic English Vowel & Consonant Sounds
- English Phoneme Chart: Key to problematic Vowel & Consonant Sounds
- Folk songs listed by a) Theme b) Discussion Topic and c) Level
- Games for English Language Learning colour-coded by Level
- 10 Reading in the Second Language Class
- Reading is not the same as Text Study
- Classroom activities and Skills for Reading
- L2 Reading objectives for English for Specific Purposes (Business and ESP)
- L2 Reading objectives for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Candidates for English medium universities
- 11 Writing in the Second Language Class
- 1) Exercise-types for teaching writing in the second language class. 2) Is writing an extension of speaking?
- Adjusting lesson content to the contexts in which writing is needed
- Coherence and cohesion in esl student writing
- Correction techniques: behaviourist (steering round errors) v cognitive (earmarking the fault)
- Link to Adult Literacy Materials for zero beginners with no knowledge of our alphabet
- Link to BBC Skillwise: writing - a community web site, offering general writing tips and practice for learners at lower levels
- Link to Royal Literary Fund - help with essay writing for advanced learners hoping to attend UK universities
- 12 Learner Independence; Learner Autonomy and the Web; Self-access Centres and Practice Time
- Self-access Centres: the rationale
- Using javascript templates on other sites to make your computer lab teaching & testing material interactive
- Downloading freeware from the web to run javascript interactive teach/test templates and how to create your own
- 13 Particular challenges for English language teachers: real communication; very low or very high level learners
I am indebted to Robert O'Neill for giving me permission to use his excellent articles on Language Acquisition.
RSS webfeeds 1.
-- Easy Access to the key parts of English language learning and teaching
2.
-- Published resources for English language learning and teaching (Ted Power's recommendations):
This feed is intended for learners/teachers/Directors of Studies wishing to review or select books/CDs/CD-ROMs on English language learning and teaching including areas such as teacher training, pronunciation, listening to spoken English, oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing (including handwriting & basic literacy).
3.
-- English pronunciation for L1s: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek or Hungarian
4.
-- English pronunciation for L1s: Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai or Turkish
Return to the TOP of this page or go to Books for English Language Teachers