integrating skills in the language classroom

Integrating skills in the language

classroom

Lecture # 20

Review of lecture 19

Microteaching involves presentation of micro lesson

Audience….small group of peers.

Feedback given by peers role playing as students

Participants learn about strengths & weakness in themselves as teachers

Plan strategies for improvement in performance

To teach is to learn

Secret to education is to respect the pupil

Today’s Lecture

Before we start today’s lecture, let’s have a short non-credit quiz on what have we done so far.

What is micro Teaching?

Name various stages for teaching an oral lesson.

Name various skills of micro teaching.

How to use teaching aids effectively.

Peter Lucantoni• Started teaching in 1979 in UK, MA TESOL University of Edinburgh,

lived and worked in Europe and Middle East, now based in Cyprus

• Author, Educational Consultant & Teacher Trainer for Cambridge University Press

• Cambridge TKT, CELTYL, CELTA & DELTA trainer and Cambridge CELTYL assessor

• Examiner for Cambridge ESOL speaking examinations

• TKT: teaching Knowledge Test, Certificate in English Language Test for young learners.

• What does integrated mean?

• What are skills, language skills and sub-skills?

• What does integrating skills mean?

• How can we integrate language skills in the classroom?

• Conclusions

Lecture overview

• When we integrate things, they combine, or work together to make something more effective

• An integrated system or organisation combines different groups or ideas in a way that works well

What does integrated mean?

• The teeth on a zip fastener need to combine in order for it to become effective

• Equally true is that language skills need to combine, to be integrated, in order for communication to become effective

What does integrated mean?

• Try not to think about ELT! Discuss and try to agree on a definition.

What are skills?

• The ability to do something well needs to continue to be consolidated and practised or we can easily lose our skill

• If Rooney stopped practising, would he continue to be a skilled footballer?

• And what about the pianist and carpenter?

What are skills?

• People who have a skill demonstrate the ability to do something well – a skilled footballer scores goals, a skilled pianist plays well, a skilled carpenter makes beautiful furniture

What are skills?

• We are not necessarily born with the skill to do something

• Usually, skills are developed during life –Rooney, the pianist and the carpenter all needed plenty of lessons and practice before they became skilled

What are skills?

• To be completely effective in a language we need to be competent in the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking, as well as in thinking about language

• Here are some examples of all the language skills discussed here

Language skills and sub-skills

• However, being skilled in a language necessitates also having good language sub-skills

• What are sub-skills? Why are sub-skills important, and when do we use them?

Language skills and sub-skills

• People who use a language employ a number of sub-skills, or strategies

• Sub-skills are chosen depending on the task to be completed

Language skills and sub-skills

skimming

note-

taking

for detailspresenting

analysing

Language sub-skills

Skimming: WHY?

note-taking: WHY?

for details: WHY?

presenting: WHY?

analysing: WHY?

Language sub-skills

• A language learner’s proficiency in the various sub-skills will be different; furthermore, every learner’s needs in each sub-skill will be different from the next learner’s needs

Language sub-skills

• One of our roles as teachers of E2L is to help learners to develop those skills and sub-skills which they

• are weak in

• need for a particular purpose

• Also, we need to help them identify which sub-skills are most appropriate for a particular task

Language sub-skills

• How many examples of sub-skills practice can you find? Make a list. Look at these examples:

– listening for gist;

-proof- reading writing

• Compare your lists. Same or different?

Language sub-skills

• So, learners need to be able to identify which sub-skills are required for a task, & then to implement them

• Outside the classroom, this happens automatically: people ‘are able to select those sub-skills that are most important to their task’ (Harmer, 1991)

Language sub-skills

• But language learners need to be trained to identify & apply sub-skills, & they need practice & consolidation, in the same way that Rooney does

Language sub-skills

• ‘The learner must develop skills and strategies for using language to communicate meanings as effectively as possible’ (Littlewood, 2001)

Integrating skills

• ‘Language skills are integrated; they ‘cooperate’ with each other’ (Lucantoni, 2002)

• ‘Language users employ a combination of skills at the same time’ (Harmer, 1991)

What does integrating skills mean?Integrating skills

• Confidence and independence need to be built and developed in using language in ‘real’ communicative situations

• While language and grammar are important, communicative competence should be our goal

Integrating skills

• And of course an integrated approach to language teaching & learning will find room for focusing on specific areas of language where necessary (eg, lexis, grammar)

Integrating skills

• Choose an authentic text and think of one of your classes for which you think the content and level would be appropriate

• Design an integrated skills lesson using the text and your ideas from this workshop

Integrating skills

• What does integrated mean?

• What are skills, language skills and sub-skills?

• What does integrating skills mean?

• How can we integrate language skills in the classroom?

• Conclusions

Summary

Any questions?