methodology of teaching english language (zrna agacevic)

8/14/2019 Methodology of Teaching English Language (Zrna Agacevic)

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May 2008 Zrna Agacevic

Univerzitet u ZeniciPedagoki fakultetOdsjek za engleski jezik i knjievnost

Methodology of teaching English languageBook ReportPrinciples of Language Learning and Teaching

by H. Douglas Brown

Mentor: Kasumagi Larisa, MA

Student: Agaevi Zrna

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Principles of Language Learning and Teaching is accessible, easy to read, and does a

good job of bringing theory and classroom practice together. The book is organised into four

main parts: Age Factors, Psychological Factors, Sociocultural Factors and Linguistic Factors.

The first chapter deals with language, language learners and teaching. It raises some

intereseting questions such as the age, ethnic, religious characteristics of language learners.Itgives definitions of basic terms such as learning and teaching. There is a historical overview

of teaching language at the end of the first chapter.

Part one, Age Factors, presents the first language acquisition and its significance.

Mediation theory is introduced as well as the Nativist approach.different issues concernig

competence and performance are given and described in detail. In this chapter the distinction

between comprehension and production is also made. Age and Acquisition is one of the

interesting chapters where the author gives a list of second language teaching methods abd

procedures on the basis of first language acquisition.

Part two of the book deals with psychological factors where a number of theories are

introduced such as Pavlovs classical behaviourism, Ausubels subsumption theory and

Rogers humanistic psychology. An overview of multiple inteligences is given also in this

part. There is a detailed description and classification of language learning strategies and a

brief test for identifying learners styles nad strategies. One chapter is dedicated to motivation

and personality factors.

Part three has focus on the sociocultural factors. It gives definitions of culture and

society while showing how these two ar connected. There is an interesting term used here

World Englishes which stands for the English language with its varieties accros the globe.

The book furher describes differences between ESL and EFL and introduces the WhorfianHypothesis. This hypothesis argues that language shapes our worldveiw. The chapter about

communicative competence comes next where the author gives definitions, approaches,

analysis and a list of different discourse styles.

The last part of the book is part four ,which deals with Linguistic factors. There is a

number of different figures and tables describing linguistic factors. The ecology of language

acquisition is presented in a very interesting and simplified way. For example, here are

described: Climate of Context, Seeds of Predisposition, Soil of Style, Germination Strategies,

Roots of Competence and Inferred Competence Intake.

This book ends with a large bibliography, where some future references can be found.

At the very end there is glossary, which gives definitions of imporant terms. Principles of

Language and Learning and Teaching is easily read because the language used is not difficult

and topics are very interesting.

Glossary:

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1. Affective filter- a condition of low anxiety and nondefensiveness that permits

one to acquire a language

2. Classical Method a language teaching method in which the focus is on

grammatical rules, memorization of vocabulary and other language forms,

translation of texts and performing written exercises

3. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) an approach to language

teaching methodology that emphasizes authenticity, interaction, student-

centered learning, task-based activities, and communication for real-world,

meaningful purposes

4. Error analysis the study of learners ill-formed production in an effort to

discover systematicity

5. Induced errors errors caused ba something in the learners environment,

such as the teacher, a textbook or a classroom methodology

6. Instrumental orientation acquiring a language as a means for attaining

instrumental goals, such as acquiring a degree or a certificate in an academicinstitution, furthering a career, etc

7. Integrative orientation learning a language in order to integrate oneself into

the culture of a second language group and become involved in social

interchange in that group

8. Interlingual transfer- the effect of one language (usually the first) on another

(usually the second)

9. Rote learning the process of mentaly storing facts, ideas or feelingshaving

little or no association with existing cognitive structure

10.Task-based instruction an approach to language teaching that focuses on

tasks

I think that this book can be very helpful in ESL classroom. I believe it would be agreat thing to use this book not only in ESL classrooms, but in all classrooms. This bookshows to us that it is important to know how to teach the Englishlanguage to people of allages.

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What I like the most about this book is that you do not have to have detailedknowledge of linguistics or psychology in order to understand this book. The historicaloverview of language teaching is particularly interesting. The best part of this book is the first

part and the first chapter- Age and Acquisition.

In this chapter the author explains the ability of children to vocally or nonvocally sendan extraordinary number of messages and receive messages as well. The four theories aredescribed in this chapter: Behaviorist, Mediation Theory, Nativist and Functional Theory.They all deal with how children acquire language. The next part is my favourite because I likethe way competence and performance are described. There is an interesting example from thereal-life situation, a conversation between a tecaher and a child.

The following example is a speech delivered by a small girl and a speech made by aman. We can see the similarity in style, fluency, only the choice of words is different. Thereare many wonderful examples throughout the book and after reading them you will get thefeeling that you actually experienced that particular situation.

One of the amazing chapters is the chapter about personality types and languageacquisition. It has a table describing Myers-Briggs character types. For example, it lists all thecharacter types and gives their characteristics. The four main categories are given here: 1.Intoversion vs. extroversion, 2. Sensing vs. intuition, 3. Thinking vs. feeling, 4. Judging vs.

perceiving. There is an interesting link between these charater types and strategies they usewhile learning.

This book has a great feature that I find very helpful. At the end of each chapter thereis a list of topics and questions for study and discussion, as well as list of suggested readings.These topics and questions can be used as an activity in ESL classrooms. I stronglyrecommend this bookto both students and teachers because they can benefit from it. It will bea great progress if this book becomes the regular literature for ESL students.

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methodology of teaching english language (zrna agacevic)

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