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ISSUES OF TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE ELEMENTARY STAGE - English with Rajesh

ISSUES OF TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE ELEMENTARY STAGE

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ISSUES OF LEARNING ENGLISH IN A MUTILINGUAL/MULTI-CULTURALSOCIETY

MULTILINGUALISM IN INDIA

Multilingualism can be defined as linguistic diversity and it is universal in nature. India is a perfect example of multilingualism. There are approximately 15 official languages in India and around 1500 dialects and varieties. Though English is a second language yet it enjoys more Prestigious reputation than that of the mother-tongue-Hindi. Officially the three language formula exists in the Indian education system. Therefore, each educated Indian is supposed to know at least three languages and necessarily be a ‘polyglot’.

THE ROLE OF ENGLISH IN INDIAN MULTILINGUAL SETTING

English serves two purposes.

First, it provides a linguistic tool for the administrative Cohesiveness of a country

secondly, it serves as a language of wider communication. It is the medium of instruction in almost all higher education institutions.

As a Language of Wider Communication (LWC), English is used for communion, ceremonial purpose, and instrument of keeping records, information dissemination, self-experiment and embodiment of thought among the various linguistic groups of India. In India English language is the nation’s ‘lingua franca’.

MULTILINGUALISM AS RESOURCE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Many languages are spoken even in our state Andhra Pradesh. While teaching the target language English,Instead of teaching English Grammar mechanically in a boring manner, the English teacher may think of comparing and contrasting the structure of English Language with those of the different languages spoken by the children. Freedom should be given to the learners to use the mother tongue at every stage. There can be intermittent shift from L1 to L2 (English) and vice versa. by using direct method or bilingual approach

ISSUES RELATED TO TEACHER PROFICIENCY

The competencies are defined as “the set of knowledge, skills, and experience, which manifests in activities”.It is believed that grammar and conversational skills were perceived as the most important components of language teaching.

LANGUAGE TEACHER PROFICIENCY IN GENERAL

However, linguistic knowledge alone isnot sufficient. . It is clear, however, that effective language teaching involves more than linguistic competence. And similarly, there are a number of elements of language teacher proficiency. Some factors may negate the strengths ofanother aspect. For example, if a teacher is very fluent but has no pedagogical skills, the lack of methodology will negate their fluency. టీచర్ ఇంగ్లీష్ లో fluent అయ్యి pedagogical skills మరియు methodology లేకపోతే ఆ టీచర్ fluency ప్రభావం విద్యార్దులపై ఉండదు Pedagogical Knowledge

ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE vs. PREPATING CHILDREN FOR EXAMINATION

Children acquire their mother tongue through interaction with their parents and the environment that surrounds them.

By the time a child is five years old, she/he can express ideas clearly and almost perfectly from the point of view of language and grammar.

Do we want our children acquire in a natural setting or to memorize certain linguistic facts for the purpose of examination? As a teacher we have to think about this. Children may not get natural learning environment in English outside the school. Linguists suggest at various levels that English can be taught as a language only. If the child cannot understand the concept, she/he may resort to ‘mug up’ (recite) the matter rather than make an effort to understand it. Language is to be taught so that the child may use it for his/her immediate communicative purposes, apart from gaining knowledge, thinking, introspect. If we focus more on examinations, the beauty of the language may be lost and children may not acquire the language in a free, fearless environment.

ENGLISH AS A LANGUGE OF PRESTIGE AND POWER

One of the major problems that has engaged our attention in the recent years is the role of English in the different fields of our life. Since independence, it has been playing a dominating role in our educational as well as national set up. Today, English has become a symbol of people’s aspirations for quality in education and a fuller participation in national and international life. Knowledge of English Language thus regarded as badge of superiority. It was a sure passport to power and affluence and prestige. Thus English is the gateway of the knowledge in all spheres of thought.

That is why a new movement arose in the various sections in national life – political, religious and social. Presently English is an international language and is not the language of the Britain only. It has been said that more people outside the island speak English than within it.

Thus, English is a tool of power, prestige and growth.

THE POLITICS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN INDIA

Teaching of English at the primary level is a worldwide phenomenon. Many states have already introduced or want to introduce English as a subject in primary classes, often from class-I. The level of its introduction has now become a matter of state policy responding to people’s aspirations. the fields, such as Education, Medical Science Text materials relating to the subjects of Science, Engineering and Technology as also Medicine are available only in English. English in India is one of the main communication languages and symbol of participation in national and international life.

Linguistic overview of India (Political factor)

The language issue in India gives an interesting overview of political and social aspects of language planning and promotion. After independence from the British in 1947, the leaders of the new Indian nation recognized the opportunity to unite many regions of India with a common, universal language, Hindi, but it did not assure dominance over the other languages in India. So, although English was not an indigenous language, it became an ‘Associate official Language’, along with Hindi, according to article 343 of the Official Language Act, 1963, the ‘Official Language of the Union of India’ with eighteen ‘National Languages’, such as Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu, etc., that have a special status in certain individual states. The solution to this problem was ‘The Three Language Formula’ (TFL) which emerged as a political consensus on languages in school education. This was a strategy (not a policy) to accommodate at least three languages within the ten years of schooling. The All India Council for Education recommended the adoption of the Three Language Formula in September 1956.According to this formula, every child has to learn the following:

1) The mother tongue or the regional language;

2) The official language of the union or the associate official language of the Union so

long as it exists (official language of the union is Hindi and its associate official language is English);

3) Modern Indian language or a foreign language, not covered under (1) & (2) above and other than that used as the medium of instruction.

English language in India – Historical context

Christian schools (through their missionaries) started functioning in the early 1800s.

Macaulay’s Minutes of Indian Education (1835) advocated the use of English as it was felt that ‘Indians cannot be educated by means of their mother tongue.

English is the language’. He also envisaged that English would be the language of commerce, politics and judiciary. Macaulay’s minutes on education dated 2nd Feb, 1835 – approved by the then Governor General of India, William Bentick on March 7, 1835 – became the cornerstone of British India educational policy.

Language learning is not just a matter of acquiring the skills of listening, speaking,

reading and writing but it consists of developing a communicative competence where these skills are often used in an integrated manner along with several other abilities that help in conducting a dialogue

Recent developments

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) launched in 2001 is Government of India’s flagship programme for providing free and compulsory education to children of 6–14 years age. SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including language skills.

One of the goals is to “focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life skills to be imparted to children for being successful.” Teaching and learning of English is to be given due attention in the programme of improving quality of education.

The National Knowledge Commission (2007) felt that the time has come to teach English as a language in school. Early action in this sphere, would help us build an inclusive society and transform India once again into a ‘knowledge society’ which it was a few decades ago.

The National Curriculum Framework-2005 (NCF 2005) lays stress on the use of child’s mother tongue as a medium of learning at the primary level. At the same time, Teaching of English in an appropriate manner to enable the child to acquire sufficient proficiency in the language has also been given due importance in the NCF-2005. As per the National Curriculum Framework- 2005 at the initial stages, English may be one of the languages for learning activities

that create the child’s awareness of the world.

KEY FACTORS AFFECTING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

There are so many factors that affect the teaching-learning process in India.

  • Firstly environment and family background
  • Secondly, the infrastructure, viz. school buildings – class rooms, labs, etc.
  • classes under the trees even after several five year plans. Majority of the students are coming from village and also their parents are farmers and uneducated.

Hence, a common programme for English Language Teaching must be framed in the pre-schooling itself.

ROLE OF A TEACHER

As said by Sir Philip Sydney, teaching is the end of all learning. A teacher’s primary role is not only to enable the students to understand what he is intending to say or teach. It is also the duty of the teacher to understand what the student wants and says. Teaching-learning process is just like making sound by clapping. Without two hands we cannot clap. Like that without a right teacher and the students, the teaching learning process is meaningless. Teaching should be a worthy of learning a concept deeply and broadlyAs Carl Rogers said, the teacher should first forget that she/he is a teacher. Instead, she/he must possess the skills of a facilitator of learning-genuineness, prizing and empathy.

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), U.S., defines English language proficiency in this way: “A fully English proficient student is able to use English to ask questions, to understand teachers, and reading materials, to test ideas, and to challenge what is being asked in the classroom”.

Four language skills contribute to proficiency as follows:

1) Reading 2) Listening 3) Writing 4) Speaking. In our country, as already said 75% of the students are from rural areas and they are coming through regional language medium schools.

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUGE: DEVELOPMENTAL, SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Furthermore, absence of a national language in India has added an extra block in the popularity of English in India. Although Hindi is the official language in India but the disgrace and the unpopularity of Hindi in the southern and eastern parts of India also contributes a great deal in the presence, popularity and the dominance of English in India.

Socio-Psychological effect of English

The sub-continental languages have now largely been replaced with English as the language of upper and middle classes. The traditional languages have been dumped for poor working and all English speakers have been made superior. English language is now regarded as the means of personal achievement and the language of necessity. The non-Hindi states are free to correspond with the central government in English. huge dis-interest in vernacular languages among Indians. The present generation does not get acknowledged with the language of their fore fathers instead they want to be known by English language.

Use of any language is extrinsically related to area of residence, medium of instruction, amount of exposure to the language, prestige of the language, and frequency of the language use. The result of the study seems to reveal certain facts:

(1) use of English language happen because of the prestige associated with it,

(2) English is gaining more recognition because of public demand and high level of exposure of English through various sources,

(3) people find English as a door to knowledge, jobs, education etc., they find their mother tongue useful just for the

purpose of spreading cultural and social values and a sense of unity in their own speech

community,

(4) people also think that they can maintain a separate identity while accepting and

adopting elements from other community, i.e. „English‟. English seems to be a possible danger to local languages if it starts too early for a child. English language should be an addition to a child’s repertoire of languages not a substitution for their home language (Prahbu 2009). English should be taught in schools and colleges but not at the expense of the native tongue. Life in the 21st century, in an interconnected, globalized world, requires critical thinking skills and a sense of international- mindedness; Using English could be the route to create this interconnected, global/international understanding to learn empathy, tolerance and conflict resolution. But the other side of the coin looks very different. The fact today is that, English language is used only by a few, usually in the urban areas of every

region. It is used only in certain domains, and hardly ever as the language of intimacy.

THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE – LEARNING vs. ACQUISITION

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language acquisition refers to the process of natural assimilation, involving intuition and subconscious learning. It is the product of real interactions between people in environments of the target language and culture, where the learner is an active player. It is similar to the way children learn their native tongue, a process that produces functional skill in the spoken language without theoretical knowledge

1.10.2 LANGUAGE LEARNING

The concept of language learning is linked to the traditional approach to the study of languages and today is still generally practiced in high schools worldwide.

Language-learning inspired methods are progressive and cumulative, normally tied to a preset syllabus that includes memorization of vocabulary.

Learning versus Acquisition

Artificial ↔ Natural

Technical ↔ Personal

Theory (language analysis) ↔ Practice (language in use)

Formal instruction ↔ Meaningful interaction

1.10.3 INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACQUISITION AND LEARNING AND

ITS IMPLICATIONS

The clear understanding of the differences between acquisition and learning makes it possible to investigate their interrelationships as well as the implications for the teaching of languages. First, we ought to consider that languages are complex, arbitrary, irregular phenomena, full of ambiguities, in constant random and uncontrollable evolution. Therefore, the grammatical structure of a language is too complex and abstract to be categorized and defined by rules. Even if some partial knowledge of the functioning of the language is reached, it is not easily transformed into communication skills. What happens in fact is the opposite: to understand the functioning of a language with its irregularities is a result of being familiar with it. Rules and exceptions will make sense and grammar, word choice and pronunciation will be employed appropriately if it “sounds” right. Language analysis and the deductive, rule-driven study of grammar are not only ineffective to produce communicative ability, but also frustrating. It is much easier and more enjoyable to acquire a language than it is to learn a language. In his Monitor Hypothesis Krashen admits that the knowledge obtained through formal study (language learning) can serve to monitor speaking. Krashen, however, doesn’t specify the language that would be the object of study, but it is logical to assume that he was using the study of Spanish as the basis for his inferences and conclusions because it is the dominant foreign language in the United States, and particularly in the state of California, where Professor Krashen lives and works. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of the target language, their degrees of irregularity and difficulty and how that affects the applicability of Krashen’s theory. It is also necessary to analyze the personal characteristics of the players in the teaching-learning arena.

1.11 THE PEDAGOGY OF COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

The Input Hypothesis introduced by Stephen Krashen has been one of a number of hypotheses concerning the causes of the language acquisition. In Krashen’s point of view, ‘language acquisition’ is more powerful and essential than ‘language learning’, and learners are able to acquire language only by understanding language containing linguistic features one step beyond their present level of knowledge or “comprehensible input”. A number of researches and theorists have, however, questioned this hypothesis and expressed their observations about the explanatory value of comprehensible input to language acquisition. Krashen indicated that language acquisition is more powerful and essential than language learning and the only one way to acquire language is to be exposed to ‘comprehensible input’.

1.11.1 THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS: STATEMENT AND SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

In accordance with the usual pedagogical approach in second and foreign language teaching, learners develop their fluency by first learning structures, and then practicing their usage in communication; but in contrast to this, Krashen (1982) conceived that learners acquire languages by understanding meaning first, and then acquiring structures. The input hypothesis can be thus restated as follows:

1) The input hypothesis is connected to acquisition and not learning.

2) Learners acquire by understanding language containing linguistic feature one step beyond their present level of knowledge (i + 1). In addition, context or extralinguistic information will be used to help learners understand such language.

3) Comprehensible input or the so called (i + 1) will be automatically provided if the acquirer understands the input and there is sufficient of it.

4) Fluency in Speaking cannot be taught directly. It emerges over a period of time, on its own. Krashen (1982) further developed his idea by presenting evidence supporting the hypothesis as follows: Firstly, first language acquisition in children: The comprehensible input in second language is similar in some ways to “caretaker speech”, the language that adults (parents and others) use with children. Its most important characteristic is that caretakers intend to communicate and convey messages to children, not to teach language. Moreover, caretakers do not provide the language exactly modified to the child’s present level of linguistic knowledge. In other words, the input is roughly-tuned, not finely-tuned. The third characteristic is stated as the “here and now” principle. The conversation is mostly about the child’s immediate environment, what is happening now (Krashen, 1982; 1988; Lightbown and Spada, 1999).

Secondly, second language acquisition: Krashen stated that second language learners are also exposed to the kind of modified input characterized as:

a) Foreigner talk, the term defined by Ferguson in 1971 for “the simplified speech used by a native speaker with a non-native speaker who lacked full understanding of the target language”.

b) Teacher talk, described as foreigner talk in classroom environment.

c) Inter-language talk, the name given by Selinker (1972) to “learners’ developing second language knowledge”.

Thirdly, the silent period and first language influence: The silent period, a henomenon that occurs in the beginning stage of child’s second language acquisition, is explained by Krashen in terms of the ‘input hypothesis’, that is, the child’s competence in second language is developed by listening and then understanding. Utterance producing ability will come when receiving enough competence in target language. Unlike the child in second language acquisition, adults and children in formal second language instruction are usually pressured to talk very early. However, the insufficiency of competence i.e., the lack of acquisition of second language rule results in errors (Krashen, 1982). Such errors are not the result of first language interference (cited in Krashen, 1982: 27).

Fourthly, Advantages and disadvantages of first language rule use: Use of first language rules allow the learners to produce utterances even though their competence in second language is not adequate for production, and this gives them opportunities to engage in conversation that can provide more comprehensible input. Despite the said advantage, it may not be able to encourage real progress in the second language. Lastly, applied linguistics research: Krashen claimed that studies of the newer methods which focus on ‘meaning’ and not ‘form’, such as, Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) and Terrell’s Natural Approach can confirm that providing ‘comprehensible input’ method/s is better

than any of the older approaches.

1.11.2 REFLECTIONS ON THE HYPOTHESIS AND ITS TEACHING IMPLICATION

Comprehensible input is conceptually very fruitful for second-language development. Harmer (1991), however, argued that superficially it might seem that comprehensible input can undoubtedly help students to acquire the language that they are hearing or reading if they can more or less understand it. In fact, it is not easy to say that acquisition is more plausible than learning. Ellis (1990) and Lightbown and Spada (1999) also pointed to the lack of direct empirical studies that can support the effectiveness of input hypothesis. According to studies of the role of meaning-focused instruction, it appears that not only comprehensible input but also negotiation of meaning is crucial for the acquisition of new linguistic competence. Krashen acknowledged that both one-way and two-way interaction can be a source of modified input and two-way interaction i.e. conversation is a good way of providing comprehensible input. However, he insisted that two-way interaction is not certainly necessary for comprehensible input and learner is also not required to be active participant to understand the input (Ellis, 1990). There are others who reject one-way interaction which learners are just passive recipients of comprehensible input and do not need to speak at all. One example provided by Pisa, Young and Doughty (1987) showed that the modified interaction is more powerful than modified input in order to lead much more comprehension. According to the interaction hypothesis, negotiation of meaning is very helpful when difficulty in communication occurs and learners need to obtain input and feedback that can serve as linguistic data through conversational repair e.g. asking clarification questions, checking their comprehension, clarifying vocabulary, and verifying meaning. In addition, Swain (1985) advocates the output hypothesis which claims that learners need opportunities to practice language with native speakers to develop language competence (Ellis, 1990). It has long been believed that providing comprehensible input can play an important role in second language acquisition. Many researchers, however, argue that it is valuable but incomplete for learners’ continued language development. Unlike Krashen, some support the form-focused instruction whereas some insist on the power of interaction. It all, in fact, reflects individuals’ believe in different approaches. It is advised that careful consideration for benefit and concern of those approaches. Multilingualism is a way of life in India. Multilingualism can be defined as linguistic diversity and it is universal in nature. A polyglot is a person who is “able to speak more than two languages with approximately equal ease and comfort”. And so, every educated Indian is a polyglot or at least a bilingual in true sense of the term. Three broad components of language teacher proficiency were identified as ‘linguistic knowledge’, ‘cultural knowledge’ and ‘pedagogical knowledge’. In Krashen’s point of view, ‘language acquisition’ is more powerful and essential than ‘language learning’, and learners are able to acquire language only by understanding language containing linguistic features one step beyond their present level of knowledge or “comprehensible input”.

Unit 2

TLM is an essential component of classroom teaching practice. Teaching Learning Material (TLM) is an expression used to describe the resources the teachers use in the classroom to carry out instruction and learners use to enhance their understanding. The teaching learning material is largely grouped into (a) audio aids, (b) visual aids, and (c) audio-visual aids.

Teaching Learning Materials are used to make the teaching and learning joyful, to reduce the boredom and fatigue, to break the monotony, to ensure the language skills of the children, to draw the attention of the students, to make the classroom attractive and lively, to bring out the innate abilities of the teachers as well as students.

NATURE OF TEACHING LEARNING MATERIAL AT LOWER PRIMARY LEVEL (classes-I & II)

The nature of Teaching Learning Material selected at lower primary level should be like the following:

Learner friendly in a child centered way, Relevance and appropriateness, Low cost, No cost and availability, Scope for preparation or collection, Scope for interaction and communication. Level specific, need based, Scope for flexibility, Scope for activity based, Scope for tasks, Focus on introduction of alphabet, simple words.

NATURE OF TEACHING LEARNING MATERIAL AT MIDDLE PRIMARY LEVEL (III, IV & V)

Similarly, the nature of Teaching Learning Material at middle primary level (classes-III, IV & V) should have …

Relevance and appropriateness, Low cost, No cost and availability, Scope for preparation or collection.

Scope for interaction and communication, Need based, Scope for flexibility.

Scope for activity based, Scope for tasks, Challenging and scope for meaningful engagement.

Appealing and attractive, Manageable

AUTHENTIC/ NON PEDAGOGIC MATERIAL

Nunan (1989): “any material which has not been specifically produced for the purpose of language teaching.” (as cited in Macdonald, Badger &White, 2000)

Bacon & Finnemann (1990): “authentic materials are texts produced by native speakers for a non-pedagogical purpose.”

Authentic Vs. Non-authentic Materials:

Authentic MaterialsNon-Authentic Materials
Language data produced for real life communication purposes. They may contain false starts, and incomplete sentences. They are useful for improving the communicative aspects of the language.They are specially designed for learning purposes. The language used in them is artificial. They contain well formed sentences all the time. They are useful for teaching grammar.

Spoken: TV commercials, films, news items, weather forecasts, airport and station announcement, radio talks, interviews, and debates.

Written: Recipes, articles, train timetables, advertisements, brochures, poems, application forms, and instruction for use of equipment.

Gebhard (1996) categorized into four categories

1. Authentic listening / viewing materials – TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audio taped short stories, novels, radio advertisements, songs and documentaries etc.

2. Authentic Visual materials – slides, photographs, paintings, children’s art work, stick figure drawings, wordless street signs, silhouettes, pictures from magazines, ink blots, postcard pictures, wordless picture books and calendars etc.

3. Authentic Printed Materials – newspaper articles, movie advertisements, astrology columns, sports reports, obituary columns, advice columns, lyrics to songs, restaurant menus, street signs, cereal boxes, chocolate wrappers, tourist information brochures, university

catalogues, maps, comic books, greeting cards, grocery coupons and bus/train schedules etc.

4. Realia (Real world objects)

According to Harmer (1994), the use of authentic materials helps learners in the following ways.

  • Authentic materials assist language learners to become better readers and better learners which ultimately lead them to produce good language.
  • Language acquisition process will be better and faster. etc

There are some Limitations of using authentic/non-pedagogic material according to

(Guariento & Morley, 2001; Martinez, 2002; Kim, 2000)

Publishers are publishing children’s story books in English which serve as a great resource of teaching and learningEnglish.

For example : TULIKA, TARA, KARADI TALES, KATHA, EKALAVYA, KALPAVRIKSH, DIGANTAR, RIVER, VBS, UDAIPUR, AZIM PREMZI FOUNDATION, MV FOUNDATION PRATHAM….etc

LOW COST – NO COST TEACHING LEARNING MATERIAL (TLM)

Now go through the following regarding the nature of ‘low cost’ and ‘no cost’ TLM.

.

  • Materials should be easy to display and use in the specific learning situations.
  • These materials come out of the innovative practices of the reflective teachers.
  • Easily accessible.
  • Can be prepared or procured with the help of the students.
  • It is the teacher’s vision and outlook that makes the material low cost- no cost.
  • Most of the authentic pedagogic material is low cost –no cost.

For example :

Let’s see the use of some material in detail:

FLASH CARDS

Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class. Gardner’s research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence.

Flash cards can be bright and colourful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinesthetic learners.

Eg:- Games for children to learn or memorise are words/phrases/sentences

Eg:- Memory game, Drilling activities – Invisible Flash cards, Identification activities – Reveal the word

Total Physical Response activities:

BLACK BOARD/CHALK BOARD

The board is useful to write the glossary, questions for checking comprehension, questions asked during scaffold reading so that every child will read it to answer. Children should be given chance to use the board frequently in the language class, especially at lower primary stage. Children should be given scope to write/ draw on the board through which their participation in the classroom transaction is ensured.

The criteria for effective blackboard work can be listed as follows: Neatness, Organization of the space, Visibility, Error free

MATCH-STICK DRAWING

Simple matchstick diagrams can be used to create situations. A little practice in drawing the match stick figures will keep the teacher in good position. In these figures, a simple stroke this way or that way can do wonders as animated as live shows.

ENGLISH TEACHER’S KIT

It is expected that every English teacher should possess his/her own kit of items for preparation of ‘low cost’ or ‘no cost’ TLM in their day to day classroom situations.

ROLE OF BIG BOOKS

The story is divided into scenes and each scene with a story thread in one or two sentences will be given on each page. The larger portion of the page is dedicated for picture. The pictures depict the scene and are normally drawn by an artist. Such books are considered as big books. Books like mentioned above are also published in large size compared to the textbooks and note books. Hence they are called big books.

Features:

  1. The size of pictures and words in big books are exciting to children.
  2. Big books are a fun way to motivate children to want to read and to create an exciting way for them to experience books.
  3. The size of pictures helps children to focus attention and follow the story as they are learning to listen.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LABORATORY

The language laboratory is an audio or audio-visual installation used as an aid in language teaching. They can be found, amongst other places, in schools, universities and academies. The original language labs are now very outdated. They allowed a teacher to listen to and manage student audio via a hard-wired analogue tape deck based systems with ‘sound booths’ in fixed locations.

PHILOSOPHY AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT

The main goal for any language curriculum is literacy. Here the term ‘literacy’ is not used in its narrow sense of ‘the ability to read and write’ but in its broader sense (as defined by UNESCO) of “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. “Respecting each other’s language (and culture) in our multilingual classrooms paves way for social harmony. We have been talking in terms of LSRW skills as the objectives of languages teaching

  • While making TLM or Text Books we have to follow or keep the guiding Principles of NCF – 2005, RTE 2009 – QUALITY ASPECTS, APSCF- 2011 GUIDING PRINCIPLES:

Therea re two recommendations of Position Paper on Teaching of English

1. Basic Proficiency in Englishnn2. Teaching based on the situation and level

NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF TEXTBOOKS IN SCHOOL CURRICULUM

There are great teachers who can do away with textbooks and do a great job.

FEATURES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS

  • They should match the cognitive levels and socio-cultural background of children
  • They should reflect local arts such as Burrakatha, Voggukatha, Harikatha, etc.
  • Lessons should be based on a wide variety of discourses like, songs, stories, poems, conversations, autobiographies, essays, letters etc.,
  • They should have language tasks such as extending poems (adding lines) and stories; concluding stories; writing conversations; puppetry; dramatization; mono action; reviews; descriptions; vocabulary. translations; project works; riddles; cultural songs; proverbs; idioms etc.
  • They should contain (particularly in stages 1 and 2) attractive and thought provoking pictures and illustrations appropriate to the lesson. Printing and paper should be of high quality

SELECTION OF THEMES

The following themes that are compatible with NCF are suggested for making of textbooks

A. CORE THEMES Eg :- Family, The nation, Sports and Games and Science and Technology etc

B. OTHER THEMES Eg :- Environment, Fashion and shopping Films, Media, Disaster, management, Mystery etc

ACADEMIC STANDARDS

The aim of classroom transaction is to help the learners to realize certain standards and not to teach the whole text book.

BROAD CATEGORIES OF ACADEMIC STANDARDS:

  1. Listening and Speaking
  2. Reading comprehension
  3. Conventions of writing
  4. Vocabulary
  5. Grammatical awareness
  6. Creative expression (Oral and Written discourses)

.

CHAPTER-3

APPROACHES TO THE TEACHING ENGLISH

  1. APPROACH

Edward Anthony, an American applied linguist identified the three levels of conceptualization and organization of the terms, approach, method and technique. The three terms approach, method and techniques are hierarchically related to each other.

METHOD

A method which originates from the approach is concerned with an orderly presentation of language to the students.

TECHNIQUE

A technique is implementation; It takes place in the actual class room. It is a particular trick, or strategy or device used to accomplish an immediate objective.

`BEHAVIOURIST AND STRUCTURAL APPROACHES

Learners produce language through habit formation. The learners copy the people with whom they interact. Correct imitation is rewarded and they are encouraged to imitate more and more. Most of the methods like Grammar Translation Method, Direct Method etc. and approaches like S-O-S approach are based on these ideas of language

Behaviorist (Pavlov, Skinner, and Watson) view of learning is like an associative process called conditioning. It is based on stimulus and response. According to them learning is an operant conditioning. A child learns many speech sounds produced by people around him/her. With the passage of time, he/she learns to respond to these sets of sounds. Here begins conditioning of language. The more the child is exposed to the process of conditioning the stronger in the effect. The child begins to imitate the speech sounds. For the desired response, he also produces a vocal stimulus. The members of his/her family understand some of his signals. Thus, some behavior pattern is rewarded and reinforced. And a bond of association is formed. At the same time, the child’s behaviour pattern, which fetches no desired result, is left by him/her.

According to the behaviourists language is learnt with the help of use and practice, creation of meaningful new patterns and their production; motivation to make effort for correct linguistic response to stimulus constant attention to language practice; reception and production; reinforcement of correct response to stimulus, and so on.

S-O-S APPROACH ( Structural Oral and Situational Approach)

This approach came into practice as an alternative to Direct Method. Structural approach has its origin in America and the chief contributors are Charles Fries and Robert Lado.

  • It aims at teaching the pupils the essential tools of language in the early stages of language learning.
  • Structures were considered as the most important tool for language learning.
  • Palmer, Hornsby and other linguists classified the major grammatical structures into sentence patterns which could be used to internalize the rules of English structure.
  • Structural approach also gives importance to speaking and Listening
  • Oral drilling is used to ensure the real understanding of the structures.
  • Hence this approach is also called the oral approach and situational language teaching (Gestures, actions, pictures and black board drawings are also used for explaining structure as supplements.)
  • Hornsby suggested 275 Structures

The S-O-S approach focuses on

  • Selection (choosing grammatical and lexical content).
  • Gradation (Organizing and sequencing of the content).
  • Presentation (practice of an item in a course).

Palmer is divided the learning process into three stages

  1. Receiving knowledge,
  2. Memorizing it by repetition
  3. Using it in practice to the extent that it becomes the personal skill and the habit.

FEATURES

According to Geeta Nagaraj the features of S-O-S approach is…

  • Speech is the basis of language teaching-new language items and vocabulary items are presented orally before they are presented in the written form.
  • The language items which are commonly used by native speakers in their day-to-day language are selected for teaching.
  • Vocabulary items are selected with reference to the general service list.
  • Reading and writing are based on items which have already been introduced and practiced orally

LIMITATIONS

  • Since the importance is given to repetition, mistakes if created could lead to habit formation.
  • Creativity and uniqueness of the individual are neglected.
  • The learner is required simply to, listen and repeat what the teacher says, writing is neglected

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING

This Approach emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. Communicative language teaching is any classroom practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context. It promotes judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities. The Bangalore project( N.S.Prabhu, 1987) gave prominance to the CLT which has emerged as a reaction against the Structural Method existed during 1970s and 1980s. He has began with the hypothesis ‘Form’ is best learnt when the focus is on ‘meaning’. Dr. N.S. Prabhu draws a distinction between ‘linguistic competence’ and ‘communicative competence’ and says that there is a logical relationship between the two.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

According to Richards and Rodgers

  • Language is a system for the expression of meaning.
  • The primary function of language is for interaction and communication.
  • The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.
  • The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse
  • Language learning is a natural process.

Richards and Rodgers consider three kinds of instructional materials currently used in CLT and label these as: ‘text-based, task-based, andrealia

ADVANTAGES

  • It lays emphasis on language practice.
  • It provides for teaching of every day real world language used in variety of socio cultural situations.
  • It makes the students to have a real purpose in using the language.

LIMITATIONS

  • The student’s mother tongue has no place in the theoretical basis of CLT.
  • The communicative approach is deemed a success only if the teacher understands the student.

ECLECTIC APPROACH

Larsen-Freeman (2000) and Mellow (2000) both have used the term principled eclecticism to describe a desirable, coherent, pluralistic approach to language teaching.Eclecticism involves the use of a variety of language learning activities, each of which may have very different characteristics and may be motivated by different underlying assumptions.

The use eclecticism is due to the fact that there are strengths as well as weaknesses of single theory based methods.

Disadvantageous : Reliance upon a single theory of teaching has been criticized because the use of a limited number of techniques can become mechanic. The teacher decides what methodology or approach to use depending on the aims of the lesson and the learners in the group. Almost all modern course books have a mixture of approaches and methodologies.

  • Advantages of an eclectic approach Safety: Interest: Diversity: Flexibility:
  1. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD

The Grammar Translation Method (GTM) is perhaps the oldest of all the methods of teaching English. It is a way of learning a language through a detailed study of its grammar. Grammar rules were explained and illustrated using sample sentences. Rules were presented first and various examples followed. Hence the learning was deductive. Students were required to translate sentences and passages from the target language to the mother tongue and vice versa. The sentence was the basic unit of teaching and language practice. Some sentences like proverbs were learned by heart

FEATURES

  • A Traditional way of teaching Latin and Greek. In the 19th century used to teach French, German and English.
  • Typical lesson consisted of a) presentation of grammatical rule, b) specially written text that demonstrated the rule, c) list of new words, d) translation exercises, e) grammar exercises.
  • This Method gave importance to read and write.
  • Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
  • Medium of instruction is the mother tongue.
  • Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.
  • Vocabulary items were presented in the form of bilingual lists to be memorized.

ADVANTAGES

  • Grammar translation method was widely accepted because it was economical and time saving.
  • It provided clarity of new and difficult words, offered the shortest way to learn foreign language.
  • As far as the beginners are concerned, they can learn the language easily since it is done in their own language.

LIMITATIONS

  • It is unnatural method
  • It neglected Listening and Speaking Skills
  • It encourages Mechanical Learning, learner fluency is neglected

DIRECT METHOD

  • The Direct method was also called as natural method or reformed method.
  • In this method the learner was expected to learn the new languages in a natural manner like his mother tongue.
  • Direct method is a method of teaching a foreign language especially a modern language through conversation, discussion and reading in the language itself without the use of pupil’s language, without translation and without study of formal grammar.
  • Popular techniques used as part of this method were lecturing, reading original and unabridged texts followed by summarizing the texts both orally and in writing.

PRINCIPLES

Oral Practice: The Direct method lays emphasis on oral teaching. Thorough practice and drilling is given to the pupils for listening, imitating and speaking. In this way the learner picks up fluency in speech.

The unit of speech is a sentence: In the Direct method emphasis is laid on speaking full sentences and teacher presents every sentence with the help of appropriate situations.

Inhibition of mother tongue: As far as possible mother tongue is not used while teaching English. The language should be associated with the meaning directly.

Inductive teaching of grammar: In the Direct method emphasis is laid on functional grammar. Grammar is taught indirectly and inductively.

Progressive teaching of new vocabulary: New vocabulary is taught after careful selection and gradation. The teaching of vocabulary is progressive. New words are taught by pointing objects, or pictures or explanations or using in suitable context.

ADVANTAGES

  • The Direct method is psychologically a sound method because it follows the natural process of learning the mother tongue.
  • It expands vocabulary which improves expression. Pupils also acquire fluency in speech.
  • The Direct method aims at practical command of English language. It also facilitates critical study of literature.
  • It makes teaching learning process a pleasant activity.
  • It facilitates thinking in English which improves the expressional ability of the students.

LIMITATIONS

  1. There is no enough writing and reading and hence it is an incomplete method in terms of LSRW skills.
  2. The ordinary teachers cannot do justice to language teaching. It needs individual on pupils, which is not possible.
  3. It is a difficult, time taking and expensive method.
  4. It mainly rests on functional grammar, but knowledge of formal grammar is also necessary.

AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD

Audio lingual method originated as a part of an intensive training programme for the American military personnel. Blooms field and others formulated this method based on oral practice. It involved guided conversation with a native speaker who provided model utterances.

The Audio-lingual Method was first known as the Army Method

FEATURES

  1. Dialoguememorization.
  2. Repetition drill: Students repeat the teacher’s model as accurately and as quickly as possible to learn the lines of the dialog.
  3. Transformation drill: The teacher gives students a certain kind of sentence pattern. Students are asked to transform a sentence into a negative sentence.
  4. Question-and-answer drill: This drill gives students practice with answering questions.

LIMITATIONS

  1. The learner is expected to be ‘active’ but this involvement is merely mechanical.
  2. The mental process is not involved in the learning.
  3. The approach believes that errors should be prevented by presenting the material in small steps.
  • This rigid criterion of simplicity makes the process uninteresting for the child.

BILINGUAL METHOD

  • Dr. C.J. Dodson of Whales University proposed this method.
  • This method makes use of two languages. “The mother tongue and the target language English. This method is a combination of the Grammar Translation Metho and Direct Method”
  • The learners knowledge of mother tongue is utilized for learning the target language. Sentence is the unit of learning. Learners are encouraged to speak in English only.

PRINCIPLES

Restricted use of mother tongue: The teacher uses the mother tongue in a restricted manner to give the meanings of new words, idioms, grammatical rules and sentence patterns.

Intensive practice of patterns: In English to form the correct language habits, the pupils will be given rigorous practice of sentence patterns without the use of mother tongue.

Mother tongue is used only during early stages: The use of mother tongue will be gradually dropped as the pupils advanced in learning.

Introduction of reading and writing after pattern practice: After pattern drilling, reading and writing will be introduced. Word to word translation is not used. Here the sentence is the unit of speech.

ADVANTAGES

  • The use of mother tongue saves a lot of time and promotes quick understanding.
  • The labour of the teacher is saved.
  • It suits all types of teachers because it does not burden them with extra information.
  • It promotes fluency because there is stress on speech and pattern practice.
  • It is suitable to all types of schools, i.e. rural and urban.

LIMITATIONS

  • Bilingual method becomes Grammar Translation Method, if the teacher is not imaginative and limits the use of vocabulary.
  • It may be suitable for adult learners

DR. WEST’S NEW METHOD

  • This method was evolved by Dr. Michael West, who taught English in India for a number of years and was well-aware of the English language teaching situation in India.
  • He found that for Indian learners of English, learning to read English was easier than speaking it.
  • He recommended an emphasis on reading not only because he regarded it as the most useful skill to acquire in a foreign language but also.
  • He produced a list of 2000 most frequently used words from a list of ten million words.
  • The list is called GSL (General Service List) of English words. He further divided this list into six levels and developed reading books called New Method Readers.

TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

  • Total physical response (TPR) is a language-teaching method developed by James Asher.
  • It is based on the coordination of language and physical movement.
  • In TPR, instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions.
  • Listening serves two purposes; it is both a means of understanding messages in the language being learned, and a means of learning the structure of the language itself.
  • Grammar is not taught explicitly, but is induced from the language input.

Total physical response lessons typically use a wide variety of realia, posters, and props.

ADVANTAGES

  • Students enjoy getting out of their chairs and moving around.
  • Simple TPR activities do not require a great deal of preparation on the part of the teacher.
  • TPR is aptitude-free, working well with a mixed ability class, and with students having various disabilities.
  • It is good for kinesthetic learners who need to be active in the class.
  • Class size need not be a problem and it works effectively for children and because of its participatory approach.
  • TPR may also be a useful alternative teaching strategy for students with dyslexia or related learning disabilities.

LIMITATIONS

  1. TPR is often criticized as being only suitable for beginning students.
  2. Because the students are only expected to listen and not to speak, the teacher has the sole responsibility for deciding what input students hear.
  3. It does not give students the opportunity to express their own thoughts in a creative way.

SUGGESTOPEDIA

Suggestopedia considered to be the strangest of the so-called “humanistic approaches” was originally developed in the 1970s by the Bulgarian educator Georgi Lozanov.

The approach was based on the power of suggestion / positive suggestion would make the learner more receptive and, in turn, stimulate learning.

Lozanov holds that a relaxed but focused state is the optimum state for learning.

The original form of suggestopedia presented by Lozanov consisted of the use of extended dialogues, often several pages in length, accompanied by vocabulary lists and observations on grammatical points.

Lozanov (1982) indicates that this method transcends the language classroom and can be applied in other school subjects. He claims that about 200 to 240 new words may be introduced each lesson.

FEATURES

  1. Learning is facilitated in an environment that is as comfortable as possible, featuring soft cushioned seating and dim lighting.
  2. “Peripheral” learning is encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of posters and decorations featuring the target language and various grammatical information.
  3. The teacher assumes a role of complete authority and control in the classroom.
  4. Music, drama and “the Arts” are integrated into the learning process as often as possible.

ADVANTAGES

  • Students are encouraged to be child-like, take “mental trips with the teacher” and assume new roles and names in the target language in order to become more “suggestible”.
  • Music is played softly in the background to increase mental relaxation and potential to take in and retain new material during the lesson.
  • Students work from lengthy dialogues in the target language, with an accompanying translation into the students’ native language.

LIMITATIONS

  1. Errors are tolerated, the emphasis being on content and not structure. Grammar and vocabulary are presented and given treatment from the teacher, but not dwelt on.
  2. Homework is limited to students re-reading the dialog they are studying – once before they go to sleep at night and once in the morning before they get up.

SILENT WAY (CALAB GOTTANGO)

Silent Way is a language-teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method. Gattegno introduced the method in 1963, in his book ‘Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way’. It is usually regarded as an “alternative” language-teaching method

The method emphasizes learner autonomy and active student participation.

Silence is used as a tool to achieve this goal;

The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus and concentrates on teaching a small number of functional and versatile words.

THE PEDAGOGY OF COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

Krashen has given us a wonderful concept: In language acquisition, ‘the only thing that works, the only thing that counts is giving people messages they understand.’ This is what is today known as giving comprehensible input.

In Krashen’s words children require ‘comprehensible input’ in the second language. ‘Comprehensible input’ refers to using language which children are capable of understanding, and at the same time holds challenge for them.

Comprehensible input doesn’t mean that the input contains words and sentences that the child has already known, but the integration of the new expressions with the known expressions. Students use their known information to understand new linguistic ideas through comprehensible input.

Let’s discuss SLA theories proposed by Stephen Krashen, Steven Pinker, Vivian Cook and Lev Vygotsky.

STEPHEN KRASHEN’S THEORY (NATURAL APPROACH)

Stephen Krashen is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in the theories of language acquisition and development. Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition consists of five mainhypotheses.

The acquisition learning hypothesis has two independent systems of second language – the acquired system and the learned system

The monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning.

The natural order hypothesis is related to the acquisition of grammatical structures.

The input hypothesis states how the learner acquires a second language.

Affective filter hypothesis krashen shows the view that a number of affective variables play a role in second language acquisition. These variables include motivation, self-esteem, anxiety etc.

STEVEN PINKER

Children acquire language quickly, easily, and without effort or formal teaching. Children acquire language through interaction with their parents and other children. All normal children who grow up in normal households, surrounded by conversation, will acquire the language that is being used around them. And it is just as easy for a child to acquire two or more languages at the same time, as long as they are regularly interacting with speakers of those languages.

The first sounds a baby makes are the sounds of crying. Then, around six weeks of age, the baby will begin making vowel sounds, starting with aah, ee, and ooh. At about six months, the baby starts to produce strings of consonant-vowel pairs like boo and da. Many parents hear a child in this stage produce a combination like “mama” or “dada”. Somewhere around age one or one and a half years, the child will actually begin to utter single words with meaning. These are always ‘content’ words like apple, cookie, doggie, run, and see — never ‘function’ words like and, the, and of. Around the age of two, the child will begin putting two words together to make ‘sentences’ like doggie run. A little later on, the child may produce longer sentences that lack function words, such as big doggie run fast. By the time the child enters kindergarten, he or she will have acquired the vast majority of the rules and sounds of the language.

VIVIANCOOK

In the 1970s and 1980s Professor Vivian Cook introduced various research methods in second language acquisition. He favoured an experimental approach to second language research and conducted various experiments.

In the early 1990s he proposed the multi-competence approach to second language acquisition. Multi Competence is ‘the knowledge of two languages in one mind’, and it holds that those who know more than one language have different minds from those with only one language, because knowing two languages changes the way people use their first language, and even the way they think. These multi-competent individuals should be called ‘L2 users rather than ‘second language learners’;

L2 learners are allowed to use their first language in the classroom. Also, teachers and learners must bear in mind that L2 learning changes how people think.

Cook first argued that knowledge of more than one language can change how people think and provided evidence in the first ever workshop devoted to the topic on ‘Bilingual Cognition’, 2002.

The multi-competence viewpoint sees the goal of learning as becoming a successful L2 user. Cook argues that banning the use of the first language will not stop learners from using it to help their language learning, it will not make its use invisible to the teacher. Instead Cook suggests that teachers should think about how both languages can be made use of in suitable ways.

LEV VYGOTSKY’S THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory holds that social interaction and cooperative learning are paramount in constructing both cognitive and emotional images of reality.

Vygotsky claimed that “children’s thinking and meaning-making is socially constructed and emerges out of their social interactions with their environment”.

The theorists of Socio Cultural Theory contend that learning occurs as a result of shared experiences in a range of social settings.

when students interact with one another in foreign language classrooms, yet Socio Cultural Theory should not be viewed as a theory just for learners.

We must be well aware that the knowledge of Socio Cultural Theory can also be useful for teachers to discover and create ways to set up tasks and activities which can allow for the facilitation of language learning.

Socio-Cultural Theory, based on Vygotskian thought, is a theory about the development of human cognitive and higher mental function.

The theory argues that the development of human cognitive and higher mental function comes from social interactions and that through participation in social activities requiring cognitive and communicative functions, individuals are drawn into the use of these functions in ways that nurture and “scaffold” them.

“From a social-cultural perspective, children’s early language learning arises from processes of meaning-making in collaborative activity with other members of a given culture”. “Learning is embedded within social events and occurring as an individual interacts with people, objects, and events in the environment”.

The central constructs of the theory are mediation, regulation, internalization, the zone of proximal development, verbal thought and activity theory.

  1. COGNITIVE THEORY OF LANGUAGELEARNING

Cognitive theory defines learning as “a semi-permanent change in mental processes or associations”.

Important classroom principles from cognitive psychology include meaningful learning, organization, and elaboration.

Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking, remembering, learning and using language.

When we apply cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we focus on the understanding of information and concepts.

Piaget’s cognitive theory states the children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through stages of cognitive development. It means that Piaget described cognitivism in the stage development of children when they are ready to construct the meaning of things through their own understanding which starts from the simple to complex thing.

Knowledge and thinking skills provide the substance and tools for cognitive problem solving (Bandura, 1989:9). There are two processes underlie in cognitive construction. They are organization and adaptation. Organization is important in order the children construct the meaning of thing which make sense to them by organizing our experience.

Adaptation is differentiated into two ways. They are assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation occurs when individuals adjust to new information. For example: Newborns reflexively such everything that touches their lips (assimilation), but after several months of experience, they construct their understanding of the world differently. They don’t suck fuzzy blanket (accommodation).

Piaget developed the cognitive development because he believed that the children pass the four stages of cognitive development.

Vygotsky is a Russian psychologist who emphasized the cognitivist theory based on the developmental analysis, the role of language, and social relation.

Bruner described cognitivism as the process of thinking that occurs in interaction in social environment and also influence the development of technology.

The cognitive view takes the learner to be an active processor of information. It means that the cognitive theory tries to create the people to be active to think.

  1. CONSTRUCTIVIST VIEW OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Jean Piaget and some other psychologists believed that learning occurs when the learners are actively engaged in the process of meaning making. They have advocated that knowledge builds on the existing knowledge. The existing knowledge is called ‘schema’ and this needs to be activated in order to provide or construct new knowledge.

Four principals that govern the constructivist teaching are as follows:

  • Learners are active participants in the process of learning.
  • The learning environment is open and information can come from any source.
  • All work in the class needs to be interactive and learner centered.
  • Teacher becomes a facilitator and assists learners to become responsible and independent.

In the constructivist perspective, learning is a process of the construction of knowledge. Learners actively construct their own knowledge by connecting new ideas to existing ideas on the basis of materials/activities presented to them (experience). For example, using a text or a set of pictures/visuals on a transport system coupled with discussions will allow young learners to be facilitated to construct the idea of a transport system.

The engagement of learners, through relevant activities, can further facilitate in the construction of mental images of the relationships (cause-effect) between a transport system and human life/economy.

However, there is a social aspect in the construction process in the sense that knowledge needed for a complex task can reside in a group situation. In this context, collaborative learning provides room for negotiation of meaning, sharing of multiple views and changing the internal representation of the external reality.

  1. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

Social constructivism is a new form of constructivism suggesting that learners first construct knowledge in a social context and then they individually internalize it. In a social constructivist classroom the teacher organizes and conducts learning activities that focus on group sharing, motivate student to work individually and in collaboration. She encourages assessing themselves and their peers in addition to her own assessment. It develops skills in communication, knowledge sharing, critical thinking and use of relevant technologies by conducting activities.

. He/ She is able to analyse and synthesize ideas and get deeper understanding with the subjects. Qualities like self regulation, self determination, community feeling and perseverance can be developed through the effective use of this approach. Intrinsic motivation will lead the child towards better achievement.

  1. CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM

A constructivist classroom fosters critical thinking, flexibility, creativity and active learning. Shift is from a transmission instructional practice to a constructivist and transactional model.

The following aspects are often encouraged and integrated into the classroom setting:

  1. the classroom environment is comfortable and non-threatening
  2. the construction of knowledge is done through reciprocal student-to-student or student-to teacher interaction
  3. emphasis is on the learning process by actively engaging in activities
  4. each attempt at constructivism is an opportunity for …
    • experimentation
    • risk
    • challenge
  5. THE ROLE OF TEACHER IN THE CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM Facilitator’srole:The role of the teacher in constructivist philosophy is adapting to the

learner’s needs and gives them the freedom to construct knowledge for themselves. Each learner is considered as a unique individual, with cultural background, individual disposition, and prior knowledge influencing their learning.

Scaffolding: The teacher should pay attention to two particular factors in assisting learners. First, they should consider the learner’s zone of proximal development and give the learners the help they need in constructing new knowledge and meanings. Second, they should facilitate peer interaction and cooperation between learners, since the social and the cultural context of learning is essential in constructivist philosophy.

Modeling: While much of learning is self-directed, the teacher has a lot of work to do. They must ensure that learners have access to sufficiently challenging material to grow, but not so challenging that learners become hopeless and give up on their self-directed efforts. The teacher must be flexible and adapt to learners’ individual interests and needs. And the teacher must ensure that the environment is positive and supportive, so that students will feel emotionally secure and able to challenge themselves cognitively.

Coaching: The role of the learner in constructivist philosophy is to engage and interact with the world around them, with peers, with authorities, and with educational materials. Through active engagement the learner constructs knowledge and meaning, observing how objects and ideas interact, and creating a cognitive framework for making sense of it all. The learner is often free to pursue on his/her own as long as they are challenging themselves and forming new ideas throughout the process.

Learners are not in competition with one another: they are expected and encouraged to work cooperatively, sharing knowledge and perspectives. Learners may often take on the role of teacher in some area where they have particular knowledge, thereby both assisting their peers and reinforcing their own knowledge.

  1. NATURE AND ROLE OF LEARNERS

The nature and role of learners in constructivist classroom is different from that of the traditional approach. The learner’s role is very crucial in the constructivist classroom. The child learns from his/her colleagues through collaboration. Through sharing the layers of knowledge will be improved. Here Howard gardener’s multiple intelligence comes in to scene. The child uses all multiple intelligences in acquiring language. The child learns through interaction with the teacher, co- students and the material. Through interaction thinking will be generated which leads to language production.

  1. DIFFERENT KINDS OF LEARNERS

When we are teaching English to kids, as teachers we need to be aware of the differences in learning styles of our students so that we can incorporate all of these learning styles into our lessons. Being able to identify which types of learners our students are will help us to make sure they don’t get left out of learning effectively.

Below are the 4 different learner types and details on different activities to suit their learning styles.

VISUAL LEARNERS:

Visual learners learn best by looking. The enjoy reading (and often prefer to see the words they are learning) and seeing pictures.

If we fill our classroom with colorful, attractive posters, picture charts, readers with lots of colorful illustrations learners will be visually stimulated to learn.

AUDITORY LEARNERS

Auditory learners learn best by listening. They work well with spoken instructions and learn quickly by listening to stories and songs. They will not need to see written words to learn.

TACTILE LEARNERS

Tactile learners learn physically by touching and manipulating objects. Tactile learners respond well to…Action songs, Craft, Drawing, playing board games, making models (e.g. with play doh or lego), feeling in the bag activities

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

Kinesthetic learners learn physically by moving around. Kinesthetic learners respond well to …

Action songs, playing games in which they need to use their whole body (e.g. Dumb Charades), doing exercise type activities which require running and jumping, movement activities, making models, craft activities, following instructions to make something, setting up experiments

Kinesthetic kids always want to be on the go. Just sitting and watching/listening won’t keep them interested for long. Have lots of gestures to use with songs and let them act out new vocabulary.

  1. TEACHING LARGECLASSES

What exactly do we mean by large classes? What challenges do they bring, and how can we develop our own solutions for teaching English in large classes

The concept of large class depends on various factors but in general it is limited to the ratio of student and teacher. The size of the class varies from country to country. In the U.S. or in

U.K. or in any developed country the class size is around 20, where as in Indian sub continent it is around 40, in the African countries it may be around 60 or more. Apart from size there are other factors to be considered for large classes are the physical space available, accommodation, availability of resources, teachers etc.

  1. ENSURING HOLISTIC TREATMENT OF LANGUAGE

In order to ensure holistic treatment of language APSCF proposed discourse oriented pedagogy at all levels of learning English. A discourse is a mode of communicating certain ideas meaningfully in a particular situation. The intuitive idea is that both the input and output will be focusing on discourses which will take care of the treatment of language by embedding sentences, words and sounds in them contextually.

  1. DISCOURSE ORIENTED PEDAGOGY

A discourse is a mode of communication of certain ideas meaningfully in a particular way in a particular social situation. Ex. Narrative, Rhyme, Conversation, Descriptions etc.

Unit 4

  1. THE MODULAR TRANSACTION

A module is an item of transaction. Different modules of a unit are: face sheet/ trigger picture, listening input, reading text, rhyme/poem, textual exercises. Since each component provides scope for oral and written production of language, each module needs to be transacted compulsorily. A specific transaction process is suggested for different modules of a unit, which we call as ‘modular transaction’. We will see the transaction of different modules in this unit.

4.3.1 PRE-READING, READING, DISCOURSE CONSTRUCTION AND EDITING

Any language development programme focuses ultimately on the preparation of the individual an independent reader.

Hence, what do we do ‘before reading’,

what is to be done ‘during the reading process’,

and what will be done ‘after reading’ are to be kept in mind in classroom transaction process. Hence the modules of a unit are divided as ‘pre-reading, reading, and post-reading that includes Discourse construction.’

  1. ROLE OF INTERACTION IN TRANSACTING DIFFERENT MODULES IN A UNIT

The language teachers should have a clear understanding of the process to be followed in each module. The teaching and learning process is not something that takes place between the teacher and the individual learner only. There is a process of collaboration where the learner shares their ideas and learning experiences with their peers exploring new ideas and coming to consensus.

The present pedagogy suggests holistic approach to classroom transaction in which the ‘process’ is more important rather than the product. Hence, the interaction in the classroom is given prominence during the transaction process. This leads to acquisition of language as envisaged by NCF and APSCF.

Let’s see in detail.

There is a scope for 3 types of interaction in the classroom.

  1. Teacher –pupil interaction
  2. Pupil – pupil interaction
  3. Pupil – text – interaction
  1. Common objectives of interaction

Sharing of ideas. Providing rich, authentic listening input. Maintaining rapport with the learners.

Dialoguing with the learners. Giving feedback to the learners for taking them to the next higher level of learning. Maintaining the continuity of the theme in all the modules of transaction.

  1. Specific Objectives
  1. Initial Interaction: Initial interaction is the interaction that takes place in the very beginning of the lesson.
  1. Interaction while listening input is presented:
  1. Triggering divergent thinking
  2. Analyzing the situation critically
  1. Interaction leading to individual reading: Children read the text individually before they read in groups. They interact with the text.
  1. Interaction during collaborative reading: children are to be encouraged to share their reading experience with their classmates through collaborative reading (reading in groups). The purpose of this interaction is to share and learn from peers.
  2. Interactions related to scaffold reading (extrapolating the text with the help of analyticalquestions): Scaffolding is helping the child to reach the next higher level from

the current level. Extrapolating the text is making the children read the text critically by asking variety of questions including inferential, cause- consequence and analytical….

  1. Interaction related to the presentation of teacher’s version: Teacher prepares his/her version of the assigned discourse (oral and written) task and presents after individual attempt, refining through collaboration and editing of group product.
  1. Interaction related to editing: The teacher edits group product of any written discourse task by negotiating with the other groups / whole class, communication techniques.
  1. STAGES OF TRANSACTION

The challenges of classroom transaction are

  1. Challenge of the teaching learning process is mostly traditional with lectures and textbook oriented exercises.
  2. The classroom processes show that the children copy from textbooks without any challenging and meaningful engagement with learning tasks.
  3. The entire school practices and preparation are increasingly examination oriented.
  4. The assessment is information oriented and memory based and test paper developed by outside agencies which are not competency based leading to tension and fear of exams among children.

What are the major components involved in the classroom transaction process? Let’s enumerate a few points:

  1. PRE READING-OBJECTIVES

Let’s see:

Pre-reading session will be conducted to encourage the learners get ready to read, to creatively, to help them share their ideas freely, to improve their vocabulary etc

  1. STRATEGIES

The following strategies may be followed.

  1. Whole class interaction.
  2. Theme based interaction
  3. Concept mapping.
  4. Eliciting oral discourses. Discussion of face sheet
  1. THEME RELATED INTERACTION AND PRODUCING ORAL DISCOURSES

Now reflect on the following questions:

  1. Can that picture be used to elicit vocabulary and any discourse?
  2. How do you interact with the children before you start the rhyme?

The picture given in the beginning of every unit is to be used as ‘trigger’ for sensitizing the learners on the theme around which the lessons in the unit have been woven. Sometimes the pictures are given to make the children comprehend the rhyme/ story. Though the picture is given for the purpose of comprehension, the teacher may make use of it for eliciting vocabulary, oral and written discourses before the picture is linked to the reading text.

Academic Standards targeted for the theme-related interaction and production of oral discourses are:

  • Listening and Responding.
  • Vocabulary.
  • Creative expression (Oral)

The Teaching Learning Material required for transacting the theme-related interaction and production of oral discourses are:

  • Picture chart of the theme picture for interaction.
  • Flash cards for the key words, phrases and expressions that may arise incidentally.

  1. TRANSACTION OF A RHYME/POEM:

The following are the objectives of teaching a rhyme/poem:

A rhyme/poem is taught

  1. to make them enjoy the tune.
  2. to improve their vocabulary.
  3. to make them recite the poem in groups, individually and in chorus.
  4. to make them enact the poem.
  5. to make them add lines to the rhyme/ produce parallel rhyme.
  1. ‘READING’ activity – OBJECTIVES

Now let’s see the objectives of teaching reading.

  • To make them read individually and share their reading experience in groups.
  • To make them use glossary to guess the meanings of the words in the text.
  • To help them share their ideas freely.
  • To respond to variety of questions for comprehending the text.
  • Providing further support to low-proficient learners in the following manner:
  • Interacting with the low- proficient learners to generate a sub-text. A sub-text is a text that is generated during the interaction with the students. It is the essence of the original text in its simplest form.
  • Writing the sub-text on BB / on chart / in the notebook of the learner
  • Asking the learners to associate the sub-text with the reading text
  • Presentation of the audio input of the text supplied by SCERT: The SCERT has developed audio material for all the lessons of the textbook. The student teacher is suggested to present the audio input for the portion of the reading text.
  1. COLLABORATIVE READING

Social Psychologist Vygotsky propounded the concept of’ ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which advocates children refine their knowledge and experience through collaboration. Academic sharing will take place.

During scaffolding the following questions are useful

  1. What do you think about this situation?
  2. Do you have any such experience?
  3. What ideas did you get while reading?
  1. EXTRAPOLATING THE TEXT

Through collaborative reading learners are enabled to make sense of what they are reading. However, reading activity does not end with this. Once they have comprehended the passage, we take them to the next step of reading with the help of a few analytical questions of different types such as reflective questions.

  1. GRAPHIC READING FOR THE BIGINNERS

Children read names printed on soap wrappers, biscuit, wrappers, chocolate wrappers, shampoo sachet etc through graphic reading though they do not know the alphabet and spelling. This is called graphic reading because children recognize the words with their symbol.

Organic Reading

The alphabet is not taught independently. After a few days of experience, learners will be at various levels with regard to skills of reading and writing.

GRAPHIC WRITING

Everyone would like to possess a good handwriting. But how to achieve this is a big issue. Suppose the child undertakes writing tasks on her own because she has an urge to do so

  1. PROCESS OF DISCOURSE CONSTRUCTION

As we are aware that a discourse is a meaningful form of a language, language acquisition takes place through providing input discourses and generating output discourses. Children always try to use language meaningfully.

  1. EDITING THE WRITTEN DISCOURSES

While writing, some errors are observed in terms of word order, theme, etc.

Editing, though it appears to be the last stage of discourse construction, is an important stage. Editing a written text takes place in four stages.

  • Thematic editing
  • Syntactic editing
  • Morphological editing
  • Editing spelling and punctuation errors.

Syntactic editing is the improvement of word order. Syntax means the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Speaking grammatically, ‘syntax’ is the subject – verb agreement in person and number. While editing the texts, we should see that the text is presented in the best word order. We should also check whether the sentences comply with semantics. Semantics tells meaning and the relation among words.

In linguistics, morphologyis the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. During the stage of morphological editing, we look for errors related to word forms such as tense forms, prefixes, agreement and level.

Editing discourses in terms of conventions of writing

One can become a good writer when he gets the skill of editing his own texts as well as other texts.

  • We can not expect a class-5 child to use semi-colon properly.
  • Proper use of semi-colon can be expected by the end of class-9.
  • There are certain conventions which we have to follow while writing different discourses. Learnig What is Punctuation and how to use it.

Editing discourses in terms of morphology:

We edit the texts in terms of morphology also. In morpheme-based morphology, word forms are analyzed as arrangements of morphemes. A morpheme is defined as the minimal meaningful unit of a language. Morphological editing means editing the texts’ structure at word level. During the process of editing, we try to improve the Use of prefixes, suffixes, Grammar rules, Collocations, idioms etc.

  1. PUBLISHING CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS

Children write stories, poems and produce different discourses with their capabilities. These writings may be refined through collaboration in groups and whole class interaction. Sometimes children also collect useful material and displays on the wall magazines. These products many be published as big books, class magazines, or school magazines, District children’s literature magazines etc. which will help them to develop reading skills and acquire the target language naturally.

  1. DEALING WITH TEXTUAL EXERCISES

Here are the process steps to deal with textual exercises.Initial interaction.Presentation of the exercise.Individual attempt by the children.etc. Let’s discuss how vocabulary and grammar are to be transacted in the classroom.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the crux of any language, especially second language. Hence, suitable techniques are to be adopted to introduce them properly and to elicit or practice words.

Concept mapping is a strategy of eliciting vocabulary about particular concept.

The teacher has to draw a circle and write the word for which concept mapping is intended to carry out. The teacher starts a word related to the concept and asks the children to contribute the words related to the concept.

Treatment of Grammar

Grammar is to not to be taught discretely in isolation. Grammar teaching should be embedded in discourse construction and in the editing process. Hence, teachers should give such tasks in which the targeted grammatical aspects are covered.

  1. STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING LOW PROFICIENT LEARNERS

An active learning environment requires students and teacher to commit to a dynamic partnership in which both share a vision of and responsibility for instruction. In such an environment, students learn content, develop conceptual knowledge, and acquire language through a discovery-oriented approach to learning in which the learner is not only engaged in the activity but also with the goal of the activity.

Addressing issues of low proficient learners at the time of interaction based on the trigger

At this stage, learners talk about their perception of the visual text, their understanding about the theme (issue) and their expectation about what they are going to listen to or read. Learners with low level of target language proficiency can be asked to express their ideas in mother tongue; the teacher can megaphone this for the sake of the whole class. Mega-phoning is nothing but saying aloud the idea elicited from a child in mother tongue and then translating it in English so that the children will listen to it.

  1. MULTI-GRADE AND MULTILEVEL TEACHING STRATEGIES

Digantar in Rajasthan: This is an educational programme by the famous NGO Digantar in Rajasthan. They do not follow the class wise textbooks prescribed. Instead, they divide the children on their learning levels. The freedom of pace of learning is the main concern. They have developed their own curriculum and textbooks which are in modular forms, based on the levels of learning.

Nali-Kali in Karnataka: This is a programme run by the Karnataka government in their schools. They have developed parallel material for the children apart from the regular textbook. Children learn in groups at their learning pace and move onto the next level. The Groups are self learning groups, partially teacher supported groups and fully teacher supported groups. Children move onto the next ladder in the learning ladder.

Rishi valley project in A.P. (RIVER): Here some schools are selected and they follow multi grade and multi level teaching. They have developed hundreds of systematically designed study cards and work cards together with an achievement ladder called mile stones. . Multiple steps in each unit of learning include introductory, reinforcement, evaluator and remedial activities. Students learn in groups and individually where peer support is evident. Training helps teachers to prepare their own materials.

Multilevel classrooms are as varied as students in them. They include students with different backgrounds, learning capacities, learning disabilities etc…

Unit – 5

PLANNING AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

A plan is like a map. Planning is organizing our work.

IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING

Planning is of unique importance in the teaching learning process. Planning helps us divide the syllabus into workable chunks. Planning ensures that we pay attention to all the language skills in a prescribed syllabus.

There are two types of planning schedules, long term and short term.

1.The year plan and unit plan are long term plans

2. Lesson plan is a short term plan.

YEAR PLAN

It is a comprehensive plan it shows how the teaching time is distributed over the whole year.

  • A copy of the text-book
  • School calendar
  • To be aware of the number of periods available for each class.
  • To have a clear idea about the number of assessments to be conducted in that academic year.

UNIT PLAN

A unit plan is smaller than an annual plan. In a unit plan, we organize our teaching across the whole unit, and rationalize our time for different aspects of teaching within the unit.

A unit is always theme based, and hence allows a teacher to design quite a few pre- reading activities and also projects based on the theme. A unit deals with narrative lessons (stories), descriptive pieces (essays) and some creative lessons (poems).

TEACHING LEARNING MATERIALS

Teaching Learning Materials occupy a pivotal position in the educational scene. We are familiar with terms like syllabus, textbook, workbook, course book, notes etc. These basically constitute the Teaching Learning Materials. Some educationists called it ‘a blue print’ or ‘an overall plan’.

A curriculum is specific to a course of study. For example The D. El. Ed has a curriculum, and within it ‘Pedagogy of English at Primary Level’

TEXT-BOOK AND ITS ROLE

A text-book is a manual of instruction or a standard book of study. It holds an important role in teaching especially in teaching a language. It is produced according to the demand of the language institutions and students.“A text-book is a printed instructional material in bound form, the contents of which are properly organized and intended for use in elementary or high school curricula.”– Warren (1981:43)

CHALK-BOARDS

It is basic learning material that has been used by teachers and students for hundreds of years. Every classroom is equipped with a chalk-board. It is necessary to use the chalk board effectively. It is the cheapest and most useful tool to bring about stimulus variation. It helps the learner to shift from audio stimulus to video stimulus periodically. On the board the learners can see what he hears from the teacher. So this shift acts as a reinforcing agent.

RADIO

Radio was invented to facilitate communication between two points that were not physically connected with wires. It was called wireless transmission,. Radio established itself as an instrument of instruction. ‘Vindam – Nerchukondam’ is a programme that is bringing primary lessons into the classroom. But nowadays Television has replaced the radio as an instructional device.

BLUE TOOTH SPEAKER

using the audio of rhymes, recorded lessons we need an amplifying device. For that purpose the blue tooth speakers have become handy. They serve the classroom purpose.

AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

‘Authentic materials’ is a term used by V. J. Cook. He says, “Authentic materials are those materials that are not produced for the purposes of teaching” – V. J. Cook. In our daily life we come across materials like electricity bill, train ticket, bank deposit form, a used cheque, a grocery bill, brochure in a tourist place etc. We can use such materials for different purposes in our classroom.

CUT-OUTS

Using paper cut-outs serves many purposes. We discussed authentic materials and found that they are very useful in classroom transaction.

FLASH CARDS

Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class. Gardner’s research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards can be bright and colorful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinesthetic learners.

WHERE TO GET FLASH CARDS?

  1. Buy them
  2. Make them
  3. Students make them

ACTIVITIES USING FLASH CARDS

The flash-card based activities are divided into the following categories: Memory, drilling, identification and TPR activities.

  • Memory Activities, Drilling Activities, Identification Activities, Reveal the word and TPR activities

DIGITAL CLASSROOMS

Digital or smart classrooms bring the whole world of knowledge into the classroom. Let’s find out the components of a digital classroom.

Digi box (CPU)

This Digi-box contains smart classroom software and content to access the Class wise, Subject wise, Chapter wise and Subtopic wise content.

Projector:

The Digibox is connected to this Projector to display output.

White Screen (Display):

A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience.

Multimedia Speakers

These speakers are used to hear the voice or audio output of the content played in Digibox.

Keyboard & Mouse

These are the wireless devices to access software in the Digibox. A digital Classroom in Andhra Pradesh. Digital Classrooms are so designed that they work online and offline. At present USKY is providing the software required to run these digital classrooms in Andhra Pradesh.

ON-LINE RESOURCES

Government of Andhra Pradesh has launched a website for the benefit of all teachers and students. www.apekx.in is the address of the website. An online repository is provided in that website. Teachers can post all their collections on the website and share it with the teachers around the world. It’s a free website. Students can post their doubts and many teachers will readily clarify their doubts..

ADDITIONAL TEACHING LEARNING MATERIAL

Any living or non living if it helps in teaching that is called Teaching Learning Material.

ACTIVITIES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH News-board

Encouraging the students to write the news of the day on a board and display it in a common place at school. By reading the news regularly the students will acquire a good amount of knowledge. Activities are

  • English Language Club
  • Role-Plays
  • Quiz
  • Just a minute (JAM)

GAMES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH

Games can be used to warm up the class before your lesson begins, during the lesson to give students a break when you’re tackling a tough subject, or at the end of class when you have a few minutes left to kill. There are literally hundreds, probably thousands, of games that you can play with your students. Language games are used to test vocabulary, practice conversing, learn tenses – the list is endless. Some are

  • Board Race
  • Call My Bluff / Two Truths and a Lie
  • Simon Says
  • Word Jumble Race
  • Hangman
  • Pictionary
  • The Mime
  • Hot Seat
  • Where Shall I Go?
  • What’s My Problem?

Whatever the age of your students, they surely love playing language games in the classroom. An English classroom should be fun, active and challenging and these games are sure to get you heading in the right direction.

  1. ASSESSMENT OFMATERIALS

Teachers should be able to judge the quality of materials. They should check whether they suit to the levels of their students and their classroom needs. The following criteria can be used to judge the usefulness of different resources. Authenticity, Need matching, Language potential & Level of difficulty

UNIT – 6

ASSESSMENT

WHAT ISASSESSMENT?

Assessment is an important component of curriculum. Assessment is a process of collecting, reviewing and using data, for the purpose of improvement in the current performance.

National curriculum Framework – 2005 (NCF) suggests that assessment should be simple and tension free even, the Right to Education – 2009 (RTE) section -29(2) states that there should be comprehensive and continuous evaluation to assess the child’s knowledge and understanding and to make him/her to apply the same in his/her real life situations instead of the pressurizing terminal examinations.

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Bloom’s taxonomy discusses various types of domains and objectives that can be used in the preparation of a test which is conducted after completion of a unit. This is otherwise called Scholastic Achievement Test.

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Bloom’s taxonomy is represented in visual form in the following diagram.

CONTINUOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION (CCE)

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is an attempt to shift from rote-learning to constructing knowledge and applying it as and when required. CCE is an ongoing process and is an ongoing process and is an integral part of the lesson.

National Curriculum Framework 2005, State Curriculum Framework 2011 and Right to Education 2009 have emphasized the importance of implementing Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation where all assessments have to take place in a non-threatening atmosphere without causing any burden on the learners.

The thrust is on the formative assessment which can be interpreted as ‘assessment for learning and assessment as learning’ which are distinct from summative assessment which can be interpreted as ‘assessment of learning’. It is important that the teacher does not judge the child’s nature, instead notices the inherent potential of the child as a learner in the context of his / her nature.

What is to be assessed? A truly professional teacher needs to be patient, innovative and assess his / her pupils’ progress in every period in each class and give proper feedback to each and every pupil so that language acquisition takes place in a smooth, natural and non-conscious manner.

The present assessment system under CCE comprises two types of assessment. They are

1. Formative Assessment 2. Summative Assessments

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Different kinds of tools and techniques must be used to observe and record the different types of behaviour.

1. Observations 2.Children’s written works 3. Projects 4. Portfolio

CRITERIA FOR AWARDING MARKS UNDER EACH TOOL

Observation: (10 Marks):

Written Works: (10Marks):

Projects: (10 Marks):

Slip Test: (10 Marks):

EVIDENCES FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

One can look for the following things as evidences for formative assessment.

  • Teacher’s unit cum period plan that reflect children’s performance
  • Self – Assessment tools given in the Text-book for the use of learners
  • Student portfolio (Collection of the work done by the individual learner)
  • Notebooks of children (written discourses and homework
  • Products evolved in groups through collaboration
  • Scripts of Slip Test

Periodicity

Continuous observation– however, recording may be once in about two months period. The teacher observes the performance of the children through questioning, observation of children notebooks, assignments, class works, projects, children participation in the learning process, group work etc., The teacher has to record in the following months for Formative Assessment against the given tools i.e. Observations, Written works, Project works, Slip tests.

Formative Assessment 1 in July every academic year; Formative Assessment 2 in September every academic year; Formative Assessment 3 in December every academic year; Formative Assessment 4 in February every academic year.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Summative assessment is the terminal assessment of performance of the learners at the end of instruction. Under the end term Summative Assessment, the students will be tested internally or sometimes by external agencies.

identified and assessed through the assessment procedures.

  1. Listening and speaking (responding)
  2. Reading comprehension
  3. Conventions of writing
  4. Creative expressions
  5. Grammar
  6. Vocabulary

Following are the tools for summative evaluation 1. Oral test: 2. Written Test: Pen Paper test

Periodicity of Assessment –

Base line test – June (Baseline) – A baseline test, which is diagnostic in nature, should be conducted at the beginning of the academic year to assess how far the children possess the competencies required to follow the regular syllabus of the class. If the children do not possess the required basic competencies, remedial teaching shall be planned by the teachers concerned. Summative Assessment is a terminal test in nature and should be conducted thrice in a year viz,

Summative Assessment-1 in September every academic year Summative Assessment-2 in December every academic year Summative Assessment-3 in March /April every academic year

The test is for 100 marks. Out of these, 20% is allotted to oral test and 80% to written test. Under Oral test, 10% of marks is allotted to listening and speaking and the remaining 10% is allotted to the targeted oral discourses under creative expression. Marks should be awarded according to the performance of children.

  1. ASSESSING DIFFERENT DOMAINS

To assess the children’s performance in English, 6 domains have been identified. The test items are to be prepared keeping in view of these domains. Listening and Speaking. Reading Comprehension. Conventions of Writing. Vocabulary Grammar. Creative Expressions (Discourses): (a) Oral (b) Written

Domain 1: Listening and Speaking (Oral)

Oral Discourses under Creative Expression

Pupils’ responses to the targeted oral discourses in a particular class i.e., Conversations, descriptions, narratives, role play/ skit are the tools that can be used to assess the creative language use of the child.

Domain – 2: Conventions of Writing

Domain – 3: Reading Comprehension

Domain – 4: Vocabulary

Domain – 5: Grammar (Editing).

Domain – 6: Creative Expressions (Oral and Written Discourses)

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT MODEL QUESTION PAPER for CLASS-2After preparing the question paper it is mandatory for every teacher to prepare the scoring key and marking scheme

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF SUMMATIVE QUESTION PAPER

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