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Outline
I. Introduction …………………………………………………………………. 2
II. Importance of planning a lesson ……………………………………………. 2
III. The reason behind choosing the communicative method ………………… 2
IV. Literature Review ……………………………………………………………. 4
Relation between sociolinguistics and Communicative Language Approach. 4
2- Learning Theory ……………………………………………………………….. 4
3- Teacher's role …………………………………………………………………... 5
4- The role of instructional materials ……………………………………………. 5
5- Procedure ……………………………………………………………………….. 5
V. The lesson plan ……………………………………………………………………6
VI. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….. 9
VII. Bibliography …………………………………………………………………….. 10
I- Introduction:
From my experience as a student in few public schools in Syria and my own observations of how English is taught, I found a lot of gaps of teaching English mainly concerning language use and culture of the target language. When I started teaching English myself I tried my best to fill in these gaps and allow my students a better chance to use language efficiently through real life situations that adhere to the English culture. Throughout this paper, I will talk about my lesson plan based on the Communicative Method to teach students in the 6th grade a lesson about asking and giving directions.
II- Importance of planning a lesson:
Planning a lesson is an important aspect for any successful teaching-leaning process inside the classroom. It provides the teacher with the time s/he needs in order to decide the topic of the lesson that is going to be discussed, specify some language specific items (grammar points) the s/he intends to teach, prepare some tasks in advance that are related to the lesson that is going to be discussed, and prepare some materials related to the topic intended. It’s not really (and cannot be)an actual description of what will exactly happen during the real lesson but at least it provides the teacher with a guide for managing the classroom environment and the learning process. Lesson plans, actually, play the role of a reminder for teachers when they get distracted from the real objectives intended in the learning process.
Having different methodologies of teaching means having different objectives and different teaching styles that will largely affect the learning process. Some teaching methodologies are teacher-centered while others are student-centered.
III- The reason behind choosing the communicative method:
Littlewood in his book Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction (1981) identifies that the "structural view of language concentrates on the grammatical system" which can only make up "a native speaker's linguistic competence and enables him to produce new sentences to match the meanings that he needs to express". However this competence will not allow the learners to use the language in real life communication. They should be aware for example of the language styles (formal and informal language) which can be used in communication. "A student might say 'Shut the door, will you?' to a flat mate but to a stranger on a train it would be more appropriate to say for example, 'Excuse me, would you mind closing the door?' To use the formal version of a flat mate. Or the informal version with a stranger, would be equally likely to cause offence".
Teaching the contextual use of the foreign language is very important in order for the learner to use it appropriately depending on the situation he is involved in. People sometimes feel embarrassed as they try to borrow some language features from one context to another inappropriately. For example, asking a stranger for detailed directions by saying the standard questions, "How can I get to the post office?" is absolutely normal in Arabic and the foreigner will expect a reply involving detailed guiding instructions to the place. However, the shocking response is for him to follow the double-decker bus and he will find his destination. Such a response is considered rude in Arabic while asking an informal question is considered rude in the British culture from the first place. Certain situations lead us to expect a certain kind of language and when language does not meet our expectations we may be surprised, offended, amused or puzzled depending on the situation itself. Bright, J. A. and G. P. Me Oregon in their book Teaching English as a Second Language suggest that pupils should not concentrate on learning mere fact about words but they should be familiar with appropriate responses and uses which can only be practiced in context. Teachers should teach their students to run the grammatical structure of the language through their mind at the same time as their appropriate use in context.
I choose to depict the Communicative Method because it overcomes the problem of the lack contextual use of the English structures. David Nunan in his book Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum (1991) suggested that the communicative method is characterized by the following principles:
By following these features, I planned my lesson to teach my students to ask and give directions in English.
IV- Literature Review:
1- Relation between sociolinguistics and Communicative Language Approach:
Littlewood in his book Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction (1981) suggests that "the structural view of language has not been in any way superseded by the functional view. However, it is not sufficient on its own to account for how language is used as a means of communication." Therefore the Grammar Translation Method followed by most teachers inside their classrooms wouldn't trigger students' efficient use of English production. He gives an example of a hostess preparing dinner and as soon as she finished she went to the sitting room and told her guests "Ready?". Her language denotes that the setting is informal otherwise she would have used a different language like "would you like to come and eat now?" or a more formal version like "Ladies and Gentlemen, dinner is served.". The Communicative Approach as mentioned in Jack C. Richards & Theodore S. Rodgers's Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching starts from a theory of language as communication where Language is viewed as a system for expressing meaning through interaction and communication. Consequently the structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses and the primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse (2001).
2- Learning Theory:
There are a lot of activities that can be used within this method such as eliciting real communication in order to promote learning by using activities which "engage the learner in meaningful and authentic language use (rather than merely mechanical practice of language patterns)". The acquisition of communicative competence in a language according to Littlewood's Foreign and second language learning (1984) is observed as a kind of skill development that involves both "a cognitive and a behavioral aspect: The cognitive aspect involves internalisation of plans for creating appropriate behaviour" taken mainly from "language system" which includes "grammatical rules, procedures for selecting vocabulary, and social conventions governing speech". The behavioral aspect, on the other hand "involves the automation of these plans so that they can be converted into fluent performance in real time.
3- Teacher's role:
Breen and Candlin describe teacher roles in their book The essentials of a communicative curriculum in language teaching (1980) as a facilitator to "the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts" and "to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group". In this way, the teacher should be an organizer of resources and as a resource himself and a guide within the classroom procedures and activities. He should allow the students to get involved in dialogues and discussions by making the classroom more teacher- centered. He/ she should guide the discussions while monitoring, encouraging, and assisting groups in self-correction discussion.
4- The role of instructional materials:
Variety of games, role plays, simulations, and task-based communication activities can be used to support Communicative Language Approach. These typically are in the form of one-of-a-kind items: exercise handbooks, cue cards, activity cards, pair-communication practice materials, and student-interaction practice booklets (Jack C. Richards & Theodore S. Rodgers 2001). A lot of videos and audio tracks can be used from authentic and real life materials in the classroom. "These might include language-based realia, such as signs, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers, or graphic and visual sources around which communicative activities can be built, such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs, and charts" (ibid.).
5- Procedure:
Finocchiaro and Brumfit offer in their book The Functional-Notional Approach From Theory to Practice (1983) a lesson outline for teaching how to make suggestions for learners in the beginning level of a secondary school that goes as the following:
a. Presentation of a brief dialogue or several mini-dialogs
b. Oral practice of each utterance of the dialogue section to be presented
c. Question and answer based on the dialogue topic.
d. Question and answer related to the student’s personal experience
e. Study one of the basic communicative expression in dialog.
f. Learner discovery of generalizations or rules underlying the functional expression
g. Oral recognition, interpretative activities
h. Oral production activities-proceeding from guided to freer communication activities
i. Copying of the dialog or modules if they are not in the class text
j. Sampling of the written homework assignment
k. Evaluation of learning.
V- The lesson plan:
1) Students will be able to ask and give directions
2) Listen to certain dialogues and videotapes related to the topic involved and answer few questions based on them
3) Use certain structures like imperative orders and the questions as well as use the formal style of language including phrases like "would you please..." and "excuse me
4) Work in pairs and groups to role play certain dialogues and create their own dialogue in life-like situations.
5) Write a short paragraph to help a tourist to find out his way by giving him the appropriate directions.
1. A black board
2. A map of London
3. Flash cards
4. A Videotape with subtitles
The lesson will proceed as the following:
I will start the lesson by introducing the map and the topic by talking about the situation of being lost in a foreign country and asking about directions to get to a certain place. I will point out some places on the maps and distribute some flash cards suggesting how to say "turn right", "turn left", "walk straight on", "opposite", across the street", and so on.
Then as a kind of introduction to the British culture, I will talk about the British people being somehow reserved and they like a certain amount of personal space. They do not stand too close to another person or talk informally to a stranger. So, the students need to learn how to ask polite formal questions. Then I would ask the students to predict certain ways to ask and give directions for me to get to nearby places based on their knowledge of the modal verbs and the flash cards given. This warm up task aims at activating prior world knowledge and enhance the students' knowledge of the target language culture required for the function of this lesson's topic. It also motivates the learners to engage in later discussions and pair work.
o Listening, speaking and practice (20 minutes):
After that, the student will watch real-life video (with subtitles) of a foreigner asking a British man about the directions to get to a certain place already identified on the man from the place where the actual conversation is taking place. I will ask them to pay attention to the use of language and the structures involved to motivate the students and let them have a chance to self-correct their mistakes they may have committed through the warm up discussion.
After watching the video, I will ask the students to tell me the way the foreigner asked the British person for help in directions. I would write on the board the correct answers to help the students structure their own polite requests later. Some of the students (at least) would come up with the right answers like "Excuse me" and using the modal verb "would you please tell me" and I will link it to the idea of the British antiquate and culture. Then I will ask the students about the English person's response in giving directions and the way he used the words written on the flash cards and I will write some correct answers on the board.
I will encourage the learners to speak by diving them equally into two groups (a group of natives and a group of foreigners) and giving each group a copy of a map with lots of places and buildings and letting each one of them compete in helping each other to get to their destinations correctly and the group will switch when everybody has finished playing his/ her own role and points will be marked on the content rather than the form because they will correct their own mistakes during the process.The main objective of this task is to enhance group work and create a ‘real-life’ communicative setting where all the students can use the language in a stress-free environment and develop the intended function needed.
o Final review (10 minutes):
I will ask the students to write individually a short interview between a foreigner and a native asking and giving the directions to any place that they would like to visit in London and after almost 7 minutes, each of the students will say his/ hers out loud to make sure of the success of the learning process.
VI- Conclusion:
By following this method, I can fill in the gap of the students' lack of knowledge about the British culture as well as the English grammar structure along with building their lexicon and motivate the students to use their language in real life situation. Such things are very lacking in our schools while teaching English and other foreign languages and it takes a huge effort to change old- fashioned traditional methodologies but it is really worth it.
VII- Bibliography:
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