LECTURE SEVEN (V)

TEACHING STRATEGIES

AND CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES

By Alec

2.     LESSON ANALYSIS

AND TEACHER BEHAVIOR

Lesson analysis is concerned with content—what material is included in the lesson: lexical, semantic, grammatical or phonological items. It is concerned with the teacher’s knowledge of his subject, and it is concerned with the techniques of teaching—that is, the manner of presentation, demonstration, consolidation and repetition. It may be said with some confidence that a sound, practical knowledge of the principles of lesson analysis is central to successful teaching.

Use of Texts

Two teachers may use the same text quite differently; one may use it as it stands while another adapts it. Adaptation may take three forms:

a.     Something may be added. The most justifiable items to be added are concrete nouns of high frequency and utility; the least justifiable are likely to structural words. Are the items incorporated into the method? Are they combined into sentences with the other items taught? Are arrangements made for their recurrence in subsequent lessons or are they used once and then forgotten? Does the addition of one item involve the teaching of others? For example, if a word like look is added, it may involve the addition of at and for and the groups look at and look for.

b.     Something may be omitted. Anything omitted reduces the learning load, but the extent to which it does so depends on what is omitted. As a general rule, the omission of structural items makes the greatest reduction in learning loads. It a teacher omits an item from a method, he must make sure that he omits it not only in one lesson but in all subsequent ones. Otherwise the learner has to deal with unknown items which the method assumes he knows.

c.     Something may be changed. Items may be grouped differently or arranged in different sequences. Some things may be taught earlier, some later, but the teacher faces two problems here: if he teaches an item earlier than the text he must make sure it is not forgotten by the time it comes in the text and, on the other hand, if he postpones an item taught in the text he is faced with the task of continually omitting it from the method until he reaches the point where he decides to use it.

The potentialities of a method may be both formal and semantic. The teacher needs to know which forms are taught (phonological, grammatical or lexical) and how much can be said with them. To find this out he needs lists and tables.

a.         Lists of items included. Each item represents a potential teaching point. Once completed, the lists will tell the teacher what the method teaches and the order in which it is taught.

b.        Tables of the use of items in the structures taught. The lists will not show to what extent material which precedes can help material which follows. This can be done by making cumulative tables of all the structures and the items which fit into them. In order to exploit the method fully, the teacher must know what he has to teach with and what can be said with what is taught. This gives the raw material necessary to introduce, present and drill each new teaching point. This may be done by preparing a series of tables. For example, suppose known vocabulary is to be taught in the new pattern The X is on the Y. The teacher puts under X all the known words which can take the final position. From such a table one can select a large number of sentences for the presentation of the new material.

Lesson Plans

Language teaching efficiency may be examined by analyzing a series of lesson plans over a period of time. A lesson plan can tell us how much teaching is done by the teacher and how much by the method, what the teacher has omitted or added to the text and the extent to which he exploits the material. The nature of the lesson plan will depend on the kind of lesson, the length of the lesson and the level of teaching> The sort of lesson which concerns us here necessarily involves a certain amount of learner participation; and the more participation involved, the more planning required. Lesson plans may differ in seven basic ways:

a.    Source  It may come entirely from the teacher, partly from the teaching manual or from a series prepared by another teacher.

b.    Objective  Appropriate level of teaching.

c.    Type of lesson  Length, whether devoted to presenting new material, revising old material or correcting bad habits (remedial work).

d.    Subject  One or more of the four primary language skills (listening, speaking, reading , writing) or the language (its grammar or evolution), its literature or culture.

e.    Teaching points  The items taught (phonological. Lexical, structural), how many and how grouped. A lesson which teaches ten structure words in a half-hour period will be more difficult than one that teaches ten concrete nouns in the same time.

f.    Segmentation  The proportion of time given up to such procedures as learner preparation, presentation, guidance, habit formation, application through context expansion, checking up and summing up. Some plans may allot most of the time to presentation; others to drill. Some teachers may be so taken up with one type of drill that they ignore all others. The amount of time devoted to a procedure may depend on the age of the learners. Children need more variety than adults and have a shorter attention span—they may need a change of activity every five minutes.

g.    Activities  The teacher has to consider the time given up to oral work, or reading or writing. He also considers the aids necessary and the way that an activity is carried out.

For sample lesson plans, you can refer to the appendix to your textbook. They are very good lesson plans.

Teacher Behavior

A professor has adapted advice given by Mordecai Rubin to his trainees. These do’s and don’ts in no way outline a system but they focus on some of the mechanisms and ideas sometimes neglected by practicing teachers already familiar with these general concepts.

Do

1. Be energetic, alive and emphatic.

2. Show pleasure at good response.

3. Be intensively attentive when waiting for answer of imitation.

4. Enunciate clearly. Exaggerate if necessary. Make sure students can see your lips, and facial expression.

5. Use arm movements for intonation and rhythmic practice.

6. Move your glance from group to individuals. Involve all.

7. Use choral and individual response for oral practice.

8. For individual response, pose the question, then pause so that everyone will think.

9. Be friendly but maintain “authority” during lesson.

10. Use facial expressions and gestures to clarify meaning. Present new words in context.

11. Vary voice—volume, pitch, and speed.

12. Plan and go over lessons in your mind beforehand.

13. Monitor and note down areas of difficulty after lesson for future practice.

14. Be pleasant, good-humored and always interested.

Don’ts

1.   Don’t bury your head in the script. Go over it aloud and learn what it’s about before the lesson.

2.   Don’t spend too much time correcting one individual or just saying “No”.

3.   Don’t repeat wrong sounds and forms when correcting them.

4.   Never show annoyance or impatience.

5.   Don’t use one technique to the point of monotony. Vary your approach.

6.   Don’t call on individuals until you think they know correct answer (Testing is not teaching.).

7.   Leave irrelevant questions till later. Avoid being sidetracked.

8.   Don’t let the student imitate anyone but the teacher.

9.   Don’t be satisfied with sloppy pronunciation.

10. Don’t persist in a procedure that fails to work. Adjust.

11. Don’t worry if you used some words they don’t know.

12. Don’t lose attention of class while displaying visuals, writing on the blackboard, etc. Talk, explain what you are doing. Ask for help if necessary.

13. Don’t assume students understand. Watch faces. Take nothing for granted.

14. Don’t sound tired and bored, even if you are! Don’t sit down the whole time while you are teaching.

Anyway, the above do’s and don’ts are for you reference only, though I do hope they are useful.