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This unit deals with the learning of new language and how teachers could best teach it.
There are 4 things all students need to do with new language. They need to be exposed to it, understand its meaning and how it is constructed and be able to practice and produce it. As teachers we are responsible for introducing new language in a balanced and manageable way.
When talking about teaching new language we usually mean teaching new vocabulary, grammatical structures and language functions.
1. Teaching vocabulary
Very important, especially at the early stages of a student’s studies. They are still motivated to learn basic words needed to get by in the new language.
How easy or difficult the new vocabulary will be, depends on the similarity to the students´ own language, similarity to English words already know, spelling, pronunciation and appropriacy.
When we select new vocabulary we want to teach, we should consider the appropriacy to students and the task, teachability, frequency and coverage. We should also consider what the student needs to know about the new vocabulary items. These are meaning, usage, word grammar, spelling, pronunciation and interaction (how it interacts and effects other words)
The different ways to teach new vocabulary depends on the stage of the lesson. Usually a straight arrow pattern is followed. Some examples to teach the new vocabulary:
Engage: realia, mime, pictures, etc. to elicit and explain meaning.
Study: gap fill exercises, crosswords, matching exercises, etc.
Activate: open class discussions, story building, role-play, etc.
2. Teaching grammatical structures
What new grammatical structures we teach largely depends on the students’ level and course syllabus. Student will need to know the meaning, use, forms & patterns and the (different) spoken & written forms.
Techniques teachers could use to present and practice grammatical structures:
Engage: discussion, prompting, scenario building, etc.
Study: intonation and pronunciation patterns, gap fills, information gaps, sentence building, etc.
Activate: role-play, communication games, debate, etc.
3. Teaching language functions
Language functions include but are not limited to areas such as inviting, refusing, agreeing, disagreeing, etc.
Students will need to learn the appropriacy of the language functions in terms of what kind of language to use: formal, informal, technical, tentative, etc.
Language function lessons stress the need for activation and therefor go well with a boomerang or patchwork structure. Certain roleplays are especially useful here.
I will use the different points discussed in this unit to decide on the new vocabulary, grammatical structures and language functions I will teach in future, to make sure these are appropriate and the students will know all the relevant information about the item.
