Delta Prep

8/12/2019 Delta Prep

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You have five minutes for the first task and can immediately pick up six marks. You're given

six definitions, usually with an example, and are asked to state the term which relates to

each definition. The definitions may be of methods or activity types, terms which relate to

grammar, phonology, lexis or discourse, terms relating to skills and subskills, or to testing anything in fact from the syllabus. No problem at all if you know your stuff. However, there

are still a few thing to keep in mind :

a) The terms must be 100% accurate, and that includes spelling. If you misspell the term,

even though you clearly know the right answer, you wont get the mark. Dont worry though

about standard spelling alternatives, for example differences between British and American

spelling. Both will be accepted eg behaviourism / behaviorism

b) There are sometimes alternative terms for the same thing. Plosives can also be called

stops , washback is also known as backwash , Community Language Learning is also called

Counseling Language Learning , and so on. However, only one of the terms is required if

they are standard alternatives either will be accepted. If you put down both and theyre

both right, you wont gain anything but will have wasted time that could have been us ed to

gain a mark elsewhere. If you put down two terms and one is wrong, then you dont get the

mark even if the other is correct. So put down the one you are most confident of, and

nothing else.

c) Dont get sidetracked by the example, which may be mor e specific than the definition. For

example, what answer would you give for : A sound made by initially blocking the airflow,

but then releasing it through a small space, creating friction. Eg // ?

The answer is An affricate. If you had written Voiced postalveolar affricate , you would have

been describing the specific example, not the term in general. The definition covers all

affricates voiced or unvoiced and in whatever place of articulation. The postalveolar

affricates may be the only ones which are phonemes of English, but there are others - think,

for instance, of the unvoiced alveolar affricate in Swahili words such as tsetse . So be careful

the term must reflect the general concept expressed in the definition, leaving out any

extra features spec ific to the example.


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Paper One - Task Two

Task Two is really the mirror image of Task One. This time you are given the terms and haveto provide the definition, an example and a piece of extra information. Some things to bear

in mind :

a) Six terms are given and you have a free choice of defining any four. Choose the four you

are most confident about. You dont have to do them in order, so start with the one you

consider easiest, to get you into the task.

b) Dont run over time on this one. You have 15 minutes to gain twelve marks - thats

already outside our one mark per minute aim. If you start with the easiest term, if youve

not finished by the time the 15 minutes are up its probably because youre struggling. In

that case move on youre more likely to pick up the marks by doing the later questions

thoroughly than by spending more time here.

c) Alternatively, if you find the task easy, dont get carried away and try to write everything

you know on the topic. Give one example and one piece of extra information only. Once

youve stated these, there are no more marks to be had, so youre just wasting time which

can be better spent elsewhere.

d) Dont forget the piece of extra information. This is not specified in the rubric, but it

carries a third of the marks for the task. When you practise for this task, get into the habit of


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laying out your answer in three bullet points, so that you dont forget. For example, if the

term is adjacency pair your answer might be something like :

A sequence of two related utterances by different speakers, the second being

dependent on the first

Eg : Compliment Thanks/downgrading : This cake is wonderful!/ Thanks. But its

really simple to make.

Adjacency pairs are often formulaic and/or culturally determined.

e) Dont repeat the term in the definition you need to explain it. So for example, if defining

learning style avoid : The individual style in which someone learns . This doesn't define the

term but simple rephrases it. A better answer would be : The typical approach (including

methods, activities, procedures etc) which an individual tends to favour / find most useful in

order to acquire information or skills.

f) Be careful when you formulate the definition. If this is wrong, the extra information will

not receive a mark either (although the example will if it is correct). For example, what is

wrong with the following definitions and how would you rephrase them?

A cloze test : A test involving a text from which individual words have been removed.

The student must then read the passage and replace the words.

An error : A mistake which the student makes because s/he doesnt know the correct

structure

Topic sentence : The opening sentence of a paragraph.

Youll find the answers if you scroll down t o the end.

So how can you prepare for these questions? As you prepare for the exam, while you're

reading or as you go through your course, make yourself a set of terminology cards, like the

ones in the photo above. On one side write the term, and on the other a definition (without

using the term), an example, and some extra information. Keep the cards in a box on your


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desk, and every day, take ten or twelve of them at random and put them in your bag. Every

time you have a moment during the day when you have nothing else to do - for example

when you're waiting for the bus or in a queue at the bank, take a few of the cards out and

test yourself. Either look at the side with the definition and see if you can remember theterm, or look at the term and see if you remember all the information on the other side.

In addition, youll find a lot more examples and advice for both these questions and all the

others on the two papers in the various documents published by Cambridge ESOL. If you

havent already done so, look at these carefully between now and the exam. You can

download them all from the Cambridge website . Follow the link, then click on Preparation

to see what is available. In particular though, make sure you look at the Handbook for Tutors

and Candidates , and also the 2010 Exam Report , which contain full details of the

requirements for each question and the marking scheme, as well as suggested answers to

tasks and a useful analysis of strong and weak answers to past questions.

In the next article in this series, we'll look at the requirements of Paper One, Task 3.

How did you do with the definitions?

a) Cloze : This one was too generic. It describes any type of gapped text, not a cloze test in

particular. It also reuses the word "test" rather than defining it. A better definition would be

: An activity used to measure reading comprehension in which words are removed from a

reading passage at regular intervals eg every 7th word, or every 9th word. The reader then

has to replace the words.

b) An error : Two problems here. Firstly, mistake is used as a synonym for any type of

inaccuracy, including error, rather than for another, distinct type of inaccuracy. And

secondly, its too restrictive. An error isnt always structural learners may make lexical

errors, word stress errors or whatever. So, a more accurate definition would be : Inaccuracy

in speech or writing due to lack of knowledge of the language item needed.
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c) A topic sentence : Whilst topic sentences are frequently found at the beginning of a

paragraph, first sentences are not always topic sentences and topic sentences may also

occur in other positions. And even if the assertion were true, it would still be only half the

definition as no mention is made of the function of the topic sentence. A better definitionwould be : A sentence (often the initial sentence) in a text or paragraph which introduces

and/or summarises the main idea or argument of the text/paragraph.

If Tasks 1 and 2 of Paper One test your understanding of the concepts involved in EFL, then

task 3 moves on to look at how you might apply that knowledge in your lesson planning. It

asks you to analyse a given speaking or writing activity in terms of the key subskills it wouldinvolve - ie the language items and discourse organisation skills that the learners would

need to be able to control in order to carry out the activity successfully. You need both to

identify the subskill and give an example or illustration, and it is important that the example

should be appropriate to the level of competence which the activity is intended for, and also

specific to that activity. In other words, you are being asked to evaluate an activity in terms

of whether it would be "doable" by a given group of learners - what language items etc they

would need to have covered before attempting the task.

You have 15 minutes for this task, and there are 15 marks available - so notice that we are

back to a potential mark a minute. You are asked to identify five clearly distinct

language/discourse features, and there is one mark available for each, plus a further two for

the example. So you need to take care with your examples, as they carryu the bulk of the

marks for this question.

To look at the "traps" that candidates fall into, let's look at a sample question. Based on the

information above, how many marks would you award for the following answer? Imagine

that the task is to roleplay a meeting where the participants are organising a conference.

Each rolecard gives information on one or more of the things which need to be done (book

the conference centre, send out the publicity etc) and gives various pieces of information

about alternatives and individual preferences. There is also a designated meeting leader


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who has an overview of all the things to be decided. In the meeting, they have to decide

who is going to do what. They are at lower intermediate (B1) level.

1) Structuring the discourse (meeting leader) : Eg Opening - indicating the meeting structureand announcing topics - definition, negotiation and allocation of tasks - summarising

decisions - closing.

2) Using modal and semi-modal verbs to express necessity and obligation, and to make

recommendations : Eg We need to book the conference centre. / We should send out the

information next week

3) Making/Accepting/Refusing polite requests : Eg Joanna, I wonder if you'd mind dealing

with the catering? / Well actually, I think David would be the best person for that.

4) Suggesting : Eg How about... What about... Why don't we... We could...

5) The participants would need to be able to offer and/or confirm willingness to take on

specific tasks, by saying what they'll do.

6) Relative clauses : For the publicity, why don't we contact the people who we used last

time?

7) Allocating speaking turns by eg nominating and asking open questions : Anne, why do you

prefer the Four Trees Hotel?

8) Self selecting for a speaking turn : Can I say something about the catering?

9) Summarising decisions : OK, so Joanna is going to book the conference centre and David

is going to deal with the catering .

I'm not a Cambridge examiner, but my comments on the individual points would be :


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1) OK. The candidate has identified a speaking subskill and has clearly illustrated it. The

layout, with the use of the colon and "Eg" makes it clear which is the subskill and which the

illustration. I'd give this the full 3 marks.

2) OK. The function is relevant, the language items needed to express that function are

stated, and the examples are specific to the context. Again, the layout is clear and the

underlining indicates clearly which language items are illustrative of the structures/function

indicated. I'd again give this point the full 3 marks. However, notice that the candidate has

wasted time by giving two examples. The second is not necessary.

3) The function is valid (1 mark), but the exponents chosen to illustrate it ( I wonder if you'd

mind.../Well, actually ) would be beyond the capability of the average learner at this level,

so no marks. J oanna, can you deal with the catering? would have been a more appropriate

illustration.

4) The function is valid (1 mark), but the examples are incomplete - they are just sentence

stems rather than full examples relevant to the specific task, and therefore gain no marks.

The candidate could have used the example which was used in (6) here.

5) This is very wordy. The first eight words just eat up time without gaining marks, and if you

wrote this phrase for each point you'd be writing at least forty redundant words. I don't

know how fast you write but at my writing speed that's 75 seconds down the drain. In

addition, no concrete example is given here at all, so again just 1 mark for the functional

area. Much better to replace this with Offering and/or confirming willingness to take on

specific tasks : Eg - OK, I'll phone the printers this afternoon .

6) Relative clauses is not a "key" item for this task - it's possible to imagine learners

completing it successfully without using relative clauses at all. It's simply a generic feature of

language which could crop up in almost any stretch of discourse. No marks for this here. In

order for relative clauses, to be "key" the task would have to be one where learners reallyneeded to use it in continuation to fulfill the task. A task necessitating circumlocution


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strategies would be an example - eg an activity where learners were given of pictures of

things they didn't know the names of, and had to buy them in a shop. This would give rise to

eg I'm looking for the things which you wear on your eyes when you go swimming. Here, I

would argue that the ability to use relative clauses really was "key". But in the task we'rediscussing, it's incidental.

7/8) Either of these would be OK, but not both. They are really part and parcel of the same

generic area - turntaking. Don't split areas which are actually the same - for example in (3)

making, accepting and refusing are all part of the area Polite requests, not three individual

points. No more than 3 points.

9) Again, valid - but unacceptable here because the point has already been used in (1). Don't

repeat yourself - and this is true throughout the exam. You'll only get the marks for a point

once, and in this task that's true of both the features and the examples.

And whoops - there are nine points here, and you were only asked for five. You won't be

penalised for the extra ones, and if you can get a sixth point down in the time allowed, it

may be a useful safety blanket if one of your earlier points is off-track. But any more and

you're probably going to over-run the fifteen minutes. If your earlier points are valid you

won't pick up any extra marks, but you will waste time that could have been bringing you

marks in the next question.

Other criticisms? The points are a bit top-heavy on functions - not necessarily a problem but

it could lead you into putting down points which are too "close". Aim for a range of different

types of subskill and discourse feature. This list starts well - a discourse feature is followed

by a structural/functional area - but it would be nice to have seen a lexical area in there too.

Cardinal and ordinal numbers comes to mind : We need a plenary room for five hundred /

The conference is from the third to the fifth of September / We need to print about 5,000

leaflets would all be possible examples. Looking for a range of discourse,

structural/functional and lexical features will add variety to your list and help avoid the

danger of overlap.


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This is a task where thinking time pays dividends. Look at the activity friom the point of view

of discourse, structural/functional and lexical areas, choose the five that seem to you the

strongest, and put those down - naming the feature and giving a clear example specific to

the task without wasting time on discussion, or introductory/concluding phrases. If you havetime, add a sixth point - but then move on. Task 4 awaits - and it's a big one!

Task Four of Paper One tests your awareness of the language systems - discourse, grammar,

lexis and phonology. You have thirty minutes for this task and it carries forty marks - so it's a

major component of the paper. As always, don't waste time trying to form your answer into

complete sentences or connected paragraphs. Bullet points and semi note form are all that's

required. There's a mark for each valid point you make - so use the time to put down as

much information as possible about each feature of the language you asnalyse.

The first part of the task asks you to look at the text as representative of a particular genre,

and identify five features which are specific to that genre. So first of all, what do we mean

by genre?

Imagine you were walking down the road and suddenly a sheet of paper blows towards you

and wraps itself around your legs. If you pick it up, even a very cursory glance will tell you if

it's an extract from a novel, a newspaper sports report, a poem, a legal contract, a recipe, a

shopping list, a charity appeal - or whatever. Even without reading it, you'll recognise the

genre from the visual impact. How is laid out on the page - does it use connected

paragraphs, numbered paragraphs, bullet points, or what? Are photos are included or not?Are there larger font headlines or is bold or italic print used? And so on. Start to read it and

immediately you'll notice differences in the language - shopping lists will consist of a

sequence of noun phrases, recipes will contain imperative verbs, poems will use devices

such as rhyme, assonance and alliteration. It's this sort of feature that you are asked to

identify, giving an example from the text of each.


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What type of genre might be included? The list is endless, but some that have come up on

recent exam papers include advertisements, home pages from websites, information

leaflets, and human interest articles from newspapers. However, if your exam preparation

has included analysis of a wide range of genres, you'll start to see that certain features areshared by various different genres because they all use a specific text type or have a similar

purpose. For example, biographies, novels and news articles will all involve narrative, and

therefore past verbs will be predominant; advertisements, hotel and restaurant websites,

and websites inviting membership all have a promotional purpose and may well use

personal pronouns repeatedly to try and make the reader feel personally involved. Once

you've looked at various genres therefore, and have seen how they fall into categories

related to text type and purpose, you should know what type of feature to look for even if

the exam includes a genre which you haven't specifically considered in the past.

This part of the task carries only five marks, so don't sweat over it excessively. If you've

found four features but the fifth doesn't immediately occur to you, leave a bit of white

space and move on. You'll probably pick up more marks by spending the time on the rest of

the paper - and if you do have time left over, you can always go back look at it again later.

The rest of the paper asks you to analyse specific words or phrases, as they are used in the

text. You'll probably have three sections, each with three or four items, and will be asked to

analyse them from the point of viw of form, meaning, use, pronunciation and problems they

may cause for learners. Be careful, the rubric of each section will tell you which of these four

categories you should focus on. Be sure to analyse the items in terms of the category or

categories specified and nothing else - other points you make won't get any marks and will

just waste time.

So what do we mean by form, meaning, use, pronunciation and problems for students?

What points should you include under each? Let's take the following sentence : I don't think

I've ever seen David take anything seriously - and as usual, when we arrived, he was horsing


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around. How would you analyse the words was horsing around in terms of each of the four

categories? You might like to try it before you read on you'll find my analysis later.

Let's look first of all at form . Here you need to analyse the grammatical form of the items.

Here's usually a lot to say and you shouldn't be afraid to state the obvious. If you're

analysing eg the word pencils , tell the examiners that you know it's a plural countable noun;

if the item is writes that it's a third person singular present simple lexical verb. Any piece of

information left out, however obvious it may seem, could lose you a mark. You might also

deal with any spelling changes caused by affixes - eg in prettier the "y" of pretty changes to

"i" before the comparative suffix -er because it is preceded by a consonant.

Meaning is the lexical meaning of the word - the definition that you might find in a

dictionary. So eg if you were analysing the expression put up with , the meaning would be

tolerate (something), accept (it) even though it bothers or irritates you.

There are three ways you can deal with use :

1. Syntactic use : how is the word or phrase used in the sentence? If it's a noun, is it the

subject of the clause? Or the object of the verb? If it's an adjective does it premodify a noun

or is it the complement of a verb? And so on.

2. Stylistic use : Does the choice of the word or phrase add to the formality or informality of

the text? Does it create humour? Is it typical of journalistic style, academic style etc etc

3. Use in the discourse : For example, in the following example ...

The Taj Mahal is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was built in

1632 by the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan...

The use of the passive verb was built allows the discourse to follow the "given-new" order of

information which is typical of English (The Taj Mahal is "given" in that it has beenmentioned in the previous sentence; the date and constructor are "new" pieces of


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information. Choosing an active verb would mean ordering the sentence with new

information placed first.)

When dealing with pronunciation , remember that you must use phonemic script to

illustrate the points you make. No phonemic script means no mark - even if your description

is valid. You will need to consider the citation form of the word/phrase and any potential

changes that may occur in connected speech, with specific accents etc. So if you were

transcribing the phrase new age you might write something like :

Citation form : new - /nju:/ (Br.Eng) /nu:/ (Am. Eng); age - /e /

Connected speech : probable use of "intrusive consonant /w/ to link the two vowel sounds -

/nju: w e /

When considering pronunciation, you'll need to consider such features as elision and

gemination, epenthesis, assimilation, catenation and liaison, and yod coalescence. (For an

explanation of some of these terms, see here .)

And finally, problems for learners . These could fall into any of the categories above. For

example - if you were analysing the noun a series, learners might have problems with the

form : as the word ends in -ies they might assume it is plural. Learners of specific L1 groups

may have problems pronouncing individual sounds in the words - Japanese learners, for

example, would have problems with the /r/ sound here. Other words might create problems

with meaning, eg because they are false cognates - for instance, an Italian learner hearingthe word college might assume it meant boarding school (It. collegio = boarding school). Use

might also be problematic - as an example, if the word that you were analysing was derived

from Latin and being used in a formal context, consider whether learners from Romance L1s

might overuse it because it was similar to a word in their own language and therefore more

memorable than eg the phrasal verb that might be more naturally used in an

neutral/informal style.
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Those then are the four categories you will have to analyse. So how would you deal with the

phrase was horsing around ? Here's my analysis :

Form :

3rd person singular, past continuous (Be past tense + Ving) form of phrasal verb (verb +

adverb) horse around .

Spelling : mute "e" dropped before addition of -ing suffix.

Meaning/Use :

a) Past continuous form : describes a temporary on-going event occurring at a reference

point in the past (here, the moment of arrival)

b) phrasal verb : to act in a non-serious way; fool about. Informal style. Semi-synonymous

with, and forms a cohesive tie with, "not take anything seriously".

Pronunciation :

Citation form - /w z h:s rand/. In connected speech :

a) almost certain use of weak form of "was" /w z/

b) possible elision of /h/ (eg London accent) and consequent catenation between syllable

final /z/ and syllable intial / :/

c) Rhotic accents (eg Somerset, most American) : pronunciation of post vocalic / r/: /h :rs/

d) Potential consonant lenition // to /n/ (eg London accent)

e) CV catenation between final consonant of "horsing" and initial vowel of "around"


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Problems for learners :

a) Pronunciation of /h/ for eg Italian speakers, who would tend to omit it.

b) Pronunciation of /w/ for German speakers, who might replace it with /v/

c) Listening comprehension : Problems bottom-up decoding the phrase because of the

features of connected speech mentioned

d) Understanding meaning due to the "non-transparent" quality of the phrasal verb.

Would you have time to write that much about every item specified? Of course not. Don'teven try, or you'll be spending the whole 90 minutes on that question alone. Notice too that

I've given four problems for learners here (you may have thought of others too), while it's

usually specified that you should identify three. In any case, on the spur of the moment you

won't think of half the things that might come to mind if you were doing it other than in

exam conditions. But it shows you that there is far more that you could say than it is actually

necessary to say, so leaving out a few things is not the end of the world. However, if you

have a check list in mind of the things you might say (eg the three categories i've mentioned

under Use ), points will come to mind more easily. You get one mark for every point you

make, and you're aiming for forty. Five go on the genre analysis section, leaving 35 here to

gain on analysing (usually) about 10 items. This means that if you make 3-4 points about

every item, you'll get full marks, while 2 points per item, added to full marks in the genre

analysis section, would still guarantee a pass average. And bear in mind that if you look at

one of the sections and can't answer it at all, you can still pick up the marks by saying more

about the items in another section.

So how can you prepare yourself for this task?

1. By reading books on language and discourse, particularly those which provide tasks for

you to work through. You'll find some recommended below.


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2. Follow and participate in internet forums which discuss language. I use the one on eslhq ,

but there are many. Read the questions that are there and see if the answers agree with the

explanation in the grammar you are using - you should be using one intended for teachers

of English/students of linguistics, not for learners.

3. Spend ten minutes a day focusing on language analysis. Pull a book off your bookshelf at

random. Open it at page 52. Find the tenth complete sentence on the page and choose the

third word in the sentence. Analyse it in the ways you might have to in the exam, then check

your answer with a good dictionary (for meaning, form, pronunciation) and your grammar.

Paper One, Task Five asks you to analyse the written or spoken production of a learner, and

to identify three key strengths and three key weaknesses in his/her performance. You are

then ask to choose one of the weaknesses and to explain why you would choose to prioritise

it in your teaching. There are 27 marks for this and a recommended time of 25 minutes.

This question can, I think, tell you an awful lot about yourself as a teacher. Some people

have no difficulty seeing the strengths, but struggle to see the weaknesses. Others (and I'm

afraid I'm one of them) home in on the weaknesses immediately, but have to look really

hard to identify the strengths. It's the teaching equivalent of seeing the glass half full or half

empty, and can serve as a good reminder that when teaching we need to pay attention to

both sides : to emphasise the positive but also to be aware of our students' problems in

order to be able to provide the support and help they need - or vice versa if you're like me.
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Anyway, back to the exam. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses is not a completely

free choice. Four or five categories categories will be specified, such as :

Task achievement

Organisation and cohesion

Style and genre

Range and accuracy of lexis

Accuracy of grammar

Complexity of grammar

Spelling and punctuation (if it's a written passage)

Pronunciation - sounds, stress, connected speech, (if it's a spoken text)

etc

If it's a spoken text, certain words will be written in phonemic script, so that you can analyse

the pronunciation.

It is essential that all the strengths and weaknesses you identify "fit" one of the categories

which are specified. It's not enough, however, to identify a general category as a strength or

weakness - you also need to identify specific features within that category. For example:

Weakness : Pronunciation - sounds

// is consistently pronou nced as /s/ - eg : /s nd/

Weakness : Spelling

Consistent mispelling of words containing in vowel + y before a suffix : eg He plaies tennis.


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Strength : Range and accuracy of lexis

Good range of phrasal and prepositional verbs including "non-transparent" items : eg, He

takes after his father.

Strength : Organisation

The text is divided into paragraphs, each with a clear topic, and the topic of each paragraph

leads naturally into the next. Eg Para 1 = her immediate family - describes her mother and

father. Para 2 = her extended family - follows the description of her father by moving on to

describe his brothers and sisters

Notice the use of the word "consistent" in the some of the answers. You are asked to

identify key strengths and weaknesses - ie the ones that have a significant impact on the

text or the learner's ability to use English. If there is only one example of a feature, it can't

be said to be "key" - it might be just a slip. Look for recurrent features.

Because your focus is on the specific items, you may find more than one item for each

category, and there may be both strengths and weaknesses in the same category. Above

we've identified the pronunciation of a specific sound as a pronunciation weakness, but

might also include ...

Strength : Pronunciation - connected speech : consistent use of weak form pronunciation,

using the schwa - eg, we went for /f / lunch

There are three marks for each strength and weakness identified : one for the specification

and one for providing an example from the text. The twelve marks are then weighted up toseventeen. Additionally, you can get 4 extra marks by including a comment on two of the


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strengths or weaknesses to show how that feature impacts on the effectiveness of the

communication. For example :

Strength : Range and accuracy of lexis

Good range of adjectives describing the personality of her relatives : She is the most

extrovert person in our family. This makes the text more interesting for the reader, providing

a mental picture of the people being described and making them seem more real .

Strength : Communicative success

Use of circumlocution when she does not know a lexical item : I wanted to buy - erm, those

things you wear on your eyes when you go swimming... erm, glasses for swimming.

This eases the difficulty of the communication for the listener - there are no embarassing

silences and meaning is always clear. The strategy encourages the listener to provide the

word, thus promoting collaborative interaction. It also makes the speaker seem a confident

and effective communicator.

In the second part of the task, you are asked to give three reasons why one of the

weaknesses which you identified would be a priority for attention on the course. There are

six marks available here, two per reason. One marks is given for identifying the reason, and

the second for explaining it in more detail. In answering this section, there are various things

you can take into consideration :

the learners level : for example, is the weakness something that a learner of the

level specified would normally be expected to know? If so, the area may not be

explicitly included in the textbook being used, and if the teacher does not build it

into the course, the learner will never have the chance to focus on it. This may lead

to repetition of the incorrect form (or whatever) until it becomes fossilised. Or is the

learner at a low level and the weakness a failure to use circumlocution strategies,


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resulting in frequent hesitation and blocking. In this case, developing this coping

strategy would have high surrender value - it will be a while before they truly have

all the lexis they need at their disposal (if ever) and the ability to circulocute will

improve the effectiveness of their spoken communication in general. the learners future needs : is this item something the learner might need in the

future, outside the classroom. Is there an exam that might require it? Will it be

necessary for a job or study purposes? For example, if the use of adjectives (or

rather the lack of them) had been a weakness in the learner's writing, focus on them

could be useful to prepare for an exam such as FCE in which they might have to write

a short story. If the learner was a salesman who had difficulty pronouncing numbers,

work on this area would improve his presentations and negotiations. transfer to other skills or genres : the weakness may be one would result in

improvement in other skills. For example, if the problem lay in the use of irregular

past simple verbs, improving the area would improve the learner's ability in all four

skills, and facilitate their performance in a wide variety of genres - from phatic

conversation to anecdote telling to (hopefully never necessary) interrogation by the

police.

reasons specific to the learners context : eg is the learner in a monolingual course?

If so, and if the weakness is a problem of L1 interference, then focusing on it is likely

to benefit the whole class. Is the learner studying in Britain and living with a host

family? In this case, if the problem is over-reliance on Latinate vocabulary, then a

focus on lexical items such as phrasal verbs will help them understand the English

they hear around them every day.

reasons specific to the communicative purpose/success of the text : was the text

transactional, and did they fail to clarify, and confirm information by repeating and

summarising it? Presuming they will need to participate in the same type of

discourse in future, work on this area will assure greater success the next time.

the effect on the reader/listening : are they using imperatives where request forms

are needed? This may mean they sound aggressive and rude, and result in offending

their interlocutors.Work on requesting would resolve the problem

the problem is easy to rectify : is the problem over-reliance on one exponent of afunctional area, making the learner seem repetive and boring (eg if they use "why


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don't you" in continuation in a task involving making suggestions)? Teaching and

practising a few other exponents could be done relatively quickly in comparison to

the pay-off that it would have. It would also be motivating, as the learner would see

a large improvement in his/her ability to communicate in relation to the time andeffort involved.

Paper Two, Task One asks you to demonstrate your knowledge of the features that

might make a test suitable or unsuitable for a specific learner. You're given a

description of the learner, then the test and have 20 minutes to identify three

positive points about the test and three negative points. Each point gains you one

mark, plus an additional mark for stating the effect it might have on the learner. An

extra two marks are available for consistently accurate use of testing terminology

throughout the answer. These 14 marks are then weighted up to twenty - so once

more, you have the chance to gain a mark a minute here.

Common mistakes? Getting obsessed by the terminology and letting this rule the

answer. Don't. Look at the consequences that the test might have for the learner and

start from there. You're looking at issues such as : would the learner actually be able

to do the test?Why or why not? How would knowledge of an upcoming test or the

results of a previous test shape the learner's study of the language? How might it

motivate or demotivate her? What consequences would it have for her life outside

the classroom (ability to do a job, promotion to a higher level course etc).

So what do you have to take into consideration ? Here are a few things you might

think about as you look at the test :

Administration, Level, Instructions, Test Type, Length, Evidence, Fresh starts, Activity

Type, Content, Age, Timing, Item Type, Needs, Marking, Adaptability, Language,

Format, Imagination vs. Communication.


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That's not intended to be an exhaustive list, but it does cover many of the main areas

you need to consider. Why that order? You may like to reorganise it into categories, butas it is, you'll see that the first letters, which I've highlighted, spell A little fat cat in Malfi

- which may help you to remember the categories. Use it, or organise the list more

logically, as you find easiest.

So what might you need to say about each of these? Let's take the following example of

a learner and the test she is given :

L. is at the start of a two-week intensive course at a language school in Britain. Her

reason for taking the course is that her daughter has recently married an Englishman

and is now expecting her first child. L wants to be able to speak to her son-in-law and

grandchild, and to cope practically and socially on visits to England. On the form she

completed when enrolling for the course, she self-assessed her level as pre-

intermediate.She is given the following test as the speaking skills part of the placement

test which is administered on the first day. Each student is interviewed separately by a

teacher, who gives a mark based on their overall impression of the learner's speaking

ability

In the exam you will then see the test she is given. However, for our purposes just

imagine that it's a picture story, showing a man who oversleeps, gets ready for work in a

tremendous hurry, drives to the station, and buys a newspaper while he's waiting for the

train. When he gets the newspaper he realises that it's Sunday, and that he doesn't need

to go to work at all. So he goes back home and goes back to bed.

What might you say about the categories in the list above in relation to this test? You


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might like to think about it before you read on. Try and find three positive points and

three negative points as you would need to in the exam.

Administration : This category concerns the effect the way the test is administered may

have on the learner. Here, the fact that the test is given one-to-one means that if there

were a large number of students starting courses on the same day, it could mean a

certain amount of waiting around for the learner and could create dissatisfaction with

the course even before she started it. It also means that, if she comes from a culture

where teachers are held in high esteem, the power-distance which she assumes to exist

between herself and the teacher means that she waits for the teacher to take the lead in

the conversation, answering questions or talking about what she is told to, but without

making any attempt to control the discourse. (This format might be an important

problem with young learners too, who could "freeze" if asked to talk to a strange adult

in what is clearly a test situation.) All of this could affect the reliability of the result - the

picture that emerged of the learner's ability might not be a reflection of her true

competence in peer-to-peer interaction. And this could result in her being placed in a

lower level class than the one which is actually most suitable for her.

Level : Any test needs to be "doable" at the learner's level. If it's too difficult, it may

result in learner demotivation, whereas if it is too easy it may not give the teacher, the

learner, or other stakeholders the evidence that they need to make decisions regarding

further study (should she progress to the next level? what needs to be revised?) or use

of English outside the classroom (should she be promoted, or given a place on a

university course?). With some tests, the general level is known - a progress test, for

example, will be based on what the learner has been studying, and the level of difficulty

will be determined by such factors as how many "tricky" items are included - but a

placement test like this one needs to be "doable" by learners at a variety of levels - by

definition, the exact level of the learners taking the test is unknown. This test would

seem to be adaptable to a variety of levels - more competent learners would be able tonarrate the story using a variety of past verb forms, sequencing devices and so on, less


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competent students would be able to describe it picture by picture using the present

continuous, and low level learners would be able to answer simple questions put by the

teacher : Where is the man? What's the time? etc. Thus whether L. was right when she

self-assessed her level, or had over- or underestimated, she would find the test"doable", thus giving reliable evidence of her actual level of communicative competence

which would lead to her being placed in the correct class.

Instructions : How clear are the instructions for the activity? Is there an example? If

the learner is not completely clear about what she has to do in the test, then she

may do it incorrectly for reasons unrelated to her linguistic competence, the result

again becoming unreliable. Here the teacher is on hand to explain, so the problem

shouldn't arise, and because of the need for flexibility mentioned above, the

instructions may not need to be too watertight. This is particularly important if the

activity (or task) type is one which is liable to be unfamiliar to the learner - an

example might be a sentence transformation activity of the type where the learner

has to complete a second sentence so that it means the same as a given first

sentence, eg : It's too expensive / It costs........ If the learner has never done this type

of activity before, at least one completed example would be necessary to ensure

s/he fully understood what was required.

Test Type and Adaptability: Is it a placement test, a diagnostic test, a progress test,

an achievement test or a proficiency test? Each of these will have different

objectives, and will therefore need a different format, contents etc if they are to

achieve those objectives. We have seen one example already - the placement test

which needs to be "doable" at a range of different levels. An example of a test with a

different purpose, and therdeefore needing different qualities, would be a progress

test (eg an end of unit test). This has a formative purpose - it aims to evaluate how

well the learner has assimilated the language items, subskills etc which she has been

taught in order to allow both the teacher and learner herself to see what needs to berevised, to allow the teacher to see whether she is teaching at the correct pace for


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the learners, etc etc. A progress test will therefore not need to be "doable" at

different levels - on the contrary it will need to be "doable" only by those learners

who have studied that particular section of the course, and will provide reliable

results only if it recycles the lexis, structural/functional areas, subskills etc whichhave just been taught. A progress test which brought in items which the learners had

not studied would be lacking in content validity . This might happen if eg the test

focused on a stucture that had been taught, but in a context different from those

they had encountered on the course. The lexical items needed might then block the

learners from performing well, even though they had actually assimilated the

structure.

Length : Test length is always problematic. Too short and there will be inadequate

coverage of language items and skills, leading to unreliable results. Too long and

there will be problems of practicality. Doubling the test time also means doubling

the administration and marking time, with resultant consequences for staffing costs.

And when you're testing, you can't be teaching - in our placement test example, the

more time testing takes away from the course, the less time there is to cover the

learner's needs.

Evidence : Every test is intended to provide evidence of some sort for the

stakeholders. We've seen that a progress test has to provide reliable evidence in

order to ensure the learner is correctly placed, while a progress test has a formative

aim and should answer the question What do we need to do next? Sometimes the

evidence is necessary not for the teacher, the learner or the institution, but for an

external stakeholder such as an employer or university. If the evidence produced by

the test is reliable , the correct decisions may be made. If not, they can't - probably

to the detriment of the learner. For example, if a progress test focusing on a specific

structure contains only multiple choice items, that may tell the teacher that the

learner recognises the correct form and use of the structure, but gives no evidenceof whether the learner would actually use the structure spontaneously and


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accurately when speaking or writing. The teacher who took the test result as

evidence that no further work was necessary on the structure might therefore later

find the student was still avoiding it. Or, again, an employer who wanted to know if

the learner could deal simple enquiries on the phone, might make the wrongdecision about appointing her if the test she was given consisted of situations

dealing with responding to complaints - a far more challenging task.

Fresh starts : Fresh starts are another feature that can make test results more

reliable, and the Delta itself is a good example. A long time ago, when Delta was still

DTEFLA, the written exam consisted of three one-hour essay questions. This meant

that after a course focusing on a wide range of topics (ask yourself how many

different topics you've covered on your Module One course - ours must have

between eighty and a hundred), your final grade was determined by your ability to

write about just three of them. If none of the topics which came up happened to be

your "speciality" or if you had a general knowledge of everything but in-depth

knowledge of nothing, you might do less well than someone who in fact knew

relatively little, but just happened to know a lot about the three topics she had to or

chose to answer questions on. With the new format, this can't happen. With nine

questions, many of which have a number of different sections, and all of which are

marked by individual point made, there are now numerous "fresh starts". If you

don't know the first term defined in Paper 1.1, you may still know the second; if you

can't analyse the phonology of the phrases specified in Paper 1.4, you may still be

able to analyse the form and meaning, and so on. So fresh starts lead to a much

more reliable result - there is no chance of the result being swayed by a specific

strength or weakness. Applying this to our placement test, this test has no "fresh

starts". Presuming that the learner starts narrating the story using past verb forms,

her final mark is liable to be dominated by her accuracy and fluency in using those. If

this is high, it may hide the fact that when talking about the future she relies

exclusively on will + infinitive. Or if it is low, may not reveal that in general social

conversation using the present simple, she is both accurate and fluent.


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Activity Type : Is the activity a direct test of speaking, writing, listening or reading, or

an indirect test? Direct tests are generally preferred, but both can have

disadvantages. For example, imagine that we wanted to know if a learner could

make polite requests. We could test this indirectly with a gap fill activity : Would youmind .... (open) the window?

This tells me if the learner knows that the -ing form must be used after mind (form),

but tells me nothing about whether she really understands the use, or what form she

would use spontaneously. If on the other hand, i ask the learner to roleplay a

situation where she needs to make polite requests (a direct test) and she

continuously uses can + infinitive, I have no clear evidence of whether she knows the

form/use of would you mind.... The indirect test forces the learner into using the

language I want to check, but tells me nothing about his/her own use of the item.

The direct test tells me what items s/he spontaneously uses, but not which ones she

also knows. In a progress test therefore, after I'd been focusing on polite requests in

class, I might want to use both indirect and direct tests - the first would tell me if the

learner could control the target forms when "pushed" into it; the second whether

they were now used spontaneously or still avoided.

Activity Type : Also under activity type, you might consider whether the activity type is

really "fit for purpose" - does it test what it is supposed to be testing? For example,

consider the implications of including a dictation as part of a listening test. A dictation is

general a written text and a monologue, which is read fairly slowly, with phrases

repeated so that students can write down every word. However, this is not what

listening is all about. When people listen, they don't usually have the chance to hear

what is said more than once. They don't retain the exact words that are said, but rather

the overall meaning. In many ways then, what students do when taking down a dictation

is not the same as what they do in the real listening situation. The test can therefore be

said to lack construct validity - what they need to do in the test is not the same as outthreory of what they need to do in the real situation..


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Content : There are a multitude of things you could talk about here. If the test is a

progress or achievement test, does the test content reflect what has been taught; if

the test is intended to have predictive validity (ie to indicate whether the learnerwould be capable of performing adequately in a communicative situation outside the

classroom), does the content mirror the learner's communicative needs. One of the

examples given above illustrates this - if we want to find out whether the learner

could deal with simple enquiries regarding her companies services, a test focusing on

her ability to deal with complaints will not provide reliable evidence.

Age : is the test suitable for the learner's age group? A 12 year old might find a

reading comprehension intended for adults too cognitively challenging, but a text

intended for young children too "babyish".

Timing : How long does the learner have to complete the test? Is this sufficient? If

s/he feels rushed, and doesn't have time to finish, s/e may feel the test was unfair

and that it tested her ability to work under pressure rather than her actual

knowledge of the language. the test would therefore lack face validity for the

learner.

Needs : What are the learner's communicative needs and how are these reflected by

the test? We've already seen that a test may need to reflect needs in order to

provide reliable evidence, but a test which does so is also liable to have greater face

validity for the learner (she will feel that the test truly reflects her ability to use the

language outside the classroom). In the case of an achievement or proficiency test at

the end of the course, a a test related to learner needs will also have positive

backwash - knowledge of what is coming up in a later test often shapes the teacher's

choice of the content and activity types in the course. If the test did not reflect the

learner's needs, the teacher might therefore be tempted to spend course time

working on areas which were actually irrelevant to her.


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Language : closely related to the concept of needs is the type of language that the

learner will need to use in the test. The fact that the activity type or topic reflects her

needs, doesn't necessarily mean that the language it involves will be the same. Take

our example learner : she's asked to tell a story based on picture - which is one ofthe things she might want to do with her grandchild. But the style of language she

will need to talk to a child and talk about pictures in a story book (caretaker talk or

motherese) is not the same as the language she will probably produce in response to

this decontextualised task. Without a context (why is she telling this story? who to?

in what setting?) there is much less evidence of her ability to communicate in a given

situation.

Item type and Marking: How will the test be marked? If it consists of discrete point

items, then there will be "right answers" and marking should be objective. This will

probably mean though, that the task types are indirect tests. if we want to use direct

testing, then marking will often have to be subjective.

In our example situation the test was marked on the basis of the teacher's "overall

impression" of the learner's ability, rather than on the basis of agreed criteria ( eg so

many marks for grammatical accuracy; so many for fluency and the use of coping

strategies; so many for intelligibility of pronunciation; etc). This creates the risk that

one teacher might mark "harder" than another, or over-emphasise one particular

category - eg marking down a learner who was grammatically inaccurate without

taking the other categories into consideration. The test result might not therefore be

reliable, resulting possibly in our learner being placed in an inappropriate class.

Familiarity: How familiar the learners are with a task type will often affect how well

they do it - the example of the sentence transformation task mentioned above is a

case in point. Learners who have done this type of task frequently will know the

"tricks" (eg if the first sentence is not + adj + enough the transformation will be too +

adj ), and therefore stand to do better than students meeting the task type for thefirst time. This can affect the reliability of the result and, again in the case of an


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achievement or proficency test, may create negative backwash - the teacher spends

course time teaching the "tricks" of the task type rather than improving students'

general language competence.

Imagination vs. Communication : A task where the learners have to invent content

may test their imagination rather than their ability to use the language. Imagine a

writing task where the learner was asked to write an email to a customer explaining

the reasons for a delivery delay. Learners who had experience of customer service

and could write from experience would clearly find the task easier than others who

had to work purely from imagination. if they couldn't think of what to say, they

would do badly on the test because of lack of ideas and not necessarily because of

lack of communicative ability. One of the plus points about the test in our example

situation is that the learner doesn't have to invent anything. The content of the story

is given by the pictures, and the task just tests her ability to communicate the given

meanings. From this point of view, therefore, it should give a reliable result and lead

to her being placed in an appropriate class.

So - what would be my three plus points for this test ?

1. The fact that it is "doable" at a variety of levels of competence means that it is "fit

for purpose" as a placement test. The learner will be able to talk about the story in

some way or other regardless of her proficiency, but what she is and isn't able to say

should give reliable evidence of her level, meaning that she is placed in an

appropriate class. Being able to perform to the best of her ability in the test will also

make her feel that it was fair, and she will not be demotivated by feelings of failure.

2. The pictures illustrate the story and the learner is asked to talk about what shesees. The task therefore tests her ability to communicate given ideas in English - not


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how creative she is or how quickly she can invent something. This will increase the

reliability of the result, again meaning she is more likely to find herself in an

appropriate class. It will also leave her feeling satisfied that she has said all she could

without being blocked by non-linguistic factors.

3. This is a direct test and will therefore give clear evidence of a variety of elements

involved in the speaking construct : range and accuracy of grammar and lexis;

intelligibility of pronunciation; ability to express meaning through stress and

intonation; fluency and the ability to use coping strategies such as circumlocution

etc. The teacher should therefore be able to assess her ability in each of these areas,

and her overall competence, accurately.

And the negative points?

1. The lack of specific criteria for marking means that the results may not be reliable - they

may be influenced by the teacher's particular "hobbyhorse" categories, or even by the

mood she is in on the day of the test. This may lead to the learner being placed in an

inappropriate class, or to her not understanding the result and feeling it was unfair.

2. The fact that the test consists of one task only, and that there are no "fresh starts" means

that it will not give a clear picture of her general competence but only of her strength or

weakness in a specific area - the ability to narrate past events. There is no evidence of other

areas - talking about future events, making requests or offers, agreeing and disagreeing etc

etc. This means the test will not give a full picture of her ability and might again result in her

being placed in an inappropriate class.

3. The format of the test also means that it will test only her ability to monologue, rather

than her ability to interact. No evidence will therefore be gained of her ability to negotiatetopic, deal with communication problems, respond spontaneously to what other people say,


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etc. Again, the test will therefore not give a full picture of her competence and L. may feel

that it is unrelated to her need for social interaction.

Both task 2 and Task 3 in Paper Two ask you to analyse the methodological principles behindthe same set of materials. Task 2 is divided into two parts, so over the two tasks their are

three distinct sections, and it's important that you know what is required in each in order to

be awarded the available marks.

Task 2 specifies a number of activities from the materials. All the points you make in Task 2

must be relevant to those activities and those activities only. Don't make reference to any

others as the points won't be awarded marks and you'll just be wasting time.

Task 2 Section (a) asks you to identify the purpose of the activities specified, in relation to

the stated overall aim of the materials. As an example, let's assume the stated purpose is To

teach the present perfect expressing past events with present results to pre-intermediate

learners. So as you look at the individual activities, your aim is to identify how each activity

helps learners achieve that aim - and nothing else. Try the following practice activity - which

of the following purposes are relevant to our stated overall aim, and which are not? (Scroll

down to the end for the answers to all the practice activities in this article).

Practice Activity One

a) To provide a context for the introduction of the target structure/function

b) To stimulate interest in the topic of the listening

c) To allow learners to formulate and check hypotheses regarding the form, meaning and

use of the target language.

d) To give learners the opportunity to manipulate the target language, with the primary

focus on form and accuracy.

e) To provide practice in listening for gist.

Here, the form and function were stated in the overall purpose, so I've been able to refer tothem briefly as "target language". However, if the formulation of the overall aim is vaguer -


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eg to focus on lexis or to develop listening skills , make sure that you identify the specific area

of lexis /subskills that are involved. Try this in the next practice activity.

Practice Activity 2

a) In previous activities the learners have listened to a text and done some gist and detailed

comprehension work. The activity you are analysing is a language focus activity in which the

learners are asked to listen to the recording again and to complete a gapped transcript. All

the gaps focus on expressions like have a meeting, do the accounts, or make a profit. The

stated overall aim of the materials is To teach various lexical items. What's the specific

purpose of this activity?

b) The stated aim of the materials is to develop listening skills. Learners have previously

listened to a recording and done a gist comprehension task. They are now doing a detailed

comprehension activity which includes the question :

3. How did they travel ? a) by train b) by bike c) by car

The recording includes the following : Anyway, we thought it would be nice to go away for

the weekend, so we booked into a little hotel we know at the sea, and left immediately after

work on the Friday evening. But half way down the motorway we had a flat tyre...

What is the purpose of this question in the activity?

c) Later, they are asked to listen again complete a transcript where expressions such as the

following have been blanked out : it can't have been him /k k:n bn m/; we hoped to see

him /w hp t si:j m/

Notice how all the purposes start To + infinitive. There are other possibilities of course, but I

suggest you use this formula. If you can't express it in this way, then it's probably not a

purpose and you're off track.

There are two marks available for each purpose you state. Try and find at least six in order

to aim for maximum marks. This means of course that you may be looking for more thanone purpose for each activity, depending on how many you are asked to discuss.


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Task Two section (b) asks you to identify six assumptions about effective learning that the

materials writer probably had in mind when creating the activities, and the reasons for them

- in other words, you're looking at the didactic rationale behind the the activities. Again youshould focus on only the activities specified for focus in Task Two.

The assumptions can generally be phrased something like X XXX should happen because...

Learners need to XXXX because... The teacher should XXXX because... It's important to XXX

because.... XXX is beneficial to learning because.... There is one mark for each valid

asumption you state and two marks for the reasons - make sure that you include two

reasons for each assumption in order to gain maximum marks. You also need to state which

of the specified activities the assumption relates to. Keep in mind that very often it will be

valid for more than one - although you need to ensure that at least one of assumptions you

state relates to each of the specified activities, don't make the mistake of matching every

assumption to just one activity and forgetting to see whether it is also valid for others.

A completed point in this section might therefore be something like :

Vocabulary should be taught in lexical sets (Vocab Exs 1, 2 and 4) because :

a) research shows that we store lexis in groups in the brain. If this is how it is taught, it will

make it easier to retrieve and retain.

b) this allows the unit to be based around specific topics, which makes it easier to include

the same words several times within the lesson and unit. This massedrepetition aids

memory.

Practice Activity Three

Look at the following assumptions. Can you find two reasons to support each of them?

i) PW/GW are useful to improve students spoken fluency (Exs 3b and 4b) because ...


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ii) Learners will benefit more from working out rules for themselves in a guided discovery

activity than from simply being "told" by the teacher, because ...

Notice that whether you agree with the assumption or not is irrelevant. You are not askedto evaluate the principle or give your own opinion but to show that you understand what

was in the material writer's mind.

Paper Two Task Three asks you to look at some of the other activities in the materials and

show how they combine with the activities you have already discussed in task two. There

are ten marks for this task, one per point made. So aim to make ten points for maximum

marks. you have ten minutes to complete this task, so again you're aiming for a mark a

minute. Keep your points brief, but make it clear which of the task three activities you are

discussing and which of the task two activities they combine with.

There are various ways in which the activities might combine. Imagine that the activities

specified for Task Three were labelled Discussion, Language Focus 2, Reading and Writing,

while the Task Two activities were Listening 1, Listening 2, Language Focus 1, Roleplay.

Notice how, in the following examples, each point clearly links the task 3 activity or activities

being discussed with one or more of the task two activities. The activities might combine in

the following ways:

a) an activity may prepare for a later activity or activities.

b) an activity may extend the work being done on the target language or skills.

c) an activity may consolidate previous work

d) an activity may balance or complement other activities - eg by providing a change of

focus in terms of skill or language system, a change of pace, by appealing to a different

learning style etc etc

Discussion

- introduces and stimulates interest in the topic of the listening, thus increasing thelikelihood that learners will listen more attentively during Listening 1 and 2


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- creates the gist listening task which will be the focus of Listening 1

- activates schemata on the topic of the listening which will facilitate comprehension in both

Listening 1 and 2

Language Focus 2

- allows learners to check the understanding of the TL which they acquired in LF1.

- allows them to focus on producing the TL accurately and exclusively under controlled

conditions before being asked to produce it spontaneously and to incorporate it with other

language that they know in the Roleplay.

- focuses learners on pronunciation features of the TL

Reading

- consolidates the TL introduced in LF1 by allowing the learners to see further examples in a

slightly different context of use.

Writing

- allows learners to apply the TL introduced in LF1 to their personal experience

- provides further free practice of the TL after that in the Roleplay

- changes the focus of the lesson back to accuracy after the fluency focus of the Roleplay

Reading and Writing

- contribute to the variety of skills in the lesson, balancing the listening and speaking focus

of the previous activities

All activities

- combine with all the activities specified in Task Two to provide alternation between

productive and receptive work and therefore variety of pace and focus.

Notice there are twelve points here. you only need to make ten to gain full marks.

Answers to Practice Activities


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1. a, c and d are relevant to the question. b and e may be vailid for the activity, but do not

show how the activities halps achieve the stated aim, and are therefore irrelvant to the

question. If you can't refer specifically to the stated overall aim in your purpose (as a,c and d do), it's likely to be irrelevant and gain you no marks

2. a) To ensure that learners "notice" collocations with delexicalised verbs + noun phrase.

2. b) To give learners practice in the subskill of inferring non-explicitly stated meaning (top-

down processing)

2. c) To give learners practice in bottom-up decoding of phrases containing elements of

connected speech such as elision, assimilation, vowel weakening, intrusive consonants etc

3. i) PW/GW are useful t o improve students spoken fluency (Exs 3b and 4b) because

a) they may feel more secure speaking in PW/small groups rather than in front of the

whole class or to the T. This lack of stress is conducive to fluency; b) if only T-S interaction is

used, the power difference means that the discourse will be

likely to remain structured as T initiates / S responds / T evaluates, meaning that Ss will

never have practice in eg initiating or negotiating topic.

ii) Learners will benefit more from working out rules for themselves in a guided

discovery activity than from simply being "told" by the teacher, (Grammar Ex 1)

because a) cognitive processing will be at a deeper level, which will facilitate

retention; b) this will develop the Ss ability to analyse lang uage autonomously, and

therefore to cope better when they meet new language outside the classroom.

Paper Two Task Four is "the methodology question". In some ways it's one of the hardest to

prepare for, as it's the only question which doesn't have a completely standard format.


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Some things will always remain the same, however. Firstly, you will be given some data to

analyse which describes an approach or a technique in methodology. The type of data you

are given will be something like the following :

an extract from a textbook or article on methodology

the procedural notes from one or more lesson plans

notes taken during a methodology seminar

a trainer's feedback notes for a teacher after an observed lesson

a transcript of teachers discussing what happened in a lesson

and so on.

You'll then have two or three questions to answer. The type of questions you are asked

about the data will be something like the following :

a) explain the beliefs about language learning which lie behind the views stated in the

materials

b) identify the roles taken by the teachers at various stages in the procedures described

c) evaluate the suitability of the approaches, procedures etc for different types of learner

and learning context

d) identify the purposes, advantages and disadvantages of various techniques and

procedures

and so on.

In answering a question in this area, you will need to draw on your knowledge of theories of

language (structuralism, the functional/notional approach, the lexical approach etc), of

psycholinguistic theories of how language is assimilated (eg behaviourism,cognitive code


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theory, learning vs aquisition, input based aquisition theories, "noticing", output based

theories), and of educational psychology (eg constructivist views of learning), showing how

all these result in specific methodological approaches and techniques. So eg if the data

shows Teacher A asking her students to work collaboratively on a guided discovery activity,while she monitors, intervening only to ask guiding questions which "push the learners on",

and the question asks you to identify the belief that lies behind this and the role which she

takes , your answer may be something like :

Teacher A may believe that ...

Acquisition and learning are not two distinct processes (as Krashen would argue) but

that conscious focus on form and meaning ("noticing") can aid the acquisition

process.

The depth of cognitive processing involved in working out the rules for themselves is

more likely to result in "noticing" and retention than if the teacher simply "informs"

the learners.

They are "constructing" their own knowledge (Vygotsky) as they work actively on thenew information and incorporate it with previous knowledge. They will formulate

the rules in a way that "makes sense" to them, which will aid retention.

Learners should be helped to be as autonomous as possible. This approach will

promote learner autonomy as the learners will be equipped to work on the language

for themselves outside the classroom.

The fact of having "made sense" of the language for themselves will aid motivation -

it will add to their self-esteem and sense of achievement (Maslow)

Teacher role : facilitator of learning

When you are asked to consider the suitability of the approach/teachniques for different

learner types and learning contexts, it's useful to have a checklist in mind that you can

quickly run through mentally. Not all of the categories will be applicable to every question,

but the list will help you organise your ideas. Some of the categories you might take into


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consideration are : L1 groups and mono- vs multi-lingual classes; cultural/educational

background; age groups; learning style categories and multiple intelligences; intensive vs

non-intensive courses; EAP, Business English and other special purpose groups; learners

with special needs; mixed ability groups; personality types (eg extrovert /introvert); classsize.

So, one of the learner types you might identify the guided discovery approach as being

suitable for would be analytical learners (or depending on whose categories you work with,

you might also mention Gardner's Logical-mathematical intelligence), who enjoy problem

solving and critical thinking. On the other hand, you might point out that it would not besuitable for very young learners, who have not yet developed the cognitive skills necessary

for the activity and who, still being in the "critical period" for language acquisition

(Lenneberg) can still acquire language through unanalysed input.

When you're answering this task, don't try to write a connected essay. Answer in bullet

points (as in the example above) and keep the points short. There are forty marks available

and you have 35 minutes. You'll be awarded two points for each valid point you make, so

aim to make for 12-20 points over the whole question and to get each point down in no

more than two minutes.
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