Integrating Skills Growing Talents
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Transcript of Integrating Skills Growing Talents
INTEGRATING SKILLS Fredy Alexander duque
Centro Colombo Americano Manizales2009
Aims of the Unit
To be aware of the reasons of integrating the four skills (WHY?)
To learn ways of integrating the four skills (HOW?)
To study the implications of integrating the four skills for teaching
To be aware of the limitations of integrating the four skills
1. Why should we integrate the four skills?
2. How can we integrate the four skills?
3. What are the implications for teaching?
4. What are the limitations of integrating the four skills?
Topics for discussion:Topics for discussion:
Skills integration
An integrating approach for the development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four skills in the acquisition of knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a coherent way, and practiced together.
Skills cannot
be isolated
Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
TAKE THE ODD ONE OUT
1. Grammar - Vocabulary – Speaking – Pronunciation
2. Speaking – Listening – Reading – Vocabulary3. Skill – Cake – Receptive – Productive 4. Grammar – Vocabulary – Pronunciation –
Paraphrase5. Controller – Prompter - Guide - Assimilate6. Teacher – Student – Assistant - Lecture
How many SKILLS?
SKILLS
LISTENING
READINGRECEPTIVE
WRITING
SPEAKING
PRODUCTIVE
How many SUBSKILLS?• SCANNING• SKIMMING• NOTE
TAKING
• SCANNING• SKIMMING• SPECIFIC
PURPOSES
• GRAMMAR• VOCABULARY• PUNCTUATION• SPELLING
• GRAMMAR• VOCABULARY• PARAPHRASING• PRONUNCIATION• SPELLING
READING LISTENIG
WRITINGSPEAKIN
G
How can we integrate the four skills?
Design Class
the easiest form of integration
separation
liste
ning
spea
king
read
ing
writ
ing
gram
mar
The complex integration
integrate skills
Receptive Productive
Oral Medium
listening → speaking
Written Medium
reading → writing
The easiest form of integration is from receptive to productive skills. The second kind is complex integration.
Rote memorizations is promoted in the
integrated skills approach.
1. False. Communicating real information is better.
2. True. It is accompanied by sharing real information.
3. False. The focus is on a particular theme or content area.
4. True. It stregthens receptive skills.
Why should we integrate the four skills?
Skills integration generally refers to linking two or more of the traditional four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
There are many situations in which we use more than one language skill.
One image One image for teaching English is that
of a tapestry. The tapestry is woven from many strands, such as the characteristics of the teacher, the learner, the setting, and the relevant languages. For the instructional loom to produce a large, strong, beautiful, colorful tapestry, all of these strands must be interwoven in positive ways.
loom(布织机 )
a loom
Why is important to integrate skills?
CONTEXTUALIZE INTERPRETE EXPLORE ANALYZE EXPERIENCE CHALLENGE CONFRONT ASSIMILATE PRACTICE SHARE
In addition to the four strands -- teacher, learner, setting, and relevant languages--other important strands exist in the tapestry. The most crucial of these strands consists of the four primary skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing. This strand also includes related skills such as knowledge of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, syntax, meaning, and usage. The skill strand of the tapestry leads to optimal ESL/EFL communication.
Conditions for language learning
Jane Willis. 1996. A Framework for Task-Based Leaning. Oxford: Longman
Exposureto a rich but comprehensible input of real spoken and written language in use
Useof the language to do things
Motivationto listen to and read the language and to speak and write it
Instructionin language (i.e. chances to focus on form)
Essential Desirable
What are the implications for
teaching? Integration of the four skills is concerned with realistic communication. This means we are teaching at the discourse level.
Discourse: a whole unit of communication text, either spoken or written.
Implications
1. Focus on discourse 2. Adjusting/Adapting the
textbook 3. Adjusting /Adapting the
timetable
Focus on discourse
to be aware of the discourse features of the text and be able to make Ss aware of them.
Discourse features include aspects such as:
1. the way that the text is organized 2. its layout 3. the style of the language 4. the register
Focus on discourse
The term classroom discourse refers to the language that teachers and students use to communicate with each other in the classroom. Talking, or conversation, is the medium through which most teaching takes place, so the study of classroom discourse is the study of the process of face-to-face classroom teaching.
addition
reduction
replacement
extension
rewriting
reordering
8 options
omission
branching
Adapting textbooks
What are the limitations of integrating the four skills? It is necessary for teachers to maintain an appropriate balance between integration and separation.
Limitations of integrating the four skills Integrating the four language skills can be demanding of the teacher. This can also be time-consuming, requiring a lot of preparation. Sometimes teachers are so busy that they cannot spare much time for extra preparatory work.
Another limitation is the problem of designing suitable materials that take account of students’ different skill levels
Speaking
ListeningReading
Writing THE DIAMOND SKILL
First Halo (center)
Students repeat structures, drill, learn by rote, produce after a model.
WH questions Information
Individual
Second Halo (mid section)
Students interact using target structures, identify the parts of
language through class dynamics, rely on partner rather than on
textbook.
Statements
Interpersonal
Third Halo (external)
Students produce of their own accord, mistakes reveal experimentation
with language, interaction becomes spontaneous, student questions
seem to favor a hypothesis and thus manifest theory on language.
YES/NO questions confirmation
Social
INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE
What can you do as a teacher?
Mingle Prompt Organise Observe Orchestrate feedback Collaborate Cooperate Guide
STORY OF AN ORANGE
A type of activity
A pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata.
Listening to a lecture or a series of informative statements about the topic or passage to be read.
A focus on certain reading strategy (for instance, scanning).
Writing a paraphrase of a section of the reading passage.
(Brown, 2001)
Conclusion
Simple integration: A receptive language skill serves as a model for a productive language skill.
Complex integration: a combination of activities involving different skills, linked thematically.
Limitations of integration should not prevent teachers from using the integrative approach.
Conclusion
Using integrative approach can help a teacher create a relaxed atmosphere in class that students’ all-round abilities are well improved. A combination of activities involving different skills enhances the focus on realistic communication, which makes the students be more motivated and more involved and engaged enthusiastically in classroom activities.