DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES Techniques and Materials

DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES: Techniques and Materials Indawan Syahri 1

TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS How teachers can best facilitate leaning process Dynamic approach How old are the learners? How proficient are they? How learners learn Principled Teaching Designing & Implementing Techniques in Classroom Contexts of Learning What are their goals? What are the effects of sociopolitical factors 2

TECHNIQUES REDIFINED 1. TASK – Task refers to a specialized form of technique or a series of techniques, closely allied with communicative curricula. – Task-based learning is not a new method, it simply puts task at the center of one’s methodological focus. – It views that the learning process as a set of communicative tasks that are directly link to the curricular goals they serve, and the purposes of which extend beyond the 3 practice of language for its own sake.

Task-based Learning Task-based learning is a perspective that you can take within a CLT in terms of a number of important pedagogical purposes: – Do they ultimately point learners beyond the forms of language alone to real-world contexts? – Do they specially contribute to communicative goals? – Are there elements carefully designed and not simply haphazardly or idiosyncratically thrown together? – Are their objectives well specified so that you can at some later point accurately determine the success of one technique over another? – Do they engage learners in some form of genuine problem-solving activity? 4

2. ACTIVITY • An activity may refer to virtually anything that learners actually do in the classroom • Because an activity implies some sort of active performance on the part of learners, it is generally not used to refer to certain teacher behaviors. • What are done by teachers are called techniques. 5

3. PROCEDURE • Procedures refer to the actual moment-to -moment techniques, practices, and behaviors that operate in teaching a language according to particular method. 6

4. TECHNIQUE • Technique as a superordinate term refers to various activities that either teachers or learners performs in the classroom. • Techniques include all tasks and activities. • Techniques are almost always planned and deliberate. • Techniques are the product of choice made by the teacher. 7

Categorizing Techniques (1) 1. From manipulation to communication – Techniques can be thought of as a continuum of possibilities between highly manipulative and very communicative in their natures Highly manipulative Very communicative 8

Categorizing Techniques (2) 2. Controlled to free techniques Controlled Teacher-centered Manipulative Structured Free Student-centered Communicative Open-ended Predicted student responses Pre-planned objectives Set curriculum Unpredicted responses Negotiated objectives Cooperative curriculum Also see pp. 142 -143 9

Categorizing Techniques (3) 3. Drills (mechanical, meaningful, and communicative drills) – A drill may be defined as a technique that focuses on a minimal number (usually one or two) of language forms (grammatical or phonological structures) through some types of repetition. – Drills are commonly done chorally (the whole class repeating in unison) or individually. – Drills can take the forms of simple repetition drills, substitution drills, moving slot substitution drills. 10

Types of Drills (1) 1. Mechanical drills – Mechanical drills have only one correct response from a student, and have no implied connection with reality. – E. g. , repetition drills simply require that the students repeat a word or phrase whether the students understand it or not. T: The cat is in the hat. Ss: The cat is in the hat. 11

• Substitution drills T: Ss: T: Ss: Types of Drills (2) I went to the store yesterday. Bank I went to the bank yesterday. the hospital I went to the hospital yesterday • Slot substitution drills T: Ss: I went to the store yesterday Bank I went to the bank yesterday He He went to the bank yesterday 12

Types of Drills (3) 2. A meaningful drill may have a predicted response or a limited set of possible responses, but it is connected to some form of reality. 3. T: S 1: T: S 2: T: The woman is outside. [pointing out the window at a woman] The woman is outside. Right, she’s outside. Keiko, where is she? She’s outside. Good, Keiko, she’s outside. Now, class, we are inside. Horoko, where are we? S 3: We are inside. A communicative drill is oxymoron. If the exercise is communicative, i. e. , to offer the student the possibility of an open response and negotiation of meaning, then it is surely no longer a drill, so the so-called quasi-communicative practices. T: Mary: Good morning, class. Yesterday, I went to market to buy stationeries. Mary what did you do yesterday? I went to see my friend in hospital. 13

Continuum Lines Highly manipulative Very communicative Controlled techniques Semicontrolled techniques Mechanical drill Meaningful drills Free technique Quasicommunicative practices 14

Thank you 15