Contents

1. General intro & key concepts

2. Theories of language acquisition and learning
3. Methods and Approaches
4. The receptive skills: reading and listening
5. The productive Skills: writing and speaking
6. The Teaching of Grammar
7. Teaching Functions
 General intro & key concepts

• ESP (English for Special/Specific Purposes). ESP

courses are designed for people who are learning
English so that they will be able to use it in
particular situations such as on a holiday, in their
job, in their training or on academic courses.
• ESP can broadly be divided into two main kinds:
‘English for Occupational/Vocational/Professional
Purposes .... and English for Academic Purposes ’
• EAP (English for Academic Purposes). EAP
Courses are designed for students taking or
about to take academic courses using English
as the medium of instruction. They are usually
specially designed to help the participants to
understand and use those aspects of English
which they will need during their academic
courses.
• EGP (English for general purpose) is called
‘TENOR- the teaching of English for No
Obvious Reason’. It generally refers to the
English language education at school levels
where the students are made familiar with the
structural/grammatical elements of English
language to pass the exams.
• ESL (English as a Second Language). English
learned by people from communities where
English is not the native language but where it
is commonly used for various social purposes
such as education, commerce, government
and religion. Thus a Nigerian, an Indian, a
Jamaican or a Kenyan learning English would
be learning it as a second language.
• EFL (English as a Foreign Language). English
learned by people from a community where
English is not normally used. Thus an Italian, a
Russian, a German, or an Argentinian learning
English learn it as a foreign language.
• TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers
of Other Languages and encompasses what
used to be called TEFL (Teaching English as a
Foreign Language) and TESL (Teaching English
as a Second Language). Generally, TEFL
emphasizes aspects of teaching English in
countries where English is not widely used in
daily life, such as Russia, China, France and
Brazil.
• The term TESL tends to emphasize the needs
of learners who will use English in their daily
lives, in addition to their mother-tongue. In
many countries, such as Zambia and India for
example, English is used as an official
language in government, in business, in
newspapers, TV and radio as well as being the
main medium of educational instruction in
schools and colleges, as well as universities.
• Language acquisition. Children acquire language
through a subconscious process during which
they are unaware of grammatical rules. In order
to acquire language, the learner needs a source
of natural communication. The emphasis is on
the text of the communication and not on the
form.
• Second language acquisition refers to the
learning of another language or languages
besides the native language.
• Learning. The process of gaining knowledge
about a language as a result of formal
instruction by a teacher, conscious effort by
the learner and the practice of selected and
specific language items and structures. It is
the result of direct instruction in the rules of
language.
 Syllabus and curriculum
• The syllabus is defined as the documents that
consist of topics covered in a particular
subject. It is considered as a guide to the
teacher and students. It helps students know
about the subject in detail, why it is a part of their
course of study, what are the expectations from
students... It contains general rules, policies,
instructions, topics covered, assignments,
projects, test dates, and so on.
The curriculum is defined as the guideline of the
chapters and academic content covered by an
educational system while undergoing a
particular course or program. It is well planned,
guided and designed by the educational
institution. It is aimed at both physical and
mental development of a student. It is the
overall learning experience that a student goes
through during the particular course of study.
 Teaching skills
• The receptive skills are listening and reading.
These skills are sometimes known as passive
skills. They can be contrasted with the
productive or active skills of speaking and
writing. In the process of learning new
language, learners begin with receptive
understanding of the new items, then later
move on to productive use.
• The relationship between receptive and
productive skills is a complex one, with one
set of skills naturally supporting another. For
example, building reading skills can contribute
to the development of writing.
 Feedback
• is information a teacher or another speaker
gives to learners on how well they are doing,
either to help the learner improve specific
points, or to help plan their learning.
Feedback can be immediate or delayed, at the
end of an activity or part of a learning
programme and can take various forms.
 Error vs. mistake
• Error is when a learner uses language
incorrectly because they are a) not aware of the
correct form or b) unable to use the correct form or
c) they have misunderstood how the form is used.
• Mistake is when a learner uses language
incorrectly because they are a) tired and under
pressure to perform in real-time communication or
b) able to use the correct form but have used the
incorrect form due to carelessness or lack of
attention.
 Accuracy vs. Fluency
• Accuracy refers to how correct learners' use of
the language system is, including their use of
grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.
Accuracy is often compared to fluency when
we talk about a learner's level of speaking or
writing. i.e. A learner might be fluent (make
their meaning clear) but not accurate (make a
lot of mistakes).
• By contrast, fluency is the ability to use a
language spontaneously and confidently and
without undue pauses and hesitations.
Fluency refers to how well a learner
communicates meaning rather than how
many mistakes they make in grammar,
pronunciation and vocabulary.
 Approach/method/technique
• Approach is a theory about the nature of
language and language learning.
• Method is an application of an approach in the
context of language teaching.
• Technique is a single activity that comes from a
procedure. i.e. Common procedures for the grammar-
translation method includes the following: Students
memorize the vocabulary of the second language/
Students memorize grammar rules. Naturally, various
methods employ various techniques.
 Deductive vs. Inductive learning
• In the deductive learning the teacher gives
the students a new concept or a rule, explains
it, and then has the students do some
practice.
• For example, "All men are mortal. Harold is a
man. Therefore, Harold is mortal."
• By contrast, Inductive instruction makes use
of student “noticing”. Instead of explaining a
given concept and following this explanation
with examples, the teacher presents students
with many examples showing how the
concept is used. An example of inductive logic
is, "The coin I pulled from the bag is a penny.
That coin is a penny. A third coin from the bag
is a penny. Therefore, all the coins in the bag
are pennies."