ADVANCED DIDACTICS: SHORTS QUESTIONS.

ADVANCED DIDACTICS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Exam:

• 10 test-like questions  (4 points= 0,4 each): Multiple-choice questions are going to be very similar to those you have got at the end of each unit (TESTS)

No points will be deducted for wrong answers in the test!!

• 6 short questions  /5-10 lines/( 6 points= 1 point each)

SHORT QUESTIONS

UNIT 1

1. How to create basic motivational conditions.

There are 3 essential conditions to start motivating students.

Firstly, as teachers, we should have appropriate behaviours: a good relationship with students and parents, a non-judgemental attitude (acceptance) and availability (personal contact with students increases motivation, solves learning problems and enhances a positive students' attitude towards the subject).

Secondly, a supportive atmosphere in the classroom is needed. This place must be an "anxiety-free zone" where decorations according to the students' taste could be placed. Values as tolerance and humour are really important.

Finally, it is essential to get a cohesive group promoting interaction and cooperation among students by means of different activities and classroom arrangement.

1. 5 types of needs according to Maslow.

According to Maslow, there are five types of needs: physiological needs (as thirst or hunger), safety (search for security and protection), love (being loved and accepted), esteem (need for approval and recognition) and self-actualisation (the desire to fulfill one's potential).

3. Internal and external factors which have a direct impact on motivation.

Internal factors depend on the students. Among these are intrinsic interest (curiosity, challenge), the attitude to language learning, to target language and to target language community and culture, perceived value (Why is English relevant?), mastery (self-efficacy and competence) and developmental age and gender (for example, suitable age for students to learn the time).

Among external factors are significant others like peers, parents or teachers and the students' interaction with them (punishments, rewards, etc.). In addition, the learning environment (time of day, size of class, etc.) and the broader context (local education system, cultural norms, societal expectations, etc.) are also really important.

4. Positive language-related values.

There are three types of values: intrinsic, integrative and instrumental values.

Firstly, INTRINSIC VALUES are associated with the students' interest of the language learning process and the activities related to it.

Secondly, INTEGRATIVE VALUES refer to the students' interest in the interaction with members of the target language social group. Students must have an open-minded disposition.

Finally, INSTRUMENTAL VALUES are related to the practical use of the language in the outside world. Speaking and understanding a foreign language has got a lot of pragmatics benefits.

UNIT 2

1. CALL (Computer-assisted language learning) advantages.

CALL advantages are mainly five: interactive learning, immediate feedback, error analysis, self-correction and reinforcement.

2. Qualities of interactive oral grammar activities.

Interactive oral grammar activities must be communicative, meaningful, expressive and with limited possibilities.

3. Advantages of using drama in the English classroom.

Using grammar in the English classroom has a lot of advantages. For example, communicative skills are developed in a personal way and students overcome their fear to express themselves orally. Apart from these, they are able to adapt their speech to different intentions and situations and to put themselves in others' shoes.

4. What is cross-cultural interaction? Why is it essential in the English language classroom?

Cross-cultural interaction can be defined as the interaction of students from different backgrounds.

It is essential in the English language classroom because students can correct prejudices and stereotypes about speakers of the foreign language.

An activity in which this kind of interaction takes place is the webquest.

5. Briefly describe an example of interactive oral grammar exercise for Primary education.

This activity is designed for Primary education first grade students.

Firstly, they will watch a video called "What's your favourite animal?". There, they will listen to lots of animals names while their pictures are shown (For example, "my favourite animal is a cow").

Secondly, in pairs, they should ask each other "What's your favourite animal?" and answer the question in a long way: "My favourite animal is..." (similar to the one in the video).

Finally, the whole group moves around the classroom making the question to other classmates.

UNIT 3

1. Listening: differences between the early and current format.

In the current format pre-listening stage, only critical vocabulary is pre-taught while in the early one, all the vocabulary was pre-taught.

In the early format, the listening was followed by the questions whereas in the current one, questions are set before the listening.

Finally, the post-listening is optional in the current format while in the early one, it was not. In addition, the post-listening stage was used for teaching grammar and vocabulary in the early format whereas in the current one, it is used for infering the meaning of unknown words from the sentences and even, looking at the transcript.

1. What does the “pre-listening stage” (current format) consist in?

In the pre-listening stage, the teacher should establish context (to prepare students for what they are about to hear), create motivation (a reason for listening) and pre-teach only critical vocabulary

1. Explain why we should only teach critical vocabulary in the pre-listening stage according to the current listening format.

We should only teach critical vocabulary in the pre-listening stage because if we focus on teaching every single word, students will focus on language rather than on meaning. Apart from that, if we spent too much time teaching every single word, that fact would not be practical since students are not going to have the opportunity to learn all the new words before facing a conversation in a real-life listening encounter.

1. How to prepare students before an extensive listening.

Before an extensive listening, there is a pre-listening stage in which the teacher should establish context (to prepare students for what they are about to hear), create motivation (a reason for listening) and pre-teach only critical vocabulary.

1. 3 types of information used for decoding and meaning building.

There are 3 types of information used for decoding and meaning building.

The first one of them is input: the sounds the listener receives and what those sounds represent.

The second type is the linguistic knowledge of words, grammar, syntax, intonation, etc.

The last type is the context, which refers to the general knowledge and personal experience and the knowledge of what has been said so far in the conversation.

1. 2 Directions of processing.

There are two different directions of processing: bottom-up and top-down. The first one of them (bottom-up) involves building small units into larger units. On the other hand, top-down processing requires the use of context (external knowledge) and co-text (text-so-far) to help identify words that are not clear.

1. Interactive compensatory hypothesis.

Input and context play a very important role in listening. When confidence in input is high, the role of top-down information is small. On the contrary, when confidence in input is low, the role of top-down information is much more important.

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