Integrating The “Four Skill”

BY somayeh Bagheri kangani

OBJECTIVES OF THE CHAPTER Appreciating the importance of integrating

skills for more authenticity and better

reinforcement

Understanding the characteristics of several

different approaches that illustrate the

integration of skills

Analyzing a lesson from point of view of its

integration of skills

Applying concepts of skills integration to the

next four chapters, which deal with the

separate skill

HUMAN RACE HAS FASHIONED TWO FORMS OF:

Oral Productive performance: Written

Aural Receptive performance: Reading

WHY COURSES WEREN’T ALWAYS INTEGRATED? Focusing on the form in the pre-

Communicative Language Teaching

Administrative considerations

Certain specific purposes

WHY INTEGRATED SKILL? Production and reception are two sides of a

coin! Interaction means sending and receiving

messages The relationship between written and spoken

language Interrelationship of these two is a reflection of

language and culture and society Primarily attention to what learners can do

with language and secondary to form Often one skill will reinforce another In the real world of language use, not only

the integration of one or more skill, but also connections between language and the way we think, feel and act are involved.

MODELS OF SKILLS INTEGRATIONS

Content-Based Instruction

Task-Based Language Teaching

Theme-Based Instruction

Experiential Learning

Episode Hypothesis

CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

Focused on the nature of the subject-

matter rather than by language form

Second language is a medium to convey

informational content

Learners are focused on useful, practical

objectives as the subject-matter is

perceived to be relevant to long-term goals

It allows for the complete integration of

language skills

CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

Immersion program

Sheltered English program

Writing across the curriculum

English For Specific Purpose (ESP)

TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

Emphasize on centrality of the task itself

Importance of organizing a course around

communicative tasks that learners need to

engage in outside the classroom

Priority is on the functional purposes for

which language must be used

Focuses on a whole set of real-world tasks

The course goals center on learners’

pragmatic language competence

THEME-BASED INSTRUCTION

Tends to focus on topics, situations or

“themes”

Is a weak version of content-based

instruction

Having an equal value on content

and language objectives

Example: English for Academic

Purposes (EAP)

TOPIC: ENVIRONMENT

I. Use environmental statistics and fact

for classroom reading, writing,

discussion and debate.

II. Carry out research and writing projects

III. Have students create their own

environmental awareness material

IV. Arrange field trips

V. Conduct simulation games

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Includes activities that:

engage both left and right-brain

processing

Contextualize language

Integrate skills

Point toward authentic, real-world

purposes

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Gives students concrete experiences

through which they discover language

principles

Gives students opportunities to use

language as they grapple with problem-

solving complexities of a variety of

concrete experiences

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

An emphasis on the marriage of two substantive principles:

A. One learns best by “doing” by active experimentation

B. Inductive learning by discovery activates strategies that enable students to “take charge” of their own learning progress

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Example: Language Experience Approach (LEA)

Learner-centered:Hands-on projects, computer activities, research projects, cross-cultural experience etc.

Teacher-controlled:Using props, realia, visuals, show-and-tell sessions, playing games, utilizing media etc.

EPISODE HYPOTHESIS Francois Gouin : Series Method

EPISODE HYPOTHESIS

John Oller: Episode Hypothesis

“ text will be easier to reproduce, understand, and recall to the extent that is structured episodically”

POSSIBLE WAYS TO INTEGRATE SKILLS IN EPISODE HYPOTHESIS:

It challenges the teacher and textbook writer to

present interesting and natural language

It can be presented in either written or spoken

form

It can provide the stimulus for spoken and

written questions

Ss can be encouraged to write their own

episodes

Those written episodes might then be

dramatized in the classroom by students

AN INTEGRATED LESSON

Warm-up

A. Presentation

B. Listening focus

C. Grammar

D. Focus on the types of workers

Wind-down

Parisa ZaeifiWinter, 2014Islamic Azad University