SEDU 718

CLT & Syllabus Design

Prelude

What did you understand as the key components of CLT?

What questions did you have? What intrigued/shocked/distressed

&/or excited you most about CLT?

Dave’s Key Points

CLT

Vocabulary

Schemata Expectancies Top-down Bottom-up Communicative Language

Teaching CLT…

Discussion Question: 1

If you had to choose 3 adjectives to describe CLT, what would they be? Why did you choose these?

True communicative need

Collaboration Expression Interpretation Negotiation

Coping Strategies Learner’s Styles

Dave’s Language Model

Pragmatics

Semantics

Voc

abul

ary

Mor

phol

ogy

Syntax

Pronunciation

Phon

olog

y Phonetics

Meaning & Usage

IntonationStyleRegisterDialect

Idio

ms

SkillsSpeaking, Listening

Reading, Writing

Culture

Production

Reception

Negotiation

Communicative Competence

Contexts

Str

ate

gi

c

Soci

ocul

tur

al

Dis

cours

e

Gra

mm

atic

alDefine & discuss each component…

• How can/should eachbecome part of our language teaching?

ELL IcebergBICS

CALPs

Cognitive Process

• Knowledge

• Comprehension

• Application

Language Process

• Vocabulary

• Pronunciation

• Grammar

• Analysis

• Synthesis

• Evaluation

• Semantic meaning

• Functional meaning

Discussion Question: 2

What might be some obstacles encountered by teachers who try to implement a communicative approach to language teaching? How would you approach the

obstacles?

More Vocab

Content-based Instruction Immersion Holistic Assessment Portfolio Assessment

Discussion Question: 3 Of the 5 CLT components:

Language Arts Language for a Purpose Personal Language Use Theater Arts Beyond the Classroom

which are you most comfortable with: As a teacher &/or as a student Why?

Shaky Proof

That overt language instruction is helpful in an ESOL context

Learner’s Motivation

Integrative Instrumental

Also… Learner Styles

Discussion Question: 4

With regard to your teaching, do you feel English to be a foreign, second or native language? How might these feelings affect your

teaching? Which of the three do you think we as

teachers should strive to feel about English for our students?

Why?

End Goal

Up to the learner… Book overlooks ‘purse-string’

issues…

Discussion Question: 5

Who sets the norm for English language use in your teaching situation/context?

Why? How?

Is this good or bad? Why?

On Grammar & CLT…

Communicative purpose Integration of

Form focused Meaning focused Strategy training (Dave’s addition)

Discussion Questions: 6-7

If we’ve not already covered these: What do you like/dislike about CLT? What do you feel the best mix of the

5 components might be for your current teaching context?

Why?

Syllabus Design

David Nunan

Discussion

What do you see as the individual teacher’s role in syllabus design? In reality in your situation? In a theoretical ‘best-case’ scenario? In a practical ‘really-ought-to work’

view?

Strengths & Weaknesses Formal Grammar Organic Grammar Needs Analysis Competence-based Standards-based Notional-Functional Content-based Task-based

Integrated Approach…

Challenge:

Support, attack, improve or add to Chart on page 64…

Compare

Look at the ESOL text Dave supplies (and any you may have)

Decide which syllabus/method each follows Which do you like best? Which do you like least? How could you use your least favorite

in the most effective manner?

Discussion

If you were asked to design a syllabus for a new ESOL course for your current teaching situation, what style would you choose? Why? What would be some key

components?

Wrap-up

What is 1 thing you can change about your teaching based on what we’ve read &/or discussed this week?