(A Peer-Reviewed Journal) - ELTAI

(A Peer-Reviewed Journal)

ATHENA - Academic Thinking Environment for Aspirants:A writing centre model – Identifying and uplifting slowlearners in the English classroom – Culture and languagelearning through short stories – Vocubulary enrichmentthrough jargon – ‘Brochure’ as a resource for languagelearning – Top-down processing of inputs in acquiringfocussed listening skills by engineering students

Vol. 57/1 Jan. - Feb. 2015Rs. 15/-

The English Language Teachers’ Associationof India was founded on August 7, 1974 by thelate Padmashri S. Natarajan, a notededucationist of our country.

Periodicity

The Journal of English Language Teaching (TheJELT) is published six times a year: in February,April, June, August, October and December.

Contributions

Articles on ELT are welcome. Share your ideas,innovations, experiences, teaching tips, materialreviews and resoursces on the net with yourfellow professionals.

Length : About 1500 words for theoretical articlesand for others about 450 words.

There should be an abstract in about 100 wordsat the beginning and all the necessaryinformation about all the references quoted.

The JELT carries a brief note on professionaldetails about each contributor. Please send ashort note about yourself. You may give yourname as you want it to appear in the Journal.

Articles should be sent only an an emailattachment – AS A WORD DOCUMENT to

[email protected]

CDs and hard copies will not be accepted.

A photo of the author should also be sent in thejpg file format as an email attachment alongwith the article.

It will be assumed that your article has not beenpublished already and that it is not beingconsidered by any other Journal.

The views expressed in the articles publishedin The JELT are the contributors’ own, and notnecessarily those of the Journal.

The Journal of English Language Teaching (India)Recommended by the Director of School Education ( Proceedings D Dis No. 75301/76 dt 21 March1979 ) and the Director of Collegiate Education ( RC No. 11059 / J3 / 2000 dt 28 February 2000 )

Objectives of the Association

To provide a forum for teachers of Englishto meet periodically and discuss problemsrelating to the teaching of English in India.

To help teachers interact with educationaladministrators on matters relating to theteaching of English.

To disseminate information in the ELT fieldamong teachers of English.

To undertake innovative projects aimed atthe improvement of learners’ proficiency inEnglish.

To promote professional solidarity amongteachers of English at primary, secondaryand university levels and

To promote professional excellenceamong its members in all possible ways.

We bring out “The Journal of EnglishLanguage Teaching”, a bi-monthly, and it isgiven free to all the members of theAssociation. Our Literature Special InterestGroup brings our a free online quarterlyjournal-Journal of Teaching and Research inEnglish Literature.

Our consultancy services offer Teacher trainingpackages and organize bi-monthly meetingson current ELT themes relevant to the Indiancontext.

We host annual conferences and regionalconferences on specific areas relevant to theELT scenario today. Delegates from all overthe country as well as the world outsideparticipate in them, present papers andconduct workshops.

CO

NT

EN

TS

The Journal of English Language Teaching (India)

Volume LVII Number 1 January–February, 2015

2 Editorial

3 ATHENA - Academic Thinking Dr. P. Mary vidya PorselviEnvironment for Aspirants:A writing centre model

8 Identifying and uplifting slow Dr. P. Bhaskaran Nairlearners in the English classroom Binu, P.M.

15 Culture and language learning Nagamani, Bthrough short stories

20 Vocubulary enrichment through Kala Chandrasekaranjargon

24 ‘Brochure’ as a resource for Dr. Sushma Brahmadevaralanguage learning

28 Top-down processing of inputs K.R. Athistain acquiring focussed listeningskills by engineering students:A practical experience

36 Our Chapters

48 Speaking ActivitySoliloquy/self-talk Dr. K. Elango

Editorial

2 The Journal of English Language Teaching (India) LVII/1, 2015

Welcome to the first number of a new volume of our journal! Most of the articles in this issueare practical in nature and describe classroom procedures for developing communicationskills in English. Besides the regular column on a useful speaking activity, we have includeda brief report on a series of workshops on virtual learning conducted by ELTAI and supportedby IATEFL, UK.

The first article by Porselvi discusses the importance of academic writing skills and reportsan experiment using what the author calls “an unique writing centre model” called ATHENA– an academic thinking environment for aspirants. She reports on how two experimentscarried out with first year postgraduate students based on the syllabus for academic writingdesigned by her and using the writing centre model helped the students to explore andexperience the different stages of writing.

The second article in this issue by Nair and Mathew is rather theoretical and highlights thechallenges and difficulties in identifying slow learners in the English classrooms anddiscusses ways of “uplifting” them. The major issue, according to them, is the lack of amechanism to help these students, as they do not come under the category of learners withspecial needs and therefore do not receive appropriate intervention by their teachers. Theythus feel neglected, leading to learning gaps and psychological problems such as a sense ofinsecurity and lack of self-confidence to learn.

The next article by Nagamani presents the classroom teaching procedure to make studentsexplore the cultural content of a well-known short story. She maintains that the explorationof culture helps students to hone their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills inmeaningful and interesting ways. She concludes by stating that including the study of culturein language learning “brings a new dimension” in ESL teaching.

The following article on vocabulary enrichment by Kala Chandrasekaran brings to the forethe distinction between passive and active vocabulary and, in particular, the dormant passivevocabulary among rural and semi-urban students. She then proposes using jargon to turnthe passive vocabulary into active. The teaching procedure outlined by the author in herarticle is claimed to help students develop strategies for building their vocabulary andincreasing their fluency.

The fifth piece by Sushma Brahmadevara highlights the significant ways in which brochurescan be exploited in the language classroom through a range of activities for promotinglanguage skills, especially speaking and writing. She also outlines the teaching procedureinvolving group work activities and tasks.

The last article by Athista argues the need for formal training for improving listening skillsof professional students through focused listening activities. She distinguishes betweencasual and focused listening, and between top-down and bottom-up processing in respect oflistening. She then reports on an experiment she conducted in three stages with students ofengineering using Malala’s speech at the UN as the listening text. In the process, she alsooutlines what active listening involves.

P. N. RamaniEditor

ATHENA - Academic Thinking Environment forAspirants: A writing centre model

Dr. P. Mary Vidya PorselviDepartment of English, Loyola College, Chennai

ABSTRACTThis paper throws light on the importance of a writing centre in an academicinstitution. The researcher has carried out a pilot study on the need to honethe writing skills of students through the writing centre model. Twoexperiments were carried out in the first year post-graduate class. Aninnovative model was formulated to cater to the needs of the students. Thelearners understood the importance of reading, writing, reviewing andrewriting. They recognised the value of teamwork and peer observation. Aboveall, the aspiring learners identified an academic thinking environmentinspired by ATHENA.

Introduction

This paper highlights the significance ofacademic writing and the impact of a uniquewriting centre model called ATHENAthrough experimentation, observation andinference carried out among the first yearpostgraduate (M.A English Literature)students. Athena is the Greek goddess ofwisdom, inspiration, courage and skill.Quite interestingly, the name coincides withan acronym “academic th inkingenvironment for aspirants” where younglearners are encouraged to hone theiracademic thinking and presentation skills.

The Writing Centre Model

The writing centre model is based on anacademic writing syllabus designed by theresearcher. The objectives of the syllabusare:

to help the students identify a toolkitapproach to academic writing;

to train the students gather, interpret,analyze and synthesize data orinformation;

to introduce the essentialcharacteristics, major trends andtechniques in research through readingand writing;

to facilitate a scientific approach to theresearch process, to write, rewrite, todocument, edit, publish and presentpapers.

The five units of the syllabus are:information accession, documentation,composition, analysis of writing in academicjournals and practice in research writing.Information Accession deals with theprewriting techniques such as note-making,note-taking, brainstorming and mind

The Journal of English Language Teaching (India) LVII/1, 2015 3

mapping. Definition, analysis, interpretationand argument are identified as differentstages of representing data or themanagement of information. The academicintegrity is emphasized through the secondunit on documentation. In order to avoidplagiarism the learners are taught to citeresources using parentheticaldocumentation, bibliography and annotatedbibliography.

The third unit on composition focuses onthe writing process or synthesizing ofinformation. It includes ‘paragraphing’underscoring coherence and cohesion;writing the topic sentence; explanation andexpansion; illustration; introduction andconclusion. The use of vocabulary, registerand mechanics of writing are also discussedin this unit. Unit four deals with the analysisof writing in academic journals wherestudents are expected to read articles inacademic journals and magazines andidentify different components of researchwriting and offer commentary/critique ona) text structure b) argument c) Languageand d) Content. Unit five includes practicein research writing. The learners areexpected to choose the primary source (atext preferably published/ a theoryintroduced within the past five years) andthe relevant secondary sources. They areexpected to prepare a literary journal. Theprocess includes: writing for publication;peer observation and editing/proof –reading.

A writing centre is a place/space where theacademicians, both students and faculty

understand the importance of thinking skillsand communication skills especially goodwriting. It provides space for reading,understanding and analytical thinking,creates a professional outlook to writingamong students, facilitates peer-learning,enhances the teaching skills of the studentinstructors and motivates people to help oneanother on the professional level. Manyuniversities across the world have writingcentres.

The unique writing centre model calledATHENA helps the learners to explore theiracademic writing skills. The paradigm hasfour branches. They are reading, writing,reviewing and rewriting. Reading enhanceswriting. The more the scholar reads, thebetter s/he writes. Reading the primary andsecondary sources help the learner to writescholarly articles. Writing is a skill which ishoned only through practice. Once a scholarhas written an article, s/he must give it forreviewing. Peer observation and scholarlyinterventions of the teacher will help thestudents to refine the article in terms of bothcontent and structure. The next importantstage in writing an article is rewriting.Writing several drafts will definitely improvethe quality of the article.


Athena-Academic THinking ENvironmentfor Aspirants model envisioned by theresearcher in this study

The researcher conducted two experimentsbased on the proposed paradigm.

Experiment I

In Experiment I, the academic writingstudents donned the role of the writingassistants for III BA English literaturestudents. The learners were introduced tothe various facets of academic writing in unitone, two and three. When the learners wereconfident of their theory it was time forpraxis. The assignments of the III UGstudents were given to the I PG studentsfor reviewing. The PG students reviewed theassignments using the techniques theylearnt in the academic writing course. Afterthe peer observation questionnaires weredistributed to the III BA students and the IMA students. The questionnaire given to theI MA students had five questions. They were:what are the different components ofacademic writing did you check? What isyour feedback on the assignment that youcorrected? What did you learn from thiswriting centre model? Give your comments.Why do you think it is necessary to have aWriting Centre? Give your comments andany other suggestion. The answers providedby the students are summarized below:

The different components of academicwriting the students identified were content,structure, coherence and cohesion of ideas;punctuation, grammar, spelling and syntax;documentation, paragraph development,

topic sentence; the guidelines in the 7th

edition of the MLA Handbook; introduction,conclusion and the argument; and so on.

The students’ feedback on the assignmentsrevealed their understanding of academicwriting skills: writing assistant felt that hisward had a lot of ideas but they were notfocussed; there was no clear distinctionbetween creative and critical writing;students tend to summarize the text ratherthan analyzing the text; many students feltthat their wards made careless mistakes ingrammar, vocabulary and spelling.

Athena differs from the other writing centremodels in the following ways: the writingassistants are thoroughly trained throughworkshop modules in the academic writingclassrooms. Athena model helped theacademic writing students to learn thefollowing aspects: it helped them to put topraxis, the skills they learnt in the academicwriting class; they enjoyed the role of awriting mentor to their juniors; they learntto analyse articles and give suggestions; theybecame conscious of the common errors;they discovered a scientific approach toacademic writing.

The students believe that a writing centreis necessary for the following reasons:helping the students with the basicknowledge of writing; for keeping track ofthe contemporary research scenario; helpingthe students to learn proper syntax andanalytical skills; help the budding teachersto apply their understanding of the subject;identified as an indispensible part ofacademic and creative writing; helps mutual


learning among the writing assistants andtheir wards; it gives confidence incommunicating one’s ideas and so on.

The writing centre is visualised as a placewhere recent trends in research arediscussed. It provides an ambience foracademic discussions among the teachers,the students and the experts. It promotesnew ideas, theories and techniques. It is anacademic space that encouragesdeliberations on new areas of study.

The Questionnaire given to the III BAstudents included the different componentsof academic writing to be reviewed: spelling,grammar, punctuation, writing the thesisstatement, paragraph development,sentence construction, cohesion andcoherence, bibliography and methodology.The other questions are: what did you learnfrom the writing centre model? Give yourcomments; why do you think it is necessaryto have a writing centre? Give yourcomments and any other suggestions.

The III year students explained that thewriting centre model helped them to correctthe common mistakes in writing. It was aneye-opener in the area of research. Theylearnt to write assignments in a systematicmanner. It helped them to hone the writingskills with regard to content, structure,grammar and vocabulary.

Experiment II

In Experiment II, the academic writingstudents (40 in number) were divided intofive groups. The course teacher encouragedthem to select topics/texts with

contemporary relevance. The students wereexpected to write articles and bring out ajournal. The learners had severaldiscussions in groups and identified broadareas of study. They were: Post-colonialism,Eco-criticism, Children’s literature,Diasporic literature, Australian literatureand Subaltern literature. Each groupconsisted of eight members and an editor/team leader.

The students rewrote their drafts severaltimes to improve the quality of their articles.The rough drafts were reviewed by thecourse teacher and also by their peers. Thefive journals that were brought out by thestudents were titled: Roots- A Journal onpost-colonialism and eco-criticism by post-graduate students, Quest- a Peer GroupJournal on Diasporic literature, A SojournDown Under- a journal on Australianliterature, Fantasia- a literary journal onchildren’s literature and Aura- a journal onsubaltern literature.

ATHENA, a writing centre model, facilitatesworkshop-type environment for theacquisition of academic writing skills. Someof the observations and findings of theexperiments are:

1. At the outset, the students unlearn thecut-and-paste methods and give seriousthought to written communication.

2. The learners get hands-on experience onexploring the various stages in theprocess of writing.

3. They learn to avoid plagiarism.


4. They show more interest in reading theprimary sources and the secondarysources.

5. They learn techniques of editing.

ATHENA is a holistic approach to academicwriting where the learners discoverteamwork, leadership and win-win attitudetowards life.

References

Bailey, S. (2008). Academic writing: Ahandbook for international students. NewYork: Routledge.

Berry, R. (2004). The research project: Howto write it. London: Routledge.

Butler, L. (2007). Fundamentals of academicwriting. New York: Pearson education, Inc.

Coffin, C., et.al. (v). Teaching academicwriting- A Toolkit for Higher Education.

London: Routledge.

Craswell, G. (2005). Writing for academicsuccess- A Postgraduate Guide. London:Sage Publications.

Gibaldi, J. (2008). MLA handbook (7thedition). New Delhi: East west Press Edition.

Hamp-Lyons, L. and Heasley. B. (2006).Study writing: A course in writing skills foracademic purposes. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Hart, C. (2005). Doing your master’sdissertation. London: Sage Publications.

Oliver, P. (2004). Writing your thesis. NewDelhi: Vistaar Publications.

Potter, S. (Ed.). (2002). Doing postgraduateresearch. London: Sage Publications.

Rosen, L. J. (2006). The academic writer’shandbook. Pearson Longman.

ELTAI ESP SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (SIG)

Those who are interested in joining thisSpecial Interest Group of ours are requested to

contactDr. Alber P. Rayan

Department of EnglishK.C.G. College .of Engineering

Old Mahabalipuram RoadChennai – 600 097

Email.ID: Albert P. Rayan [email protected]


Identifying and uplifting slow learners in theEnglish classroom

Dr. P. Bhaskaran NairDepartment of English, Hindustan University, ChennaiE-mail: [email protected]

Binu, P.M.Researcher, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACTSlow learners are students with borderline intellectual functioning and theireducation causes a great challenge to teachers and academic administrators.As they do not clearly belong to the category requiring special educationservices, they are often neglected in schools and their learning problems arenot seriously discussed or debated. There are no intervention oraccommodation plans for slow learners in most schools. Hence, this groupdoes not receive any specialized education services by the governments oracademic institutions as they are considered normal students. In mostsituations, it becomes the sole responsibility of the teachers to handle suchstruggling students in their classrooms.

Introduction

The learning problems of slow learners arealmost the same across the world. Theybelong to an identifiable group of childrenfor whom only certain unique instructionalmethods are effective in the regular class.They may not benefit much from the usualteaching techniques employed in the class.The lessons, planned for the majority ofstudents, often fail to meet the specificlearning needs of the slow learners. As aresult, they lose their academic motivationand are left to struggle to make progress intheir studies.

Slow learners are students with belowaverage cognitive abilities. They are not

disabled, but they struggle to cope with thetraditional academic demands of the regularclassroom. They take longer time than theirpeers to understand a new concept and needextra support to do their schoolwork.Mercer (1996) defines slow learners aschildren who are doing poorly in school, yetnot eligible for special education. Accordingto Griffin (1978), slow learners are studentswho learn more slowly than their peers. Atthe same time, they do not have a disabilityrequiring special education. Although slowlearners may have special educationalneeds, they do not fit neatly into the specialeducation system. They are not averse tolearning, nor do they have any learningdisabilities.


How to identify slow learners

It is a difficult task for teachers to identifyslow learners. The learning difficulties of thevisually, auditorily or otherwise physicallychallenged are clearly visible to the observerbut the handicaps of the slow learners arenot always so obvious. Proper identificationof all students with learning problems andearly interventions would greatly reduce theneed for remedial programmes.Misidentification or improper labelling ofstudents with learning problems can havenegative consequences. Unlike studentswith more visible and identifiablecharacteristics, slow learners often havegood physical and motor skills. As a result,they often go unnoticed until the result of aformal assessment or test is announced. Asystematic or scientific way of identifyingslow learners does not exist in most schoolsin India. There is no nationwide programmein our country to deal with the learningdifficulties of this large minority group. It isup to the teachers to identify the slowlearners in their classrooms and to do theirbest to meet the needs of these strugglingstudents. So there should be acomprehensive plan in every school to creategreater awareness of the need for thisprogrammme among teachers and parentsand to implement necessary supportservices. The following strategies can beused to identify slow learners.

Observation

Observation is a basic quality every teachershould possess. It is one of the oldest andthe most effective methods of learning about

children. As Genesse and Upshur (1996)state, “Observation is basic to assessinghuman skills and behaviour” (p.77). Withconstant classroom observation, a teachercan understand and evaluate each student’sstrengths and weaknesses. It also gives vitalinformation about their interests, needs,experiences, abilities and learning styles. Aclose watch of children engaged in aclassroom activity can reveal to us howcreative, active and emotional they are. Thesigns of slow learning are apparent whenstudents struggle with the learning tasks.At the same time, they may not have anyother obvious attitudinal or motivationaldifficulties. Teachers can use theinformation gathered from observing theirchildren to individualize the instruction forthe slow learners in their class. By ongoingclassroom observation, teachers can noticevarious signs of difficulties some studentsmay face in cognitive skills, languagedevelopment, temperament, and socio-emotional development.

Assessments

Classroom assessment is the process ofobserving, recording and documentingstudents’ academic progress and behaviour.It gives vital information about eachstudent’s unique needs, interests, strengthsand weaknesses. During the assessmentprocess, teachers closely monitor thevarious actions of students on a daily basisin order to understand them better. Thiswill help them gain insights into eachstudent’s learning styles and needs. Thebasic purpose of assessment is to collect


information about individual students toknow more about each one. Students’individual problems can be identifiedthrough proper assessment. When aproblem arises in the class, it should benoted down immediately and plans shouldbe made to remedy it. For a properidentification of slow learners, the emotionalaspects of the children under observationshould also be assessed. The emotionaldisturbances can sometimes be a reflectionof their learning problems. Some slowlearners may have complex and challengingbehaviours. Such behaviour is likely toprevent the teacher from maintainingdiscipline in the class.

Evaluation

Evaluation and assessment are sometimesused interchangeably. But their processesare different. Evaluation is the process ofreviewing the information gathered throughassessment. These activities include taskssuch as formal teacher-made tests,curriculum-embedded tests, oral questions,and a wide variety of other cognitive andpsychomotor performance activities. It alsoincludes assessment of motivational andattitudinal variables and of learning skills.Teachers can rely on a wide range of formaland informal evaluative measures. Formalevaluative activities include class tests onlanguage skills and various other oral andwritten exercises like note taking,assignments, projects and presentations.Informal activities include pair, group orwhole class discussions, debates, teacherquestionings, marking or commenting onvarious kinds of performance, checklists

and observation of learning activities andstudent responses to classrooms tasks.

Questionnaires and interviews

Questionnaires and interviews are twoimportant research techniques that helpteachers to tap into the knowledge, opinions,learning strategies and problems of theirlearners. When these techniques areapplied, learners get a chance to expresstheir needs and difficulties in learning.Teachers can use these techniques withtheir students, co-teachers and parents andrecord the information for subsequentreflection and analysis. They also helpteachers to elicit factual data aboutindividual students. Learner interview is aneffective way of getting closer to the learners’individual needs and difficulties. A greatadvantage of learner interview is thatteachers can also make other observationsabout the learner’s attitude, nonverbalbehaviour, home background, etc. Hence,it is more productive than a questionnaire.

Case study

Case study is one of the most effectivemethods of identifying slow learners. By thistechnique, the family background of a child,his/her early life, home environment, etc.can be understood. It also helps to find outthe various learning and behavioralproblems of a student. Case studies playan important role in second languageclassroom research. Teachers can utilize awide range of methods for collecting andanalyzing data, rather than being restrictedto a single procedure. It can done by


observing and finding the everyday situationof slow learners in English classroom andthe various challenges they face in learning.In short, a case study is not always limitedto an individual language learner. It can beapplied for the study of a group of studentsin a class, a whole class, a whole school oreven an entire chain of schools in a district.

Strategies to support slow learners in theEnglish classroom

It is a common belief that slow learners inthe regular classroom are neither rare norunique. Therefore, no single technique issufficient to deal with them. They needspecial instructional pacing, frequentfeedback, corrective instruction, andmodified materials to keep pace with the restof the class. There should be a great varietyin instructional materials and presentationmethods to circumvent their learningdeficiency and to keep them actively engagedin the learning process. When the contentof the lesson is more concrete, visual,familiar, and personally significant, theybegin to show interest in it. Teachers shouldmake use of every opportunity to encouragethem and reinforce the idea that they areimproving. It is also important to check forunderstanding at each point of learning, andgive them ample opportunities to practise,and review the target language, both insideand outside the classroom.

Motivation

Cognition and motivation are the two mostimportant factors that lead to success inlearning. It is only when motivational and

cognitive factors interact and jointlyinfluence, effective learning takes place.Students need both the cognitive skill andthe motivational will to do well in school(Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Of the two,motivation has a dominant role in studentsuccess. Student motivation is an enablerfor academic success. Lack of academicmotivation is a real problem for slowlearners and a great challenge for teachers.Slow learners need strong motivation, bothextrinsic and intrinsic, and proper guidanceto build self-confidence. They often getfrustrated and stop proceeding with theactivities when the task is too difficult forthem. If teachers can break down the taskinto smaller units, they can build confidencein slow learners and make the tasksachievable for them.

Varied instructional strategies

It is a challenge for teachers to accommodatethe variability of students into theirinstructional strategies. As students differin their interests, knowledge, skills andlearning styles, teachers need to introducea variety of instructional approaches andmethods in their class. A single method ofteaching cannot accommodate all studentswith different learning styles. So it isessential to ensure variety in instructionalstrategies to engage students with variousintelligences and to achieve instructionalgoals. Every teacher should have a varietyof methods to meet all of their instructionalgoals. To deal with the slow learners,teachers should develop variousinstructional strategies that specificallyaddress their learning needs.


Accommodations and adaptations

Instructional accommodations andadaptations are effective measures incatering to the learning difficulties of slowlearners. They are not just for the strugglingstudents. When proper accommodations aremade, all students equally benefit. Hallahan,et al. (2012) defines accommodations as“changes in instruction that don’tsignificantly change the content orconceptual difficulty level of the curriculum”(p.38). Accommodations or adaptationsneither dilute the essence of the lesson normake any changes to the core curriculum.They do not fundamentally alter or lowerstandards in instructional level or content.But some changes are made in the lessondelivery method in order to give betteropportunities for all students who differ intheir learning styles.

Learners’ interests and experiences

A successful educator is one who cantransfer the learners’ common experiencesinto meaningful learning situations. Thelessons planned for slow learners should beengaging and facilitate the twenty-firstcentury learning skills such ascommunication, collaboration, criticalthinking and creativity. To quote Nair(2013), “Texts which leave space for thelearners to engage themselves in, and leadthem to higher order cognitive realms wherethey are “willfully forced” to employ criticalthinking skills and argumentative skillsalone can develop in them languagecompetence” (p.69). Slow learners, in

general, cannot understand things, whichare outside the range of their immediateexperience. Therefore, teachers should tryto develop lessons that incorporate students’interests, needs and experiences. This willmake the students feel that the lessons aredesigned for them with their specificinterests and experiences in mind. They dobetter in the class where the content of thelesson is presented in a concrete andexperiential manner. When teachers givesimple and concrete examples from everydaylife situations, they learn better.

Collaborative Learning

Language acquisition is essentially a socialprocess. It is mainly by interacting withothers that people develop fluency in alanguage. Collaborative learning is a jointattempt in which students work in a group,mutually searching for understanding,solutions, meanings, or trying to make aproduct. It is a situation in which two ormore people learn or attempt to learnsomething together. It is a significant shiftfrom the typical teacher-centred classrooms.It facilitates the creation of an intellectualsynergy of many minds coming to bear on aproblem. This kind of mutual engagementin a common endeavour can lead to mutualexploration, meaning-making, and instantfeedback from peers. Most collaborativelearning activities focus on students’exploration of the course material ratherthan the teacher’s presentation of it. In acollaborative learning situation, a teacherfunctions as an expert designer ofintellectual experiences for his/her students


and not as a mere transmitter of knowledge.The teacher is a facilitator who monitors thestudents who are engaged in discussionsand active work with the course material.

Integrating CommunicationTechnologies

The rapid evolution in educationaltechnology is offering ample opportunitiesfor students in personalized learning.Students are now able to access the richmultimedia content, the vast fund of onlineresources, social networking tools, digitalgames, etc. to make their learning moreinteresting and independent. The growthand development of Computer AssistedLanguage Learning (CALL) has influencedevery field of education. It plays a major rolein second language acquisition. By using theInternet and other communicationtechnologies, students can be easilymotivated and involved in many learningactivities which are related to their daily life.The Internet offers unlimited access to vastamounts of authentic materials on any topicand gives enormous opportunities tointeract with any one across the globe.Students can now search for informationand clear their doubts without dependingmuch on their teachers.

Feedback

Feedback is a great reinforcer for learningand achievement. It has a major influenceon students’ academic success. A positivefeedback has the power to initiate furtheraction and it improves both teaching andlearning. It helps students understand the

subject better and gives them clear guidanceon how to proceed with their learning. Butit is very important to ensure that thefeedback given in class is alwaysconstructive. It contributes to learning onlywhen the learner reflects on the lesson andworks on the action points. The aim of givingfeedback is not just to focus on students’language errors. Instead, it should be aimedat motivating them and showing clearly theways in which they can improve. The focusshould be on progress rather thandeficiency. With proper feedback a studentis given multiple opportunities for selfreflection. It also gives them greater self-satisfaction and higher aspirations forfuture achievement. Suggestions forimprovement should be highlighted as tohow students can close the gap betweentheir current level and the level they aretrying to reach. Teachers should try to createa culture of success in class where studentscan make achievements by improving theircurrent performance, rather than trying tocompare themselves with their peers.

Affective teaching

Although the concept of affective teachingis not a new issue in education, it is notwidely utilized by teachers in the regularclassroom. Affective teaching is thedemocratic process of interacting withstudents in a caring, conscious, andcommitted way. In other words, it is a wayof teaching on two levels – intellectual andemotional – using both the brain and theheart. Developing and exploiting affectivestrategies help to create a positive learning


atmosphere in class. It can be done byencouraging learners to identify achievableaims and work towards autonomouslearning, through personalizing activitiesand collaborative tasks. Teachers shoulduse some relaxation techniques to lower theanxiety level and to create interest inlearning. Slow learners, who have low self-esteem and no motivation, need an affectivestimulation to foster interest in studies. Byactivating the affective domain, teachers canawaken their curiosity and interest inlearning.

Affective teaching requires an open and freecommunication with students to facilitateauthentic interpersonal relationships. Whenteachers interact with students in anatmosphere of openness, the emotional baseof students is honoured and acceptedwithout any prejudice. The emotionalimpact of teachers’ behaviour can influencelearning because it helps to instill instudents a love for the subject they study.When the teacher provides warmth,acceptance and empathy, the learners feelfree to regard their emotions and personalmeanings as legitimate content in learning.

Conclusion

Slow learners are not students who aredestined to fail. With proper identificationand effective support services, teachers cansolve most of the problems they face inlanguage acquisition. It is important that

teachers should learn more about thespecific learning and personal problems thatcan cause a child to become a slow leanerand make necessary accommodationstrategies to address their individualproblems.

References

Genesee, F. & Upshur, J. A.(1996). Classroom-based evaluation insecond language education. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Griffin, D. (1978). Slow learners: A break inthe circle: A practical guide for teachers insecondary schools. Andover: Chapel RiverPress.

Hallahan, D. P., Kauffman, J. M., & Pullen,P. C. (2012). Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Education.

Mercer, C. (1996). Learning disabilitiesdefinitions and criteria used by stateeducation departments, Learning DisabilitiesQuarterly, 19, 217-232.

Nair, P. B. (2013). Texts, contexts orsituation and language learning: Apedagogic perspective. The EnglishClassroom, 15(2), 62-70.

Pintrich, P. R. & Schunk, D. H.(2002). Motivation in education: Theory,research, and applications. (2nd edn.).Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

The ELT Practitioner (A Free Online Journal)Published by ELTAI

Vol.1-No.3 is now available on the Web.


Culture and language learning throughshort stories

Nagamani, BGeetanjali College of Engineering & Technology, Cheeryala, Keesara, Hyderabad

ABSTRACTSocio-linguists and anthropologists have for long recognized that language,its form and use echo cultural values of the society in which the language isspoken. According to Krasner, linguistic competence alone is not enough forlearners of a language to be competent in that language. It is here that cultureoccupies an important place. For effective communication, the language usedmust be related with culturally appropriate behavior. Culture differs fromsociety to society and these cultural variables should be brought to the noticeof the students and explained clearly to make learning English a satisfyingand complete process. Language teaching should also focus on teachingculture. Culture plays a vital role in language teaching because some wordsin the foreign language refer to specific meanings in a particular society,which may not be understood by the members of other cultures unless thecultural context is explained.

Key words: Culture, Cultural Variables, Communication

Introduction

Teaching language through culture is aninteresting approach, to cultivate zeal andenthusiasm among the learners. To achievethis objective, a short story which has morecultural components of the U.S. culture isconsidered. The story is culturallyinterpreted and the exercises that follow thelesson are designed to make the learnersunderstand the culture as described in thestory. The main reason for selecting shortstories is to ensure that the story iscompleted in less than three class periods,so that the learners do not lose theirinterest. The exercises are also designedwith great care to improve the learners’

cognitive abilities while learning English asa second language. The widely read shortstory ‘The Gift of the Magi’ by O. Henry isselected for cultural interpretation.

The teacher uses questions that either talkabout the main theme of the story or aboutthe main character in the story as part ofwarm-up. Next, the students are madeaware of the author, his writings and hismajor achievements. If there is anybackground information which has to beshared with the students, the teacher sharesthe information, to familiarize them with allthe details of the author and the backgroundto the story. The students are familiarizedwhy the lesson is taught to them, and what


important things they need to understand.These are clearly explained in the objectivessection.

Difficult words in the text are given underthe section titled ‘Glossary’. A case study isintroduced after the lesson as part of theexercise. In this case study, the presentshort story has to be compared andcontrasted with another short story writtenby a different author, who belongs to adifferent country and culture. This willenable the students not only to read anothershort story, but also to find out the culturaldifferences that crop up in the stories.

To analyze the learners’ understandingabilities of the story, a few short answerquestions are prepared. These questionsrevolve purely around the short story, majorcharacters, plot and storytelling techniquesused by the author. The learners’ ability tounderstand the culture as described in thestory is tested. Questions revolve around thecultural component as highlighted in thestory. Though the questions are includedto test the written skills of the learners, theteacher can utilize the same questions toimprove their speaking abilities as well.

A separate speaking assignment is alsocreated. This focuses on the main characterand/or the main theme of the story. Thisspeaking assignment is created with a majorpremise that language learning should becontinuous and it should not be restrictedto the classroom. Thus, the speaking activityinvolves not only the students, but also theirfamily members and neighbours. Readingcomprehension of the students is also

tested. An interesting or an importantparagraph that has adequate examples ofculture, as reflected in the story, is preferredto other paragraphs and questions areframed accordingly. An assignment thatclosely contemplates the lesson is given.Finally, snippets of the culture highlightedin the story are also provided for studentsto understand the story better. This will alsofacilitate them to know more about aparticular culture, be it target culture ortheir own culture.

Culture is considered as a fifth skill, ahidden component in any language class.This kind of cultural interpretation of thestory gives the learners better practice inall the four language skills, and also thehidden component in any language classthat is culture. A sample culturalinterpretation of the story ‘The Gift of theMagi’ is given to reinforce and highlight therole of culture in English language learning.

Teaching Procedure

Warm-up

1. Recollect the best gift you have everreceived. Think about it and speak tothe class.

2. Imagine a situation when you want togive a gift to your beloved person(mother, father, husband, and friend)but you don’t have money. What do youdo?

3. How is Christmas celebrated in yourcountry?


About the Author

William Sydney Porter (1862-1910),popular with his pseudonym O. Henry, isan American short-story writer. His worksare known for ironic plots and unexpectedtwists at the end. His famous stories, suchas ‘The Gift of the Magi,’ ‘The FurnishedRoom,’ and ‘The Ransom of Red Chief,’ aresimple in plot but make effective use ofcontradictory coincidences to create ironicendings. He produced ten collections ofstories like ‘Cabbages and Kings’ (1904); ‘TheFour Million’ (1906); ‘Heart of the West’(1907); ‘The Trimmed Lamp’ (1907); ‘TheGentle Grafter’ (1908); ‘The Voice of the City’(1908); ‘Options’ (1909); ‘Roads of Destiny’(1909); ‘Whirligigs’ (1910), and ‘StrictlyBusiness’ (1910) in less than a decade. Thecollections ‘Sixes and Sevens’ (1911), ‘RollingStones’ (1912), and ‘Waifs and Strays’ (1917)were published posthumously. In the year1919 the Society of Arts and Sciencesfounded O. Henry Memorial Awards for thebest American short stories published eachyear. O. Henry published over 500 shortstories in many widely read periodicals andbecame one of the most popular writers inAmerica.

Objectives

To make the learners understand gift-giving as an important custom in somecultures

To emphasize the element of sacrifice inthe story

To make them understand that food is

an important part of culture

Glossary:

imputation: an accusation, charge

parsimony: thriftiness, frugality

instigates: incites, urges on

predominating: prevalent; having morepower

mendicancy: poverty (mendicant lives byasking people for food and money)

vestibule: an entryway

appertaining: relating to; or belonging to

longitudinal: in vertical measurements

depreciate: to devalue, cheapen

fob: a chain connected to a pocket watch

meretricious: showy, flashy, seemingattractive

laboriously: with much effort and time

assertion: a statement, claim

ecstatic: overjoyed, elated

coveted: desired, wanted

ardent: eager, passionate

janitor: A person employed as a caretakerof a building

Case Study

Compare and contrast ‘The Gift of Magi’ with


Arun Joshi’s ‘Only American in our village’.

Questions

1. How much does Jim earn per week? Howdoes Della manage to save the $1.87 tobuy the gift?

2. What is her new plan by which shewould have enough money to buy Jim agrand gift?

3. How much does the hair dresser offerfor her tresses? What does she want tobuy for Jim?

4. What does Jim buy for Della onChristmas and how does he manage tobuy the same?

5. Who are the Magi? What culturalimplications do you understand throughthe Magi?

6. Why does the author call Jim and Della“two foolish children”? Why are they latersaid to have been the wisest of those whoexchange gifts?

7. What is your opinion about Jim andDella’s relationship?

Self-Study Assignment: Writing

1. Find out the words and situations fromthe text that highlight American culture.

2. Is giving gifts an important part of yourculture? Apart from birthdays andspecial occasions, do you give gifts forany festival in your culture? On whatfestival days do you offer gifts? Explain.

Speaking

1. “Sacrificing your happiness for thehappiness of the one you love is by farthe truest type of love.” (Anonymous)Justify with reference to the story.

2. Recollect a situation when youpurchased a gift for your near or dearones. What are the various aspects youlooked at before selecting the gift? Shareyour thoughts with your classmates.

Reading Comprehension

Coney Island, the “playground of the world”since 1800s, has played different roles in thelives and imagination of the world. It playeda significant role especially in the lives of NewYorkers. As a quiet town by the sea side, itflourished in the early 1800s. Entrepreneursflooded to Coney Island to reap their fortunes.The area prospered with the glory of LunaPark, Dreamland and Steeplechase Park, butwith the Great Depression the Islandcollapsed as a castle of cards. The entireisland transformed into a “Nickel Empire”, acheap amusement park. The amusementparks that prospered struggled for existenceand Coney Island became the victim of theworst economic conditions and time.

Coney Island is a small peninsula thathangs from the southern edge of Brooklyn.It is very convenient to reach the place fromdifferent parts of the city. The area spreadsfrom West 8th to West 24th Street and fromSurf Avenue to the Atlantic Ocean. Besidesthe amusement parks and rides, the areahas a three-mile beachfront walk, the New


York Aquarium and Key Span Park (whichis considered to be the home of the BrooklynCyclone’s minor league baseball team).Asser Levy Park and an amphitheatre arealso present in the Island.

Answer the following questions

1. Where is Coney Island?

2. What is Coney Island?

3. What are the other two names for ConeyIsland?

4. Write the names of the different parkssituated in the Coney Island.

5. What transformed the Coney Island?

Assignment

1. Who is Santa Claus? What is hissignificance in Christmas?

2. Collect information on why and howEaster is celebrated in differentcountries.

3. What are the important symbols ofEaster and what do they signify?

Snippets of American culture

USA Gifting Culture

The traditional US holiday season is alsoconsidered to be the gifting season. Theseason begins with Thanksgiving on thefourth Thursday of November every year.They thank the Lord for gracing them withabundant harvest. This holiday seasonbegins with Thanksgiving and moves on to

Christmas and ends with New Year Eve. Butnow this season of tradition and culture hasextended to the St .Valentine’s Day as well.Presenting gifts to family, friends andbusiness associates during holiday seasonis a part of American culture.

Conclusion

Thus language and culture areinterdependent and interrelated. Onecannot exist without the other.Incorporating culture in language learningbrings a new dimension in the teaching ofEnglish as a second language.

Notes

Queen of Sheba; King Solomon – In the OldTestament, the wealthy Queen of Sheba,who ruled an ancient kingdom in the regionof modern-day Ethiopia, visited the equallywealthy King Solomon of Israel in order totest his wisdom. When the King answeredher questions, she was so impressed withhis wisdom that she showered him with goldand jewels. He, in turn, granted hereverything she desired.

“The magi brought valuable gifts...” – Themagi (the “Three Wise Men” in the Bible)paid homage to baby Jesus by bringing giftsof gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

frankincense: a substance that is burnt togive a pleasant smell, especially duringreligious ceremonies

myrrh: a sticky substance with a sweetsmell that comes from trees and is used tomake perfume.


References

Brooks, N. (1986). Culture in the classroom.In J. M. Valdes (ed.), Culture bound: Bridgingthe culture gap in language teaching.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,123-128.

Casson, W. Ronald. Language, culture andcognition. New York: Macmillan PublishingCo. Inc.

Eagleton, T. (2000). The idea of culture.Oxford: Blackwell.

h t t p : / / w w w . p l a c e s . c o . z a / h t m l /visualfind.html

http://www.vanalen.org/competitions/ConeyIsland/background.htm

http://thinkexist .com/quotat ions/sacrifice/

http://www.enotes.com/gift-magi-text/the-gift-of-the-magi#prestwick-gloss-bes-29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_United_States

http://linguistics.byu.edu/resources/lp/lpc3.html

http://www.vanalen.org/competitions/ConeyIsland/background.htm

http://www.giftsnideas.com/gifts/usa-gifting-culture

http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

Apply giving full details of your address for communication.Mode of Payment: Demand Draft / Local Cheque / Cheque payable at par at Chennaishould be taken in favour of ELTAI.NOTE: Outstation cheques and Money Orders will not be accepted.

ELTAI MEMBERSHIPMembership is open to all teachers of English (whether working or retired), researchscholars/students as well as educational institutions. There are three categories ofmembership offered – Annual, Short-term (3 years) and Donor (10 years). Subscriptionrates are as follows:Individuals

Annual : Rs. 300/-Short-term (3 years) : Rs. 750/-Donor (Ten years) : Rs. 2,500/-

Students & Research ScholarsAnnual : Rs. 200/-Short-term : Rs. 500/-

InstitutionsAnnual : Rs. 400/-

Short-term (3 years) : Rs. 1,000/-

Donor (Ten years) : Rs. 3,000/-


Vocubulary enrichment through jargon

Kala Chandrasekaran,Faculty of Engineering, Avinashilingam University, CoimbatoreEmail : [email protected]

ABSTRACTStudents find it difficult to use the right words at the right place while writingor speaking. There is a paucity of vocabulary among youngsters limited torepetition of words such as “like”, “cool” and “neat”. While teaching ruraland semi-urban students, it was found that many words remained dormantin students as passive vocabulary. To overcome this hurdle, the method ofjargon recollection, selection and application was practised. Though theresults were mixed, some progress was made among learners in bringing thepassive vocabulary into an active one.Key words: collaborative work, pneumonic, variety of genre and jargon.

Introduction

In technical institutions most studentsoriginate from rural or semi-urbanbackground. Communication among peersand with their teachers is in vernacularlanguage with English words thrown hereand there. Students find it challenging toconstruct sentences, use right tenses andstring words together to make meaningfulEnglish sentences. It was found that themost predominant difficulty was that theydid not have the right words. Students findconventional methods of learningvocabulary through definition,pronunciation, spelling and grammaticalfunctions, boring and tiresome.

It is a well known fact that people withextensive vocabulary in English areconsidered good communicators (Denning,et al., 2007). English becomes an elegant

language when appropriate words are usedto express what they want to say. This willlead to clarity and brevity of expression.While discussing what causes the learnershesitate to use English in communication,it was found that they do not have the wordsready at their command. I wanted to showthem that they know the words but theyare not using them actively in their dailycommunication. Hence I conducted thefollowing activities of first recollecting thejargon connected to a particular field.

Teaching Procedure

Recollection

Students were divided into groups of eight.Through pneumonics (association of ideas),learners were asked to recall all the wordsconnected to a game like cricket, a passionamong them. They recalled googly, pitch,


spin, pace bowling, wicket keeping, fielder,helicopter shot, mid-wicket, mid-on, off-side,etc. When conducted as a group activity,many more words were recollected by thestudents. The words in white circles arepassive vocabulary.

students). Passive words like computergraphics, cinematography, choreography,stunt scenes, sound effects, song sequences,dubbing, directorial efforts, etc., werebandied about.

Exercise 1: A video of a one-day cricketmatch between India and Australia wasplayed mute. The students were asked towatch the match, take turns and give thecommentary.

Exercise 2: A video clipping of a recipe wasshown and students were instructed to writethe ingredients and the procedure formaking the dish.

Exercise 3: Students were shown a movieand asked to write a review.

Then the students were given an assignmentto speak or write about an “UnforgettableCricket Match Witnessed” or “CricketingLegend Kapil Dev or Sachin Tendulkar”.

Selection

Each group selected words which could beassociated with Sachin Tendulkar, namelyexcellent batsman, slow bowler, mid-onfielder, etc.

Application

The words were used in their oral or writtencomposition thus bringing the passivevocabulary into active use. Similarly,learners were asked to sit together and jotdown all the words associated with films andmovies (another burning topic among

Topics like “Usage of Computer Graphics inCinematography”, “K. Balachander’sPerception of Relationships” and “ShahrukhKhan’s Negative Roles” were given fordiscussion. Students went through theprocess of selection and application ofwords.


Similar exercises can be given using legal,technical, computer/digital, banking/investment jargon. As the process oflearning is collaborative, non-threateningand fun-filled, maximum learning takesplace (Chih-Ming & Yi-Lun, 2010). Thismethod also reduces anxiety among Indianlearners (Sheorey, 2006). It was found thatin some students there was anaugmentation of vocabulary acquisition,whereas in others many passive words cameinto active vocabulary use. I would like toemphasize here that words from differentgenre and fields should be recalled, selectedand applied by students if there is to be anenhancement of their English vocabulary.

Conclusion

Exercises such as those discussed abovehelp students in establishing previously met

vocabulary, and enriching them. They alsohelp the learners in developing vocabularystrategies and developing fluency withknown vocabulary. Some studentsinternalized the words making them part oftheir active vocabulary.

References

Chih-Ming, Chen & Yi-Lun, Li. (2010).“Personalised context-aware ubiquitouslearning system for supporting effectiveEnglish vocabulary learning. InteractiveLearning Environments. 8(4), 341-364.

Denning, Keith, et al. (2007). Englishvocabulary elements. Oxford: OUP. 2007.Web. Googlebooks. 4. Nov.13, 2014.

Sheorey, R. (2006). Learning and teachingEnglish in India. New Delhi: Sage.

JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY FOR ELT (ISSN.942-456)(A Free Quarterly Online Journal)

Published by ELTAI COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY SIGYou may access it at

https://sites.google.com/site/journaloftechnologyforelt/ or http://tinyurl.com/49r676h

JOIN COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY SIG – NO SUBSCRIPTION FEECONTACT: The Coordinator at [email protected]

Letters to the EditorMembers of ELTAI are free to give their views on the articles published in this journal.The letters should reach the ELTAI ([email protected]) with cc to the Editor([email protected]) within a month from the date of publication of the journal.


‘Brochure’ as a resource for languagelearning

Dr. Sushma BrahmadevaraG.Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science, Sheikpet, HyderabadEmail: [email protected]

ABSTRACTDifferentiated Instruction has become the norm of the day. Teachers andlearners today are looking beyond the traditional approaches of languageteaching and learning. The methods adopted by language teachers should becontinuously revised according to the requirements or needs of the learners.While the resources available to the language teacher to enhance languageskills are in abundance, it has become difficult for them to select and createapt, focused and innovative materials for the required purpose. The teachers’knowledge, experience and expertise also help them to choose the relevantmaterials. In this context, an attempt has been made to look at the ways inwhich language skills can be promoted in students by the use of brochures.Brochures play a significant role in language development, as they containcatchy sentences, phrases and technical vocabulary. Students come to knowabout the subtle nuances involved in the creation of brochures and howinformation can be disseminated through them. This paper focuses on thevarious activities that can be designed through brochures. It also providessome criteria for designing the activities.

Introduction

There are various ways in which we canpromote language learning in Englishclassrooms, the learning components beinglistening, speaking, reading, writing,grammar and vocabulary. Authenticmaterials such as newspaper articles,advertisements, video and audio clippings,documentaries, speeches, talks, shortstories, quotations and proverbs are usefulresources for promoting language. One suchauthentic material is brochure. Brochure isa leaflet containing two or three pages thatgive information about a particular subject.

It may be related to any field right fromadvertisement of schools, colleges,universities, products, medicines andcosmetics to courses such as engineering,architecture and interior designing.Brochures give scope for readers tounderstand the content better, easier andfaster as the information is concise, preciseand consolidated, all in one place with keywords and phrases. This article outlines afew exercises that can be designed to makelanguage learning happen in the classroomand also help learners to enhance theirgrammar, vocabulary, speaking and writingskills through group work.


Brochures and the language components

Various language elements can be found inbrochures and they can be improved bylearners. Some of them include sentencestructures, vocabulary items such assubject-specific jargon; synonyms,antonyms, homophones, homographs,homonyms, idioms and phrases; catchyexpressions; grammar components such astenses, articles, prepositions, parts ofspeech; writing skills such as organizing andsequencing of thoughts, imagination andcreativity; and designing new brochuresrelated to the given themes. Thus brochurescan be used to help learners with skilldevelopment and language proficiency.

Group size and the procedure

A class of 20 was organized into five groupswith four members in each. Copies of abrochure on ‘Diabetes’ a pamphlet designedby Himalaya Company, were distributed.The students were first asked to go throughthe brochure, the side headings, colourcombinations, changes in the font size, andthe organization of the content in 10 to 15minutes. The learners were free to discussand add to what was given there. Later thefollowing ten exercises were distributed oneafter the other so that they would feelenthused throughout the class.

Creative Strategies

1. Guessing the meanings of words

Some technical words, say about ten, couldbe picked up from the brochure and learnersmight be asked to match each word with

the meanings given on the right hand side.This would enable them to guess themeanings through the context in the contentof the brochure.

E.g.

a. Cardiac impossible to deal with

b. Miracle when your heart beatstoo quickly or irregularly

c. Conception of the heart or heartdisease

d. Accumulation great worry caused by adifficult situation

2. Listing down of phrases

In this activity, learners would distinguishbetween words and phrases. The teacherwould explain what a phrase is and giveexamples from the brochure for them tounderstand easily. As there are fourstudents in a group, each one would searchfor the phrases and it will be an interestingactivity for them.

E.g. levels of stress, last breath of life, etc.

3. Picking out adjectives

Picking out adjectives or the describingwords help the learners to enhance theirvocabulary and use them in other contextscreatively.

E.g. miracle organ

4. Points vs. Paragraphs

Asking the students to analyse the brochure


based on the various sections and sideheadings (whether they are in points orshort paragraphs) helps them to understandthe structure of brochures and howbrochures can be designed using key points,sentences, words and phrases.

E.g. Students can write like this

Para 1 – short paragraph (4-5 lines)

Para 2 – bulleted points

5. A question on ‘Wh’ aspect in brochures

Posing a ‘wh’ question to students wouldhelp them in understanding the content ofthe brochure. Learners come up with theirown answers. Each paragraph is with a sideheading, such as ‘What is diabetes?’ and‘Why does it occur?’. This analysis helpsthem to know how the side headings can bemade interesting and catchy to draw theattention of the readers for the requiredinformation.

6. Panel Discussion

A group of four students assuming the roleof subject experts such as a physician,patient, dietician and physical trainer canparticipate in a discussion on the healthissues in the recent times and how they canbe tackled. This promotes speaking skillsin learners.

7. A question on key features of abrochure

Asking the students a question on theessential features of brochures helps themto think and put down all the points they

think are relevant and have learnt fromstudying the brochure. This creates clarityin them as to how a brochure has to bedesigned. Learners come up with answerssuch as concise, precise, using wordssparingly and mostly in points and shortparagraphs.

8. Sentence Structures

Using the sentence structures given andmaking sentences on their own will helpthem to master the structures and use themconfidently in their writing.

E.g.: The more you . . . the . . .

Not only does . . . but . . .

If- construction

9. Paragraph Writing

Learners can be asked to write a shortparagraph or a story of about 200 to 250words using many of the words, phrases,adjectives they have come across inexercises 1, 2 and 3. The topic can be relatedto any other aspect and closely related tothe theme of the brochure. This helps themto be creative, expressive and confident inusing words in a different context.

10. Designing new brochures

A case study can be given. Students use allthe techniques they learn through thisactivity and create a new brochure. Thisrequires a lot of expertise and time as thecontent also has to be designed by them.But in a group, learners come up withdifferent ideas within no time. This helps


them to get a panoramic picture of designinggood brochures.

E.g. Imagine that you are going to set upyour own catering business. Prepareanother brochure using the pattern of thegiven brochure. The brochure shouldcontain all the necessary and relevantinformation related to your project. You neednot stick to the pattern given. Your brochurecan be as creative as possible.

Conclusion

When the activity was conducted, there wasgood response for the vocabulary exercises.Designing a new brochure was the toughestpart, but the learners confessed that theyenjoyed doing that. The teachers have theirown liberty of designing activities based onthe necessary skill they want their learnersto improve in. Through these exercises,skills such as vocabulary, speaking andwriting have been tested and improved. Assuch, any one skill can be honed at one timeas per the requirements of the class. Thus

brochure can be an important source forlanguage learning.

References

http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/1964/authenticandadapted.pdf

http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2 0 4 3 / 7 6 8 7 / m a r k _ w e l b o u r n . p d f ?sequence=1

http ://www.es lbase .com/art ic les/authentic-materials-2

http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/speced/files/p a g e s / t a l k i n g - l i t e r a c y /How_to_use_BookBrochures.pdf

h t t p : / / w w w . e n t h e o s w e b . c o m /content_writing/brochure_writing_tips.asp

http://www.thefreedict ionary.com/brochure

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080716022631AADoDgV

Guidelines for Our ContributorsArticles on ELT are welcome. Share your ideas, innovations, experiences, teaching tips,material reviews and web matters with your fellow professionals. Please see pages 46-47for detailed guidelines.

REQUIREMENTSA4, Font size: Times New Roman 12, Double Spaced, Margin of 1 inch on all four sides.Title of the article should be in Caps, bold, centered.Abstract in about 150 wordsFull paper should not be in more than 2000 words.Articles should be sent only as AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT – AS A WORD DOCUMENT [email protected] with a copy to [email protected] (CDs and Hard copies willnot be accepted.).A photo of the author should also be sent in the .jpg file format as an email attachmentalong with the article.


Adrian Doff (1988: 199) talks about twotypes of listening. They are:

1. Casual Listening: This is listening tosomeone without any particularpurpose. It demands less concentrationon the part of the listeners unless thetopic interests them.

2. Focussed Listening: It is ‘intensivelistening’ for information or fortransacting business. In this type oflistening, the hearer is attentive and s/he concentrates on what the speaker issaying.

Listening is a psychological process. Itinvolves receiving the message, attendingto it and constructing meaning. This processcould be depicted diagrammatically asfollows:

There are three stages in listening: i) theinput; ii) processing; and iii) the output. Thespeaker’s words form the input. Then thelistener processes the input. Finally, thelistener shows the response. The processingtakes place at two different levels: bottom-up processing and top-down processing.

In bottom-up processing, the listenerdepends solely on the incoming input forthe meaning of the message. The input isreceived and analyzed at different levels oforganization. The sound signals areorganized into words; the words intophrases; phrases into clauses; and clausesinto sentences. Here, the listeners use theirlexical and grammatical competence in thelanguage for getting the intended meaningof the message.

Top-down processing of inputs in acquiringfocussed listening skills by engineeringstudents: A practical experience

K.R. Athista,MepcoSchlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu

ABSTRACTListening is an important language skill and its full potential seems not tohave been tapped in English language classrooms. It is normally neglectedas it is taken for granted that learners automatically acquire this skill withoutany special training. Experience, however, shows that listening skill requiresto be imparted with as much care as the other language skills. This paperaims at discussing how to ensure successful acquisition of listening skill byengineering students.

Input Processing Output(Speaker’s words) (Listener’s response)


→ →

In top-down processing, listeners rely ontheir background knowledge forunderstanding the message. So, the inputis not the only source of meaning. Throughtheir knowledge of the words, listeners guessthe intended message and approach theinput to confirm if their guesses are correct.

While practising listening in a foreignlanguage, videos are of great help. A videoreduces the monotony a learner perceiveswith auditory learning. A close observationof the movement of the speaker’s lips andjaw, at least initially, may add to theadditional learning experience in theacquisition process. It is quite helpful, too,to be able to observe the extra auditory effortof a stressed syllable (in a stress languagelike English) which often coincides withlarger facial gestures like the raising andthe lowering of the eyebrows, as well as withthe nodding or the shaking of the head (mostspeakers move their heads as they speak)and with gestures of the hands, shoulders,and so on. These gestures certainly serveas a cue to pay attention to the message.

For learners in the early stage, it is advisableto use the transcript of the spoken text toprovide an obvious support. A studenthaving greater experience with the writtenlanguage than with the spoken language isto be exposed to this kind of the learningprocess. It is important that the writtentranscript should reproduce the spokenlanguage exactly. Students listen to theaudio and video speech and follow thetranscript simultaneously. There must beno mismatches between what the studentshear and what is represented in the

transcript. So pauses and ‘ums’ and ‘erms’,laughs and coughs are to be indicated andincomplete utterances left as such withoutany corrections on the transcript.

In early stages of listening, the learners maybe taught sounds in English. A carefulplanning followed by meticulous executionof listening practice will surely yield thedesired effect. Active involvement of theteacher is needed. The listeners are forcedinto guessing an approximation to what thespeaker is communicating. The listenerexpects and anticipates the form and thecontent of the message being delivered.

An experiment was conducted by the authorwith her engineering students in threestages. The video recording of the speechby Malala Yousafzai at the UN was madeuse of, considering its suitability in termsof vocabulary, sentence structure, andspeech delivery for the learners (Accessedat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRh_30C8l6Y).

Stage 1

Xerox copies of the transcript of the UNaddress of Malala Yousafzai printed as acloze-type exercise were distributed to thelearners (See Annexure 1). The goal of thislistening comprehension was explained tothe learners thus: To test their guessingability and to assess their word power. Thelearners were instructed to supply themissing words so as to fill the blanks withwords which they considered to be suitablein the context. Special attention could begiven to learners who find the vocabulary


hard to understand. About 5-10 minutescan be given for the guess work. If needed,pair/ group work can be encouraged.

Stage 2

Learners were asked to fill the blanks withthe words they guessed. They showed activeparticipation. The freedom given to thelearners in writing the words can certainlyresult in multiple guessing/ variety in guesswork. Synonyms of the words may beguessed by the learners. They exhibit theirlanguage ability.

Stage 3

The teacher directed the learners to theactual speech recorded as audio-visual (AV)listening. The learners were asked tosharpen their ears by focussing theirattention on both the audio and the videoof the speech of Malala. While listening,the learners were also asked to do self-evaluation of their guess work.

With the aid of the transcript, the learners’attention was focussed. The guess workprovided familiarity with the audio-visualacademic exercise. This method facilitatesthe learners to enjoy and acquire the wordsand their pronunciation. The academiclistening activity also serves as a self-evaluating practice for learners at their earlystage. These kinds of listening activities helpthe development of ‘listening speed’. Makingintelligent guess work followed by the actualidentification of the words in the utterancesenhances the learning phase of listening.

Davis (1996, 1997) developed a frameworkto summarize three types of teachinglistening in the classrooms:

1. evaluative – hearing students’ answersto decide whether or not they are correct.

2. interpretative – trying to make sense ofstudents’ answers by asking for moreinformation.

3. hermeneutic – negotiating meaning withstudents by interacting to discussmeaning; both teacher and students canrevise their own knowledge through theinteraction.

In Davis’ framework, evaluative listening isthe most straightforward type of listening,whereas hermeneutic listening demands themost sophisticated skills. Davis’ frameworkillustrates that listening is active and itinvolves interaction with learners.

In essence, listening is not mere recognitionof linguistic units and their meanings. Itincludes the ability to predict informationbased on linguistic context, the situationand the topic of the message conveyed inthe speech. It is a psychological process. Itcan, therefore, be improved by regularpractice. Listening is a very helpful skill.Good listening skills make listeners veryproductive in the language. The ability tolisten carefully will enable a person to:

understand assignments in a better wayand find what is expected;

build rapport with co-workers, bossesand clients;


show support;

work better in a team-basedenvironment;

resolve problems with customers, co-workers and bosses;

answer questions; and

find underlying meanings in what otherssay.

References

Davis, B. (1996). Teaching mathematics:

Towards a sound alternative. New York:Garland.

Davis, B. (1997). Listening for differences:an evolving conception of mathematicsteaching, in Journal for Research inMathematics Education, 28(3), pp.355–376.

Doff, Adrain. 1988 Teach English: A trainingcourse for teachers: Trainer’s handbook.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=QRh_30C8l6Y

JOURNAL OF TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ENGLISHLITERATURE (ISSN.0975-8828)

(A Free Online Journal)

Published by ELTAI LITERATURE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (SIG)Vol.6 - No.2 is now available on the Web.

Visit http://sites.google.com/site/journalofenglishliterature/or http://tinyurl.com/33l856h

You may access the First Anniversary Special Issue athttps://sites.google.com/site/splissueeltailiteraturejournal

orhttp://tinyurl.com/4h3fes3

JOIN LITERATURE SIGNO SUBSCRIPTION FEE

For details, log on to http://sites.google.com/site/eltailiteraturesig/or http://tinyurl.com/348q33g


Annexure 1

Oration - Malala Yousafzai – (Speech Text)

Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, respected president of theGeneral Assembly Vuk Jeremic, honourable UN envoy for global education MrGordon Brown, ___________ elders and my dear brothers and sisters: Assalamualaikum.

Today is it an honour for me to be speaking again after a long time. Being herewith such ___________ people is a great moment in my life and it is an honour forme that today I _____________a shawl of the late Benazir Bhutto. I don’t knowwhere to begin my speech. I don’t know what people would be expecting me to say,but first of all thank you to God for whom we all are equal and thank you to everyperson who has prayed for my ________________ and new life. I cannot believe howmuch love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good-wish cardsand gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to thechildren whose _______________ words encouraged me. Thank you to my elderswhose prayers _______________ me. I would like to thank my nurses, doctors andthe staff of the hospitals in Pakistan and the UK and the UAE government whohave helped me to get better and _______________ my strength.

I fully support UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his Global Education FirstInitiative and the work of UN Special ______________________ Gordon Brown andthe respectful president of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremic. I thank themfor the leadership they continue to give. They continue to inspire all of us to action.Dear brothers and sisters, do remember one thing: Malala Day is not_______________. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl whohave raised their voice for their rights.

There are hundreds of human rights activists and social workers who are notonly speaking for their rights, but who are __________________ to achieve their goalof peace, ______________ and ________________. Thousands of people have been killedby the terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them. So here Istand, one girl among many. I speak not for myself, but so those without a voicecan be _____________. Those who have fought for their rights. Their __________ tolive in peace. Their right to be ___________ with ____________. Their right to equalityof opportunity. Their right to be educated.


Dear friends, on ___________________, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my_____________. They shot my friends, too. They thought that the ___________ wouldsilence us, but they ____________. And out of that silence came thousands of voices.The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ______________.But nothing changed in my life except this: ___________, ________ and______________died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala.My ___________ are the same. My hopes are the same. And my dreams are thesame.

Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speakin terms of personal ____________ against the Taliban or any other terrorist group.I am here to speak for the right of education for every child. I want education forthe sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and ____________. I donot even hate the Talib who shot me.

Even if there was a gun in my hand and he was standing in front of me, I wouldnot _________ him. This is the ____________ I have learned from Mohamed, theprophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha. This the _______________ of changeI have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mohammed AliJinnah.

This is the philosophy of ______________ that I have learned from Gandhi, BachaKhan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learned from myfather and from my mother. This is what my soul is telling me: be _____________and _________everyone.

Dear sisters and brothers, we realise the importance of light when we see_____________. We realise the importance of our voice when we are _________________.In the same way, when we were in Swat, the north of Pakistan, we realised theimportance of pens and books when we saw the guns. The wise saying, “The pen ismightier than the sword.” It is true. The extremists are ______________of books andpens. The power of ______________ frightens them. They are afraid of women. Thepower of the voice of women frightens them. This is why they killed 14 ______________students in the recent attack in Quetta. And that is why they kill female teachers.That is why they are ______________ schools every day because they were and theyare afraid of change and equality that we will bring to our society. And I rememberthat there was a boy in our school who was asked by a _______________: “Why arethe Taliban against _________________?”He answered very simply by pointing to hisbook, he said: “A Talib doesn’t know what is written inside this book.”The Journal of English Language Teaching (India) LVII/1, 2015 33

They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would point guns atpeople’s heads just for going to school. These terrorists are misusing the name ofIslam for their own personal _______________. Pakistan is a __________________,democratic country. Pashtuns want education for their daughters and sons. Islamis a religion of peace, humanity and brotherhood. It is the duty and responsibilityto get education for each child, that is what it says. __________ is a necessity for_________. In many parts of the world, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan,terrorism, war and conflicts stop children from going to schools. We are reallytired of these wars. Women and children are suffering in many ways in many partsof the world.

In India, _______________ and ___________ children are victims of ___________labour. Many schools have been destroyed in Nigeria. People in Afghanistan havebeen affected by extremism. Young girls have to do domestic child labour and areforced to get married at an early age. Poverty, ignorance, _____________,______________ and the _______________ of basic rights are the main problems, facedby both men and women.

Today, I am focusing on women’s rights and girls’ education because they aresuffering the most. There was a time when women activists asked men to stand upfor their rights. But this time we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to stepaway from speaking for women’s rights, but I am focusing on women to be_____________ and fight for themselves. So dear sisters and brothers, now it’s timeto speak up. So today, we call upon the world leaders to change their________________ policies in favour of peace and prosperity. We call upon the worldleaders that all of these deals must protect women and children’s rights. A dealthat goes against the rights of women is unacceptable.

We call upon all governments to _____________ free, _______________educationall over the world for every child. We call upon all the governments to fight againstterrorism and violence. To protect children from ________________ and harm. Wecall upon the developed nations to support the expansion of education opportunitiesfor girls in the developing world. We call upon all communities to be tolerant, toreject prejudice based on caste, _______, _________, colour, religion or agenda toensure freedom and equality for women so they can flourish. We cannot all succeedwhen half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around the world to bebrave, to embrace the strength within themselves and realise their full potential.


Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every child’s brightfuture. We will continue our journey to our ____________ of peace and education.No one can stop us. We will speak up for our rights and we will bring change to ourvoice. We believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words canchange the whole world because we are all together, united for the cause of_______________. And if we want to achieve our goal, then let us empower ourselveswith the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity andtogetherness.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must not forget that millions of people are sufferingfrom poverty and ___________ and __________. We must not forget that millions ofchildren are out of their schools. We must not forget that our sisters and brothersare waiting for a bright, peaceful future.

So let us wage a ___________ struggle against illiteracy, poverty and _________,let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. Onechild, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. _____________ isthe only solution. Education first. Thank you.


Cash Awards for English Teachers Using ICTsELTAI-IATEFL Awards for Teachers using ICT in Teaching English

Language/Literature

In order to encourage teachers to use Internet tools in their teaching ofEnglish, it is proposed to give cash awards of Rs.2000 each to five teacherswho have used as many of these tools as they could.

Conditions for the Awards1. Only teachers who have attended any one of the Workshops on Virtual

Learning conducted by ELTAI or its chapters are eligible to apply.

2. They should submit a report giving full details of their use of the toolssuch as the class or classes involved, period of their use, purpose,procedures followed, evidences, if any, and their own observations

Reports should be sent to [email protected] cc [email protected] date for submission of reports is 1-3-2015.

OUR CHAPTERS

Andhra Pradesh1. Guntur ChapterSharada AllamneniAssociate. Professor of EnglishDept. of S & H, Vignan’s University Vadlamudi, Guntur Dist., Andhra Pradesh.Pin Code: 522 213Ph.: (0)[email protected]

2. Hyderabad ChapterProf. Julu SenFlat No. 96, EFL University CampusHyderabad - 500 007Cell : [email protected]

3. Medak ChapterDr. K. V. MadhaviDepartment of EnglishGITAM University, Hyderabad Campus

4. Mummidivaram ChapterJ.V.L. NarasimharaoS.A. English, Z.P. Boys High SchoolMummidivaramPh: 08856 - 272990Cell : 97017 [email protected]

5. Nellore ChapterMr. RangaraoFlat no 206, Sahithi ResidencyRly Gate Road, VedayapalamNellore - 4Cell: [email protected]

6. Prakasam ChapterMr. B. ManirajuS.A.English, Z.P.High School, NandanavanamH.M. Padu (Mandal) Pin: 523228Cell: 98857 [email protected]

7. Tirupathi ChapterDr. G. Reddy Sekhar ReddyAsst. Prof. of English & Soft Skills TrainerTirupatiCell: 9441335722; [email protected]

8. Warrangal ChapterMs. B. SripalaAsst. Professor of EnglishWarrangalCell: 99089 25488e r r a b e l l y s r i p a l a @ g m a i l . c o m

9. Visakhapatnam ChapterDr. Maruthi Kumari VaddapalliProfessor of EnglishRaghu Engineering CollegeVisakhapatnamCell: 8978318906

Bihar10. Saran ChapterMr. Ardhandu Bhushan SinhaTeacher (English), Sri Baldeo High SchoolNaayagaon - 641217, Saran DistrictCell : 8071240083

Chandigarh11. Chandigarh ChapterProf. Anil SarwalBungalow No. 3022Sector 21-D, Chandigarh-160022Cell +91 [email protected]

Chattisgarh12. Bhilai ChapterDr. Tapas Mukherjee8/4, Radhikanagar,SupelaBhilai [email protected]

13. Bilaspur ChapterRakesh DighraskarB-125, “Neelanant”Rama Green City KhaamtaraiBilaspur 495 006

14. Pendra ChapterMr. Prasanna MukherjeeLecturer, DIET, PendraGanga Nagar, Gourella,Bilaspur (C.G.) 495117Cell: 9893347346; [email protected]


15. Raipur ChapterDr. Savita SinghRajkumar College, RaipurCell: [email protected]

16. Rajnandgaon ChapterDhanesh Ram SinhaCell: 09589314475 / [email protected]

Delhi17. Delhi ChapterMrs. Veena SahabhaniMahavir Senior Model SchoolSangam Park Extn.G.T. Karnal Road, Delhi 110 [email protected]

Gujarat18. Ahmedabad ChapterMr. Mithun Khandwala303, Hare Krishna TowerShanthinagar, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad-13Cell: [email protected]

19. Bhavnagar ChapterDr. D.P. BaradSr. Lecturer, Department of EnglishBhavnagar UniversityBhavnagar, Gujarat - 364002Cell: 91 [email protected]

20. Baroda ChapterMr. Dipak ParikhPrincipal, Vakal Vidyalaya, Bajuwa,[email protected]

21. Rajkot ChapterMs. Depak MashruNo.3. Jalaram Chambers(Opp.) Mahila Petrol Pump, Dhebar Road,Rajakot - 360 001.

22. Surat ChapterDr. Dharmendra ShethG-402, Bejanwala ComplexTadwadi, Randor Road, Surat-395 009Ph: Res (0261) 2766213 / Cell: [email protected]

Haryana23. Faridabad ChapterProf. (Dr.) Omana AntonyHead, Dept. of EnglishLingaya’s University, Faridabad - 121 002Cell: [email protected]

Kerala24. Kottayam ChapterMr. Joy JosephDept. of English, Basilius CollegeKottayam—686 101Ph.: 0481-2304408, Cell: 93495 03094

25. Thrissur ChapterDr. JayarajDistrict Centre of English, RamavarmapuramThrissur – 680 631

26. Thiruvananthapuram ChapterMr. Manoj C.Karuna (Near), Chakai bridge (Beside)Aneswara Pollution Test CenterPettah PostThirvananthapuram - 695 024Cell: 94473 [email protected]

Madhya Pradesh27. Chindwara ChapterDr. Amar Singh‘Singh Sadan’, GedambarriPanchsheel ColonyChindwara (M.P.) - 480 001Cell: [email protected]

28. Jabalpore ChapterProf. Anupama VermaDept. of Communication SkillsTakshshila Inst. of Engg & Tech.JabalporeCell: [email protected]

29. Jabalpore Chapter (Literature)Dr. Abha Pandey11, Jankiraman, Kachnar KshipraSouth Civil Lines, JabalpurCell: [email protected]


30. Ujjain ChapterDr Naveen K MehtaReader and HeadCommunication Skills DepartmentMIT (RGPV University)[email protected]

Maharashtra31. Latur ChapterMs. Anuja JadhavRajashri Sahu CollegeLatur-413512Cell: 94032 [email protected]

32. Solapur ChapterMr. Rajan DixitB 195, Mantri Chandak NagarBhavanipeth, Solapur - 2Ph.: 2326143Cell: [email protected]

Manipur33. Imphal ChapterDr. Irom Gambhir SinghDept. of EnglishManipur Univiersity, Imphal - 795003Cell: [email protected]

Meghalaya34. Shillong ChapterDr. Tarun Kumari BamonDept. of English and Foreign LanguagesUniversity (Hyderabad), ShillongCell: 09436101455

Odisha35. Bhubaneswar ChapterDr. Bairagi PatraFaculty of Language and LiteratureUtkal University of CultureUnit-II, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751009Cell: 094383 05561, 088955 [email protected]

36. Berhampur ChapterMr. Sudhir Kumar PandaAsst. Professor, Department of EnglishCGI, Berhampur-761 [email protected]

37. Berhampur (NIST) ChapterMs. Tripti MundAsst. Professor,Department of EnglishNational Institute of Science and TechnologyPalur HillsBerhampur-761 [email protected]

38. Utkalmani Gopa Bandhu ChapterMr. Arul Kumar MishraLecturer in EnglishUG Mahavidyalaya KhamarKhamar-759118Angul (Dt.).Cell: 94374 [email protected]

Rajasthan39. Jaipur ChapterDr. Shaila Mohan4 Ya 17, Jawahar NagarJaipur 302 004Cell: [email protected]

Tamilnadu40. ChennaiDr. Uma SivaramanAsst. CommissionerKendriya Vidyalaya SanghatanRegional OfficeIIT Campus,Chennai - 600 036Cell: [email protected]

41. Coimbatore ChapterMr. N. C. NandagopalEducational AdvisorSarvajana Higher Secondary SchoolPeelamedu,Coimbatore - 641 004Cell: 98942 23363

42. Dindigul ChapterDr. U. NatarajanDepartment of EnglishG.T.N. Arts CollegeDindigul—624 005Cell: 94434 [email protected]


43. Erode ChapterDr. R. GanesanHead & Prof., Dept. of EnglishKongu Engg. College, Perundurai - 638053Cell: [email protected]

44. Kanjeevaram (Hindustan University)ChapterDr. N. Rajasekharan NairProfessor and Head, Department of English,Hindustan University, Chennai-603103Cell: 94430 [email protected]

45. Karur ChapterMr. R. RajagopalanGovt. Higher Secondary School, Karur 4,Cell: [email protected]

46. Ramanathapuram (TBAKC) ChapterMs. Zulaiha Head, Department of EnglishTBAK College for Women, KilakaraiCell: 98941 [email protected]

47. Thanjavur ChapterDr. R. ShanthiDepartment of EnglishSri Pushpam College, Poondi, ThanjavurCell: 94427 29679

48. Thoothukudi ChapterDr. Joycelin ShermilaDepartment of EnglishAnnammal College, Thoothukudi.Cell: [email protected]

49. Tirupattur ChapterRev. Fr. Maria Arokiaraj K.A. SDBDepartment of EnglishSacred Heart CollegeTirupattur, Vellore Dt. 635601Cell: [email protected]

50. Virudhunagar ChapterDr. S. CinthanaAssistant Professor of EnglishV.V. Vanniaperumal College for [email protected]

Uttar Pradesh51. Ghaziabad ChapterDr. Babita TyagiProfessor and HeadDept. of Professional CommunicationRKGIT, GhaziabaadCell: [email protected]

52. Greater Noida ChapterDr. Shravan KumarAssistant ProfessorNoida Institute of Engineering and TechnologyGreater NoidaCell: [email protected]

53. Kanpur ChapterDr. Neeru TandonFlat No. 407,Concord Apartment 7/190, Swarupnagar,Kanpur-208 002 Cell: [email protected]

54. Lucknow ChapterDr. Shefali BakshiDy. Director, Amity School of LanguagesAmity University,LucknowCell: [email protected]

West Bengal55. Rarh Bangla ChapterDr. Susanta Kumar BardhanRabindrapallySuri, Burbhum - 731 101Cell: 94349 [email protected]



The English Language Teachers’ Associationof India (ELTAI), an Associate of IATEFL, ishappy to share its experience ofimplementing a teacher training project onvirtual learning funded by IATEFL. Thegrant was announced at last year’s IATEFLconference at Harrogate and ELTAI felt veryhappy to use the opportunity to reach outto as many teachers of English as possibleand provide them training in the use ofinternet tools for the teaching and learningof English.

The first training programme for trainerswas conducted on 9th and 10th August,2014 at Kilakkarai in the southern part ofIndia close to the famous temple town ofRameswaram; incidentally, arrangementswere made for the participants to visitRameswaram after the first day’sprogramme. The ‘train the trainers’workshop was attended by about 20representatives from different chapters ofour association from all over India. Itcovered these areas: virtual classroom;Google Drive; Google and Yahoo groups;blogging; social networking sites such asFaceBook and Twitter; Wiki; mobilelearning; and flipped classroom. Theparticipants were provided sufficientcomputer time for a satisfactory hands-onexperience in using these tools forenhancing their students’ learning ofEnglish.

IATEFL-Funded Workshops on Virtual Learning Conducted by ELTAI

Interim Report

As part of our commitment to the project,each of the trainers agreed to conduct asimilar training workshop for ESL teachersin their respective regions. We are happy tostate that over fifteen such follow-upworkshops have been conducted so far invarious parts of India, and we have plansto conduct a few more in the months tocome, thus utilizing the project grant andthe opportunity to cover a large number ofELT practitioners and train them so thatthey will use technology confidently andcomfortably in their own practices.Workshops were conducted in differentparts of India, from Tuticorin and Tirupatiin the south to Bilaspur in the north andShillong in the north-east. Besides these,six workshops for cluster institutions ofKendriya Vidyalayas (funded by the centralgovernment) in Chennai region in differentlocations across the state were conducted;a similar initiative has been taken withanother group of schools, privatelymanaged, across the state. There is agrowing interest in virtual learning anddemand for such workshops from othereducational institutions; we see this as anongoing project even after utilizing IATEFLgrant.

Through a feedback form specially designedfor the purpose, the participants were askedto rate the usefulness of each of the trainingsessions (topic-wise) and the adequacy of


time allotted for each session (both on a 3-point scale). Nearly all of the participants ofthe fifteen-odd workshops conducted so farwere satisfied on both these counts (i.e.,useful and adequate respectively). Some,however, would have liked more time forsome of the topics, a perception also sharedby the resource persons and the projectteam. These could form the focus of futureprogrammes. To another question abouttheir level of satisfaction with thearrangements made for working withcomputers during the workshop for thehands-on experience, the response waspositive. Overall, they rated the conduct ofthe workshop as successful.

The participants were also asked an open-ended question on the lessons learnt fromthe workshop experience as a teacher. Hereare some excerpts from their responseschosen at random:

“I am empowered for virtual teaching bythis workshop. I’m sure there will be greatchange in my teaching style . . .”

“. . . now I learned many tools to teachstudents. . .”

“Incredible, thought provoking, enriching,constructivist learning. . . . will apply withmy students.”

“To be a technology-based teacher in theclassroom transaction to make thelessons more interesting and useful.”

“. . . how to make teaching-learningprocess more student friendly andminimizing the learning gap.”

They were also asked what they would dodifferently as a result of what they had learntfrom the workshop when they went back totheir classrooms. Here is a sample:

“. . . encourage other teachers also tomake use of [technology]”

“I will use technological tools to fill [in]the learning gaps . . .”

“. . . to form a network with fellowteachers.”

“wish to do many things which I learnedfrom these two days.”

“facilitate exploration among students.”

The experience of conducting theseworkshops gave us an opportunity to comeface-to-face with members of our associationfrom different chapters across the countryand interact with them, which hashighlighted the usefulness of networkingamong professionals in the field.

We would like to acknowledge our gratitudeto IATEFL for awarding the grant to ourproject. It was a learning experience for allof us involved.

Dr. S. RajagopalanProject Director

10th International & 46th National Annual ELTAI Conference

Learning and Teaching English in India: Setting Standards

09-11 July 2015

organized by

English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI)

(An Associate of the International Association

of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, IATEFL, UK)

at Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology for Women

Supported by RELO & British Council

www.rkgitw.edu.in/international_annual_conference.html

The Conference

For over four decades now, we have been discussing the achievement of standards inEnglish in the midst of problems like large classes, teachers’ lack of preparation and teachingeffectiveness, lack of infrastructure, centrally prepared textbooks/course books, divergencesand variations in the levels of English proficiency among urban and rural learners and soon. This conference aims to focus on various issues and concerns that need to be addressedimmediately. The broad areas covered could include the following:

1. Setting learning outcome standards for English as a language of communication2. Standards-driven approach to teaching and learning of English3. Assessment of English standards at various levels4. Quality provision in English education5. Charting and tracking an academic revolution in respect of English education6. Quantity versus quality in teaching English7. Strategic directions for teaching and learning of English8. Views of Stakeholders on the quality of teaching and learning of English9. Trends in teaching and learning of English10.Transnational experiences in setting standards11.Benchmarking and ranking12.Status and preparation of English teachers13.The role of ICTs in achieving learning outcome standards14.Teaching English language through literature

Highlights of the conference1. Founder Padamshri S Natarajan Endowment Lecture


2. ELT@I Professional Leadership Award3. Best Chapter Award4. Best Paper Presenter Award5. Round table discussion6. Live presentations7. Panel discussion

Paper Submission:Each submission should include the following:(a) An abstract of about 150 words. Manuscripts must be prepared according to the formatspecified in the recent edition of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers/APAHandbook for Writers of Research Papers.(b) Submissions should be made electronically in MS Word 97-03 [email protected] with copy [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

Important DeadlinesSubmission of abstracts: 5th June 2015Submission of Full length Paper: 15th June 2015

Souvenir and Proceedings with ISBNA souvenir will be released during the inaugural which will contain the conference details,messages from dignitaries, abstracts of contributors. In addition to the Souvenir, ConferenceProceedings of selected papers will be published with ISBN.

RegistrationIt is compulsory for all joint authors of each accepted paper to register for the conference incase they intend to be included in the Technical Programme and want their name in theConference Proceedings.

Registration FeeParticipants are expected to register themselves and pay the registration fee in advance asper the following details, by sending a demand draft drawn in favour of “ELTAI, Chennai”,by 15 June 2015 to:The Secretary, D-54 Third Floor,Anandham Apartments,156, SIDCO Nagar Main Road,VillivakkamChennai-600 049.


Sightseeing:On the 3rd day of the Conference after the Valedictory Function a sightseeing trip to Agrais planned for those interested. Registration for sightseeing needs to be done in advance bysending a DD for Rs.1500/ in advance in favour of “ELTAI-NCR, Greater Noida Chapter” by15 June 2015 to: Dr Harleen Kaur, Organizing Secretary, Department of Humanities, RajKumar Goel Institute of Technology for Women, Ghaziabad-201017.

On-the- spot Registration for Sightseeing: Rs 2500/-

NOTE:(1) Two light Snacks will be provided along with water bottle during the journey.(2) The amount (Rs 1500) only includes transport (to & fro) and entry fee.

AccommodationTo avail accommodation you need to send a DD in advance in favour of “ELTAI-NCR,Greater Noida Chapter” by 15 June 2015 to:

Mr. Lokesh Kumar, Department of Humanities, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology forWomen, Ghaziabad-201017.

Hostel (Non-AC): Rs600/ per day with Breakfast and Dinner on twin sharing basis perhead

Hotel AC Room (Clarks INN & Fortune INN):

Rs. 1700 per day with Breakfast and Dinner on Triple sharing basis per head

On-the-Spot Registration for Accommodation: (Subject to availability):

Hostel (Non AC) Rs 700 per day per head on twin sharing basis per head

Hotel (Clarks INN & Fortune INN): Rs 2200 per day on Triple sharing basis per head

* Registration forms submitted online or by post will not be considered without DD.

Early BirdRs 1100/ ELTAI MembersRs 1400/ Non-ELTAI MembersRs 700/ School Teachers (with a letter fromPrincipal)

On-the-spot Registration Fee:Rs 1400/ ELTAI MembersRs 1700/ Non-ELTAI MembersUSD 50 Overseas Participants


Conference website:

www.rkgitw.edu.in/international_annual_conference.html

Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology for Women

5 Km. Stone, Delhi-Meerut Road, Ghaziabad

Phone: (0120) 2784775, 2784776

E-Mail: [email protected], [email protected].

PatronsShri Dinesh Kumar Goel, Chairman, RKGGIDr S Rajagopalan, Patron, ELTAI INDIADr B K Gupta, Advisor, RKGGIDr Laxman Prasad, Director R&D, RKGGIDr Rakesh Goel, Director, RKGITW

Advisory BoardDr Shreesh Chaudhary, IIT MadrasDr M P Sinha, Former HoD & Dean, CSJMU,KanpurDr Vijay K Sharma, Principal Ram Lal AnandCollege, New DelhiDr Anupam Shukla, HoD, DA-V PG College,KanpurDr D R Purohit, Prof&Head, HNBG, CentralUniversity, SrinagarDr Neeru Tandon, Asso. Prof., VSSD College,KanpurDr Ghazala Naaz, NIET, Gr. Noida

Convener: Dr Shravan Kumar, JointSecretary, ELTAI & Chapter Head, ELTAI-NCR, Greater Noida Chapter

Organizing CommitteeDr Manorma Sharma, Dean, RKGITWDr Sanjay Arora, President, ELTAIDr G A Ghanshyam, Vice-President, ELTAIDr P N Ramani, Vice-President, ELTAIDr K Elango, Secretary, ELTAI ,Dr Uma Sivaraman, Joint Secretary, ELTAIDr Shravan Kumar, Joint Secretary, ELTAIMr. P R Kesavulu, Treasurer, ELTAI

Organizing Secretary: Dr Harleen Kaur,Asst. Professor, RKGITW

Technical Secretary: Dr Kartikeya Gaur

Program Co-ordinators:Dr J P Navani, Dr P K Talan, Dr SeemaVermaDr R A Vats, Dr R R Panda, Dr RakeshVerma, Dr Vipin Kumar,Dr Sonia Verma, Mr Lokesh Kr. Gupta

For any query or assistance, feel free to callDr Shravan Kumar at 07838361700, oremail at: [email protected].


The Journal of English Language Teaching (JELT) – ISSN-0973-5208[A publication of the English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI)]

SubmissionsThe JELT is an international, peer-reviewed journal published by the English LanguageTeachers’ Association of India based at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, but with over 55chapters in different parts of India. Please see the front inner cover for details of theestablishment and objectives of the association.

The JELT is published six times a year – February, April, June, August, October andDecember. The overall aim of the journal is to promote the professional development of itsreaders, namely English teachers teaching at all levels, researchers and teacher trainersaround the world. The journal, therefore, accepts submissions on all aspects and issuesrelating to the teaching and learning of English in ESL settings.

Criteria for Evaluating SubmissionsEach submission will be evaluated for its suitability for publication in terms of the followingcriteria.The article should:H Reflect current theories and practices in English language teaching.H Be relevant and appeal to the wide 1readership of the journal.H Be well written and organized, with sufficient explanation and examples to enable

readers to apply the ideas and insights in their own classes.H Discuss the topic in the context of other work related to the topic.H Be written in clear and concise language, making it easy to read.

Guidelines for SubmissionsEach issue of the journal addresses a specific theme. Authors should send submissionsrelated to the theme before the deadline indicated for the issue. See the ELTAI website andthe journal for the themes (if any) and deadlines for the subsequent issues.

Authors should follow these guidelines while preparing their articles for submission:1. The article should not have been published previously in any form (print or online).2. The maximum length of the article should be 2000 words (excluding an abstract in

150 words).3. All pages should be double-spaced with a clear margin of 1 inch on all sides.


4. The title should be brief and focused, not broad or vague.5. The article should carry only the title, abstract and the main paper.6. The title, author(s)’ name(s) [the last name first], affiliation [i.e., the name of

institution(s) the author(s) belong(s) to; city, country] and email address should beprovided on a separate cover sheet for the article, along with author(s)’ photo(s) [.jpg].

7. Only sources cited in the article should be listed as references at the end of thearticle.

8. The article should use the author-date format for citations and references (e.g.,Anderson 1997; Anderson 1997, p.17). See the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edn.) formore details and examples.

9. A list of all the references cited in the text should be given at the end of the article.In each reference, only the author’s last name and initials are to be provided.The year is placed after the author’s name.Only the first word of the title and the sub-title (after a colon) are capitalized alongwith proper nouns.Titles of books and journals should be in italics.Quotation marks are not to be used in the title.For electronic sources such as websites, the date of accessing the source shouldbe given in brackets after the URL.

10. The filename of the article (in MS Word format) sent as an email attachmentshould contain key words from the title and the author(s)’ names.


Consultancy Services by ELTAI

ELTAI is happy to announce the starting of its consultancy services for providing in-service training in general to teachers of English as well as training them specifically inthe use of Internet tools and resources for the teaching and learning of communicationskills in English. As regards the latter type of programme it will help educationalinstitutions in conducting teacher training workshops on virtual learning, coveringprimarily the use of the following tools in the teaching and learning of English.

Virtual ClassroomWikiGoogle DriveGoogle and Yahoo Groups

BloggingSocial NetworkingMobile LearningFlipped Classroom

Interested institutions may contact <[email protected]>

SPEAKING ACTIVITYSoliloquy*/self-talk

Dr. K. ElangoHead, Dept of English, Anna University, Chennai & National Secretary, ELTAIEmail: [email protected]

Objective : Soliloquy is a well-known literary/dramatic technique.To enable learners to articulate their inner thoughts and feelings, especiallythose that were suppressed due to politeness, respect, fear and so on.

Participation : IndividualIdentifying the situations wherein learners had hidden thoughts, perceptions,observations, standpoints, reflections, feelings, emotions, and so on andexpressing them to themselves as often as possible.

Duration : About 5 minutes

Procedure :1. Teacher shows a few clippings of soliloquies from Shakespeare’s plays and leads a discussion

on the contexts in which the characters indulge in soliloquies and highlights their significance.

2. Learners are asked to identify some contexts wherein they have had unspoken thoughts/ hiddenfeelings and acted differently, may be because of the respect they have towards others. (Example:Several students confess that they were forced into the engineering stream by their parentsalthough they had their hearts elsewhere. They are pursuing their education in engineeringbecause they did not want to disobey their parents.)

3. In pairs, learners are asked to share their authentic feelings/opinions and what they feel aboutbeing able to express themselves and about those involved in that experience, necessitating thesoliloquy.

4. Those who have had some intense experiences and are willing to share them with the entireclass are asked to volunteer.

Learning outcomes :Learners realize the need to work around their unarticulated ideas and feelings to understandthemselves better.

Learners understand that thinking about those experiences and attempting to express themenables them to become more expressive.

Further Activities :Learners should consciously focus on contrary feelings/thoughts whenever they experience suchfeelings/thoughts and attempt to articulate them to themselves.

* In a soliloquy, a speaker expresses his/her inner thoughts aloud to himself/herself. Examples ofsoliloquy from Shakespeare’s plays:“To be, or not to be: that is the question . . .” [Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, Lines 58-90]“If ‘twere done when ‘tis done”. [Macbeth, Act I, Scene 7, Lines 1-28]


ELTAI Office-BearersPresidentsProf. R. Krishnamurthy (Aug. 74 - Oct. 85)Dr. S. Rajagopalan (Nov. 85 - July 08)Dr. Amol Padwad (Aug. 08 - Mar.12)Dr. Sanjay Arora (Apr. 12 - to date)

SecretariesProf. M. Duraiswamy (Aug. 74 - June 81)Prof. B. Ardhanareeswaran (July 81 - Oct. 85)Dr. K.K. Mohamed Iqbal (Nov. 85 - Aug. 89)Dr. V. Saraswathi (Sep. 89 - Mar. 07)Dr. K. Elango (April 07 - to date)

The Journal of English Language Teaching (anofficial organ of the association) was launched in1965.

Editors

Prof. R. Krishnamurthy (June 65 - Oct. 84)

Prof. B. Ardhanareeswaran (Nov. 84 - Oct. 85)

Dr. K. K. Mohamed Iqbal (Nov. 85 - Dec. 94)

Dr. Francis P. Jayachandran (Jan 95 - June 01)

Dr. V. Saraswathi (July 01 - Aug. 13)

Dr. P. N. Ramani (Sept. 13 - till date)

Publishers

Sri. S. Natarajan (June 65 - Apr. 74)

Prof. M. Duraiswamy (May 74 - Oct. 84)

Ms. N. Krishna Bai (Nov. 84 - Dec. 92)

Dr. S. Rajagopalan (Jan. 93 - Mar. 04)

Dr. K. Elango (Apr. 04 - till date)

PRESENT OFFICE-BEARERSDr. S. Rajagopalan (Patron)

Dr. Sanjay Arora (President)

Dr. Ghanshyam Iyengar (Vice-President)

Dr. P. N. Ramani (Vice-President)

Dr. K. Elango (Secretary)

Dr. Uma Sivaraman (Joint Secretary)

Dr. Shravan Kumar (Joint Secretary)

Mr. P. R. Kesavulu (Treasurer)

Dr. J. Mangayarkarasi (Coordinator)

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEDr. Anil Sarwal

Lily Karbamon

Dr. Charul Jain

Dr. G. Reddi Sekhar Reddy

Mr. Dhanesh Ram Sinha

Correspondence

Correspondence relating to The JELT should beaddressed to the Editor and that relating to theAssociation to the Secretary.

English Language Teachers’Association of India

D-54 (HIG Flats), Anandham Apartments,

SIDCO Nagar Main Rod, VillivakkamChennai - 600 049

E-mail: [email protected]: www.eltai.inPh.: 044 - 26172789

We earnestly appeal to all teachers of English tobecome members of ELTAI and strengthen ourhands in the cause of ELT.

The JELT is published by Dr. K. Elango for the English LanguageTeachers’ Association of India, printed by N.V. Narayanan, UdhayaPrinters, 63 (New No.15), Thambiah Road, West Mambalam, Chennai- 600 033 and edited by Dr. P. N. Ramani.

English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI)D-54 (HIG Flats), Anandham Apartments,

SIDCO Nagar Main Road, Villivakkam, Chennai - 600 049.

E-mail: [email protected]: www.eltai.inPh: 044 - 26172789

The Journal of English Language Teaching (JELT) is the officialorgan of the English Language Teachers’ Association of India. Itis a bimonthly which offers a forum for teachers andresearchers to voice their views on the teaching of Englishlanguage and literature.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. V. Saraswathi

Dr. S. Rajagopalan

Dr. Dharmendra Sheth

Dr. Anil Sarwal

Dr. Tarun Kumari Bamon

Dr. Shefali Bakshi

Dr. P. N. Ramani

ELT

@I

A fo

rum

for

prof

essi

onal

dev

elop

men

t

THE JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING [India] is registered under the Pressand registration Act 1887; RN 84685

(A Peer-Reviewed Journal) - ELTAI

Documents

Transcript of (A Peer-Reviewed Journal) - ELTAI