Iman Hilmansyah

1402203
EFL Methodology
21st October 2014
Teaching the language system
Teaching the specific aspects of language
Basically study is divided into three aspects such as explanation, repetition,
and practice. Sometimes, some students need extra time in learning the
language and some of them are able to move easily to a stage of
personalization. The time that students need in acquiring the language will
depend on who they are, what their level is, and what element of language
we are asking them to study. There are two approaches to introducing
students to specific aspects of language.
The first approach is deductive approach. In simply, deductive approach is an
approach that force the teacher to give explanation or grammar rules and
then based on the explanations or rules, students have to make phrases and
sentences using the new language. This explain and practice approach to
teaching aspects of the language system looks very much

like a straight

arrows sequence in which the order of elements is engage- study- activate.

The second approach to introducing students to specific aspects of language
is inductive approach. In this approach, students are forced to work out the
rules of language based on what they see from the example. This approach
usually call as boomerang type lesson which the elements occur in the
sequence engage- activate- study. Discovery activities suit some students
very well; they enjoy working this out.

However, not all students feel

comfortable with this kind of approach and would still prefer to be spoon
feed.
Explaining meaning

As we now that one of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of

something is to show it. For action we can use mime, gesture, and also facial
expression. We can use pictures to explain situations and concepts, we can
use diagram too (for example use time lines to explain time). If describing
meaning isnt appropriate, we can list vocabulary items to explain concepts.
We can also use check questions to make sure students have understood
correctly. A way of make meaning absolutely clear, of course is to translate
words and phrases. Sometimes this is easy, but sometimes it is more
complex.
The trick of explaining meaning effectively is to choose the best method to fit
the meaning that needs to be explained. In the real condition, most teacher
use a mixture of some or all of these techniques. However, check questions
are especially important since they allow us to determine if our explanation s
have been effective.
Explaining language construction
In explaining language construction, some students will find such graphic
gestures sufficient, but others like to see written explanation or diagram on
board and overhead projectors. With an overhead projector, the teacher can
write on overhead transparencies to draw attention to grammatical
construction. The same can be done with technology such as an interactive
whiteboard. Another way is to write the words on individual cards which can
then be moved around. Finally is often easiest to explain language
construction. But, we will need to be careful that explaining the construction
of the language is fairly easy to do, and that we can do it in language which
the students we are teaching will find easy to understand.
Practice and controlled practice
Here, the teacher have to ask the students to practice the language they are
studying so that they can try it out and get used to it or writing it. As they do
this activities, we may well correct them if they make mistakes so that they

are clear about how it works. It can helps them to internalize how the
language is constructed so that when it passes from their short term memory
to their long term memory.
The first stage of control practice is repetition this can be either choral or
individual. When we uses choral repetition, we get all the students to say the
new word or phrase together. A form of individual practice which some
teachers and students find useful occurs when teachers tell their students
that they can say the word or phrase quietly to themselves, murmuring it a
few time as they get used to saying it.
Freer practice is a kind of transition stage between language study and
activation. It is still concerned with the correct construction of language and
so it is part of study; it is also concerned with language use and so it is
moving toward activation.
Example of language system teaching
The first example of language system teaching is teaching grammar. One
way in teaching grammar is to use explain and practice procedure such as
we have describe above. But if we use a discovery approach to teaching
grammar, the sequence will look rather different. The point is that instead of
the teacher explain something which the students then have to practise, it is
the students themselves who look at the language and come to their own
conclusion. Using real text extract will always provide grammar for the
students to red and study.
The second is teaching pronunciation. Here teachers can teach intonation in
many other ways too, such as; punctuation and use some sentence but
different situation. We can practice stress in words by modelling the words
and exaggerating the stress syllable and maybe beating time with our hands.
When we each sounds, we want the students not only speak correctly, but
also to recognize sound and spelling correspondence. The most important

thing to remember about pronunciation teaching is that student should have

as much opportunity as possible to listen to spoken English.
The third is teaching vocabulary. At beginner levels, teachers frequently use
explain and practice procedures. For any class above the complete beginner
level we can assume that different students will know a range of different
lexical items. This kind of activity draws on the students existing knowledge;
the students are involved; there is movement and discussion, and the
teacher is on hand to explain and practice when it is necessary. At higher
level, we can ask students to take even more responsibility for decisionmaking about how words are used.
And the last is teaching language function. At the beginner levels, the
teacher can use explain and practice sequence for elementary students, the
teacher engages the students by drawing a picture in the board. At higher
levels, we can move towards a more discovery-type sequence, and build
language activation into the study section of the lesson.
Mistakes, slips, errors and attempts
In learning English, students will not always use correct English. They will
make mistakes, too, when writing and speaking more freely. We can divide
mistakes into three categories. Slips are mistakes which students can correct
themselves, once the mistakes has been pointed out to them. Errors are
mistakes which they cannot correct themselves- and which therefore, need
explanation. Attempts are mistakes that students make when they try to say
something but do not yet know how to say it.
Correcting students
Correction involves pointing out peoples mistakes, we have to tread
carefully. In general the teachers job is to point out when something has
gone wrong- and see if the students can correct themselves.

Iman Hilmansyah
1402203
EFL Methodology
21st October 2014
Form- focus instruction
A glance to the last century of language- teaching practices reveal mixed
opinion about the place of teaching language form, depending on the
method or era. The form of language include the organizational components
of language and systematic rules that govern their structure. Phonological,
grammatical, and lexical forms occupy the three principal formal categories
that typically appear in a language curriculum.
The place of grammar
Grammar is the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and
relationship of words in sentence. Technically, grammar refers to sentence-

level rules only, and not to rules governing the relationship among
sentences, which we refer to as discourse rules. In widely, grammatical
competence occupies the prominent position as a major component of
communicative competence.
To teach or not teach grammar
There are six variable that can help teachers to determine the role of
grammar in language teaching.
The first variable is age. It is clear that due to normal intellectual
development variables, young children can profit from a focus on form if
attention to form is offered through structured input and incidental, indirect
error treatment. Somewhat older children may benefit as well from very
simple generalizations and concrete illustrations.
The second is proficiency level. Here, if we force too much grammar focus on
beginning level learners, we run the risk of blocking their acquisition of
fluency skills. At the advanced level, grammar is not necessarily more
important.
The third variable is educational background. For someone who have no
formal education background my find it difficult to grasp the complexity of
grammatical terms and explanation. On the other hand, highly educated
student would be easier in learning grammar.
Language skills is the fourth variable that we need to know because of the
permanence of writing and the demand for perfection in grammatical form in
written English. Grammar focus may be more effective in improving written
English than speaking, reading, and listening.
The fifth variable is style (register). Informal contexts often make fewer
demands on a learners grammatical accuracy. In casual conversation or in a
formal situation usually require greater grammatical accuracy.

The last variables are needs and goals. If learners are headed toward
professional goals, they may need to stress formal accuracy more than
learners at the survival level.
Grammar techniques
There are some techniques in teaching grammar such as; charts which is
useful devices for practicing patterns, grammatical relationship, and even for
understanding sociolinguistics and discourse constrains; objects which can
liven up the context and to provide a kinestethic, hands-on dimension to
your teaching; maps and drawing which deal with group work, are practical
and simple visual aids in a classroom; dialogue; and the last is written text.
Grammar sequencing received a great deal of attention in the 1950s and
60s when curricula and textbooks were organized around grammatical
categories. Some language professionals were of the opinion that difficulty
could be predicted and that therefore grammar in curriculum should be
sequenced in a progression of easier to more difficult items.
A word about vocabulary teaching
While traditional language- teaching methods highlighted vocabulary study
with lists, definition, written and oral drills, and flash cards, there was a
period of time when the teaching and learning of vocabulary were
undervalued. Toward the end of the twentieth century, we saw a revival of
systematic attention to vocabulary learning across a number of proficiency
levels and contexts. Current practices in teaching vocabulary, however, are
not simply rebirth of the same methods of half century ago. There are some
guidelines for the communicative treatment of vocabulary instruction such
as allow specific class time to vocabulary learning, help the students to learn
vocabulary in context, play down the role of bilingual dictionaries, encourage
students to develop strategies to determining the meaning of words, and the
last is engage in unplanned vocabulary teaching.

Iman Hilmansyah
1402203
EFL Methodology
21st October 2014
Teaching Grammar (Theory and practice)
Grammar teaching may grow directly from the task students are performing
or have just perform as part of a focus-on-form approach. Grammar can be

introduced in a number of ways, or we can show students grammar evidence

and ask them to work out for themselves how the language is constructed.
There are some techniques in teaching grammar such as; charts which is
useful devices for practicing patterns, grammatical relationship, and even for
understanding sociolinguistics and discourse constrains; objects which can
liven up the context and to provide a kinestethic, hands-on dimension to
your teaching; maps and drawing which deal with group work, are practical
and simple visual aids in a classroom; dialogue; and the last is written text.
Grammar sequencing received a great deal of attention in the 1950s and
60s when curricula and textbooks were organized around grammatical
categories. Some language professionals were of the opinion that difficulty
could be predicted and that therefore grammar in curriculum should be
sequenced in a progression of easier to more difficult items.
Introducing grammar
The following activities represent a range of possibilities (some simple, some
elaborate) for introducing new grammar.
In this grammar presentation, student learn how to make sentences using
the present simple in the third person singular.

They have already learnt

how to say affirmative and negative sentences in the first and second
person. The teacher hold up a number of flashcards and elicit the words
dogs, gets up, doorbell, car, uniform, a lot of money. Student now see the
picture of Sarah. The teacher ask the students what they think Sarah job is.
After that, the teacher explains that she is going to tell them what Sarah
does every day. She says the following sentences and the students have to
choose which flash card or pictures is being talked about. When the students
have guessed (confirmed their guessed) that Sarah is a post woman, the
teacher holds up the card individually and try to elicit the sentences about
each one. Once students are reasonably confident with this sentences, the
teacher ask them to think a real person and what their job is. They are asked

to come up with three affirmative and three negative sentence about what
the person does or doesnt do every day.
The example above is explain and practice procedure. The point is that
instead of the teacher explain something which the students then have to
practise, it is the students themselves who look at the language and come to
their own conclusion. Using real text extract will always provide grammar for
the students to red and study.
Discovering grammar
The example of discovering grammar (harmer, 217-218) force the students
to work out for themselves how language form are constructed and used.
They then go on to do exercise using the language they have uncovered. It is
highly possible that they have seen the language before, but maybe the first
time they have studied it properly.
Practicing grammar
This activity is designed to get students making sentence using the present
continuous. We tell students to think of a place theyd really like to be. They
should keep their choice to themselves. Now we tell them to imagine that
they are in this place and we ask them and write down three things that they
can see using the present continuous. After that, the students now comes to
the front, reads out his or her sentences and then say where am I?
The main point of this example is that student must practice the use of the
grammar itself, to make them understand the form and know how to use the
language.
Grammar games
There are many games from the television and radio can be adapted for
classroom use. We have to create game that can engage students and
encourage them to use target structure with enthusiasm.

Grammar books
Grammar books come in many shapes and sizes. They range from ones for
students at lower levels to work designed for the more serious researcher,
teacher, or advanced student. Both student and teacher may consult
grammar books for a number of reason. For example, student may be
drafting or re drafting a piece of written work and may want to chock that
they are using some aspects of grammar correctly. In other hand, the teacher
can control if that made a lot of mistake or not.

Iman Hilmansyah
1402203
EFL Methodology
21st October 2014

Teaching Vocabulary
There are many ways we can explain the meaning, and when teaching
vocabulary this is the major part of the teachers art. Students need to see
words in context to see how they are used. Accordingly, the best way,
perhaps, of introducing new words is for students to read texts or listen to
audio tracks and see or hear those words in action.
Introducing vocabulary
When we introduce new vocabulary, there is always chance, of course, that it
is not new to some of the students in the class. That is why elicitation is so
important. By the time the students get to upper intermediate level or
beyond, we can be sure that some of them will know some of the word we
are asking them to focus on.
For example, the teacher want to focus the students attention on an aspect
of vocabulary which they certainly know quite a lot about, but they may
never have studied prefixes in quite such detail before. For the first, the
teacher starts by showing or drawing pictures, or miming the action.
Students are now asked to put the correct verb in the sentences. If the
students have worked on the exercise in pairs, the teacher now goes through
the answers, making sure that the students pronounce the words correctly.
Finally, the students can be asked to write new instruction using the new
words.
Practicing vocabulary
In the following lesson sequences the aim of the activity is either to have
students use words that they more or less know, but which they need to be
provoked into using, or to get them to think about word meaning.
In this activity, students look at a wheel of words and try to say which word
combine with book and TV to make compound words. We start by showing
students the wheel and then make sure that they realize that while book +

case can make bookcase, TV + case doesnt work in the same way. Student
are put into pairs or groups and told to come up with the combination as
quickly as possible. Students cannot see the dictionary in the first. In the last
when they are know about the compound words, ask the ti make sentences
from those words.
Vocabulary games
There are many games which are appropriate for use with collections of
vocabulary items. Sometimes games which are not designed especially for
language students work equally well in our lesson. This include Pictionary
(where players have to draw words which their team then have to guess),
call my bluff, and charades (where player have to act out the totle of a book,
play or film).
Using dictionary
Dictionaries, whether they are in book form, on CD-ROMs, online or bundled
in to the electronic machines hat students like to carry around, are perhaps
the greatest single resource students can have at their disposal. However,
they are sometimes the least widely used resource that learners work with.
This is sad because they contain a wealth of information about words,
including of course what they mean, but also how they operate.
Here, we will discuss the difference between reference and production
dictionaries and then look at the exercises design to train the students in
dictionary use or which incorporate dictionary use into lesson sequence.
Reference and production dictionary
A reference dictionary is one where student looks up a word to see what
meanings it has, how it is used and the way it is spelt and pronounce.
Production dictionaries, on the other hands, are designed for students to use
the other way round, starting with a meaning they wish to express and
looking for the word that express it.

Dictionary activities
The dictionary activities are design both pf train students in how to use
dictionary power. And so to get them to use dictionaries as part normal
classroom work. We need to persuade students that dictionaries can give the
extraordinary power. And so we will extol the virtues of dictionaries not only
by talking about them, but also by using them ourselves if and when the
students ask us awkward questions about the meaning of words.
When students use dictionary
Students need to know when dictionary use is appropriate and acceptable
and when it is less useful. It will be useful to talk to them about how, for
example, it is good idea to try to read the text for gist before later, perhaps,
using dictionaries to check the meaning of words they do not know.