Course Design: Developing Programs and Materials for Language Learning

ix, 194 hlm.; 22,8 cm

Course design : developing programs and materials for language learning

ix, 194 p. : il.; 23 cm

Reading on purpose : building cognitive skills for intermediate learners

xii, 223 p.; 23 cm

The Learning of Complex Speech Act Behaviour

The study reported in this article concerns itself with the learning and teaching of the more subtle and complex features of the speech act of apology in English. Based on the knowledge that we have to date on apology speech act behaviour, we addressed ourselves to questions relating to the efficacy of teaching such elements as: choice of semantic formula; appropriate length of realization patterns; use of intensifiers; judgment of appropriacy and students' preferences for certain teaching techniques. In order to attempt and answer these questions we carried out a training study with I8 adult learners of English, speakers of Hebrew. The study consisted of : a) a pre-teaching questionnaire aimed at assessing the subjects' use of apologies; b) a teaching materials packet covering three classroom sessions and c) a postteaching questionnaire. The findings suggest that although we cannot present clear cut quantitative improvement of the learners' speech act behaviour after the given training programme, we find that there is an obvious qualitative approximation of native like speech act behaviour with respect to types of intensification and downgrading, choice of strategy and awareness of situational factors. We feel, therefore, that the teaching of speech act behaviour is a worthwhile project even if the aim is only to raise the learners' awareness of appropriate speech act behaviour

Discourse and context in language teaching : a guide for language teachers

Este texto recomienda a los profesores de lengua la incorporación del discurso y la pragmática a la enseñanza si quieren aplicar un enfoque comunicativo en las aulas. Los autores señalan que la utilización de estas dos disciplinas puede mejorar la enseñanza de la lingüística y el desarrollo de las habilidades de lectura, escritura, conversación y comprensión. También, trasladan el conocimiento del discurso al desarrollo curricular, a la evaluación del lenguaje y al estudio en el aula.SCBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]