Kleparski, Grzegorz A.

Kochman-Haładyj, Bożena

English

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 238Z E S Z Y T Y N A U K O W E   UNIWERSYTETU RZESZOWSKIEGO  SERIA FILOLOGICZNA ZESZYT 6/2002   STUDIA ANGLICA RESOVIENSIA 1Grzegorz A. KLEPARSKI, BoŜena KOCHMAN-HAŁADYJ  REPORT ON THE BRITISH COUNCIL SPONSORED CONFERENCE HELD IN 20–22 OF MAY 2001 IN CHEŁM: THE PITFALLS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR, LEXIS AND ANGLO-SAXON CULTURE AT A COLLEGE LEVEL. The  conference  took  place  on  20–22  of  May  2001  in  Chełm.  It  was brought  to  fruition  by  both  Teacher  Training  College  in  Chełm  and  the Department of Theoretical Linguistics at the University of Rzeszów, and was generously sponsored by British Council in Poland. The conference organisers were Prof. Grzegorz A. Kleparski – the head of the English Section (NKJO-Chełm), and the head of the Department of Theoretical Linguistics (Rzeszów University),  Beata  Lipczyńska,  MA  –  the  head  of  the  Teacher  Training College in Chełm, and Maria Czechowska, MA, the general crash-guard of the Chełm conference. The informal part of the conference commenced on Sunday evening with the  welcoming  address  by  Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  and  Beata  Lipczyńska. Small gifts were given by the conference hosts to all guests who at the same time could help themselves to a plethora of drinks and dishes nicely served by  two  conference  assistants  (BoŜena  Rejman  and  Paulina  Pietrzyk), simultaneously enjoying themselves chatting while listening to the local rock band. The official part of the event began on Monday and the two following days of the conference were a mixture of academic endeavour, sightseeing trips and friendly discussions. The conference was chaired effortlessly and grippingly by Prof.  G.A.  Kleparski  who  introduced  the  participants  and  encouraged  the discussions after each paper presented. Thanks to his incessant support given to all presenters (to many of them it was the first publicly read paper), as well as all  participants,  the  conference  passed  in  a  pleasant  atmosphere.  The presentations  were  given  in  three  plenary  sessions  covering  three  main subjects, i.e.:  239LEXIS: Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  (Rzeszów  University,  NKJO-Chełm)  Anna  M. Pietrzykowska  (Rzeszów  University)  Openers,  links  and  closers:  Selected problems of teaching English communicative strategies.  Grzegorz A. Kleparski (Rzeszów University, NKJO-Chełm) On the necessity of introducing elements of language panchrony in the teaching of idioms.  Beata  Lipczyńska  (NKJO-Chełm),  Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  (Rzeszów University,  NKJO-Chełm)  Kilka  uwag  na  temat  zaleŜności  między  rodzajem analizowanego tekstu a doborem ćwiczeń lesykalnych. Dorota  Skulimowska-Grymuza  (NKJO-Chełm)  Communicative  language teaching as a method of teaching vocabulary.  BoŜena Kochman-Haładyj (Rzeszów University) English lexical elements in Polish as a result of American globalisation. Tomasz Karpiński (NKJO-Chełm) Moving pictures as the means of vocabulary acquisition by first year students.   The presentations listed above concentrated on the problems involved in learning  phraseological  idiomatic  expressions,  teaching  English communicative strategies and also reported on the selection of frequently used lexical  exercises  for  the  advanced  level  of  teaching.  When  it  comes  to idiomatic expressions it was stressed that very frequently it is not enough to interpret  the  semantics  of  the  constituent  parts  to  be  able  to  supply  a satisfactory interpretation of the given idiom. Rather, it is necessary to go into the  historical senses  of  its  constituents  to  be able to  provide an  exhaustive semantic interpretation. As for teaching English communicative strategies is concerned,  the  presenter  concentrated  on  selected  approaches  to  the  act  of communication and provided examples of communicative strategies being in fact  almost  infinite  collection  of  expressions  meant  to  encourage,  start, maintain and enhance the flow of the conversation. The presentation dedicated to the so-called communicative language teaching stressed the importance of vocabulary teaching in contextualised, meaningful language. It discussed the main types of contextual clues that the learner may take advantage of in the production and comprehension of both spoken and written texts. Furthermore, the paper reported on a widely quoted strategy of guessing the meaning of unknown  vocabulary  items  from  context.  Finally,  a  practical  model  for guessing  from  context  was  delineated  and  its  effectiveness  evaluated.  The remaining two  presenters  pointed  at  English exemplary  lexical  items  in the Polish  language  resulting  from  the  process  of  what  may  be  referred  to  as American economic globalisation and stressed, basing on own research results, that moving pictures are very attractive but – simultaneously – very demanding way of acquiring new vocabulary items.   240GRAMMAR: Tomasz Zygmunt (UMCS, NKJO-Chełm) The Grammar Translation Method in the integrated approach of “Bottom-Up” and “Top-Down”. Adam Urban (NKJO Chełm), Grzegorz A. Kleparski (Rzeszów University, NKJO-Chełm)  I  (have)  milked  my  cow  (yesterday):  Aspectual  approach  to teaching English tenses.  Beata  Czekaj  (NKJO-Chełm),  Grzegorz A.  Kleparski  (Rzeszów  University, NKJO-Chełm) Some remarks on the available grammar books.   The  paper  on  Grammar  Translation  Method  concerned  lexical  and grammatical  competence  of  foreign  language  learners  which  is  especially discernible in translation. The theoretical part of this presentation was supported by the research results carried out at the University of Philadelphia. The paper dedicated to the aspectual approach to teaching English tenses made an attempt at formulating a different way of accounting for the use of English tenses – not seen as individual tenses of  so  many  different  applications,  but looked  upon through their aspects, whose number is four, whereas the number of tenses as such is at least up to twelve. As a result, it may be concluded that the aspectual approach  tries  to  simplify  the  whole  system  at  least  three  times.  The  third presentation  given  in  this  session  drew  our  attention  to  the  importance  of acquiring the grammatical system of the target language since without grammar it is impossible to communicate beyond a very rudimentary level. Accordingly, the  authors  attempted  to  present  various  grammar  books  available  to  Polish students and their varying opinions on the suitability and effectiveness of the ones that are most frequently referred to and/or resorted to.  ANGLO-SAXON CULTURE: Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  (Rzeszów  University,  NKJO-Chełm),  Marcin Wysokiński  (NKJO-Chełm)  Some  remarks  on  selected  Anglo-Saxon  culture teaching materials.  Marta Chwalewska (NKJO Chełm) Paralinguistics and the process of teaching Anglo-Saxon culture.  Tomasz Niedokos (KUL, NKJO-Chełm) Rule Britannia versus Cool Britannia: The two alternative approaches to teaching British history and culture. Robert  Giszczak  (WszPiZ-Warszawa,  NKJO-Chełm)  Only  the  first-hand experience counts: The double-distorted picture of American 1960’s counter-culture.   The papers presented in this section dealt with broadly-understood culture and  history  of  English-speaking  countries.  The  authors  of  the  opening presentation recommended a few handbooks and publications on Anglo-Saxon culture. The next presenter discussed paralinguistics as a form of non-verbal  241communication and gave selected examples of the differences in paralinguistic behaviour used by people with different cultural backgrounds. The following paper  compared  two  alternative  and  –  at  the  same  time  –  contradictory approaches  (Rule  Britannia  and  Cool  Britannia),  reflected  in  the  existing syllabuses and available teaching materials. The presentation dedicated to the 1960’s American  counter-culture  showed  the  double  distorted  picture  of  that generation  in  both  American  media  and  abroad  and  emphasised  that  this counterculture cannot be perceived in a limited perspective of music, fashion free-love  and  drugs.  Rather  it  should  be  treated  as  a  rightful  protest  of  the majority  of  a  generation  against  the  hypocrisy,  narrow-mindedness  and indifference of the society they lived in. The papers presented during the conference have been published in form of a book edited by Grzegorz A. Kleparski and Anna M. Pietrzykowska, the editorial assistant (Rzeszów University-Publishing House, 2001). They provide a source of current topics and problems encountered while teaching lexis, grammar and Anglo-Saxon culture at a college level.  

Report on the British Council sponsored conference held in 20-22 of may 2001 in Chełm : "the pitfalls of teaching grammar, lexis and Anglo-Saxon culture at a college level"

Report on the British Council sponsored conference held in 20-22 of may 2001 in Chełm : "the pitfalls of teaching grammar, lexis and Anglo-Saxon culture at a college level"

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