English Language Teaching Unit

EL2040/2041 ML3020/3021: TESOL/CELTA

Student Number: 209018186

Tutor’s name: Emma Stringer Burns

Module number: EL 2040/2041 ML3020/3021

Assignment Title: Focus on Language Skills

Deadline date: 31/03/2022

Word count: 1174

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Student number: 209018186

Language Skills Related Tasks

Assessment criteria
Trainees must demonstrate their learning by:
 Relating task design to language skills development.
 Correctly using terminology that relates to language skills and subskills.
 Accessing reference materials and making references to source materials.
 Using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task.

Part 1:

I have chosen an online article by Harvard Health Publishing: ‘5 ways to de-

stress and help your heart’. Reading improves vocabulary and the understanding
of grammar if it is approached appropriately 1 and research suggests reading
improves our listening skills too 2. I have chosen reading as I have witnessed that
listening tasks are done with more ease in comparison to reading comprehension
in my experience resulting in targeting this receptive skill. Learner interest
increases when the material is relevant to them 3 which my students who are
adults with hectic personal and professional lives, especially after the pandemic
can relate to this text. Mental health is a universal topic that is increasingly being
spoken about especially in the media. Learning English can be stressful and so
the tips provided target this in effective ways as ‘one test for useful reading
might be to check how far tasks reflect real-life uses. If a text is used in class in
ways that are reasonably similar to real life, it will likely be effective’. 4 I believe
this text is appropriate for pre-intermediate students due to its comprehensibility
with its high frequency lexis e.g., ‘thought’, ‘listening to music’ and ‘exercising’.
Despite this, there are challenging aspects to expand their vocabulary with the
low frequency lexis for e.g., ‘endorphins’. It is crucial that ‘students read
materials they understand because if they struggle to understand it then they
will not be reading for pleasure’5 and so won’t absorb any information. Authentic
material that ‘is carelessly chosen can be extremely demotivating for students as
they will not understand it’6 which is not the case here and allows for the
development of their speaking skills too as it can be tailored to each person
individually.

1
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.264)
2
(Walker, 2020)
3
(Harmer, 2007)
4
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.266)
5
(Harmer, 2007, pp.283)
6
(Harmer, 2007, pp.273)
Student number: 209018186

Part 2: Receptive Skills

Sub-skill - Gist:

This skill enables students to grasp the main ideas of the text giving them a
strong foundation of the context. 7 Skim reading is conducted when one runs
their eyes through a text to understand the main purpose of it 8 which is how they
will be asked to read the article. I have chosen reading for gist because it is a
challenging task for non-native learners as ‘they believe they need to read and
pay attention to each and every detail to understand it’ 9 which needs to be
practised in class so it can be translated to their daily lives. Intensive reading is a
skill we use on a daily basis e.g., reading for entertainment purposes which skim
reading allows you to read quickly and fluently. It is also a preparatory stage for
deeper understanding. Reading quickly puts emphasis on understanding the
‘most useful, relevant and important’10 part of the text.11 My chosen activity is
‘Appendix 2: Image Association’ which demonstrates they’re capable of making
connections between the tip and the action that correlates to it. This is a suitable
activity due to its simplicity and it checks the basic understanding of the article
fulfilling the aim of a gist task. The task presents 4 different tips (meditate,
exercise, unplug, and finding ways to de-stress) targeted to decrease stress and
8 pictures where students are to match them to the tip it correlates to
developing their gist reading skills. The use of images facilitates learning as it
12
easily presents and checks meaning of terminology.

Sub-skill -Detail:

Detailed reading allows students to ‘uncover and accurately understand details

in a text’. 13 This skill encourages learners ‘search for specific small sections of
text which they can read more carefully to find a required piece of information’ 14

7
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.265)
8
(Grellet, 1981)
9
(Pappa, 2022)
10
(Pappa, 2022)
11
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.264)
12
(Harmer, 2007, pp.178)
13
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.264)
14
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.265)
Student number: 209018186

which is done similarly when reading in their everyday life. Reading for detail has
been chosen as ‘the more they pick up items of vocabulary and grammar the
more linguistic confidence gained’15. Hence, a ‘True or False’ activity (Appendix
3) has been chosen where students read the text carefully to check if a series of
statements are correct or not. My reasoning choosing this activity is because it
covers a wider range of knowledge, with more focus on the introduction of the
article as this can easily get missed out by readers. This activity shows if
students can understand what is factual or not from what they can infer from the
statements after reading the article carefully. During open class feedback,
students are to justify their answers by picking out information from the text to
enable me to see if the learners have understood the reading.

Part 3:

Productive Skill: Speaking

I have chosen speaking as Scrivener states ‘that speaking with confidence and
fluency are important aspects and gives learners a chance to use the language,
they have acquired for a communicative purpose’ 16. The communicative purpose
of this activity is to express what you believe to be the most important tip and
persuade others to agree with you. Speaking is a vital skill as ‘learners need
intensive engagement with small samples of language which they can
internalise, process, make their own and use as bases for their own production’ 17
in and out of class. Furthermore, it allows for verbal communication to develop
which they might not get much practice of at home. This fits with the concept of
the text as they will be performing a ‘pyramid discussion’ (Appendix 4) about
what they believe to be the most important tip. Personalisation is important as
this creates student engagement and confidence because this allows them to
speak about a subject familiar to them and ‘students are more likely to be
engaged in a text if they bring their own feelings and knowledge to the task’. 18

The communicative purpose develops the sub-skill of persuasion.

Moreover, this activity gives all students an opportunity to actively participate,
and the progression allows everyone to stay engaged as students start of
individually until the whole class progressively comes together. The repetition
increases development of the skill and sub-skill as it allows for set words/phrases
15
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.268)
16
(Scrivener, 2011)
17
(Cook, 2000)
18
(Harmer, 2007, pp.287)
Student number: 209018186

to be fixed in their memory as well as improve their points for the next round
which gives them more confidence.19 Furthermore, the individual time in the
beginning allows for preparation of thoughts and ideas. The teacher will present
language for persuasion which will cover MFP to build the sub-skill. This builds
the functional use as the focus on the functional language beforehand gives
them sentence starters to use during the discussions. I have chosen a pyramid
discussion as it allows students to expressing your opinion/agreeing or
disagreeing with other people’s thoughts. 20

Appendices:

19
(Harmer, 2007, pp.346)
20
(Pyramid Discussion, 2022)
Student number: 209018186

1. Appendix 1 - Authentic Text:

Student number: 209018186
Student number: 209018186
Student number: 209018186

21

Appendix 2 - Receptive skill gist task ‘Image Association’:

21
(5 ways to de-stress and help your heart - Harvard Health, 2022)
Student number: 209018186

Task Instructions: Skim read the article first. Match pictures A-H to the 4 different tips the article
presents that lower stress (Stay positive, Meditate, Exercise, Unplug, and Finding ways to destress).

There are 2 pictures per tip.

A B C D

E F G H

Tips: Letter of pictures:

Meditate:

Exercise:

Unplug:

Finding ways to de-stress:

Teachers notes:
Student number: 209018186

 Lead-in to be done before this surrounding ‘Mental Health’ and the terminology that we may come
across when discussing this topic.
 The text and task will be given together so they are reading with a purpose.
 This gist task means less time is spent on it. This is because they are to be skim reading which is
‘reading quickly to get the main ideas, overall theme, and the basic structure’ 22of the text.
 They will receive around 2 minutes to read the text and 3 minutes to do the task and confer with
their partner after attempting it individually.
 ICQs are to be used to check understanding about the actual task. ICQs include:
 ‘Do I want you to read quickly or slowly?’ [quickly]
 ‘Do you have to understand every idea?’ [no]
 ‘Are you going to use your dictionaries to look up words?’ [no]
 Open class feedback will be conducted by students who will physically stick the corresponding
image to the tip on a table drawn onto the board.
 After the picture has been stuck, students must justify why that picture fits within that specific
category. Teacher to elicit from the students what they can see in the picture/what the text states
for them to know this answer.
 Answers:
1. Meditate – B and G (B= Person is doing yoga which is a form of meditation that is mentioned)
and (G= Picture of a church as the article mentions that prayer is a form of meditation)
2. Exercise – F and C (Pictures of people who are conducting different types of physical activity)
3. Unplug – E and H (E= The man is reading a book meaning he has distanced himself away from
technology) and (H= Person is removing themselves from the use of mobile phones)
4. Find ways to destress – A and D (A= Lady is having a warm relaxing bath to destress as the
article mentions) and (D= Lady is cooking as a hobby as a way to destress)
 Evidence to show that the students have comprehended the gist of each tip will be demonstrated
in the open class feedback. This is because after each answer the teacher nominate each student to
describe what is happening in each picture that relates to the tip in the article. If students struggle
to explain this, I will ask questions to elicit for example:
 ‘What are they doing in the photo?’
 ‘Does the article mention a specific activity?’
 ‘Does anyone know what that building is and what people do there?’
 Genre, audience, and purpose to be gone through after.

Appendix 3 - Reading for detail task: True or False

22
(Scrivener, 2011, pp.265)
Student number: 209018186

Task two: Read the article carefully and determine whether the following statements are
true or false. Circle the correct answer.

1. Chronic stress can create a mass amount of health problems. True False
2. It is scientifically proven how stress affects your heart. True False
3. There is positive data about the effect of stress on your heart. True False
4. You are likely to eat food with more calories when True False
stressed.
5. Having a good attitude releases “bad” HDL cholesterol. True False
6. Hormones released when you laugh betters the conditions True False
of your arteries.
7. Thinking out loud reduces the risk heart diseases. True False
8. Avoiding technology even for 15 minutes can improve the long term True False
condition of your heart.
9. The activities you conduct to lower stress must be extravagant. True False

Teachers notes:

 Students to first attempt this activity alone. They will them get a chance to confer in pairs after
before open class feedback.
 They will be allocated more time to read and complete the task due to the attention of detail
needed for this sub-skill.
 Teacher to carefully monitor students whilst they do this to keep an eye our for weaker level
learners.
 During open class feedback, students will be individually nominated to answer and justify why the
statement is true or false.
 They need to use evidence from the text to prove whether the statement is true or false.
 If a statement is false, they will be asked to paraphrase it to make it correct after justifying why it
was false in the first place.
 Answers:
1. True
2. False
3. False
4. True
5. False
6. True
7. False
Student number: 209018186

8. True
9. False
 Vocabulary will be picked out with a brief overview of MFP for further understanding
alongside drilling the terms to improve pronunciation.
Student number: 209018186

Appendix 4 - Speaking activity (Productive skill): Pyramid Discussion

Pyramid Discussion Activity:

1. Students to first rank the five tips individually from most important to least important.
2. Students will then be allocated with a partner. They are to discuss and compare each other’s
ranking – are they similar or different? If they agree on the rank of one, they are to express
their opinion on why they think that. If they have differing opinions, they must justify it and
negotiate a ranking. To do this they must try to persuade each other until a decision is
reached.
3. One pair will be grouped with another pair. They again renegotiate anything that differs and
must come to an agreement on the new ranking.
4. The class will now be divided into 2 halves. Each team must now decide the top 3 tips they
find to be important to de-stress.
5. Each team must convince each other about why believe their top 3 to be the most
important.
6. Lastly, the whole class will collectively decide the number one tip they believe to be most
important with viable reasons.

Use this language to persuade your peers if they disagree and give your own opinion. Give reasons
for your answers.

Persuasive language:
 ‘I believe that…’
 ‘I think this because…’
 ‘For this reason,’
 ‘On the other hand,’
 ‘I disagree because’

Teacher notes:
Student number: 209018186

Before this activity is conducted, the teacher will be introducing persuasive phrases for students to use
whilst they discuss, as a lead in. This will include:

 ‘I believe that…’ – Used to express opinion

 ‘I think this because…’ – Express opinion
 ‘For this reason,’ – Offer opinion
 ‘On the other hand,’ - Persuasion
 ‘I disagree because’ – Disagreeing/Persuasion
 Meaning, form, and pronunciation to be gone through as part of developing the sub-skill of both
persuasion and expressing one’s opinion. This will allow them to start thinking about the language
and practising it. In addition, these are statements that have a purpose outside of class.
 If students are to share the same opinion, they are to give a complete justification whether that
may be from the text or personal experiences.
 Teachers note: The aim of this activity is to choose the top 3 tips out of the article that everyone
agreed with to be the most important and why.
 They start of individually giving them time to get ideas flowing to present in the next rounds.
Student number: 209018186

Bibliography:

British Council. 2022. Intensive Reading. [online] Available at:

<https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/intensive-reading> [Accessed 18 February
2022].

Cook, G. 2000. Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Grellet, F. (1981) Developing Reading Skills Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Harmer, J., 2007. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 4th ed. Cambridge: Harlow:
Pearson.

Harvard Health. 2022. 5 ways to de-stress and help your heart - Harvard Health. [online]
Available at: <https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/5-ways-to-de-stress-and-
help-your-heart> [Accessed 25 February 2022].

Pappa, E., 2022. How to help English learners ready more quickly. [online] British Council.
Available at: <https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-help-english-learners-
read-more-quickly> [Accessed 26 March 2022].

Scrivener, J. (2011) Learning Teaching 3rd edition Oxford: Macmillan

Teaching English. 2022. Pyramid Discussion. [online] Available at:

<https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/pyramid-discussion> [Accessed 24 February
2022].

Walker, B., 2020. Reading versus Listening - which is better for learning?. [online]
Transcription Outsourcing. Available at:
<https://www.transcriptionoutsourcing.net/blog/reading-vs-listening-which-is-more-
effective-for-learning-and-remembering/#:~:text=In%20this%20respect%2C%20reading
%20is%20better%20for%20retention,instantaneously%20to%20understand%20what
%20a%20person%20is%20saying.> [Accessed 27 March 2022].
Student number: 209018186