MICRO TEACHING
The teaching of
English deals with the empowerment of two folds: macro skills and micro
skills.The macro skills are the
four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each is further
elaborated into their corresponding micro skills.
The integrating of the four skills should come
as naturally for the teacher as it should for the learners. When we listen,
opportunities for writing emerge. When we read, opportunities for speaking
evolve. Classrooms in which learners are encouraged to flow with these
opportunities will subconsciously allow the skills to grow naturally.
Look at the following
example. A lesson in the so-called reading class, under the new paradigm, might
include a variety of activities requiring the activation of several language
behaviours. These are as follows: a pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata, listening to a series of informative statements about the topic of
the a passage to be read, a focus on a reading
strategy, say, skimming, and writing a
paraphrase of a section of the reading passage.
This section presents
aspects related with the teaching of English skills. To this end, the
presentation will include the teaching of listening, speaking, reading and
writing as English skills. Several main features will be presented in each of
the topics of English skills, including principles, corresponding micro skills,
and relevant teaching techniques. This presentation is highly discrete in that
these features are presented part by part. However, when dealing with one
feature, a teacher is expected to imaginatively explore the possibility of
integrating the feature under interest with others of other English skills.
1.1
Teaching Listening
This section discusses some
principles of designing listening techniques, kinds of listening techniques for
intermediate and advanced level listeners, and micro skills of listening.
Some Principles of Designing
Listening Techniques
The
practical principles underneath should be put into consideration to design
techniques that include aural comprehension, as follows.
o
In
an interactive, four-skills curriculum, be sure to include the techniques that
specifically develop listening comprehension competence.
o
Use
techniques that are intrinsically motivating, appealing to listeners’ schemata,
ability, cultural background, personal interests, and goals.
o
Make use of authentic language and contexts.
The authentic language and real-world tasks enable learners to relate classroom
activity to their long-term communicative goals.
o
The
form of listeners’ responses is carefully considered because teachers can judge
whether the learners comprehend or not through their verbal and nonverbal
responses.
o
Encourage
the use of listening strategies since most foreign language students are not
aware of how to listen. For instance, looking for key words, guessing from
context, and so on.
o
Include
both bottom-up and top-down listening techniques. The bottom-up techniques focus on sounds, words, intonation,
grammatical structures, and other components of spoken language. The top-down techniques, on the other hand,
deal with the activation of schemata, deriving meaning, global understanding,
and the interpretation of a text. However, in a communicative or interactive context, the top-down is mostly implemented.
Micro skills of Listening
Comprehension
Brown (2001) exclaimed
that there are micro skills of listening comprehension adapted from Richard
(1983) as follows.
- Infer
situations, participants, goals using real-world situations.
- From
events, ideas, etc., described, predict outcomes, infer links and
connections between events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such
relations as main idea, supporting ideas, new information, generalization,
and exemplification.
- Distinguish
between literal and implied meanings.
- Use
facial, kinesics, body language, and Retain chunks of language of
different lengths in short-term memory.
- Discriminate
among the distinctive sounds of English.
- Recognise
English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed positions,
rhythmic structure, intonational contours, and their role in signaling
information.
- Recognise
reduced forms of words.
- Distinguish
word boundaries, recognise a core of words, and interpret word order
patterns and their significance.
- Process
speech at different rates of delivery.
- Process
speech containing pauses, errors, corrections, and other performance
variables.
- Recognise
grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems (tenses, agreement
and so forth), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
- Detect
sentence constituents and distinguish between major and minor
constituents.
- Recognise
that a particular meaning may be expressed in different grammatical forms.
- Recognise
cohesive devices in spoken discourse.
- Recognise the communicative functions of
utterances according to situations, participants and goals.
- other
clues to get meanings.
- Develop
and use a battery of listening strategies, such as detecting key words,
guessing the meaning of words from context.
Listening Techniques for
the Intermediate and Advanced- Level Listeners
Techniques
for teaching listening will vary greatly across the proficiency continuum
(Peterson, 1991 in Brown, 2001). Observe the following explanation.
For
Intermediate Level Learners
Bottom-Up
Exercises
1) Goal: Recognizing Fast Speech Forms
Listen to a series d sentences that capita in unstressed
function words. Circle your
clip choice among three words on the answer sheet for example: “up”, “a”,
“of”.
2) Goal: Finding the Stressed Syllable
Listen to words of two (or three) syllables. Mark them for word stress and predict the pronunciation of the unstressed
syllable.
3) Goal: Recognizing
Words with Reduced Syllables
Read a list of polysyllabic words
and predict which syllabic vowel will be dropped. Listen to the words read in
fast speech and confirm your prediction.
4)
Goal:
Recognize Words as They Are Linked in the Speech Stream
Listen to a series of short
sentences with consonant/vowel linking between words. Mark the linkages on your
answer sheet.
5)
Goal:
Recognizing Pertinent Details in the Speech Stream
Listen to a short dialogue between a
boss and a secretary regarding changes in the daily schedule. Use an
appointment calendar. Cross out appointments that are being changed and write
in new ones.
Listen to announcements of airline
arrivals and departures. With a model of an airline information board in front
of you, fill in the flight numbers, destinations, gate numbers, and departure
limes.
Listen to a
series of short dialogues after reading questions that apply to the dialogues.
While listening, find the answers to questions about
prices, places, names, and numbers. Example: “Where are the shoppers?”
“How much is whole wheat breads?”
Listen to a
short telephone conversation between a customer and a service station manager. Fill in a chart which
lists the car repairs that must be done. Check the part of the car that needs
repair, the reason, and the approximate cost.
Top-Down
Exercises
6)
Goal:
Analyze Discourse Structure to Suggest Effective Listening Strategies
Listen to six radio commercials with
attention to the use of music, repetition of key words, and number of speakers.
Talk about the effect these techniques have on the listeners.
7)
Goal:
Listen to Identify the Speaker or the Topic
Listen a series of radio
commercials. On your answer sheet, choose among four types of sponsors
or products and identify the picture that goes with the commercial.
8)
Goal:
Listen to Evaluate Themes and Motives
Listen to a series of radio
commercials. On your answer sheet are our possible motives that the companies
use to appeal to their customers. Circle all the motives that you feel each
commercial promotes: escape from reality, family security, snob appeal, sex
appeal.
9)
Goal: Finding
Main Ideas and Supporting Details
Listen to a
short conversation between two friends. On your answer sheet are scenes from television programs. Find
and write the name of the program and the channel. Decide which speaker watched
which program.
10)
Goal:
Making Inferences
Listen to a series of sentences,
which may be either statements or questions. After each sentence, answer inferential questions such as
“Where might the speaker be?" "How might the speaker be
feeling?” “What might the speaker be referring to?”
Listen to a
series of sentences. After each sentence, suggest a possible context for the sentence (place,
situation, time, participants).
Interactive
Exercises
11)
Goal:
Discriminating Between Registers of Speech and Tones of Voice
Listen to a
series of sentences. On your answer sheet, mark whether the sentence if polite
or impolite.
12)
Goal:
Recognize Missing Grammar Markers in Colloquial Speech
Listen to a
series of short questions in which the auxiliary verb and subject have been
deleted. Use
grammatical knowledge to fill in the missing words: (“Have you) got some
extra?”
Listen to a series of questions with
reduced verb auxiliary and subject and identify the missing verb (does it/is
it) by checking the form of the main verb. Example: "Zit come with anything else? “Zit
arriving on time?”
13)
Goal:
Use Knowledge of Reduced Forms to Clarify the Meaning of an Utterance
Listen to a short sentence
containing a reduced form. Decide what the sentence means. On your answer
sheet, choose the one (of three) alternatives that is the best paraphrase of
the sentence you heard. Example: you hear
“You can't be happy with that. “You read: (a) "Why can't you be
happy?” (b) 'That will make you happy.” (c) “I don't think you are happy."
14)
Goal:
Use Context to Build Listening Expectation
Read a short want-ad describing job
qualifications from the employment section of a newspaper. Brainstorm
additional qualifications that would be important for that type of job.
15)
Goal:
Listen to Confirm Your Expectations
Listen to short radio advertisements
for jobs that are available. Check the job
qualifications,
against your expectations.
16)
Goal:
Use Context to Build Expectations. Use Bottom-Up Processing to Recognize
Missing Words. Compare Your Predictions to What You Actually Heard
Read some telephone messages with
missing words. Decide what kinds of information are missing so you know what to
listen for. Listen to the information and fill in the blanks. Finally, discuss
with the class what strategies you used for your predictions.
17)
Goal:
Use Incomplete Sensory Data and Cultural Background Information to Construct
a More Complete Understanding of a Text
Listen to one side of a telephone
conversation. Decide what the topic of the conversation might be and create a
title for it.
Listen to the beginning of a
conversation between two people and answer questions about the number of
participants, their ages, gender, and social roles. Guess the time of day,
location, temperature, season, and topic. Choose among some statements a guess
what might come next.
For
Advanced Level Learners
Bottom-Up Exercises
18) Goal: Use Features of Sentence Stress and
Volume to Identify Important Information for Note-Taking
Listen
to a number of sentences and extract the content words, which are read with
greater stress. Write the content words as notes.
19) Goal: Become Aware of Sentence-Level
Features in Lecture Text
Listen to a segment of a lecture while reading a transcript
of the material. Notice the incomplete sentences, pauses, and verbal fillers.
20) Goal: Become Aware of Organizational Cues
in Lecture Text
Look
at a lecture transcript and circle all the cue words used to enumerate the main
points. Then listen to the lecture segment and note the organizational cues.
21) Goal: Become Aware of Lexical and Suprasegmental Markers for Definitions
Read a list of lexical cues that signal a definition; listen
to signals of the speaker’s intent. Such as rhetorical questions: listen to
special intonation patterns and pause patterns used with appositives.
Listen
to short lecture segments that contain new terms and their definitions in
context. Use knowledge of lexical and intonational cues to identify the
definition of the word.
22) Goal: Identify Specific Points of Information
Read
a skeleton outline of a lecture in which the main categories are given but the
specific examples are left blank. Listen to the lecture and find the
information that belongs in the blanks.
Top-Down
Exercises
23) Goal: Use the Introduction to the Lecture
to Predict Its Focus and Direction
Listen to the introductory section of a lecture. Then read a
number of topics on your answer sheet and choose the topic that best expresses
what the lecture will discuss.
24) Goal: Use the Lecture Transcript to
Predict the Content of the Next Section
Read
a section of a lecture transcript. Stop reading at a juncture point and predict
what will come next. Then read on to confirm your prediction.
25) Goal: Find the Main Idea of a Lecture
Segment
Listen to a section of a lecture that describes a statistical
trend. While you listen, look at three graphs that show a change over time and
select the graph that best illustrates the lecture.
Interactive Exercises
26) Goal: Use Incoming Details to Determine
the Accuracy of Predictions about Content
Listen to the introductory sentences to predict some of the
main ideas you expect to hear in the lecture. Then listen to the
lecture. Note whether or not the instructor talks about the points you
predicted. If she/he does, note a detail about the
point.
27) Goal: Determine the Main Ideas of a Section
of a Lecture by Analysis of the Details in That Section
Listen to a section of a lecture and take notes on the
important details. Then relate the details to form an understanding of the main
point of that section. Choose from
a list of possible controlling ideas.
28) Goal: Make Inferences by Identifying Ideas
on the Sentence Level That Lead to Evaluative Statements
Listen to a statement and take notes on the important words.
Indicate what further meaning can be inferred from the statement. Indicate the
words in the original statement.
Indicate the words in the original statement that serve to cue the inferences.
29) Goal: Use Knowledge of the Text and the Lecture Content to
Fill in Missing Information
Listen to a lecture segment for its gist. Then listen to a
statement from which words have been omitted. Using your knowledge of
the text and of the general content, fill in the missing information. Check
your understanding by listening to the entire segment.
30) Goal: Use Knowledge of the Text and the
Lecture Content to Discover the Lecturer’s Misstatements and to Supply the
Ideas That He Meant to Say
Listen to a lecture segment that
contains an incorrect term. Write the incorrect term and the term that the
lecturer should have used. Finally, indicate what clues helped you find the
misstatement.
A Sample of
Integrated Listening Activities
Here
is a sample of integrated listening activities applying the three-phase technique
proposed by
Rudder (2007). It is composed of three activities as follows:
I.
Pre-Listening
a. Schema building +
background information
b. Vocabulary: guessing meaning from context
and presenting
key words to
understand the main ideas.
c. Guide
question(s): 1 or 2 simple content questions to create
purpose.
II. Listening
a. Guide
questions
b.
Comprehension questions: choice questions, content questions,
inference
questions, interpretation questions, opinions/feelings
c. Summarisation :
of events, characters, places etc.
III. Post-Listening
a. Oral Cloze/ Spot the
mistake d. Dictation
b. Discussion e.
Simulated Role Play
c. Debate f.
Writing assignments
(individual,
pairs, groups)
1.2
Teaching Speaking
This section discusses some principles
of designing speaking techniques, types of
classroom speaking performance, and micro skills of oral communication.
Some Principles of Designing
Speaking Techniques
The
practical principles underneath should be put into consideration to design
techniques that include oral comprehension, as follows:
·
Use
techniques that cover the domain of learners’ needs from accuracy to fluency.
If drills are applied, make them as meaningful as possible.
·
Provide
intrinsically motivating techniques by helping them to see how the activity
will benefit them. Often students do not know why we ask them to do certain
things.
·
Encourage
the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts or meaningful interaction.
·
Provide
appropriate feedback and correction. In most EFL situations, students totally
depend on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback.
·
Utilise
the natural link between speaking and listening. If possible, integrate the two
skills most of the time since they reinforce each other.
·
Give
students opportunities to initiate oral communication, not always the teacher.
As usual, teacher talk is more dominating that the student talk
·
Promote
the use of speaking strategies such as asking for clarification, using filters
( I mean, Well, Ups), using
paraphrases, asking somebody to repeat things.
Types of Classroom Speaking
Performance
In
line with the natural link between listening and speaking, there exist 6
similar categories of oral production to be carried out by students in the
classroom as follows.
- Imitative
- Imitation
of this kind is usually done not for the purpose of meaningful
interaction, but for focusing on some particular element of language
form. Input sources are commonly from cassettes or CDs.
- Intensive
- This
kind of speaking activity goes one step beyond the imitative one to
practise some phonological or grammatical aspect of language.
- Responsive
- Mostly
students’ speech in the classroom refers to this type like short replies
to teacher or student-initiated questions or comments.
- Transactional
Dialogue
- This
kind of activity is conducted for the purpose of conveying or exchanging
specific information. In other words, it is for the transmission of facts
and information. For example carrying out conversations with negotiation
in nature
- Interpersonal
Dialogue
- This
kind of activity is conducted for the purpose of maintaining social
relationship. It usually involves such factors as a casual register,
colloquial language, slang, ellipsis, sarcasm,
- Extensive
Monologue
- This
type of speaking activity is commonly intended for students at
intermediate to advanced levels. They are required to give extensive
monologues in the forms of summaries, oral reports, or short speeches-
planned or impromptu register is more formal and deliberative.
Micro skills of Oral Communication
·
Produce chunks of language of different lengths.
·
Orally produce differences among the English phonemes and
allophonic variants.
·
Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and
unstressed positions, rhythmic structure, and intonational contours.
·
Produce reduced forms of words and phrases.
·
Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) in order
to accomplish pragmatic purposes.
·
Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery.
·
Monitor your own oral production and use various strategic
devices—pauses, fillers, self-corrections, backtracking—to enhance the clarity of the message.
·
Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems
(e.g., tense, agreement, pluralisation), word order, patterns, rules, and
elliptical forms.
·
Produce speech in natural constituents—in appropriate
phrases, pause groups, breath groups, and sentences
·
Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.
·
Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse.
·
Accomplish appropriately communicative functions according
to situations, participants, and goals.
·
Use appropriate registers, implicature, pragmatic
conventions, and other sociolinguistic features in face-to-face conversations.
·
Convey links and connections between events and
communicate such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information,
given information, generalization, and exemplification.
·
Use facial features, kinesics, body language, and other nonverbal
cues along with verbal language to convey meanings.
·
Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as
emphasizing key words, rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the
meaning of words, appealing for help, and accurately assessing how well your interlocutor
is understanding you.
A Sample of
Integrated Speaking
Activities
Here
is a sample of proposed integrated speaking
activities employing the three-phase technique. It is composed of three activities
as follows.
I.
Pre-Speaking
a. Schema building + background information
b.
Vocabulary: guessing meaning from a picture or a poster and presenting key words to
understand the main ideas.
c. Guide question(s): 1 or 2 simple content
questions to create
purpose.
II. Speaking
a. Grouping students, each consisting of 3 (three)
b.
Providing a sample list of questions for a three-phase interview
c.
Modelling
and then giving step-by-step instructions
d.
Conducting
the practice
III. Post-Speaking
a. Forwarding a
reflective question
b. Writing a
summary of the result of interview
c. Dictation
1.3 Teaching Reading
Reading is one of English
language skills considered important for one’s growth as an individual in many
aspects of life. Everyday we cannot escape from this activity. We read
newspapers, reports, messages, books, notes, and many other writings. That is
why students are taught reading skills in English at school. To facilitate
students’ learning of reading skills, English teachers need to know the nature
of reading in addition to pedagogical competencies in delivering the lesson and
solid command in reading skills.
There are
several principles for designing interactive reading techniques (Brown,
2001:313-316). These are as follows:
·
Use intrinsically motivating techniques such as Language
Experience Approach in which the students create their own reading, student’s
own selection of reading materials, sequenced readings, and periodic
instructor-initiated and self assessment.
·
Balance authenticity and readability in choosing texts.
·
Encourage the development of reading strategies.
·
Include both bottom-up and top-down techniques.
·
Follow the ‘SQ3R’ sequence – Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and
Review’.
·
Subdivide the techniques into pre-reading, during-reading, and
after-reading phases
·
Build in some evaluative aspect to the techniques, using for
example the following overt responses made by the students:
·
Doing – the reader responds physically to a command.
·
Choosing – the reader selects from alternatives posed orally or in
writing.
·
Transferring – the reader summarizes orally what is read.
·
Answering – the reader answers questions about the text.
·
Condensing – the reader outlines or takes notes on the text.
·
Extending – the reader provides an ending to a story.
·
Duplicating – the reader translates the message into the native
language.
·
Modelling – the reader puts together a toy for example after
directions for assembly.
·
Conversing – the reader engages in a conversation that indicates
appropriate processing of information.
Micro Reading Skills
Reading as one of language
skills besides listening, speaking, and writing is a macro skill. As a micro
skill, reading can be made more operational further into its micro reading
skills. When viewed as a macro skill, reading is perceived from an abstract
perspective. As micro skills, reading involves specific abilities that are
directly observable, and it is a host of sub abilities. Micro reading skills
are wide-ranging. The following are just those micro skills as proposed by
different experts. Munby as cited by Alderson (2000: 10-11) lists micro reading
skills follows:
·
recognizing the script of a language
·
deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items
·
understanding explicitly stated information
·
understanding information when not explicitly stated
·
understanding conceptual meaning
·
understanding the communicative value of sentences
·
understanding relations within sentence
·
understanding relations between parts of a text through lexical
cohesion devices
·
understanding cohesion between parts of a text through grammatical
cohesion devices
·
interpreting text by going outside it
·
recognizing indicators in discourse
·
identifying the main point or important information in discourse
·
distinguishing the main idea from supporting details
·
extracting salient details to summarize (the text, an idea)
·
extracting relevant points from a text selectively
·
using basic reference skills
·
skimming
·
scanning to locate
specifically required information
·
transcoding information to diagrammatic display
Those reading
skills outlined by Munby are intended for school contexts.
While experts
at the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCLES) who
construct The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) (as cited
by Alderson, 2000:131) list micro reading skills as follows:
·
identifying structure, content, sequence of events and procedures,
·
following instructions,
·
finding main ideas which the writer has attempted to make salient,
·
identifying the underlying theme or concept,
·
identifying ideas in the text, and relationships between them,
e.g. probability, solution, cause, effect,
·
identifying, distinguishing and comparing facts, evidence,
opinions, implications, definitions and hypotheses,
·
evaluating and challenging evidence,
·
formulating an hypotheses from underlying theme, concept and
evidence,
·
reaching a conclusion by relating supporting evidence to the main
idea.
Reading skills developed by
experts at the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCLES) are
meant to be a basis for development of a test for academic purposes. Unlike
experts at the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCLES) who
construct the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), experts at
the Education Testing Service (ETS) who design the Test of English As a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) specify micro reading skills as follows:
·
understanding main idea,
·
understanding supporting ideas/details,
·
understanding organization of the text,
·
understanding implied details,
·
understanding word meaning,
·
understanding pronoun reference,
·
understanding the writer’s tone of writing.
Similar to
reading skills developed by experts at the University of Cambridge Local
Examination Syndicate (UCLES), those developed by experts at ETS are also meant
to be a basis for development of a test for academic purposes.
Experts in
DIALANG – a common project funded by Council of Europe – as quoted by Alderson
(2000:126) outlines a different modes of exploring reading skills. They outline
that reading skills are seen from two angles (a) what cognitive processing is
involved and (b) dominant intention/purpose of reading.
From the
angle of cognitive processes, reading skills are broadly categorized into 3
(three) as
·
comprehending of events and facts,
·
comprehending + transforming or restructuring knowledge / creating
connections of events and visual images, facts, mental states and ideas, and
·
comprehending + reasoning / inferencing / interpreting / inventing
/ generating / discovering of ideas, mental states, alternative worlds.
From the
domain of dominant intention/purpose, reading skills include purposes to
·
locate information (functional),
·
acquire new information (referential / efferent),
·
learn, to extend one’ world view, to cultivate the mind
(reflective),
·
analyse / judge / assess / evaluate / improve text (critical), and
·
relax, enjoy various experiences, to enjoy language (aesthetic,
recreational).
When examined
further, the reading skills as proposed by experts of different institutions
demonstrate the wide coverage of reading skills. Some skills essentially
overlap; some others show similar conceptions; some include text structures;
and some demonstrate levels. However, categorization of these reading skills
may be performed from the level of linguistic blocks such as the one advocated
by Nuttall (1985): word level, sentence level, discourse level. Or, these
skills can also be viewed as having degrees in the mode of reading as the one
advocated by Crawley and Mountain (1998:
104-105):
Literal Reading
·
knowledge
·
comprehension
Interpretive
(Inferential) Reading
·
application
Critical/Creative
Reading
·
analysis
·
synthesis
·
evaluation
Another
useful way of looking at reading skills is combining both Nuttall’s ideas
(1985): word level, sentence level, discourse level and Crawley
and Mountain’s ideas (1998).
Table 1: Outline of
Micro Reading Skills
|
Micro Reading Skills
|
Level of Reading
|
|
Literal
|
Inferential
|
Critical
|
Evaluative
|
|
Scope
|
Words
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
|
Sentence
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
|
Text Structure
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
|
Text Content
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
V
|
(Sulistyo,
2008)
In
other words, Nuttall’s proposal (1985), which can include a variety of micro
reading skills as proposed by aforementioned experts may be set as the areas in
which reading skills can operate; whereas Crawley and Mountain’s ideas (1998)
indicate the levels at which each area of micro reading skills may reach. The
relation between areas of micro skills and their levels may be illustrated
using the following table.
Reading Strategies
Some experts
interchangeably use micro reading skills and reading strategies. However, this
seems to be normal because both micro reading skills and reading strategies are
needed when reading in action takes place.
According to Brown (2001), the learners who are
already able to read in a first language need just to develop their reading
strategies that are appropriate and efficient. He lists reading strategies that
may reflect bottom-up as well as top-down mechanisms of reading, several of
which are as follows:
a. Identifying the purpose of reading.
Reasons for reading are closely related with expectations about the contents.
Both reasons and expectations determine the degree of one’s engagement with the
written text. One’s reason for reading is triggered by one’s wants. One’s
expectation implies benefits that may be obtained from reading. Thus, if
someone wants to know the secrets of keeping healthy, he/she may expect to take
the advantage of the secrets and imitate the practices in the secrets.
b.
Skimming the
text for main ideas. Skimming is reading the text as a whole for the gist. Normally it
is performed quickly. Skimming provides several advantages like initial
information about the topic of the text, probing the purpose of writing the
text, and rough ideas of the text organization.
c.
Scanning the
text for specific information. Unlike skimming, scanning is locating
specific information in a text. Rather than read the whole text, scanning
requires readers to search for a particular piece of information. The
information may relate with literal data in a text. These may have to do with
factual information about what, when and where.
d. Using semantic mapping and clustering.
As its name shows, semantic mapping and clustering is ‘charting’ the text
contents and then ‘relating’ the parts of the charts using figures or other
graphical means. This strategy is useful as a helping aid to show connections
of ideas in the text that frequently are perceived to cause confusions. The
chart or the map thus resulted will serve as visual pictures of the ideas in a
much simpler representation yet meaningful.
e.
Guessing the meaning. Reading
is a guessing game. And guessing is a strategy in reading that needs to be
practiced. But, this guessing is certainly not blind guessing. To avoid this, a
procedure needs to be set up, for instance, by first establishing a tentative
inference. Then, they are to find relevant clues that are likely to address
their tentative inference.
f.
Analyzing vocabulary. Although the meaning of a text is not the
total sum of individual vocabulary meanings, guessing the meaning of a word in
particular context can also be useful. There are ways that can be devised to
analyze vocabulary. One is through identification of word-part clues such as
afixes (-ment, para-, -ion, etc.), or roots of the word. Another one is
identification of shades of meaning, connotation or denotation, and so on.
g. Distinguishing between literal and implied
meanings. This strategy requires careful applications because
misunderstanding due to misinterpretation on the surface or visual structure
may potentially happen. Consider the following: He is taking a bath. This sentence may function ‘informing’ in the
context of a question: Where is John?
But it may serve also to express an apology in the context of a response to a
call inquiry: May I speak to John, please?
h. Capitalizing on discourse markers to process
relationships. Discourse markers are small words. Nevertheless, these words
can be very helpful in providing the readers with clues that indicate
particular relationships in their immediate environment in various kinds of
context: phrases, sentences, paragraphs or other constructions. Examples of
discourse markers are first(ly), next, to
start with, to sum up, also, moreover, in addition, similarly, by the way,
thus, in other words, for instance, conversely, yet, however, etc.
Beside
these strategies listed above, there are also other strategies that are
applicable in reading. These include examining the title, the visual
presentation of printed words, accompanying graphs, figures, and pictures.
Gebhard (2000:199) lists strategies employed by successful fluent readers at
comprehending written materials. Some are already discussed above. Here are
several of the strategies:
- Skipping
the words not known
- Predicting
meaning
- Guessing
meaning of unfamiliar words from context
- Avoiding
constant translation
- Looking
for cognates
- Having
knowledge about the topic
- Drawing
inferences from the topic
- Reading things of interest
- Studying
pictures and illustrations
- Purposefully
rereading to check comprehension.
Reading in a Nutshell
Reading is a form of social
communication between a writer and a reader by way of a written text as the
medium. Seen this way, in a reading event, three parties are obvious: (non
existent) writer, text, and reader. On the part of a writer, a writer has a
certain intention in making the intention known by others through his/her
writing. For the purpose, s/he needs strategies. The first strategy is choosing
grammatical and vocabulary items to express the ideas. Then, s/he needs to
choose the way to organize the ideas. Next, s/he may choose the tone of his/her
writing. Besides using words, sentences, s/he may consider using illustrations.
With these message contents and the strategies s/he chooses, the writer begins
to express his/her ideas in writing. In short, the writer as the sender of
information or messages to express has among other things the following:
a.
information or messages
b.
use of grammar and vocabulary items that s/he chooses to express
them
c.
use of his/her tone
d.
use of his/her writing styles
e.
use of his/her ways to organize ideas
The text as a
medium essentially contains visual prints possibly with accompanying pictorial
illustrations. It comes in the forms of letters, words, sentences, paragraphs,
and discourses larger than paragraphs. It has a context. But in itself, a text
is meaningless.
The reader
has a purpose in reading. She/he does not read in vacuum; nor does she/he come
to attend the text with ‘a blank mind’. She/he has personal as well as social
experiences, including a previous linguistic encounter. In giving the meaning
to the text, she/he necessarily has functional micro reading skills and
certainly needs to employ a variety of reading strategies.
A
Sample Scheme for Integrated Reading
Activities
Here
is a proposed sample of scheme for integrated reading
activities. It is composed of three activities as follows.
I.
Pre-Reading
a. Schema building +
background information
b. Vocabulary: guessing
meaning from context and presenting
key words to understand the main ideas.
c. Guide question(s): 1
or 2 simple content questions to create
purpose.
II. Reading
a.
Guide questions
b. Comprehension
questions: choice questions, content
questions, inference
questions, interpretation questions,
opinions/feelings
c.
Summarisation of events, characters, places etc.
III. Post-Listening
a. Oral Cloze/ Spot the
mistake
b. Dictation
1.4 Teaching Writing
Writing as process. Writing entails phases in that there are a series of gradual steps
that a writer needs to undertake before he/she makes a final product in the
end. In addition, writing requires recursive acts. One model of writing as a
process is reflected in a series of three main stages as follows: before
writing, during writing, and after writing. In each of the stages, there are
sub processes that need to be performed by a writer. Under ‘before writing’
stage, a writer needs to experience or recognize a problem. This is then followed-up
by another process, namely pre-writing. Under the stage of ‘during writing’,
there are two other stages: draft writing and revising and editing. Finally the
‘after writing’ stage has three sub processes, namely publication of product,
getting readers’ response, and writer’s attitude.
In
the teaching practice, such steps in writing strategies require teachers’
careful planning for a topic may take some time to be really accomplished as a
final writing product. Teachers need to allocate time for regular meetings to
check the students’ progress. In these meetings, discussions are open where
students can share their possible hindrances and the teacher can find the
students solutions to their problems. Considering the importance of such
meetings, a good planning is requisite for successful instruction adopting
writing-as-process strategies.
Views
on writing as a language skill has evolved as is represented by differing
approaches to writing, together with their beliefs. Each contributes to
important ideas that are frequently brought into our classroom without our
awareness that they originate from a particular philosophy. As a front-liner in
the classroom we teachers need to always keep abreast with quick and ever
changing views on writing, not to be blindly in favor of any approach.
Resistance to particular views and denying educational innovations that spread
very rapidly in the ICT era can frequently keep us - teachers – marginalized
and disadvantaged.
Based
on the ideas proposed by aforementioned approaches, writing is characterized by
the following:
- Both
process and product in writing are equally important,
- Writing
is a complex process that requires continuous practice,
- Writing
is a tool that helps us organize our world,
- Different
types of genre are determined by the purpose of writing, content, and the
target of audience,
- A
good writer is also a good reader.
Independent
writing of a text is the final phase where the students are given more
responsibility in creating the text of their own. They take the responsibility
in deciding the purpose, text content and the genre types they wish to frame
their ideas. Along with the students’ activities at this stage, teachers
monitor and observe the students’ progress.
Micro Writing Skills
Brown (2001:343) identifies and
enumerates micro skills for writing as follows:
·
Produce
graphemes and orthographic patterns of English
·
Produce
writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose
·
Produce
an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns
·
Use
acceptable grammatical systems (e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization),
patterns and rules
·
Express
a particular meaning in different grammatical forms
·
Use
cohesive devices in written discourse
·
Use
rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse
·
Appropriately
accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form and
purpose
·
Convey
links and connections between events and communicate such relations as main
idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and
exemplification
·
Distinguish
between literal and implied meanings when writing
·
Correctly
convey culturally specific references in the context of written text
·
Develop
and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the
audience’s interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in
the first drafts, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and
instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing.
Principles
for Designing Writing Techniques
Brown
(2001:346-348) outlines several principles that a teacher can use in designing
the teaching of writing. These
principles are essentially the results of synthesizing ideas from a variety of
sources. These principles are as follows:
1. Incorporate
practices of “good” writers.
It is a good idea to learn how a writer considered ‘good’ produces his/her
writing work efficiently. This is to say that the efficient writer’s writing
strategies may be used as a basis to include some teaching techniques of
writing.
So, what writing strategies does an efficient writer use in
producing his/her work? Here are some things that an efficient writer does when
he/she writes.
|
No.
|
What
things Does an Efficient Reader Perform?
|
YES
|
|
1.
|
Does s/he have main idea in
his/her writing?
|
V
|
|
2.
|
Does s/he estimate his/her
potential readers?
|
V
|
|
3.
|
Does s/he make a plan before
writing?
|
V
|
|
4.
|
Does s/he allow the first ideas to
pour onto the paper?
|
V
|
|
5.
|
Does s/he follow his/her general
plan as s/he writes?
|
V
|
|
6.
|
Does s/he make use of feedback on
his/her writing?
|
V
|
|
7.
|
Does s/he pay more attention to
grammar?
|
V
|
|
8.
|
Does s/he revise his/her writing readily
and efficiently
|
V
|
|
9.
|
Does s/he revise his/her writing
as many times as needed?
|
V
|
- Balance process and
product
Both process and product
are equally important in writing. This means that one cannot overweight the
other. Frequently, writing as process is so overemphasized that students lose
sight of the ultimate end of creating ‘a clear, articulate, well-organized,
effective writing’. Or, product is considered more important than process, thus
resulting in an impromptu piece of writing.
- Account for
cultural/literary backgrounds
The
teaching techniques applied to the class need to allow for the existence of
different cultural rhetoric patterns. Oriental rhetoric patterns of cultural
thoughts tend to be circular whereas those of western cultural thoughts tend to
be linear as shown in the figure below.
Figure
2: Simple Representation of Cultural Thought Patterns
|
Western
|
Oriental
|
|
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
|
|
Awareness
of such different cultural thought patterns among students is important. The
students’ awareness, it is expected, will facilitate their learning for
instance by making a necessary shift from their own way to the acceptable
rhetoric patterns of English.
- Connect reading and
writing
There is a belief that a good reader is a good writer, and vice
versa. In a writing class it is also a good idea if the students are to learn
reading materials of different text types. This activity provides the students
with useful experiences how the reading materials they are reading are
composed. The student can gain useful ideas on how they could write.
- Provide as much
authentic writing as possible
Writing is a form of communication. Thus, writing does not occur
in vacuum. Writing activities need to consider at least these aspects: the
potential readers and the purpose of writing. Authenticity in writing can be
maintained if during the writing activities the students are to have in mind
these two aspects: the potential readers and the purpose of writing.
- Frame techniques in
terms of prewriting, drafting, and revising stages
As described previously, writing as process entails stages
before final products of writing result. There are ways a teacher can perform
in each stage. Prewriting activities may take the form of the following:
extensive reading, skimming and scanning a reading text, researching,
brainstorming, listing, clustering of ideas, discussing a topic, questions
initiated by the teacher, free writing. In the drafting, and revising stages,
which are considered to be the heart of writing as a process, time and energy
consuming, and patience, there are several strategies a teacher may adopt.
These are as follows: adapting free writing techniques, optimal monitoring,
peer-reviewing for content, teachers’ feedback, editing for grammar errors,
read aloud techniques, proofreading, etc.
- Offer techniques
that are as interactive as possible
In writing as process there is a need to create a writing
community in the class which allows the students to interact one another with
the writing process they attempt and their product. Students need to work in
pairs or in groups. They brainstorm together and collaborate. They are active
doing peer review and peer editing. This simply means that writing is NOT a
solitary activity on the part of the students.
- Sensitively apply
methods of responding to and correcting your students’ writing
Not all students’ errors in the first draft need to be attended
to. There are guidelines that a teacher may consider.
- Do
not act toward minor errors
- Do
not rewrite a student’s sentences
- Give
comments on introductory paragraphs
- Give
comments on irrelevant parts to the topic
- Question
inadequate diction and expressions
- Clearly instruct
students on the rhetorical, formal conventions of writing
Explicitly
make the students aware of the purpose of writing: to describe, expose,
explain, propose a solution or to argue. In academic writing, make sure the
students have the following in their writing:
clear thesis statements or topic sentences, use of main ideas to develop
the thesis, use of supporting details by telling or describing, showing, giving
evidence, facts, statistics etc., linking cause-effect, using comparison and
contrast.
AKHLAK MULIA
Bangsa yang
maju adalah bangsa yang menjunjung tinggi dan membiasakan akhlah mulia melalui
ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi tinggi
Sejarah mencatat bahwa kehancuran peradaban suatu bangsa
atau musnahnya suatu bangsa disebabkan oleh akhak warga negaranya yang tidak
terpuji.
Pembangunan pendidikan nasional merupakan upaya untuk
membentuk manusia unggul yang berkarakter atau berakhlak mulia
Karakter atau Ahlak adalah:
Watak, tabiat, atau kepribadian seseorang yang terbentuk
dari hasil internalisasi berbagai yang diyakininya dan digunakannya sebagai
landasan untuk cara pandang, berpikir,bersikap dan bertindak. Perilaku akhlak
mulia merupakan tujuan dari semua agama di dunia, karena semua ibadah yang
berlaku bermuara kepada pembinaan akhak mulia. Dasar hukum amanat untuk mewujudkan akhlak mulia sangat
jelas, khususnya dibidang pendidikan :
Undang-undang Dasar Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 Pasal
31 ayat (3)
UUD RI, Tahun 1945 pasal 31
Ayat (3) “Pemerintah
mengusahakan dan menyelesaikan satu system pendidikan Nasional yang
meningkatkan keimanan dan ketakwaan serta AKHLAK MULIA dalam rangka
mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa”
Undang-undang Sistem Pendidikan
Nasional No.20 Tahun 2003, Bab II Pasal (3)
“Pendidikan Nasional berfungsi mengembangkan kemampuan
dan membentuk watak serta perubahan bangsa yang bermartabat dalam rangka
mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa,
Tujuan
Pendidikan Nasional untuk perkembangan potensi didik agar menjadi manusia yang
beriman dan bertakwa kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, berakhlak mulia, sehat,
berilmu, cakap, kreatif, mandiri dan menjadi warga yang demokratis serta
bertanggung
jawab.
Tujuan
pengembangan Akhlak Mulia bagi pendidik:
Ò Agar pendidik
dapat membantu mengembangkan potensi kalbu/ nurani/ afektif siswa sebagai
manusia dan warga negara yang memiliki nilai-nilai budaya dan karakter bangsa.
Ò Agar pendidik
mengembangkan kebiasaan dan perilaku yang terpuji dan sejalan dengan
nilai-nilai universal dan tradisi budaya bangsa yang religius.
Ò Diharapkan
pendidik dapat menanamkan jiwa kepemimpinan dan tanggung-jawab siswa sebagai
generasi penerus bangsa.
Ò Agar pendidik
dapat mengembangkan kemampuan siswa menjadi manusia yang mandiri, kreatif,
berwawasan kebangsaan.
Ò Agar pendidik
mengembangkan lingkungan kehidupan sekolah sebgai lingkungan belajar yang aman,
jujur, penuh kreativitas dan persahabatan, serta dengan rasa kebangsaan yang
tinggi dan penuh kekuatan.
Nilai dan
Indikator Akhlak Mulia bagi siswa
1. J U J U R
Defenisi :
Menyampaikan apa adanya sesuai dengan hati nurani
Indikator :
Ò Menyatakan
sesuatu sesuai dengan keadaan sebenarnya.
Ò Bersedia
mengakui kesalahan, kekurangan/ keterbatasan diri
Ò Tidak suka
mencontek
Ò Tidak suka
berbohong
Ò Tidak
memanipulasi fakta/ informasi
Ò Berani mengakui
kesalahan
2.I K H L A S
Defenisi :
Tindakan yang dilakukan tanpa pamrih, kecuali berharap
kepada Tuhan
Indikator :
Ò Bersedia
melakukan tugas/ menolong orang lain tanpa mengharapkan imbalan
Ò Memberikan
sumbangan pikiran, tenaga/ uang tanpa mengharapkan imbalan
Ò Memiliki
pemahaman bahwa segala sesuatu terjadi/ diperoleh karena kehendak Tuhan
Ò Tidak
mengungkit apa yang diberikan/ dilakukan
3.R E N D A
H H A T I
Defenisi :
Perilaku yang mencerminkan sifat yang berlawanan dengan
kesombongan
Indikator :
Ò Tidak
menyombongkan kehebatan diri sendiri (kekayaan, kepandaian, dan lainnya)
Ò Tidak
menampilkan diri (pakaian, asesoris, dan lainnya) secara berlebihan
Tidak suka mencela orang lain
4.K A S I H S A Y A N G
Defenisi : Kepedulian terhadap makhluk ciptaan Tuhan
Indikator :
Ò Memperhatikan
orang/ makhluk hidup dengan sikap baik, tidak menyakiti
Ò Tidak
membeda-bedakan orang berdasarkan status/kedudukan. Agama, jenis kelamin, suku
bangsa, kekayaan, dll
Ò Membantu teman/
guru yang sakit/ terkena musibah
Ò Peduli pada
orang miskin, orang cacat,
Peduli
pada lingkungan hidup dengan memelihara fasilitas umum
5. D I S I P L I N
Defenisi : Taat pada peraturan
Indikator :
Ò Mengikuti
peraturan yang ada di sekolah/ masyarakat
Ò Tidak suka
mengulur-ulur waktu
Ò Menyerahkan
tugas dalam batas waktu yang ditetapkan guru
6. P E R C A Y A D I
R I
Defenisi : Yakin akan kemampuan diri sendiri
Indikator :
Ò Berani
menyatakan pendapat
Ò Berani tampil
dihadapan orang lain (cth: Pidato, Menari, Menyanyi, dll)
Ò Merasa yakin,
tidak ragu-ragu akan tindakan yang dipilihnya,Tidak mencontek pekerjaan orang
lain
7. P A N T A N G M E
N Y E R A H
Defenisi :
Tetap menjalankan tugas sekalipun menghadapi tantangan
atau hambatan
Indikator :
Ò Menunjukan
kesungguhan dalam melakukan tugas
Ò Tetap bertahan
pada tugas yang diterima walaupun menghadapi kesulitan
Ò Berusaha
mencari pemecahan terhadap permasalahan
8. A D I L
Defenisi :
Memberi dan memutuskan sesuatu sesuai haknya
Indikator :
Ò Tidak suka
memihak kepada kelompok tertentu
Ò Membagi hak
sesuai porsi masi
9. B E R P I K I R
P O S I T I F
Defenisi : Melihat sisi baik dari setiap hal
Indikator :
Ò Tidak suka mencela/ menyalahkan orang lain
Ò Dapat menemukan kelebihan, kebaikan atau menfaat
dari situasi/ peristiwa/ orang yang dihadapi
10.M A N D I R I
Defenisi
: Tidak tergantung pada orang
lain
Indikator :
Ò Berusaha menyelesaikan
tugas (PR, ulangan, ujian) berdasarkan kemampuan sendiri
Ò Berani berbuat tanpa
minta ditemani
11. C I N T A
D A M A I
Defenisi :
Memelihara
perdamaian, tidak bermusuhan dan menyelesaikan masalah
Indikator :
Ò Menghindari konflik
Ò Bersedia membahas
perbedaan pendapat secara terbuka/ berdiskusi
Ò Bersikap tenang dalam
menghadapi perbedaan pendapat
Ò Tidak ikut dalam tawuran
Ò Tidak melakukan
kekerasan/ pelecehan,
Ò Tidak menyebar fitnah
12. T O L E R A N S I
Defenisi :
Memahami
dan menghargai keyakinan/ kebiasaan orang lain
Indikator :
Ò Dapat menerima adanya
perbedaan antara berbagai latar belakang sosial-ekonomi, budaya
Ò Tidak memaksakan
pemikiran, keyakinan dan kebiasaannya sendiri
13. PENGENDALIAN EMOSI
Defenisi : Mengatur dan mengontrol emosi
Indikator :
Ò Tidak impulsif,
menunjukan reaksi emosi secara berlebihan
Ò Menegur kesalahan orang
lain dengan cara yang santun
Ò Menampilkan perasaan
sedih, gembira atau marah dengan wajar
14 T A N G G U N G – J A W A B
Defenisi :
Melaksanakan
tugas secara sungguh-sungguh, berani menanggung konsekuensi dari sikap,
perkataan dan tingkah lakunya
Indikator :
Ò Memiliki komitmen pada
tugas
Ò Melakukan dengan standar
yang terbaik
Ò Mengakui semua
perbuatannya
Ò Menepati janji
Ò Berani menanggung resiko
atas tindakan dan ucapannya
15. K R E
A T I F
Defenisi :
Menciptakan
ide dan karya baru yang bermanfaat
Indikator :
Ò Dapat menemukan hal-hal/
cara baru yang berbeda dari yang biasa
Ò Mampu mengemukakan ide/
gagasan yang memiliki nilai tambah (manfaat)
16. K E R J A S A M A
Defenisi :
Melakukan
kegiatan dengan orang lain untuk mencapai tujuan bersama
Indikator :
Ò Ikut merumuskan tujuan
bersama yang akan dicapai
Ò Menghargai pendapat dan
keberadaan orang lain
Bersediaberganti
peran, suatu saat menjadi
17. K E R J A
K E R A S
Defenisi :
Menyelesaikan
kegiatan atau tugas secara optimal
Indikator :
Ò Menyelesaikan tugas
dalam batas waktu yang ditargetkan
Ò Menggunakan segala
kemampuan/ daya untuk mencapai sasaran
Ò Berusaha mencari berbagai
alternatif pemecahan ketika menemui hambatan
18. S A N T U N
Defenisi :
Berperilaku
interpersonal sesuai tataran norma dan adat-istiadat setempat
Indikator :
Ò Menunjukan perilaku
hormat kepada orang yang lebih tua (guru, kepala sekolah, dll)
Ò Menggunakan tutur bahasa
yang baik, tidak menggunakan kata-kata kasar
Ò Memberi salam kepada
guru dan teman-teman
Ò Mengucapkan terimakasih
Ò Memberi perhatian pada
orang yang lebih muda
