Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

Background

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), as we know it today, was first developed in the 1980s by N Prabhu, a teacher and researcher in Bangalore, South India. He suggested that language acquisition is “an unconscious process which is best facilitated by bringing about in the learner a preoccupation with meaning, saying and doing”. He believed that using tasks would help tap into learners’ natural mechanisms for second language acquisition.

In practice

Pre-task

The teacher introduces the topic and gives the students clear instructions on what they will have to do at the task stage and might help the students to recall some language that may be useful for the task. The pre-task stage can also often include playing a recording of people doing the task. This gives the students a clear model of what will be expected of them. The students can take notes and spend time preparing for the task.

Task

The students complete a task in pairs or groups using the language resources that they have as the teacher monitors and offers encouragement.

Planning

Students prepare a short oral or written report to tell the class what happened during their task.

Report

Students then report back to the class orally or read the written report.

Analysis

The teacher then highlights relevant parts from the text of the recording for the students to analyse.

Practice

Finally, the teacher selects language areas to practise based upon the needs of the students and what emerged from the task and report phases. The students then do practice activities to increase their confidence and make a note of useful language.

Advantages of TBLT

Motivation

Learners are highly motivated to participate in tasks and activities included in this approach.

Cooperation

Learners have to work together in groups which encourages them to cooperate.

Meaningful Interaction

They will also grow accustomed to producing meaningful interaction when working in group.

Experience

The approach also focuses on the previous knowledge and experience of learners.

Exploration

With this approach, learners can explore the new features of the language they are learning.

Disadvantages of TBLT

Some teachers criticize TBLT for focusing mainly on fluency at the expense of accuracy. TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative on the part of the teacher. TBLT requires resources beyond the textbooks and related materials usually found in language classrooms.

Post method

What is post method in teaching

Post method pedogogy recognizes teachers prior knowledge as well as their potential to know not only how to teach but also how to act autonomusly within the academic and administrative constraints imposed by institutions,curricula and textbooks.kumaravadivelu views post method pedagogy as three dimensional system with three pedagogic parameters:particularity,practicality, and possibility and he proposes micro strategies in EFL classrooms. for example possibility represent all the professional experience teachers bring to their classrooms which are created in the social,economic and political enovironment

Guides to effective listening

Guides to effective listening

Hear are some practical suggestions for effective listening which ,if followed , can apprecibley increase the effectiveness of this communicative skill.
1)Realize that listening is hard work. It is characterized by faster heart action, quicker blood circulation, and a small rise in body temperature. Researchers have found that the higher we climb on the organizational ladder, the more difficult listening becomes. In day-to-day conversations, show the communicator you are interested by looking and acting like you are.
2)Prepare to listen. To receive the message clearly, the receiver must have the correct mental attitude. In your daily communications, establish a permissive environment for
each communicator.
3)Recognize your own biases. Learn what your biases are and channel them properly. You can then keep them from interfering with the message.
4)Resist distractions. Good listeners adjust quickly to any kind of abnormal situation;
poor listeners tolerate bad conditions and, in some instances, may create distractions themselves. Take a clue from good listeners.
5)Keep an open mind. A good listener doesn’t feel threatened or insulted, or need to resist messages that contradict his beliefs, attitudes, ideas, or personal values. Try to identify and rationalize the words or phrases most upsetting to your emotions.
6)Find an erea of intrest. Good listeners are interested and attentive. They find ways to make the message relevant to themselves and/or their jobs. Make your listening efficient by asking yourself: "What is he saying that I can use? Does he have any
worthwhile ideas? Is he conveying any workable approaches or solutions? " G. K. Chesterton once said, "There is no such thing as an uninteresting subject; there are only uninteresting people."
7. If we show some empathy, we create a climate that encourages
others to communicate honestly and openly. Therefore, try to see the communicator's point of view.
8)Hold your fire. Be patient. Don't interrupt. Don't become over-stimulated, too excited,
or excited too soon, by what the speaker says. Be sure you understand what the speaker means; that is, withhold your evaluation until your comprehension is complete. Mentally arguing with a communicator is one of the principal reasons so little listening takes place in some discussions. Don't argue. If you win, you lose.
9)listen critically and delay judgment. Good listeners delay making a judgment about the communicator's personality, the principal points of the message, and the response. Ask questions and listen critically to the answers. Then, at the appropriate time, judgment can be passed in an enlightened manner.
10)Judge content , not delivery. We listen with our own experience. We do not understand everything we hear. It is not fair to hold the communicator responsible if we can't decode his message. One way to raise the level of our understanding is to recognize and assume our own responsibility.

What is clt ?

Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA) , is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study.

Learners in environments using communication to learn and practice the target language by interactions with one another and the instructor, the study of "authentic texts" (those written in the target language for purposes other than language learning), and the use of the language both in class and outside of class.

Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar to promote language skills in all types of situations. That method also claims to encourage learners to incorporate their personal experiences into their language learning environment and to focus on the learning experience, in addition to the learning of the target language.[1]

According to CLT, the goal of language education is the ability to communicate in the target language.[2] This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority.[3]

CLT also positions the teacher as a facilitator, rather than an instructor. Furthermore, the approach is a non-methodical system that does not use a textbook series to teach the target language but works on developing sound oral and verbal skills prior to reading and writing.

The effects of visual and audio aids in language learning

In education, visual and audio aids have many effects and importance on providing learning permanent. The more a learning activity addresses to the five senses the more the learning event becomes effective and permanent, and forgetting becomes less.

ادامه نوشته

مقاله ۲. حجت جاودانی مهر

PERSPECTIVES OF IRANIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS THE APPLICATION
OF INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES

Hojat Javdanimehr

Email: [e-mail]

ABSTRACT
This study explored the attitudes of teachers towards the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in English Language
teaching and learning contexts, and also sought insights into teachers' actual use of IWBs in English language
classes. The study also investigated possible factors affecting teachers' positive and negative attitudes towards IWB
technology. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to 82 teachers in different institutions across
Andimeshk, Iran, from Secondary schools. Questionnaire results revealed that teachers have positive attitudes
towards the use of IWBs in Math instruction and are aware of the potential of this technology. Responses given in
interviews indicated that all Math teachers are supportive of IWB technology in their classes, and observations
revealed that IWBs are used with their basic functions in Math classes. The statistical analysis revealed that the
more teachers use IWBs, the more they like this technology

مقاله. حجت جاودانی مهر

Is there any relationship between task based activities and reading comprehension of iranian high schools students

Hojat Javdanimehr

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the influence of task-based activities (four specific types of tasks: matching, form￾filling, labeling, and selecting) on reading ability in students of English as a foreign language and to identify if there
was any correspondence between task type and students' Listening Proficiency level. Ninety senior EFL learners of
Chamran high school in Andimeshk, Iran participated in this study. The sources of data for this quasi-experimental
study included two task-based tests of reading comprehension and a test of language proficiency. Analysis of the
findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between the three tasks of "matching, labeling, and form￾filling" on the one hand and reading comprehension on the other. However, no such relationship was observed
between the task of "selecting" and reading comprehension. Moreover, the results of the participants' performance
on each task at each level of language proficiency showed that among the four tasks of the study only the "selecting"
task did not correspond with the three levels of language proficiency. The participants, according to the results of
the post-test, showed no improvement over the task of "selecting

چالش هاي پيش روي دبيران زبان انگليسي در ارتباط با تدريس زبان انگليسي در مدارس

مقدمه
زبان جزء نخستین وسایل ارتباطی میان انسان‌ها بوده است. قبل از پیدایش جوامع بشری، انسان‌ها به اشکال گوناگون معنا را به یکدیگر انتقال می‌دادند، تصاویرحک شده بر دیوار غارها، استفاده از آتش برای فرستادن پیام خطر،تقلید صدای حیوانات و ...قبل از ارتباط کلامی برای انتقال معنا به کار گرفته شدند.
سپس ارتباطی قراردادی میان صدا و معنا از کلمات بکار رفت و همه چیز نام گذاری شد. بعد‌ها که زبان حالت قانونمندی یافت؛ هر قبیله بسته به ساختار فرهنگی - اجتماعی خود آن را به گونه‌ای به‌کار گرفت که توانستند هدف غائی " ارتباط " را حفظ کنند.‌
تنوع و گوناگونی زبان امتیاز ویژه‌ای را برای هرقوم دارد و از این رو هر زبان دارای نکات ظریف، کنایه‌ها و اشاراتی است که نمی‌توان آن‌را نادیده انگاشت و با هیچ ترجمه سلیسی نمی‌توان لذت فهم کلمات آن‌را به دیگر زبان‌ها رساند، مگر آنکه آن زبان را فراگرفت.‌ یکی از مهمترین دلایل به‌کار گرفتن زبان انگلیسی،به عنوان زبان اصلي حضور استعماری بلند مدت دولتمردان سابق کشورهای استعمارگر در دیگر کشورها مي باشد.
ما نباید از تقویت زبان شیرین خودمان " فارسی" غافل شویم، اما از یاد نبریم که اگر به یادگیری زبان انگلیسی اهمیت ندهیم مشکلات جدی را خواسته یا نا خواسته فرارو خواهیم داشت ! چرا که جهان رو به توسعه در هر ثانیه در حال تولید علم و فن آوری است و غالب این پژوهشهای علمی به زبان انگلیسی در مجامع بین‌المللی ارائه می‌شود و یا در اینترنت به نمایش در می‌آید.

ادامه نوشته

Using authentic materials for learning a language

Using authentic materials for learning a language

ادامه نوشته

CLL

CLL stand for community language learning.

History of CLL

ادامه نوشته

فنون ، تدريس ، لغات ، انگليسی

معلمين باتجربه زبان انگليسي به عنوان زبان دوم خيلي خوب مي دانند كه لغت تا چه اندازه اهميت دارد. آنها مي دانند كه محصلين بايد هزاران لغت را كه گويشوران ونويسندگان انگليسي به كار مي برند بياموزند. خوشبختانه، نياز به لغت نكته ايست كه هم معلمين و هم محصلين برآن متفق القول اند. البته طي ساليان متمادي در برنامه هاي خاص آماده سازي معلمين زبان توجه چنداني به روشهاي ياري دادن محصلين درخصوص آموختن لغت نشده است. دربعضي از كتابها به معلمين توصيه شده است كه محصلين مي توانند لغات را بدون كمك بياموزند درحقيقت گاهي به معلمين گفته شده است كه پيش از آموختن گرامر و سيستم صوتي زبان نبايد لغات زيادي رابه محصلين ياد داد. درمقالاتي كه درمجلات خاص معلمين مي خوانيم بندرت از مقوله لغت صحبت به عمل مي آيد، درمقابل بر تلفظ و گرامر تأكيد شده و برلغت يا تأكيد نمي شود و يا اين تأكيد اندك است. خلاصه آنكه در برنامه هاي ويژه معلمين درسالهاي اخير مسأله لغت به بوته فراموشي سپرده شده است، و لازم است كوششي به عمل آورده و به علت آن پي ببريم.

ادامه نوشته

advantages and disadvantages of online learning

The COVID-19 pandemic caused online learning to be used increasingly. The development of distance education and online learning is the biggest revolution in education. Virtual education has revolutionized the education system and has provided great opportunities for anyone who wants to learn knowledge or skills and it has make people face challanges as well. online education enables students to study or learn from any where in the world. more importantly you not only can save time but also save money. For example if you are studying abroad and want to find a job, online education is a great choice. A wide variety of content such as movies, photos and e-books are also available for students online. online education is also felxible for students ' needs and ability levels. despite all these advantages, online education has some disadvantages. the most important drawback is lack of face to face interaction, in online classes students miss natural proximity and connection with teacher and other students. as the second main drawback, lack of facilities and technical equipments can be mentioned. students need a device with intenet connection to take online classes. it is costly to purchase such devices and some students can not afford it. online learning can certainly make focusing on class a challenge. students are no longer in an environment dedicated to learning and are surrounded by distractions like phones. students may find they run into challanges or do not understand the material when leraning online. there are many pros and cons of online learning but as technological capabilities have reached new heights and many of mjor concerns of students taking online classes have been addressed, the advantages of online classes are beginning to down out of disadvantages.

Using Digital Tools To Bring The Outside World Into The Classroom

You may download the video here.

The Gamification for Language Learning in Video Format

Please access the download link here.

Shadow Reading in video format

Here you may find the download link.

Barani: Functional analysis of subject and verb in theses of abstracts on Applied Linguistic

Abstract : the purpose of the present study is to analyze abstracts related to Applied lingustics and more precisly the discourse fuctions of grammatical subjects and verbs the corpus consisted of 50 PHD thesis abstracts written on the subject of Apllied linguistic. All of the abstract were written from 2010 to 2014. The thesis from which the abstracts were extracted are available in the proQuest database. The element of the abstracts were identified. In accordance with Ebrahimi(2014) framework were used to analyes discourse functions while the realization of grammatical subjects and verbs was analyzed for tense types. The " result revealed the "introducing part of study" and research related object" were the predominent types of grammatical subjects and also the result indicated that simple past tense was prodominant in aim , method and results sections while the simple present was predominant in the background and conclusion sections.

Audio-Lingual Method in Language Teaching (Farsi)

You may download the Power Point Show version here.

This content has been prepared by:

AsgharMandegarAtashGah
Ali Afdasta
NavabNikbin
Mohamad Ghasabi

Student's Burnout

Since the introduction of the term burnout by Freudenberger (1974), it has been subjected to research in different domains. Initially, the focus of burnout research was on the role of work characteristics in different human service professions because the traditiona view of burnout used to consider burnout as occurring only in human service professions (Chan, 2006). Later, the concept of burnout was extended to include other jobs (Schaufeli, Leiter, & Maslach, 2009). It was considered as achronic psychological condition occurring due to the extreme amount of stress in the work situation, in general (Maslach et al., 1996). Later, Schaufeli et al. (2002) claimed that burnout might have some effects on students in the academic settings. In line with this, Jacobs and Dodd (2003) stated that students are not seen as workers from the psychological perspective; however, various activities are assigned to hem. These activities can be regarded as work, which make students susceptible to burnout.

Since the introduction of the concept of burnout, several studies have been done to investigate sources of burnout among students. Forinstance, Moneta (2011) explored the relationship between the need for achievement (students’ tendency to succeed in difficult tasks in competition with their peers) and burnout in a sample of 226 university students in London. The resultsrevealed that the students’ need for achievement was negatively correlated with the emotional exhaustion and cynicism and positively associated with the professional efficacy. He pLroposed the need for achievement as one of the academic factors that might result in burnout among students. Also Pilkauskaite-Valickienea, Zukauskienea, and Raiziene (2011) in a cluster analytic approach,investigated the causes of burnout in a sample of 1741 students from five high schools in the Lithuania, an administrative region of Klaipeda. According to the results, school’s atmosphere, students’ attachment to school, and open classroom climate for discussion were among the factors that mainly resulted in burnout among high school students. Based upon this finding, Pilkauskaite-Valickienea et al. (2011) suggested the development of positive attachment and opportunity for democratic discussion as strategies for preventing burnout. In another study, Salmela-Aro, Kiuru, Pietikïnen, and Jokela (2008) reported negative school climate and negative motivation received from teachers as the factors contributing to burnout among high school students.Moreover, several studies explored the individual-related causes of burnout among students. For example, Capri, Ozkendir, Ozkurt, and Karakus (2012), in a correlational study, explored the relationship between students’ general self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and burnout among 354 students from Mersin University. The results showed that students’ self-efficacy was positively correlated with life satisfaction and professional efficacy. Life satisfaction was also found to be the best predictor of burnout. Besides, Sulea, Van Beek, Sarbescu, Virga, and Schaufeli (2015), in a study of 255 Romanian economic and social science university students, examined the relationship between burnout, personality, and basic need satisfaction. The results showed that three personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, agreeableness, and extraversion) were rLelated to the experience of different levels of burnout among students. ALlso, the fulfillment of psychological need was negatively correlated with (the) emotional exhaustion. As mentioned by Aypay (2011), feeling of inadequacy and lack of interest could be the other sources of burnout among students. However, quite a few studies have been conducted on this topic in EFL contexts. In a study on 147 English language teachers from Mashhad’s private schools, Pishghadam and Sahebjam (2012) investigated the association between burnout and personality types. The results revealed significant relationships between burnout dimensions and personality types. Besides, extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientious were found to be the best predictors of the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishmen.

The Value of Person-Centered Approach (i.e., Cluster Analysis)a

The person-centered approach is a statistical process that utilizes a class of techniques “to
classify cases into groups that are relatively homogeneous within themselves and heterogeneous between each other, on the basis of a defined set of variables” (Jin, Noh, Shin, & Lee, 2015, p.313). Initially, Block (1971) proposed this approach in the milieu of personality psychology, and later, it was expanded to other contextes, such as Swedish developmental psychology (Bergman,
Magnusson, & El-Khouri, 2003; Magnusson, 1988). According to Bergman and Lundh (2015), the person-centered approach is distinct from the variable-centered approach both in theory and methodology. On the theoretical level, the person-centered approach employs a holistic￾interactionistic outlook on the development of the individual; it views the individual as a well￾organized entity which is composed of a set of interactive components working together.Therefore, the primary focus of the person-centered approach is the identification of the arrangement of factors distinguishing a specified individual’s functioning (Magnusson, 1988). In spite of that, the variable is regarded as the basic conceptual unit in the variable-centered approach and the main focus is on the generalizable laws which are in accordance with thestandard of natural sciences (Bergman & Lundh, 2015).
Methodologically, both the person- and variable- centered approaches make use of quantitative data; however, they are different in their main purposes and the employed analyses. While the main focus of interest in the person-centered approach is the grouping of variables within the individual, the variable-centered approach seeks to investigate the associations between variables (Bergman et al., 2003). As mentioned by Laursen and Hoff (2006), the variable-centered analytic methods are based on the assumption that the population is homogeneous regarding the studied phenomena. Thus, they seek to investigate the interindividual variations. The common statistical methods utilized in a variable-centered approach are the mean level comparisons via analysis of variance and correlation, and regression anlyses. However, the basic assumption of the person-centered methods is the heterogeneity of the population with respect to the mean levels and modifications in the studied phenomenon.