DIDACTICS
II
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Newsletter
2
13th May 2001
______________________________________________________________
Instituto
Nacional Superior del Profesorado de la Universidad Tecnológica
Nacional
Cátedra
de Didáctica Especial del Primer y Segundo Ciclo de la EGB
Profesores
: Omar Villarreal & Andrea Coviella,
Marisa Caccia and Claudia Alvarez
Instituto
Superior de Formación Docente Nro 41 de la Pcia de Buenos
Aires
Cátedra
de "Inglés y su Enseñanza I"
Profesor:
Omar Villarreal
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"The most impotant function of education at any level is to
develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to
himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life: the rest is
ornamentation and decoration of the structure"
Grayson Kirk
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Dear
All,
Nice
Sunday ...a little bit cold but nice anyway.
Going
over your notes? Getting ready for your practice lessons?
The
students in the Afternoon Shift will have a day off next week as I´ll be away in
Santiago del
Estero
for the big ASICANA meeting.
This
time we are sending you more questions to help you revise our FICHA DE
CATEDRA (1). This questionaire was prepared by Prof. Marisa Caccia.
I´m sure you will find it very useful.
One last note : Remember we always expect your contributions
to this newsletter ( answers, articles, reflections and... questions are
most welcome)
A
big hug to you all
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Van
Ek, J.A. 1990. The Threshold Level for
Modern Language Learning in Schools. Harlow, Essex : Longman .
Chapters 2 and 3
Chapter 2.
1-
Provide a brief
description of the objective mentioned in this
chapter.
2-
What language
functions should learners fulfil when using the foreign
language?
What
are the topic areas related to them?
3-
In the description of
languages activities (2.4) what does the author take into
account?
What
are the aims related to each skill? Mention some of
them.
4-
Topic – related behaviour (2.5)
Choose
two different topics and provide
examples in context.
5-
Mention the
requirements taken into account to evaluate a learner’s ability and explain
them.
6-
What do the
words “easily” and “undue” refer to?
7-
Mention the
techniques available to detemine in what degree learners have reached the
objective
8-
Explain in what
circumstances you will use them.
9-
Explain
“Overall, lifelike tests have a high
validity”
10- What’s the problem with testing speaking and
writing?
Nunan, David. 1993. Syllabus Design . Oxford : Oxford
University Press
Chapter
3
1-
Define briefly
product-oriented syllabuses and process- oriented
syllabuses.
2-
According to
Wilkins, what’s the difference between synthetic and analytic
syllabuses?
3-
How would you
describe grammatical syllabuses? Discuss transition and
transfer.
4-
Prodide examples
to show the relationship between form and
function.
5-
Can syllabus
items be sequenced to make them easier to learn? What do you
think?
6-
Analyse studies
carried out by- Dulay and Burt (1973)- Bailey, Madden and Krashen
(1974)
Pienemann and Johnston (1985/7) – Rutherford
(1987).
7-
Define
functional- notional syllabuses.
8-
Provide examples
showing the distintions between funtions and
notions.
9-
What do
Finocchiaro and Brumfit emphasise? Do you agree?
Discuss.
10- What are functional- notional syllabuses
disadvantages?
11- Discuss analytic
syllabuses.
Chapter
4
1-
What do process
– oriented syllabuses emphasises?
2-
Provide examples
to illustrate the kinds of activities you would expect a student to carry out when using a
procedural or task - based syllabus.
3-
Discuss Prabhu’s
task types which were used in his project. State your
opinion.
4-
Define task –
based and explain.
5-
Explain the
difference between real – world tasks and pedagogic
tasks.
6-
Whats the
criteria offered by Candlin for judging the worth of tasks? Select some which seem to you to be the most
useful for selecting
tasks?
7-
Analyse Doyle’s,
Shavelson’s and Stern’s, and Long’s views on the
subject.
8-
“It is generally
assumed that difficulty is the key factor in determining the ordering of items
in a syllabus” . Discuss.
9-
What is a
content syllabus based on?
10- Discuss Mohan’s proposal. Do you agree with
it?
11- A) Mention the principles of which the natural
approach is based and discuss Krashen’s and Terrell’s typology.
B) Do
you agree with the weaknesses mentioned?
12- According to Widdowson: A) what is a
syllabus? B) Compare structural and
functional-
notional syllabuses. C) Do
you agree or disagree with his views?
13- Provide one or two examples using Numan’s
typology of activity types. Explain how you would grade
them.
14- Discuss Brown’s and Yule’s views on
listening and speaking tasks.
15- Compare Candlin’s, Long’s,
Anderson’s and Lynch’s factors determining
difficulty.
Chapter 5
1-
According to
Tyler (1949) why should objectives be specified before content and
activities.
2-
Mention Tyler’s
four ways of stating objective. Which is the most usefull.
3-
Define
performance objectives and their components
.
4-
Discuss the
arguments in favour of an objectives
approach.
5-
Discuss the
critics to the objectives approach.
6-
What do you
think about Raths’ principles for the selection of content which were not
dependent on the prior specification of
objectives?
7-
Whats the
difference between real – world objectives and pedagogic objectives. Provide
examples.
8-
What the
difference between product objectives and process objectives?
Discuss.
Curtain,
Helena & Carol Ann Pesola. 1994. Languages and Children :
Making
the Match
. White Plains, New York : Longman.
Chapter 13
Chapter 13:
Stocking the foreign language classroom
with materials and resourses
1-
Why do you think
“children require hands on learning experiences with concrete
objects”?
2-
State the
difference there is in working with teaching elementary or middle school
children and high school and university
students.
3-
What can you do
to get authentic materials?
4-
Mention twenty
items which you think are the most important to use in a classroom. Account for
your choice.
5-
How would you
use the classroom equipment mentioned in this chapter? Suggest
activities.
6-
What king of
audiovisual equipment should a classroom
have?
7-
Mention six
visual reinforcements in the classrooms. Account for your
choice.
8-
Why are teacher
– made materials the most effective?
9-
A)What criteria
should you take into account to
evaluate nontext material and
realia?.
B) What
about textbooks and other printed material?
Discuss.