Teaching English in EFL Groups
Language policy is one of the fundamental aspects of the language situation, which is determined
as the system of measures of conscious influence on the development of linguistic processes,
distribution of languages in the spheres of social interaction, and representing a part of the
political control over the language situation, linguistic conflicts. Nowadays its importance as a
part of a national policy, especially in the multinational Republic of Kazakhstan, is growing
more, and consequently, it is becoming more regulating. The main motive power of the language
policy in Kazakhstan is its socio-political and legislative activity. Today the State educational
standard is the basis of common conceptual language education in Kazakhstan, and it is designed
to provide the legal framework for the state cultural project "Trinity of languages". The process
of multilingual education in the Humanities universities of Kazakhstan is considered. Special
attention is given to the methodological assumption of the educational process of teaching
university students Kazakh, Russian, English Languages.
Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. These
learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read,
write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can
acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken
communication.
Language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge:
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Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words in the right
order with the correct pronunciation
Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message is essential
(transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required
(interaction/relationship building)
Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between
speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to take into account who is
speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason.
In the communicative model of language teaching, teachers help their students develop this body
of knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communication
situations. They help their students develop the ability to produce grammatically correct,
logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using
acceptable pronunciation. As we know speech is a process of communication by means of
language. Language exists and alive only through speech. In teaching speech the teacher has to
cope with two tasks. They are: to teach his students to understand the foreign language and to
teach them to speak the language. These are the cases when the target language is used as a
means of communication and a means of teaching. In order to be able to speak a foreign
language you need to listen, to understand what you have heard and to speak. With the assistance
of an experienced and patient teacher you will be able to overcome your language barrier.
Especially that the nature of such a barrier is a fear, "What if I say something stupid?" "What if
they don’t understand me?" "What if I look silly?" or insufficient knowledge, or both reasons
simultaneously. It is not a secret that we all start learning a foreign language in school, then
continue doing that at university and still most of us cannot speak a foreign language. It is
because of the fact that schools or institutes of higher education mainly give theoretical
knowledge: grammar, structure of a language, reading and do not teach conversational English.
Given the importance of speaking in language learning and teaching, it is essential for language
teachers to help their students become effective speakers. In the communicative approach to
language teaching, this means modeling speaking strategies and providing speaking practice in
authentic situations: those that learners are likely to encounter when they use the language
outside the classroom.
My report is about how English language can be learned at classrooms on the bases of new
pedagogical technologies with having taking into consideration the national aspect, i.e.
influencing native Kazakh language and typical mistakes and difficulties in learning English by
Kazakh speaking students.
Every subject has issues and problems. Every teacher has complex situations that must deal with.
I myself have dealt with many difficulties on teaching English as a foreign language. But I will
share with you which, in my opinion, are the biggest problems in teaching a foreign language as
English. And I will tell you some possible solutions.
Lack of Motivation: The first problem is trying to deal with the apathy of the students. Most of
them are really not interested in learning a new language. Actually, they don't see the point in
learning another different language. And this is obvious, if my students speak Kazakh, and we
don't have English speaking countries as neighbors, big chances are that they won't feel
motivated to study it.
Solution: Forget in teaching English, just to speak English. It is a lost battle. What you have to
do is teaching the usefulness of learning English. After all, it is the students who will know how
they will use the language and its purpose.
2.-Being away from the source: And by this, what I mean to say is the problem of just seeing
the language in the class, and from then on, nothing. Students do not have the chances of
practicing the language outside of the classroom.
Solution: Use other ways, like music, movies, chat and internet. Some students like listening
music in English, so use that to continue practicing English. My experience says that homework
does not work, it is an obligation, and they do not enjoy it.
We use different kinds of methods during the lessons in order to improve the students’ language
skills. As we know at different periods, depending on the aims of teaching and learning a foreign
language new methods sprung up.
One of the main goals of the English teacher is to prepare students become and remain
autonomous language learners long. In order to know English better you should:
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enrich your vocabulary
use new words in grammar structures and conversation
read in English as much as possible
write in English not only exercises given by the teacher but do it in your own diary; write
about the things which you have already learned in English;
- listen to BBC news, watch films in English;
- Communicate if possible with English –speaking people; it will help you a lot. We must
remember the rule: Learn speaking by speaking. If we want our student’s speech to be
understood correctly we should work hard on their pronunciation
The teaching of pronunciation in EFL classes has not always been as high a priority as other
aspects of teaching English. In the past in most countries, it did not really matter if the sounds
of the new language were authentically produced, since any contact with the foreign culture
was most likely very limited. Today, oral communication has become much more important
because of the ever-expanding opportunities for face-to-face contact with native speakers.
Worldwide communication is now available to even the remotest parts of the world.
Important issues to initially consider are the teaching methods familiar to the students and
teachers and the seemingly limited emphasis on pronunciation teaching in the past. Emphasis
should be placed on pronunciation in order to best be understood, rather than on sounding nativelike. Helping these learners to understand the need for good pronunciation should be made easier
by the fact that they are now able to actually interact with native speakers.
Since time allowed for pronunciation teaching is most likely limited, it would be best to initially
focus on the most crucial issues of pronunciation for the learners. Dickerson (1981:44-45) sets
forth general objectives to pronunciation teaching. She suggests the use of perception,
production, and prediction skills. Perception skills help to discriminate English phonemes and
understand spoken English. Production skills allow the learner to be understood by native
speakers and prediction skills help the learner determine probable pronunciation of both
segmentals and suprasegmentals Because the learners already have a good grasp of the English
language and pronunciation, it would be best to concentrate on their needed areas of
improvement. In teaching the segmentals, it would be advisable to first give a general overview
of the consonant and vowel sounds and symbols. Having a native speaker as a teacher should
help to correct any basic pronunciation mistakes that are made with sounds that are similar in
English and their native language. More time should be spent on those sounds that differ in
English and the local language.
Teaching the segmentals is important, but teaching the suprasegmentals would be of greater
benefit in helping the learners reach their goals. For communication to be effective, the
suprasegmentals must be practiced because they play a primary role in natural speech.
Emphasizing the suprasegmentals provides a means to transfer the speech to “real-life” situations
and allows for the capability to more accurately predict certain sounds.
Important topics to consider in teaching the suprasegmentals include:
1. Individual word stress, sentence stress and construction stress issues are key for both Russian
and Kazakh learners of English. Russians tend to leave out secondary stress in longer English
words and Kazakhs usually put all stresses on the last syllable. Key English stress rules should
be taught.
2. English rhythm patterns are also difficult for these learners. Memorization of poems, songs
and dialogues are familiar methods of learning in Kazakhstan, so memory work and the use of
jazz chants (Graham, 1978) would work well in this situation.
3. Intonation should be addressed with special attention to yes/no questions, tag questions,
alternative questions, wh- questions and fall-rise patterns in warning and sentences of
incompleteness.
4. Studying English natural speech phenomena would also help the students better understand
native speakers. Lessons on linking, assimilation, deleting and reduction of English words and
phrases should be included in the curriculum. Listening, modeling and creative exercises would
be important in teaching the natives speech phenomena.
5. When taught accurately and thoroughly, all of the above elements can help the learners better
predict pronunciation (Dickerson, 1994:19-35). This ability to predict will aid them long after
completing the class work and will assist them in progressing toward their professional goals.
The learners will already be familiar with certain teaching and learning techniques that can
readily be used in teaching pronunciation. They have been taught using repetition, sequencing
and drills. Repetition will reinforce their learning and sequencing from simple to complex will
provide a framework for progress. Excellent pronunciation drills include listening,
same/difference, word 1-2-3, yes/no, substitution, transformation and appropriate response. Ear
training should come first, followed by production. Recycling of material will also be important.
But now there is the urgent necessity for English language learning specifically designed for
non-linguistic students, which would combine theoretical background with new techniques and
materials. I work out the syllabus of Professionally-oriented English for students, who knows
Elementary English and has some professional skills.
The main objective of the course is to develop the students’ abilities to use English for
communicative purposes and their future professional needs. The course is aimed at the overall
development of speaking, writing, reading and listening skills; at the development of
professional communication skills in terms of oral and written communication and listening
skills.
Therefore, this “Professionally-oriented English” always follow the learning cycle of:
1) activity can be finding what the students know. This allows finding out what the students
think about a topic. Pre-reading exercises, which fulfill the function of warming-up the students
and concentrating their attention on the text that follows.
Predicting vocabulary exercises, which follow the text and are aimed at learning and practicing
new vocabulary. Here the students will work with lexical models, with the help of which lexical
units are integrated into long-term memory.
2) Specialist reading. Long authentic texts in bounds of professionally oriented topics will create
motivation for learning new vocabulary.
Writing tasks will mostly include general business English writing and professionally-oriented
writing. Students have a great need in mastering the skills of writing resumes, CV, Letters of
application, faxes, email messages, as well as writing different descriptions, explanations and
instructions for their future partners abroad.
Speaking tasks will provide the students an opportunity to exchange information and their
viewpoints in bounds of the topic presented in the text. They will work in pairs and in small
groups, which will develop their communicative skills. They will also learn how to conduct
meetings and presentations. Special attention will be paid to preparation of reports on
professionally oriented topics.
3) Implementation phase involves asking the class how what they have learned has changed their
image and what they might do differently as a result.
Problem-solving tasks and projects will help to include the newly learned vocabulary into the
process of exchanging opinions, discussing the problem. These tasks are based on professionally
oriented situations, which create motivation in mastering the vocabulary.
Role-play. This task will be fulfilled as the last stage in mastering the topic and will crown up
this process. Students will need to use all the knowledge and skills accepted while working at the
topic.
The qualitative changes in the course design of professionally-oriented English for non-linguistic
students definitely affect the students’ standard of the English language knowledge.
In conclusion I want to point out that teaching speaking is the most important task for EFL
teachers, because communication is the best tool in teaching. From the beginning of teaching we
should teach students how to pronounce this or that sound correctly. Using new technologies in
teaching gives us an opportunity to engage and involve students in learning process and make
learning more enjoyable, available and easier, it helps us to feel confident in teaching.
A language lesson should include a variety of activities that combine different types of language
input and output. Learners at all proficiency levels benefit from such variety; research has shown
that it is more motivating and is more likely to result in effective language learning. To teach
English as a second language is a great responsibility and it is necessary to know English very
well. While teaching you can’t stop, you should look for something new in teaching
Bibliography:
1. Teaching English phonology in the country of Kazakhstan: a preliminary
evaluation Вестник КАСУ №2 – 2005
2. Graham, Carolyn: Jazz Chants. New Roman"': Oxford University Press, 1978.
3. Dickerson, Wayne: “Empowering Students with Predictive Skills.” Pronunciation
Pedagogy and Theory: New Views, New Directions. J. Morley Washington DC: TESOL, 1994.