C O N T E N T SEltai.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ELTAI_SEP-OCT_2017.pdfDuring the course of an interview for The Teacher Trainer, when Alan Maley asked NS Prabhu to talk about the

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The Journal of English Language Teaching (India)

Volume LIX Number 5 September–October, 2017

Founder Editor:Padmashree S. Natarajan

2 Dear Reader

3 Mixed-Ability Classrooms: A Look into a Typical Chattaraj, DishariIndian ESL Undergraduate Classroom

11 Reinventing the Mode of Teaching: Question as a Ritu R. Agarwalway of learning

18 ‘Scientific’ Language Teaching Richard Smith

22 A Qualitative Study on Using Interactive Fiction R. Jayafor Enhancing Employability Skills

28 Process Writing Framework as a Pedagogic Tool S. Thiruvenkataswaiin the Context of ESL/EFL

35 Teaching of Vocabulary: Task-based Approach M. SrilakshmiM. Kiranmai

42 Report on Webinar on ESP Rajan Philips

44 Report on International Conference on Language andLiterature: Dynamic Resources in the ELT Classroom

45 Book Review V. Saraswathi

46 Reading activity K. Elango

The Journal of English Language Teaching (India) LIX/5, 2017 2

Dear Reader,

During the course of an interview for The Teacher Trainer, when Alan Maley asked NS Prabhu to talkabout the latter’s most significant events in his teaching life, Prabhu’s answer to the question hadthese opening sentences: “Early in my ELT career, I stumbled on Harold Palmer’s Principles ofLanguage Study. It’s a very small book. I really was greatly moved by what I thought was a pedagogicsense of intuition and excitement in that book. It’s a book I’ve read again and again since then.”Palmer’s books Principles of Language Teaching (1921) and The Scientific Study and Teaching ofLanguages (1917), which have had a great impact on many ELT professionals across the globe, havebeen read by them again and again. This year, when we celebrate the centenary of the publicationof The Scientific Study and Teaching of Languages, it is worth recalling the contributions of HaroldE. Palmer in the field of English language teaching and learning (ELTL). I thought it was importantto include an article on Palmer, a pioneer in the field. Richard Smith, a Reader in ELT and AppliedLinguistics at the University of Warwick, in the article “‘Scientific’ language teaching” says thatPalmer’s The Scientific Study and Teaching of Languages can be seen to have heralded a ‘ScientificPeriod’ of language teaching discourse. The quote by Palmer (1917) “it is not ‘method’ that we lack;what we lack is a basis for method” (translated from French into English by Richard Smith) providesfood for thought for those involved in language teaching and realize the importance of scientificapproach to language teaching.

Recently, NS Prabhu delivered a keynote address at an international conference organized by SSNCollege of Engineering, Chennai. The key points (known as “The Five Points”) he explained duringhis keynote address are presented in the article “Re-thinking language pedagogy”. It is a very usefulpiece of writing which, I am sure, English language teachers will enjoy chewing and digesting.

Besides regular features such as book reviews, reports and activities, this issue of JELT also featuresarticles that focus on various language skills. Dishari Chattaraj in her paper “Mixed-Ability Classroom:A Look into a Typical Indian ESL Class” presents her study on a mixed-ability ESL class andpedagogical implications of the findings. In the paper “Reinventing the Mode of Teaching: Questioningas a way of learning (QWL)” Ritu R Agarwal shares her thoughts on questioning as a mode oflearning and how questioning encourages learners’ creativity. S Thiruvenkataswami in his paper“Process Writing Framework as a pedagogic tool in the context of ESL/EFL” proposes a ProcessWriting Framework (PWF) and discusses how it helps learners improve their writing and also servesas an effective pedagogic tool for teaching writing skills in English Language. R Jaya’s paper “AQualitative Study on Using Interactive Fiction for Enhancing Employability Skills” discusses howonline interactive fiction can be used to enhance the employability skills of students. The article“Teaching Vocabulary Using Task-based Approach” by M Srilakshmi and M Kiranmai focuses onthe effectiveness teaching vocabulary to ESL students within the framework of task-based languageteaching.

Do you have suggestions to improve the quality of the journal? Do share your ideas with me. Asalways, I welcome your feedback and comments. You can contact me at [email protected] .

Happy reading!

Dr Albert P’Rayan


Mixed-Ability Classrooms: A Look into aTypical Indian ESL Undergraduate Classroom

Chattaraj, DishariPhD Research Scholar, Centre for Linguistics, School of Language Literature andCulture Studies, JNU, New Delhi, India

E-mail : [email protected]

ABSTRACTThe present study, which is based on 50 first year undergraduate students,aims to study the diversity that exists in a typical Indian ESL Undergraduateclassroom. And, in doing so it studies the variation in learners’ perceptions,their attitude towards English Language Learning and the program they arestudying, their language learning strategies, and their perception of errors.The study also tests the performance of the students by means of a LAT andFree Composition test. It applies certain statistical tools and also uses ErrorAnalysis as a tool to decipher the level of the students. The study ends byproviding pedagogical implications of the findings.

Keywords: Mixed-Ability Classroom, English as Second Language (ESL), EnglishLanguage Teaching (ELT), Error Analysis (EA).

1. Introduction

Jones (2007) in the book Student-centeredClassroom notes “In many ways, every classis a mixed ability class. Even students whohave studied together all the time will havevaried mastery of the language or rememberdifferent things. Some will be better atdifferent skills: reading, writing, listeningor speaking. They bring their ownpersonalities, strengths, weaknesses, andlearning style to the class.” The situationJones talks about is, however, much lessproblematic than the situation faced incountries like India where theundergraduate language classrooms are

distinctly large in terms of the number ofstudents as a result of which the diversityamong the students in terms of theirlinguistic skills, motivation and perceptionsare highly varied; also there is limitation ofresources as well as time and the teacher-student ratio is quite alarming (Chattaraj,2015). So, it can be said the Englishlanguage classrooms are highly diversifiedand the resources to meet the needs of thesemixed-ability classrooms are nil. A muchbetter picture of mixed-ability classroom ispainted by Narang et al. (2016:vii) for ourIndian context when they define a mixedability classroom; they put it thus “MixedAbility classroom refers to the difference in


language level among the students in termsof learning style, students’ backgroundknowledge, knowledge of the world, theirskills and talents in other areas and finallyin the levels of motivation”. Though therehas been a range of studies stating ways inwhich the mixed-ability classes can betackled in Indian Contexts (Shrivastava,2010; Mirani and Chunawala, 2015), studiesdealing with the demography of an in-houseEnglish classroom-diversity are rare.

The present study deals with Bengalispeakers learning English as SecondLanguage (SL) in the undergraduate coursesin Calcutta University. The participants ofthis study are 50 odd first-year students .These students were part of a larger classwhich comprised of nearly a 100 students.These students belonged to History,Economics, and Hindi honors (major)courses and they were clubbed together andtaught a literature centric syllabus for their‘Compulsory English’ course. Also, amongthese 50 students, 22 belonged to Englishmedium backgrounds and 28 to Bengalimedium backgrounds. The description of thestudents itself unravels the diversity thatcan be located in them.

2. Literature Review

Mixed-ability class is one of the majorchallenges faced by the Indian Englishteacher. Kundu (2014) wonderfullydescribes the concept of mixed abilityclasses in the Indian scenario. She presentsa hypothetical picture of a class XIIclassroom consisting of 100 students andsays that only 10% of the students have the

desired proficiency and in the rest of the90%, 15% are of class VI standard, 20% areof class XI standard, 10% of class VII, 12%of class VIII, 10% of class IX and a few ofthem are above XII standard as a result ofwhich a teacher teaches students fromclasses VI-XIV in the same class.

Shrivastava (2010) very briefly discusses thecauses that lead to the diversity in Indianclassrooms. After sparing a line each oncultural differences and personality traitswhich might be influenced by the place ofresidence or the schooling of the learners,she goes on to give some very generalrecommendations for overcoming thediversity like caring for the students, grouppresentations, stimulation and role-play etc.Mirani and Chunawala (2015) conducted aqualitative study to see how the teachersperceive the mixed ability classrooms andwhat measures they take to deal with it. Itis noted that mixed-groups, nominalseparation, interaction/activity basedpractices are found to be the effective waysof handling heterogeneous classes. However,the negative psychological effects of suchpractices on the relatively weak students areacknowledged by the participant teachers.Shoerey (1999) conducted a study withIndian college students to study the patternof language learning strategy use among thestudents. He also conducted interviews withteachers in which he found that the mostchallenging problem that the teachers facein the classroom is the varied level of Englishproficiency.

Biber (2006) points out that the transitionfrom school to college is a difficult one for


all the students as they are exposed tocomplex academic discourse and the lackof ‘register’ specific language course furtherputs them into greater trouble. Pandey(2011) also talks about the need for Need-Analysis models to provide the studentslanguage inputs matching their needs.However, as Chattaraj (2015) points out,amidst the greater problems of large-classrooms, mixed-background and mixed-ability classrooms, the plight of the learnersis often lost.

3. The Present Study

The present study is a cross-sectionalprimary research based on empirical data.The aim of the study is to find out thediversity that exists within an ESLundergraduate classroom. The participantsof this study are 50 first-year ESLundergraduate students enrolled in a collegeaffiliated to Calcutta University for History(BA) and Economics (B.Sc) Honors (Major)courses. The students were given acombined ‘Compulsory English’ coursetogether in one big classroom. Among these50 students, 22 (10 female and 12 male)had studied in English medium schools and28 (12 female and 16 male) in Bengalimedium schools. The data for this study waselicited through three main components,they are: a) Questionnaire b) LAT and c) Freecomposition. The questionnaire comprisedof 28 questions, the LAT had 16 questionsand 24 blanks and in the free-compositiontest the learners were asked to write anessay of 150-200 on any one of the threetopics given. The learners were given onehour to complete the test.

4. Data Analysis and Discussion of Results

While analyzing the responses and testresults of the learners it was found that themedium of instruction in school had a majorimpact on both the responses and the testresults of the learners. As it was not possibleto address each of the 50 learnersseparately, they are divided into two broadgroups based on the medium of instructionthey had in school and their responses andperformances are studied accordingly.

4.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire had 26 questions theresponses to which had to be given on aLikert-type scale ranging from Strongly Agree(1) to Strongly Disagree (5). The responses tothis questionnaire were collected from 95students for testing the reliability and thequestionnaire was subjected to Cronbach’sAlpha test. The first part dealing with theattitude of the learners towards speaking andwriting in English noted an alpha reading of0.87. The second section dealing withlearners’ perception of the current Englishprogram has an alpha value of 0.78. The thirdsection dealing with strategies had an alphareading of 0.5 and last section which dealswith learners’ perception of errors has analpha value of 0.85. The responses of the 50learners who participated in this study arediscussed below.

The first section of the questionnaire had fivequestions about the learners’ perception ofwriting/speaking in English. The T-test resultshows that there is a statistically significantdifference between the responses made by thetwo groups (p < 0.05). Whereas the learners


from English medium backgrounds arepositive about their English writing andspeaking skills (M=2), the learners fromBengali medium backgrounds are unsure(M=3.42) about it. The second section had fivequestions about learners’ perception of thepresent English program. The T-test resultshows that there is a statistically significantdifference between the responses made by thetwo groups (p < 0.05). It is noted that none ofthe students are satisfied with the literaturecentric program; however, the Englishmedium students had a comparativelypositive perception of the program (M=3) thanthe Bengali medium students (M=3.65). Thethird section had eight questions about thelanguage learning strategies applied by thelearners. Among these 8 strategies, four weremetacognitive and four cognitive strategies.No statistically significant differences arenoted in the use of either cognitive ormetacognitive strategies among the twogroups. However, one noticeable fact in theuse of strategies is whereas the Bengalimedium students responded positively aboutthe use of translations strategies, the Englishmedium students are extremely negativeabout the same. The last section dealt withthe perception of the students about the errorssince the study uses Error Analysis as a toolto find out the differences in the proficiencylevels of the students studying in the sameclass. The T-test result shows that there is astatistically significant difference (p < 0.05)with the Bengali medium students havingmore concern and awareness for theerrors they made (M=2.03) than the Englishmedium students (M=3.22). (See Appendicesfor tables).

4.2 Language Ability Test (LAT)

A test of any kind is conducted to measurea person’s ability, knowledge or performancein a given domain. There were total 24 itemsto assess the participants’ ability to makeproper use of prepositions, articles, tenses,voice, direct/indirect sentences, adjectives,and adverbs. The responses to the LAT werecollected from 95 students for testing thereliability and the questionnaire wassubjected to Cronbach’s Alpha test. Thealpha reading for the LAT was 0.73. The T-test result shows that there is a statisticallysignificant difference between the scores ofboth the groups (p < 0.05).

The LAT score shows that the Englishmedium students performed much betterthan their co-learners from Bengali mediumbackgrounds. Whereas the averagepercentage of the English medium studentsis as high as 74.79% (Score 17.95/24), thatof the Bengali medium students is only45.54% (Score 10.93/24). According to thescores, whereas the English mediumstudents can be termed as highly proficient,the Bengali medium students can only betermed as low proficient learners. TheBengali medium male students (11.6/24)performed slightly better than the femalestudents (10/24) whereas, the Englishmedium female students (19.3/24)outperformed the English medium malestudents (16.83/24).

4.3 Free Composition Test

Nature of Composition: The Englishmedium students wrote on an average 105words per compositions more than the


Bengali medium students. The learners fromEnglish medium background produced asmany as 111 error free sentences while thelearners from Bengali medium backgroundproduced only 17 errors free sentences. TheEnglish medium students produced on anaverage 5 more sentences per compositionthan the Bengali medium students and theformer also wrote lengthy and more complexsentences compared to the latter. TheEnglish medium students produced 42.13%error free sentences while the Bengalimedium students produced only 8.54%error free sentences. Whereas the Englishmedium students produced only 7% errors,the Bengali medium students produced30.41% errors. Thus the nature ofcomposition, its length, and the errorpercentages, show that in spite beinglearners in the same class, there exists astrong dichotomy between these two groupof learners. The gender of the students hadsome impact on the nature of compositionsthey produced with the male learners of boththe groups performing better than thefemale learners in respect to the number ofsentences produced. Though, there is notmuch of a difference in the number of errorsmade by the male and female English

medium learners, the Bengali medium malestudents made more number of errors ascompared to their female counterparts.

Distribution of Errors: In the face of thedichotomy that exists between theperformances of the two groups of learnersthe present study is dealing with, it will beinteresting to see what the nature of theerrors reveal about the learners; whetherthere is a pattern in the distribution of errorcategories and whether there is a differencein the distribution. An exhaustive study ofthe error categories shows that though thereis a huge difference in the number of errorsbeing made in the compositions, asdiscussed in the previous paragraph, thereis no difference in the distribution of errors.Both the groups made the maximumnumber of morpho-syntactic1 errors followedby spelling and punctuation errors, lexico-semantic2 errors and syntactic errors.

Cause of Errors: While analyzing the causeof errors, it is found that the Bengalimedium students produced almost threetimes more number of interlingual3 errors(19.12%) than the English medium students(7.28%). The learners from the Englishmedium backgrounds on the other hand

1 Morphosyntactic errors: As Pandey (2011) points out, it arises from the erroneous use ofmorphological inflections and syntactic rules i.e. these are mainly grammatical errors. This categorywill comprise of a) Erroneous use of plural marking, possessive marking, degree of comparisonmarking etc. b) Erroneous use of tense marking c) Erroneous use of prepositions d) Errors in use ofarticle e) Erroneous word order.

2 Lexico-semantic errors: it arises from inappropriate use of words and can range from use of wrongwords ( for example advise for advice etc.), collocation errors, translation errors, wrong word formsand duplication errors.

3 Interlingual errors: these are errors which arise as a result of language transfer i.e. transfer oflearner’s L1(First Language) rules to L2 (Second Language).


made more number of intralingual4 errors(89%) than the Bengali medium learners(71%). While interlingual errors areconceived to be errors occurring atelementary levels, intralingual ordevelopmental errors as the name suggestsoccur at latter stages of learning (Brown,2000). This points to the fact that thelearners from the English mediumbackgrounds belong to a much higher levelof learning as compared to their classmateswho are from Bengali medium backgrounds.

5. Conclusion and PedagogicalImplications

The study was conducted with an aim tounravel the diversity that exists among theperceptions and proficiency of the studentsin a typical undergraduate English classroom.The study shows that among the range offactors listed in literature leading to thediversity, the medium of instruction in schoolhas the most significant impact on theperceptions and performance of the students.The analysis of the questionnaire shows thatthe learners coming from English mediumbackgrounds were much more confident thantheir fellow learners from Bengali mediumbackgrounds. The confidence, however, is notjust limited to the perceptions but is wellreflected in the performance of the Englishmedium students. The LAT score, nature ofcomposition, its length and the errorpercentages are all indicative of the high levelof proficiency of the English medium students.

Evidently, there are two distinct levels ofstudents in the same classroom, one with highproficiency level and the other with lowproficiency level. This strong dichotomy leadsto what Mukherjee (2009) termed as theformation of alternative hegemonies in thelanguage classrooms. The formation ofalternative hegemonies wreaks havoc on thelow proficiency students hampering theirconfidence and motivation.

The various ways of handling a mixed-abilityclassroom as has been located in literatureare designing group tasks, making mixed-groups, using electronic media and usinglanguage games. However, with the givencomposition of the classroom mentioned inthis study and the nature of the programi.e. literature-centric program, it will be verydifficult to conduct group tasks; and if thereare no group tasks then there is no scope ofcreating mixed-ability groups. It is verydifficult to suggest the ways of handling aclass as diverse as this. If the focus is onthe low proficiency students, the highproficiency students will not learn anythingout of the course and vice-versa. There areonly two ways of resolving this problem;either the low proficiency learners shouldbe given special English classes to enhancetheir proficiency or the students should betaught in two separate classrooms based ontheir proficiency levels. This might not bean ideal way of dealing with mixed-abilityclasses, however, in face of such

4 Intralingual errors: also known as developmental errors. These errors occur once the learnersbegin to acquire parts of the new system. These errors occur when the learners form hypothesisbased on their partial exposure to the Target Language. These errors correspond neither to theMother Tongue nor to the Target Language.


magnanimity in terms of the strength of theclass and diversity in terms of the

proficiency, it’s hard to suggest any otherprobable solution.

Appendix I

Perceptions about writing/speaking in English Bengali EnglishMedium medium

Writing in English is an easy task. 3.10 1.77Speaking in English is an easy task. 3.21 1.86I always find English writing classes to be interesting. 3.46 2.4I always find English speaking classes to be interesting. 3.57 2.22I find it easy to express my thoughts and ideas inwriting in English. 3.78 1.77Average 3.42 2

Appendix II

Perceptions about the current English programme Bengali EnglishMedium medium

The English programme offered to me is very useful. 3.5 2.63The English programme encourages me to use Englishcreatively. 3.57 2.5The programme mainly focuses on writing skills. 3.4 2.9The programme mainly focuses on oral skills. 3.5 3.09Audio-visual aids are used in the class. 4.25 3.86Average 3.65 3

Appendix III

Language Learning Strategy Use Bengali EnglishMedium medium

I always make a plan before I start writing. 1.8 1.86Whenever I write in English, I take notes in Bengali andtranslate it into English. 1.64 4.54I seek help when I write a composition in English. 2.8 3.90I re-read what I have written to get ideas about how tocontinue. 2.17 1.63When Ihave written my paper I hand it after revising it. 2.28 2.13I sometimes translate what Ihave written in my mindin Bangla to make sure Iwritten all the points. 1.96 4I believe that my written English skills are better thanmy spoken English skills. 2.82 2.54I always use a dictionary. 3.89 2.13Average 2.42 2.84


Appendix IV

Perception about errors Bengali EnglishMedium medium

When speaking/ writing in English I am worried aboutthe errors I make 1.57 2.36My errors in writing are mostly in grammar. 1.64 2.81My errors in writing are mostly in the appropriate use ofvocabulary (words) in the context. 2.10 2.95My errors in writing are mostly in spelling andpunctuation. 2.21 3.59My errors in speaking are mostly in grammar. 1.92 3.63My errors in speaking are mostly in the appropriate useof vocabulary (words) in context. 1.27 2.95My errors in speaking are mostly in pronunciation. 2.42 4.13My errors in speaking are mostly in fluency andintonation. 2.21 3.36Average 2.03 3.22

ReferencesBiber, D. (2006). University language: Acorpus-based study of spoken and writtenregisters (Vol. 23). John BenjaminsPublishing.Chattaraj, Dishari (2015). The challenges ofteaching and learning Compulsory Englishat the undergraduate level: A Case ofCalcutta University. The Global Journal ofEnglish Studies September 2015 Vol. 1.2ISSN: 2395 4795.Jones, Leo (2007). The student-centeredclassroom. New York, NY: CambridgeUniversity Press.Kundu, Manmatha (2014). ManagingDifferently-Proficient Learners and Mixed-Ability Classes: The First Priority in Makingan English Class Inclusive in Our Country.Making The English Classroom in India MoreInclusive Vol. 3.1.Mirani, Smruti, and Sugra Chunawala.Teachers’ Perceptions of Dealing with MixedAbility Classrooms. Retrieved from https:// w w w . r e s e a r c h g a t e . n e t / p r o f i l e /S u g r a _ C h u n a w a l a / p u b l i c a t i o n /

2 9 2 5 1 3 3 8 7 _ T e a c h e r s‘_Perceptions_of_Dealing_with_Mixed_A b i l i t y _ C l a s s r o o m s / l i n k s /56b2e62408aed7ba3fe df011/Teachers-Perceptions-of-Dealing-with-Mixed-Ability-Classrooms.pdf (8 Aug, 2017).Mukherjee, Alok (2009). This gift of English:English education and the formationof alternativehegemonies in India. Orient Blackswan.Narang, Vaishna, Salonee Priya, andVaralakshmi Chaudhry (2016). SecondLanguage Acquisition in Multilingual and MixedAbility Indian Classrooms. Springer India.Pandey, G.P (2011). Learner-centredapproach toELTforBBS: AstudyinESP-ESBPforNepaleseundergraduates. Diss.JawaharlalNehruUniversity.Sheorey, Ravi (1999). An examination oflanguage learning strategy use in the settingof an indigenized variety of English. SystemVol. 27.2.Shrivastava, Archana, and J. Sundarsingh(2010). Coping with the Problems of MixedAbility Students. Language in India Vol.10.1.


Reinventing the Mode of Teaching: Questionas a way of learning

Ritu R. AgarwalAsst. Professor of English, J.Z. Shah Arts & H.P. Desai Commerce College,Amroli, Surat, Gujarat

ABSTRACTIn the present times, when teaching has become equivalent to mentoring andlearning process has acquired a new approach, it is imperative that thelearners are put at the centre and their potential is exploited to the maximumby making them actively involved in the classroom. It is time to reverse thetrend (especially in a post-graduate class of students of literature), whereininstead of asking answers to questions, the emphasis should be on toencourage them to pose questions. The paper shares thoughts towards theconcept that questioning is a mode of learning, questioning encourageslearners’ creativity and questioning is a way of sharing unanswered answers.It is based on the hypothesis that questions help to raise issues and given aproper learning environment, a person can improve his/her ability if he/sheis allowed to express, think and articulate. The paper also focuses on theadvantages such learning can provide in the days ahead.

Keywords: learner, questioning, learning process

Classroom is a place of interaction andcollaboration between learners and theteacher. Unfortunately, literary studies islosing its charm but if these studies canmake the students more skill oriented, thenthe crisis which is facing the field of Artscan easily be tackled. As a practicing teacherthe questions which generally crop up inmind are: Are our learners creative enoughto prepare the future generations? Are weable to inspire the students to think out ofthe box? These questions embody

predicament of the present time but in theproblem lies the solution. Only what we needto do is to just let go off the existing normsand make way for something new. There arefive main things which can be done to makethe learning process interesting and makeinquiry a classroom strategy.

Incorporating questioning as a techniquein the classroom

Reversing the trend by letting thelearners ask questions


Letting them discuss in pairs the maintheme and brainstorm the ideas

Encouraging the learners to list downimportant topic sentences from the textwhich garners attention and then turnit into a query

Promoting a debate on the questionsraised

Inspiring them to focus on less discussedissues from the text or to chalk out eventsfrom the text which they think areimportant

It is based on the hypothesis that questionshelp to raise issues and given a properlearning environment, a person can improvehis/her ability if he/she is allowed toexpress, think and articulate. Right fromthe school days the learners are only usedto answer the questions but when they aremade to perform a role opposite to theirexpectation, it is noticed that they startthinking with a desire.

Literature Review

As we look into inquiry as a classroomstrategy we find that there is a mention ofthree contemporary approaches tocollaborative, inquiry-based teaching,namely Matthew Lipman’s ‘Community ofInquiry’, Leonard Nelson’s ‘SocraticDialogue’, and David Bohm’s ‘Dialogue’.“With information becoming moreaccessible, what is required is thedisposition and capacity to think reflectivelyin order to process the increasing amountof information available.” ( Chesters 4) Cam

has said that

“If only people were better at askingappropriate questions, articulating problemsand issues...evaluating the alternatives opento them, engaging in discussion with oneanother, and thinking collaboratively, thenwe would all be so much better off.” (Cam,2006, p.2)

It was in 4th century BC that questioningwas first used as an instructional tool, whenSocrates used questions and answers tochallenge assumptions.

Bartlett Giamatti (1976:194) says, “Teachingis an instinctual art, mindful of potential,craving of realization.” According to Gardner(1995), it is the progress toward truth that“is vital to the practice of inquiry … at leastif such progress is possible” (p.38). Pardalesand Girod (2006) refer to the process aspeople coming together to serve as a “juryto ideas and hypotheses” (p.301).

For Burgh, Field and Freakly, the purposeof democratic education is that ofreconstruction (Burgh, 2003; Burgh, Field& Freakley, 2006). The substantivedimension is the “subject matter, thecontent, things worth inquiring about”(Burgh et al, 2006, p.138). The aim of inquiryaccording to Lipman is to help learners’“become more thoughtful, more reflective,more considerate, more reasonableindividuals” (1977, p.69– 70).

Gilbert Ryle (1971) argues that creativity ispresent when we ponder because we mustact as the teacher, helping our ideas toform.”It is also through the process of


actively “interrogating” the content usingprovocative questions that studentsstrengthen and deepen theirunderstanding.” (McTighe 5) Coming toknow something requires learners to activelyparticipate as they construct andprogressively improve their understandingthrough the exploration of ideas (Bransford,Brown, & Cocking, 2000).

The power of QtA is that students do all theinterpretive work: “They construct themeaning, wrestle with the ideas, andconsider the ways information connects toconstruct meaning” (Beck, McKeown,Hamilton, & Kugan, 1977, p. 33) Rothsteinand Santana have called their method ofteaching the Quest ion FormulationTechnique. Learners’ questions may betriggered by unknown words which thenengender cognitive dissonance (Festinger)The act of ‘composing questions’ focuses theattention of students on content, mainideas, and checking if content is understood(Rosenshine,Meister,&Chapman 1996). Inthe book Make Just One Change: TeachStudents to Ask Their Own Questions (2011),Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana propose six-step process for teaching students toformulate their own questions and takeownership of their learning.

Questioning as a Strategy

Thus based on the review of the researchand its findings, it is apt to say thatquestioning, inquiry on the part of thelearner can contribute a lot towards theirlearning process and outcome. Thistechnique can be adopted as a strategy and

it can be used:

To encourage people to developindependent thinking

To promote generative thinking, criticalthinking & evaluative thinking therebyleading to connectivity.

To stimulate not just thinking butreconstructing.

To enable a better understanding of thetext by letting the learners’ adopt ideas,conjectures and hypothesis.

To develop in them a confidnce to thinkcreatively and innovatively.

To increase student engagement andpromote independent thinking.

To make learners’ aware of the fact thatcontent is important, but as a means toan end, not as an end in itself.

To examine and assess what has beenlearned, and check that what has beenlearnt is understood.

To generate views and opinions oflearners.

To develop the cognitive ability in thelearners wherein they are able to analyze,speculate, put forth an argument andthereby negotiate.

In an age when students are trying to avoidreading the original text and rely more on‘books about books’ or are hooked to theSpark Notes or e notes, this technique canwork wonders. Post graduate students arewell versed with basic subject knowledge so


after dealing with the text with contentspecific approach, the practice of reversingthe trend can lead to discussion. Inquiryon the part of the learners’ can help themto appreciate the deep underlying principlesof thought.

Steps to progress through questioningstrategy

The learner can be made to progress throughquestioning in the following manner:

1. Identify the text to be selected after thecontent has been explained.

2. Give them the areas / points wherestudents can explore further andbrainstorm ideas.

3. Ask them to inquire and pose questions.

4. The teacher can even cite a few examplesof the way in which questions can beraised. Even specific words, quotes from

the text can be selected for furtherexploration.

5. Use “think- alouds” to model for studentshow to think through the questions.(Corley)

6. Award the best question

We can outline at least five facts which canhelp in creating stimulating environment:

Content-catered plan

Thought development and enhancementof knowledge

Innovation towards dialogic approach inclassroom

Thorough home work in locating specificpoints to help learners collaborate andcreate

Catering to multiple intelligences anddiverse interests

This questioning technique can be represented in the form of a diagram:


However this cannot happen in the absenceof motivation within and it also needs astimulating environment. The aim is tochallenge the average performers and mouldthem into bright performers and it alsoenhances the bright learners’ innatecapacity towards a higher level ofunderstanding.

Because of the interactive nature ofquestions, the classroom can become acentre for exploration of ideas. Questioningby learners is on the part of the teacher akind of feedback .They start thinking like a

teacher and not just the strategy but theirrole also gets reversed. Terry Heick in thearticle “7 strategies to help students askgreat questions” states:

“In education, we tend to value astudent’s ability to answer ourquestions. But what might be moreimportant is their ability to ask theirown great questions–and morecritically, their willingness to do so.”

In the past three decades the teachers’ rolehas changed and so has the learning styles.The shift in paradigm could be seen as:

This sort of learning promotes ‘communityof inquiry’ and in a general sense ‘ risk-taking culture’. To be able to progress onedoes not just need a data in the form ofmemory but should also be able to developanalytical skills. For the post graduatestudents of English Literature this mode ofquestioning can lead to an in depth studyof human relations. They can put to testtheir own experience and raise questionswhich can further lead to questions. Forinstance if one is teaching the essays ofEmerson, the questions posed by thelearners can in reality lead to a greaterdiscussion on the problems, challenges of

life and the way to cope with it.

Reverse trend from asking questions to thelearner to let the learner pose questions cango a long way in enhancing the learningprocess, knowledge and scholarship. It can:

Lead to comprehensive possibility ofinterrogation to oneself leading to crosscommunication

Increase the possibility of learners’enhancement of summarizing skills

Highlight the important concepts andfacts of the text

Change From Change To

Learning from books Learning more from media,books andonline information

Learning passively Learning actively

Learning as product Learning as process

Learning as a set of rigid rules to be grasped Learning as a flexible process to be enjoyed

Learning to learn Learning to unlearn


Stimulate the learning of vocabulary

Encourage the reading habit

Help understand the strengths andweaknesses by comparison and contrast

Since by its very nature, question seeksanswers and it indirectly promotes a cultureof communication. Starr Stackstein, ateacher, states:

“Empowering learners with the control of thequestions, puts them in the driver’s seat oftheir journey and progress. They follow theirinterests and we trust them to develop morequestions as they go, unraveling thepossibilities in their learning…”

Conclusion

Thus learning to question and questioningto learn almost go parallel. It is like we asteachers are giving them a chance to engagethem with their feelings. Abelard Peter’sremark goes well with the significance ofquestioning: “The key to wisdom is this -constant and frequent questioning, for bydoubting we are led to question and byquestioning we arrive at the truth.” Let theyoung minds with their curiosity reverberatea creative environment .Instead of assertingour thinking it is time now to help them inreconstruction. In order to create a creativegeneration we have to let the learners investin their thoughts today.

Works Cited

Abelard, Pete. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/peterabela401550.html

Accessed on March 18, 2017.

Barnett, R. (1995). Reflections on ElectronicFrontiers in Education Retrieved 9 December,2005, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/E R I C D o c s / d a t a / e r i c d o c s 2 /content_storage_01/0000000b/80/22/95/83.pdf

Beck, I., McKeown, M., Hamilton, R., &Kugan, L. (1997). Questioning the author:An approach for enhancing studentengagement with text. Newark, DE:International Reading Association.

Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R.(Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain,mind, experience and school. Washington,DC: National Academy Press.

Burgh, G., Field, T., & Freakley, M. (2006).Ethics and the Community of Inquiry :Education and Deliberative Democracy .Melbourne, Victoria: Thomson SocialScience Press.

Cam,P. (2006).Twenty Thinking Tools.Camberwell, Victoria: Acer Press.

Chesters, Sarah Davey. Socratic Classroom,edited by Sarah Davey Chesters, SensePublishers, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central,.Created from inflibnet -ebooks on 2017-03-07 19:32:30.

Festinger, L. 1957. A theory of cognitivedissonance, Stanford, CA: StanfordUniversity Press.

Gardner, S. (1995). Inquiry is no MereConversation (or Discussion or Dialogue):Facilitation is Hard Work! Critical and


Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journalof Philosophy for Children, 3 (2), 38– 49.

Heick, Terry.7 Strategies to Help studentsAsk Great Questions.teachthought.com.April 14,2015.<http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/inquiry/8

-strategies-to-help-students-ask-great-questions/> Accessed on 17 March,2017.

Lipman, M., sharp,A.,and Oscanyan,F.(1977)Philosophy in the Classroom. UpperMontclaire : Institute of the Advancementof Philosophy for Children.

McTighe, Jay, and Grant Wiggins. EssentialQuestions, edited by Jay McTighe, andGrant Wiggins, ASCD, 2013. ProQuestEbook Central, .Created from inflibnet-ebooks on 2017-03-09 20:22:35.

Rosenshine, B., Meister, C. and Chapman, S. 1996. Teaching students to generate questions: Areview of the intervention studies. Reviewof Educational Research, 66: 181–221.[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®], [Google

Scholar]).

Rothstein,Dan and Luz Santana. TeachingStudents to Ask their Own questions: Onesmall change can yield big results. Volume27, Number 5 Sept/Oct 2011. HarvardEducation Press.

Ryle, G.” Thinking and Self teaching”.Journal of Philosophy of Education, 5,216-228, 1971.

Schwartz, Katrina. For Students, Why theQuestion is More Important than the Answer.October 26, 2012. Web. Accessed on 11March, 2012.

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/10/26/for-students-why-the-question-is-more-important-than-the-answer/

Sackstein,Starr .Putting the Power ofQuestions in the Learners’ Hands.personalized learning.com.January 8,2016.<http://www.personalizelearning.com/2016/01/putting-power-of-questions-in-learners.html>. Accessed on March 17, 2017.

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A recent blog-post by Scott Thornbury onsubstitution tables (Thornbury 2017) whichtouches on contributions by Harold E.Palmer (1877–1949) to their theorisationand development, reminded me that thereis still just about time this year to celebratethe centenary of Palmer’s ‘classic’ (1917)work, The Scientific Study and Teaching ofLanguages. This book can be seen to haveheralded what Tony Howatt and I havetermed a ‘Scientific Period’ of languageteaching discourse, a period of at least 50years during which language teachingtheorists tended to relate their proposalsquite strongly to background scientificresearch of various kinds (Howatt and Smith2014)

In 1923, Palmer himself set up an Institutefor Research in English Teaching inTokyo (IRET) in Tokyo which was a world-leader in the pre-war period (see Smith2013).In fact it was really the only placewhere organised research into English asL2 teaching was going on until theUniversity of Michigan English LanguageInstitute was founded in the 1940s. TheScientific Study predated the generallyacknowledged debut of ‘applied linguistics’by 30 years, and the Tokyo research workitself prefigured and influenced that in the

USA and UK in the post-war era, though ingenerally unacknowledged forms. I’vewritten elsewhere (Smith 2011) about theway Palmer’s conception of (something like)applied linguistics as reflected in the workhe and, from 1936 onwards, A.S. Hornby(1898–1978) were engaged in at IRET was abroader, more eclectic and practice-centredconception both than post-war ‘linguisticsapplied’ and the kind of new academicdiscipline Palmer seemed to be proposingin The Scientific Study.

I say ‘seemed’ because a close, contextualreading of the latter book (see Smith 2011)shows that the actual conclusions Palmerproposed are not derived from backgroundsciences (linguistics, psychology etc.) somuch as from his own experimentation as

‘Scientific’ Language Teaching

Richad SmithReader in ELT and Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, UK



a practitioner-researcher in Belgium, wherehe taught from 1902 to 1914). This isactually quite clear from his DedicatoryPreface to the book (Palmer 1917: 5-8).

Palmer mainly based his recommendationsand conclusions in The Scientific Study ona series of experiments carried out into hisown practice as a language teacher inBelgium – they were founded on a form of‘practitioner research’, in other words. Ashis daughter later wrote, he “explored thepossibilities of one method after another,both as teacher and student. He woulddevise, adopt, modify or reject one plan afteranother as the result of further research andexperience in connexion with manylanguages – living and artificial.” (Anderson1969: 136-7)

What was really new was the way, in his1917 and later works, Palmer set out toprovide a principled basis for all kinds ofapproach, to be selected according to needsand context, in accordance with thefollowing realisation (expressed in the book’sDedicatory Preface):

“cen’est pas la méthode qui nous manque;ce qui nous manquec’est la base même dela méthode” (“it is not ‘method’ that we lack;what we lack is a basis for method” (mytranslation)) (Palmer 1917: 5-6).

And this was Palmer’s major contribution –to argue that a basis is needed for methodswhich goes beyond salesmanship, beyondfashion; and that there is no one methodsuited for all occasions but instead manypossibilities, necessitating careful selection.

This is true of his ‘Substitution Method’(which resembled, but of course predatedby a long way audiolingualism) as much asit is of his ‘ostensive line of approach’ (whichprefigured TPR) or the reader-centredapproach he developed for Japaneseschools. These all came out of theorisedexperience as a teacher or teacher educator,but none of them was elevated to the statusof a ‘one-size-fits-all’ method.

When – or whether – the ‘scientific period’heralded by Palmer’s contribution ended isopen to question. On the one hand, somewell-known ELT gurus have recently beenseeming to claim that research has little tooffer language teachers (e.g. Maley 2016;Medgyes 2017). On the other hand, theyseem to be arguing against something they


see as still prevalent in the field – a tendencyto venerate researchers (‘science’) at theexpense of insights from experience and‘craft knowledge’.

What we can say is that ‘science’ is notaccorded the automatic respect it once had– in the heyday of audiolingualism, forexample, when behaviourist psychology andstructural linguistics seemed to provide asolid, largely unquestioned underpinning todrills which treated learners rather likelaboratory rats!

forms of applied linguistics (including in hisrecent plenary for the British Associationfor Applied Linguistics: Widdowson2017) –would, in fact, constitute a return toPalmer’s own lived conception of problem-oriented, practical research, though not towhat he claimed – somewhat precociouslyand even, in some ways, pretentiously – tobe setting up as an academic discipline inhis 1917 work, The Scientific Study andTeaching of Languages.

Note

This article was first published in the formof a blog-post on 19 November 2017. Formore information on Harold E. Palmer’s lifeand work, the reader is invited to consultthe relevant Warwick ELT Archive Hall ofFame web-page here: warwick.ac.uk/elt_archive/halloffame/palmer and/or thebook The Writings of Harold E. Palmer: anOverview, freely downloadable from thesame website.

References

Anderson, Dorothée. 1969. ‘Harold E.Palmer: a biographical essay’. Appendix toPalmer, Harold E. and H. Vere Redman, ThisLanguage-Learning Business. London:Oxford University Press, 1932/1969.

Howatt, A.P.R. and Smith, Richard. ‘Thehistory of teaching English as a foreignlanguage, from a British and Europeanperspective’. Language and History vol. 57,no. 1, 2014, pp. 75-95. Online (open access):http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/1759753614Z.00000000028.Accessed 20 November 2017.

It seems to me that the ELT profession needsa new, rebalanced view of the relationshipbetween ELT and research or ‘science’, onewhich acknowledges the need to baseresearch on teachers’ priorities, thedesirability of teachers themselves beingresearchers of their own practice and theimportance, also, of teachers being criticalof ‘academic’ research. At the same time,we need to stop stereotyping research andsee that there are many kinds, some withdefinite relevance for the classroom, somewith none – and that we can usually onlytalk about possible implications of research,not direct applications.

A revised conception like this – which isconsistent with Henry Widdowson’s ongoingcritique of the top-down nature of certain


Maley, Alan. ‘“More research is needed”: amantra too far?’. Humanising LanguageTeaching, vol. 18, no. 3, 2016. Online (openaccess): http://hltmag.co.uk/jun16/mart01.htm

Medgyes, Péter. ‘The (ir)relevance of academicresearch for the language teacher’. ELTJournal vol. 71, no. 4, 2017, pp. 491-498.

Palmer, Harold E. The Scientific Studyand Teaching of Languages. A review ofthe factors and problems connected withthe learning and teaching of modernlanguages with an analysis of the variousmethods which may be adopted in ordertoattain satisf actory resul ts . London:Harrap, 1917. American edition online:h t t p s : / / a r c h i v e . o r g / d e t a i l s /cu31924026503478. Accessed 20November 2017

Smith, Richard. ‘Harold E. Palmer’salternative “applied linguistics”’. Histoire–Epistémologie–Langage vol. 33, no. 1, 2011,pp. 53-67. Online (open access): http://w w w . p e r s e e . f r / d o c / h e l _ 0 7 5 0 -8069_2011_num_33_1_3206.

Smith, Richard. ‘Harold E. Palmer, IRLT,and ‘historical sense’ in ELT’. IRLT Journalno. 8, 2013, pp. 1-8. Pre-publication versiononline: http://warwick.ac.uk/richardcsmith/smith_r/harold_e__palmer_irlt_and_historical_sense_in_elt.pdf

Thornbury, Scott. ‘S is for Substitutiontable ’ . ht tps://scot tthornbury.wordpress. com/2017/11/12/s-is-for-substitution-table, 2017. Accessed 20November 2017.

Widdowson, Henry G. ‘Disciplinarity anddisparity in applied linguistics’. Plenarypaper at 50th British Association for AppliedLinguistics annual meeting, University ofLeeds. Online (video): https://youtu.be/choufPZm1O8

About the author:

Richard Smith is a Reader in ELT andApplied Linguistics at the University ofWarwick, UK. His professional and researchinterests range from history of languagelearning and teaching to ELT researchcapacity-building and teacher development.In the former area, he is known for hisachievements in putting ELT history ‘on themap’, as founder and curator of the WarwickELT Archive (http://www.warwick.ac.uk/elt_archive), as the author of ground-breaking articles including ‘Building AppliedLinguistic Historiography’ (AppliedLinguistics 37/1), editor of a three-volume HIstory of Language Learning andTeaching (Legenda, in press) and founder /co-convenor of the AILA Research networkon History of Language Learning andTeaching (http://hollt.net).


A Qualitative Study on Using InteractiveFiction for Enhancing Employability Skills

R JayaAssociate Professor of English, KCG College of Technology, Chennai


ABSTRACTThe paper is an attempt to find out the use of online interactive fiction inenhancing the employability skills of the students. It is a qualitative study,in which feedback of students who played an online interactive fiction gamewas collected. The feedback revealed that the students had the scope of usingand developing their critical, creative, lateral, logical, analytical, problemsolving, decision making and inter personal skills.

With the proliferation of engineeringinstitutions particularly in South India, alarge number of students pursue theireducation in these institutions for securingplacement in multinational companiesthrough campus interviews. Further thecompanies also look for candidates who arereasonably proficient in both language skillsand soft skills. They expect the institutionsto train their students on these skills so thatthey could focus more on technical aspectsduring the training they provide soon afterthe recruitment. Therefore, the teachers ofEnglish language are shouldered with theresponsibility of training the students onsoft skills in addition to language skills andmake them industry ready.

The culture of young learners today differsfrom the culture of the previous generationwho were only exposed to analoguetechnologies like broadcast radio, television

and print-based texts. For these younglearners, computers are not considered tobe technology but rather a natural part oflife, the internet is better than TV,multitasking is a way of life and stayingconnected to others through the use oftechnologies is essential (Frand 16). Prensky(2001) also points out that today’s studentsare surrounded by a ubiquitous digitalenvironment and as a result they “think andprocess information fundamentallydifferently from their predecessors” (1). Thedeployment of ICTs as learning tools is auseful way of providing a variety of learningpaths for young learners with differentlearning abilities. Gardner sees the potentialfor individualized learning “to be enhancedsignificantly by technology” (179). He alsostates that, “It is not easy for teachers toprovide individualized curricula andpedagogy…Happily, we have in our grasptoday technology that should allow a


quantum leap in the delivery ofindividualized services for both studentsand teachers…that addresses the differentintelligences (and) that allows students toexhibit their own understandings in diversesymbol systems (linguistic, numerical,musical, graphic, and more)” (179).

Considering the needs of the companies andattitude of the students an attempt wasmade to find out the use of online interactivefictions in enhancing the employabilityskills of the students. In this competitiveera, the ability to think analytically, laterallyand critically; make decisions and solveproblems are being considered as the majorrequisites in the job market. Interactivefictions provide scope for using these skillsand hence this paper attempts to show thepossibility of using interactive fictions toenhance the employability skills of thestudents.

Interactive fiction, otherwise known as textadventures, is a software simulatingenvironment where the reader acts as aprotagonist and determines the progressand end of a story. In other words, it tellsthe reader the beginning of the story andlets the reader decide the actions of themain character of the story. The readerhelps the main character overcome theobstacles to his progress. This requiresreaders to analyse the given situation, thinkcritically, arrive at a solution to the givenproblem and make appropriate decisions.The reader uses text commands to controlcharacters and influence the environment.

The game starts with an introduction,

usually consisting of one or a few printedtext on the screen, giving some backgroundon who the protagonist is, where he/she is,and perhaps even what are the objectives ofthe reader/player in the game. Whenever thegame has printed text on the screen, it willwait until the player press ENTER or someother key, so that he/she get a chance toread everything before it scrolls off the topof the screen. When the introduction is over,the player will get a prompt, usually “>”, butit may be a little different from game to game.The prompt means that the game is nowwaiting for the player to tell it what he/shewants to do. This is done by typingimperative commands, as if commanding orinstructing someone.

The study of the history of interactive fictionrevealed that computer-based interactivefiction began in 1975 with Infocom’sAdventure which was followed by Zork andUltima Series. In 190 the bestselling bookThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wasadapted by Douglas Adams as interactivefiction. In 1990 text-based MUDs (multi-userdungeons) was introduced which enabledmultiple players to join together in onlinevirtual worlds. Since then efforts were takenby the game designers to create games bytaking into consideration the personalitytraits and needs of the players. In otherwords, people play games for differentreasons; some play to socialize, others tocollect objects, and some others to competeand win and all these player types areconsidered while designing games in thevirtual world.

The study of literature on the use of


interactive fiction for educational purposesrevealed that a large number of researcheshave been done on the use of interactivefiction for language learning, problemsolving and enhancing creative and criticalthinking. According to Pereira IF can providean extremely motivating and engagingreading experience which may provideopportunities for the improvement ofreading skills, and potentially contribute tobetter reading fluency and at the same timeenable building schema and scripts, andexercising important critical and lateralthinking skills. Desilets (2016) explained thethinking process involved in interactivefiction by applying Sternberg’s (1984)componential theory of intelligence.According to him interactive fiction, like anykind of literature, involves all three kindsof components - metacomponent,performance component and knowledgeacquisition component- but it offers anespecially compelling approach tometacomponents in that it forces readersto think about how they control theirthinking. In the study conducted by Grimleyet.al., interactive fiction was used as a toolto bridge theory and practice in meaningfulways within online and face-to-face pre-service teacher education. The perceptionsof the students and teachers towards usinginteractive fiction for educational purposeis positive that Desilets in his blog wrote“Many students find interactive fiction, alsoknown as IF or adventure gaming, anenjoyable way to gain experience with all ofthe major elements of literature (thoughpoint of view takes an unusual twist or two),and teachers who are comfortable with it

soon find that it grows well in the classroom,even if there’s only one computer available.”

The present study aims to study thepossibility of enhancing the employabilityskills through interactive fiction. Fifteenengineering students undergoingCommunication and Soft Skills Courseparticipated in the study. They were firsttime users of interactive fiction andtherefore in addition to explaining to themhow to play a game, list of verbs that arecommonly understood by the interactivefiction were given to them. (See AppendixI). The students were asked to play onlinethe interactive fiction “Lost Pig” and an hourlater their experiences were collected asfeedback. Lost Pig, is a story that waswritten by a person whose pen-name isAdmiral Jota. In 2007, when it firstappeared, Lost Pig won the fall IFCompetition, and it later took prestigiousXYZZY Awards for Best Game, Best Writing,Best Individual Non-Player Character, andBest Player/Character. It is a comedic workof interactive fiction about an orc retrievinga pig that escaped from a pig farm. Thegame’s protagonist is Grunk, an orc whoworks at a farm. A pig under his care hasescaped, and the game begins with Grunklooking for the pig. Chasing the pig, Grunksoon falls into an underground complex. Towin the game, the player must get Grunk tocapture the pig and find a way out of thecomplex.

Among the various interactive fictionsavailable, Lost Pig was chosen for the studyas kids appreciate Lost Pig as a tale for allages. The students worked on it for nearly


Appendix I: An entire strategy guide on a single postcard- Written by Andrew Plotkin —design by Lea Albaugh

Appendix II – Sample of Student Navigation through Interactive Fiction


one hour and the maximum point scoredwas 2 and the minimum was 1. Twostudents out of fifteen scored 2 points andthe rest scored 1 point. (See Appendix II)Though the students were not able capturethe pig, they enjoyed and considered thegame challenging. Further they were ableto think critically, logically, creatively andlaterally to capture the pig. This is evidentfrom the feedback provided by the students.

Describing the challenges faced and thelearning outcomes achieved students wrote:

“I had a very nice experience playing thisgame. I got a point when I asked Grunk tolisten. My challenge was remembering all therooms and its contents and adding it all upto find the solution. But I really had so muchfun playing this game. This game helped methink creatively and logically. The gamereally pushes to think in all possible waysand also makes examine every detail.”

“Lost Pig is a well-crafted and a neat game.At every stage a problem is given describingthe new scenario and surroundings. Theplayer needs to use various verbs to interactwith Grunk. This helps us in critical thinkingof any problem and also tests our vocabularyskills whilst interacting with the software(typing commands/ verbs). Also it helps usin creative and critical thinking as it doesn’tfully describe the surroundings. It just givesa vague description of it. For example, in onesituation, the system mentioned about somestairs at west of a hole that are broken. Weneed to think out- of –the box and ponderwhat all can be done to broken stairs. Thecharacter Grunk can perform actions like

looking under the stairs, looking/observingthe stairs to get some clue or object which inturn may help us find another clue. Overallthis game is a fun and different game thatcan be played at leisure to give our brainssome exercise that we all necessarily needevery now and then”.

“There is no such entertaining game like LostPig. By the end of this game we improve ourcreative thinking skills. This game makes mymind relaxed.”

Further this activity helped students tomake a self-analysis of their strength andweakness and identify the areas to beimproved. One student wrote:

“When you seem to score up, the taskbecomes little tough to solve. Felt like thereis a need for me to increase my thinking skillsthan creativity.”

“ We need parallel thinking for every part ofit.”

It was also clear from a feedback that thisactivity helped students to improve theirproblem solving skills and interpersonalskills. In the words of a student, “Eventhough I couldn’t find the pig at the end, Ilearnt how to approach a problem fromscratch. Also, in the middle of the exercise, Ilearnt how to ask for help from strangerpolitely.”

However, a few students expressed a feelingof frustration they experienced while playingthe game. This may be due to difficulty inarriving at the right clue. A student wrote:

“Initially the scenario was interesting but it


was difficult to find the answer. The scenariowas running in a loop which made ituninteresting”.

There were mixed views about the languageused by Grunk. The writer of the story haddeliberately made Grunk speak brokenEnglish to give comic effect. This acted asan obstacle for a few and for some it servedas a learning opportunity.

One student wrote: “The responses to eachcomments/ instructions given were difficultto understand due to bad English”

On the contrary, another student wrote:

“The person’s usage of English helps usunderstand why we have to use properEnglish; that way the idea is clearlydelivered”.

It is evident from the feedback given by thestudents that this activity provided themwith a scope for improving their critical,creative, lateral, logical, analytical, problemsolving, decision making and inter personalskills. In short, use of IF ensures that allthe soft skills are enhanced therebycontributing to heightened employabilityskills.

To conclude, in this competitive and digitalera, the use of technological platforms forteaching the requisite skills is highly

essential. Interactive fiction is one suchplatform through which employability skillsof the digital learners can be augmented.

References:

Desilets, Brendan. Teaching and LearningWith Interactive Fiction. WordPress. Web.3 Feb. 2016.

Frand, J. “The Information Age Mindset:Changes in Students and Implications forHigher Education”. Educause Review 35. 5(2000): 15-18. Online.

Gardner, H. Intelligence Reframed: MultipleIntelligences for the 21st Century. New York:Basic Books, 1999. Print.

Grimley, Michael, et al. “Interactive Fictionas a Tool For Problem-Based Learning InTeacher Education”. Australian Associationfor Research in Education, (2014): 1-5.Online.

Pereira, Joe. “Video Game Meets Literature:Language Learning with Interactive Fiction”.An e-journal of Teacher Education andApplied Language Studies 4 (2013):19-45.Online.

Prensky, M. “Digital Natives, DigitalImmigrants, part 2: Do they really thinkdifferently?” On the Horizon, 9.6 (2001): 1-9. Online.


Process Writing Framework as a PedagogicTool in the Context of ESL/EFL

S ThiruvenkataswamiProfessor and Head, Department of English, SSN College of Engineering,Chennai, India


ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to make a case for using a ‘Process Writing Framework’(PWF) as an effective way to teach writing skills in the context of ESL. A lot ofresearch in the past has shown us the efficacy of ‘rewriting’ as an inevitableactivity to improve or even complete writing. There have been myriad ways inwhich writers have been ‘rewriting’ or writing ‘revised drafts’. The presentstudy proposes a Process Writing Framework (PWF) that will not only be usefulto refine a particular text but also serve as an effective pedagogic tool forteaching writing skills in English Language. The PWF can be used forimproving one’s writing’ by the learners on their own at any time. PWF, whichremains as an external tool in the classroom, gradually becomes aninternalized ‘skill set’ that helps produce better ‘writing’.

Keywords: ESL, EFL, Process Writing Framework

Introduction

Conscious teaching of writing in the L2/ESL/ EFL contexts has been a myth in ourclassrooms. Students are seldom taught‘writing skills’ in the classroom. Thecommonly noticed ‘writing activities’ in theclassroom are related to grammar,vocabulary and construction of isolatedsentences. In the study conducted for thispurpose, it is noticed that following are someof the activities conducted in the few writingclasses that are held. The activities are, a.‘gap filling for choosing the right grammaritems such as an article, verb, adjective,coherence markers etc’, b. matching the

sentence halves to form grammaticallyacceptable sentences’, c. completion ofsentences with the beginning or the end ofa sentence given, d. constructing sentencesgiven a word, e. transformation of sentences(active-passive / direct indirect ) etc., It isnoticed that students, sometimes, write inclass letters, paragraphs, dialogues,instructions, recommendations etc.for the purpose of examinations.

The input for these activities is mostly froma prescribed text book, reference to internetand other materials improvised by theteacher. If at all these writings are checkedby the teacher, they are for format, grammar


and spelling. The teacher’s feedback islimited to a few ‘red marks’ on paper. Thepost writing activity is unusual and thebelief seems to be that the learners havelearnt ‘writing’ from this experience. Butsamples of their writing subsequent to thisclassroom exercise do not really showacquisition of writing ability in the real senseof the term.

The study suggests revision of texts usingPWF, a post-writing task. It is found thatthis activity helps the learner to reflect onhis/her writing, make sense of the text andbring about a host of changes to improvethe quality of transfer of meaning, theprimary purpose of ‘writing’. The focus isnot only to enable writers write ‘error-freesentences’ and score marks in theexamination but to produce ‘mostmeaningful texts’. The shift is from amechanical ‘sentence level grammar’ to thatof a ‘text level grammar’ focusing on‘meaning’. The suggestion has been testedand found useful. This is not to suggest thatthis is the only way to teach writing butcertainly one of the effective ways of teachingwriting.

Background

Writing remains an important skill foracademic and career related purposes inthe context of English as L2 in India.Though the TL for this study are drawnfrom students from an engineeringcollege, the improvement of writingability is crucial for students from artsand science colleges as well. Teaching‘writing’ remains a grey area in the

context of the TL. Based on theperception of both the teachers and thestudents, it can be pointed out that theacquisition of ‘writing’ skills is eitherincidental or cultivated by the sheermotivation of a few individual learners.It is, by and large, not consciously taughtor learnt.

When students attempt internationallanguage proficiency tests like the IELTS,‘Writing Test’ poses a great difficulty tomany. In addition, most of the scientificcommunity in India find it very difficultto write papers for journals or even makepresentations for lack of adequate abilityin writing in spite of their adequateknowledge in the area. The state-basedcurriculum has given the TL the ability toscore high marks in the universityexamination that tests only rote memoryor a mechanical production of language.A major chunk of the TL is drawn fromthese schools and students from CBSE,ICSE, IGCSE, IB are an exception to thisrule. But this second group compriseshardly 10% of the students at the tertiarylevel in India. Hence the present studyassumes importance against thisbackground of the need for good writingabilities on the one hand and the absenceof appropriate teaching methodology onthe other.

Research questions

1. What would be an ideal methodology toteach Writing Skills in a short span oftime?

2. Is this methodology pedagogically viable?


Writing as Rewriting

It is well known that writing improves withsuccessive drafts of writing or rewriting.Dissertations which form part of a postgraduate or doctoral programme are notcomplete without rewriting. Précis Writing,a popular task in English Test in the bygonedays followed rewriting as a procedure.Several writers and critics from the past tothe present have agreed on the need for‘rewriting’. Ernest Hemingway points out inan interview

‘Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do?

Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the endingof Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39times before I was satisfied.

Interviewer: Was there some technicalproblem there? What was it that hadstumped you?

Hemingway: Getting the words right. (1956)

Vladimir Nabokov points out, “I haverewritten—often several times—every wordI have ever published. My pencils outlasttheir erasers.” (1966). Helen Dunmore, thefamous British poet and a novelist, in herfamous ‘ quotes’, points out, “Reread,rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’twork, throw it away. It’s a nice feeling, andyou don’t want to be cluttered with thecorpses of poems and stories which haveeverything in them except the life they need.”(2012)

Though it is a well known fact that writingimproves with successive revision orredrafting, it has not been thought of as a

pedagogic tool for improving writing. Asredrafting helps self reflection on all the subskills in one’s own writing, it is conceivedto be an effective way of ‘improving writing’in the longer run. The present study is anattempt to prove the hypothesis that‘rewriting’, if systematically conceived, canbe an effective pedagogic tool to teachwriting.

At present rewriting of successive drafts ofwriting is made on the basis of one’s ownintuition and awareness of what to correct.Generally grammatical errors, faultypunctuations, inappropriate vocabulary andrelated issues are corrected. The outcomeof such ‘rewriting’ results in a mechanicalimprovement of the text and does not reallyimprove the ‘writing’ to express meaningmore effectively. Therefore, the focus of thisstudy is to make this activity moremeaningful and also uniform acrossdifferent genres of writing. As a result, theconcept of creating a checklist or aframework that can be used as anintervention to write the successive draftsof writing was conceived.

After going through several rounds of tests,the process writing framework (PWF) hasbeen evolved as a tool to be applied forwriting successive drafts of a text. The PWFhas been found useful in many ways. Forone thing, it provides a concrete frameworkensuring uniformity in one’s approachtoward writing revised drafts. Secondly, thetool is helpful in moving away from meremechanical changes in writing to a moredynamic process of improving the meaningpotential of the text. This tool can be used


by the teacher in the classroom and it canalso be used independently by the learnerson their own, in course of time.

Students who have used PWF, given below,for improving their texts have admitted thatit has helped them to improve the quality oftheir text better than the one they did ontheir own without any checklist. Studentsalso felt that with regular use of this tool,their writing skills, in general, improvedconsiderably. But this change takes its owntime as writing is a complex process andthe quality of one’s writing cannot change

drastically within a very short span of time.

The checklist (PWF)

The checklist or the PWF has been evolvedwith inputs from students who have usedit. The checklist is designed to check thetext paragraph by paragraph. The checklist(PWF) is a sign- post to the students to lookat the text as a whole and assess it for its‘meaning potential’. In the process, thestudents are sensitized to various sub-skillsof language. The Process Writing Framework(PWF) is given below:

Activity

Is there a central idea? Is it adequately developed? Canyou identify the topic sentence? Is there any irrelevantor redundant data? Is the content lacking in something?Answer these questions and fill in gaps.

Does the text flow logically and meaning emergesmoothly? Are the sentences well-connected throughthe use of linking devices? Supply appropriateconnecting words (linking devices) wherevernecessary.Study the order of words in a sentence.Reorder them appropriately.Examine the order ofsentences in a paragraph. If there is a need, rearrangethem in the right order.

Are the words appropriate?Do they have a range /variety?Are collocations, idioms and phrases put to gooduse?Are the sentence structures appropriate, display arange ( complex sentences, passive voice etc) andcontribute to meaning?Avoid repetition and irrelevancein lexis as well as structures

Check for spelling, grammar accuracy and punctuation.

Stages

1. Content

2. Syntax and coherence

3. Lexis and sentencestructures

4. Accuracy


The Study

First of all, the TL (students from SSNCollege of Engineering) were assigned a taskto write a paragraph based on a topicsentence. The TL read the paragraphwritten by them carefully with a view toimproving it. The second draft was writtenrectifying the errors in the original text.

In the next stage, the students were giventhe PWF and told how to use this tool. Theywere asked to read their second draft andapply this framework to see if there wereany other corrections. More than 80% ofthem found opportunities for furtherchanges. Others found the frameworkchallenging as they did not have the

proficiency in language to make thecorrections.

Students who were not able to,independently, make any improvements totheir writing were provided help by way ofpairing them with others to help them selfevaluate their writing. This experience wasreported by the students as being highlyproductive.

The final drafts were submitted to theteacher for comments. The teacher providedcomments both on a scale of 1 to 5 inaddition to the specific notes on the scripts.Students found both kinds of assessmentsuseful for self reflection and graduallyovercame their drawbacks.

Assessment on a scale of 1 to 5

1 2 3 4 5

Theme (content)

Syntax and Coherence

Lexis and sentence structures

Accuracy

1. Can identify the problem areassatisfactorily.

2. Some ability to identify the glaringlyevident problem areas with some difficulty,but unable to carry out any revision.

3. Ability to identify problem areas bothevident and subtle to an extent and carryout cer tain correct ions with somedifficulty

4. Can identify all types of problems and

carry out revisions. The revision may havesome errors.

5. Ability to identify all errors and improveon them satisfactorily.

Teachers’ Comments on scripts

In addition to the marking on theassessment scale given above, the teachermade comments on relevant portions of thescript. Some of the comments are listedbelow category wise.


Theme (Content)

Off topic / Needs Focus / Topicmisunderstood

Syntax and Coherence

Change the order of words in somesentences (when needed)

Delete the words marked in red as they areredundant

Introduce a few words to complete the sense.

Linking words are not appropriately used.

Introduce a connective word

Words are repetitive.

Ideas are repeated. The progression of ideaswithin the paragraph is not gradual.

Lexis and Sentence structures

Irrelevant word, ambiguous meaning etc,

Good collocation, appropriate use of words.

Accuracy

Grammatical error/ spelling error/ wrongpunctuation/ punctuation missing

Student Feedback on teachers’assessment and comments

Students said that the assessment score aswell as the feedback was very helpful. Ithelped them become sensitive to thedifferent sub-skills of writing and also focuson expressing meaning. They furtherpointed out that the revision of writing basedon the PWF was helpful not only to improvethe quality of writing in the text at that point

in time but also enabled them to enhancetheir writing ability in general. They pointedthat they were able to gradually internalizethe PWF and carry out improvementswithout the need for a PWF in hand. In otherwords, continuous use of this checklisthelped them imbibe some of the skills ofwriting. This is evident from the fact thatthey recognized their mistakesinstantaneously as they wrote. Most of themwere happy with carrying out the revisionwork as an individual activity. However theyfelt that peer group interaction was also veryuseful. It was also seen that the students,whose proficiency levels were low, preferredthis revision activity to be done as acollaborative activity. They felt that theylearnt more from the peer group. This studyhas several pedagogical implications forteaching ‘writing’.

First of all PWF is a good tool to use forteaching writing. But it needs to be appliedappropriate to the learners’ proficiency inlanguage. Students whose writing skills areabove the bench mark profit more from thisexercise. Students whose writing skills arenot up to the mark need additional help fromthe teacher. Peer Group support has alsobeen very productive. In the longer run, thishelps in improvement of writing. This is notsuggested as the only means of improvingor teaching writing. Students need adequatereading and listening before they startwriting. Production of language certainlyfollows comprehension (NS Prabhu 2017)

Conclusion

Introduction of PWF for rewriting successive


drafts using a checklist to help studentsimprove their writing has several positiveoutcomes.

A shift in focus from teacher-centered‘writing’ class to a learner centered ‘ writingexperience’ helped students internalize theprocess of improving their writing.

It challenged the teachers to be sensitive toevery minute sub skill of writing in theirstudents’ performance and to providepositive feedback

Students realized the importance ofcollaborative learning in a ‘writing’ class’.Though this activity is ultimately anindividual one, there was scope for pair orgroup work leading to mutual benefit.

It vastly helped the shift from a mere form(grammar) orientation to one of dynamicdiscourse orientation focusing on meaningin acquiring writing skills.

Writing several drafts has its ownlimitations. It is a slow process. One cannotlook for changes overnight. If one practicesit regularly, then there is a scope that thePWF is internalized and they are able tocarry out the corrections effortlessly.

Bibliography

Ernest Hemingway. (1956) “The Art ofFiction.” The Paris Review Interview.

Vladimir Nabokov. (1966), Speak, Memory.Random House. http://www.azquotes.com/author/4210-Helen_Dunmore

Michael Hoey. (1983) On the Surface ofDiscourse. London: Allen and Unwin

NS Prabhu’s lecture at the Internationalconference at SSN 10-11 November 2017( h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=7A_I3sG0hfQ).

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Teaching a Vocabulary: Task-based Approach

M. SrilakshmiProfessor of English, Dr. DVR & HS College, MIC College of Technology,Kanchikacherla, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh


M. KiranmaiAsst. Prof. of English, Aditya Engineering, Kakinada, East Godavari Dist.,Andhra Pradesh


ABSTRACTThis paper mainly focuses on teaching vocabulary to ESL students withinthe framework of task-based language teaching, focusing on engineeringstudents in Andhra Pradesh. Two homogenous groups of students of III B.Tech. ECE-branch participated in the investigation as an experimental groupand a control group. For assessment a teacher-made test was administered.For the control group, technical vocabulary was taught using the traditionalapproach, and for the experimental group, technical vocabulary was taughtusing the task-based approach. A post-test was administered to the studentsat the end of the session to find out the impact of the task-based approach onthe experimental group. Result analyses evidenced that the task-basedapproach was more effective in teaching technical vocabulary compared tothe traditional method.

Keywords: task, task-based language teaching, traditional approach, ESL

Introduction

India is one of the countries where one canfind a large number of learners who learnEnglish as their second language. TeachingEnglish as a global language has becomerelevant and significant for such teachinggives a large number of global opportunitiesto ESL learners in India. In the state ofAndhra Pradesh the mushrooming of

engineering colleges has posed a seriouschallenge to language teachers in improvingthe communicative ability of students. Withmore English as second language studentsentering the classroom of engineeringcolleges it has become inevitable for theteachers to implement special instructionalpractices so that they can be successful.Mastering of English primarily as a tool forcommunication like speaking appropriately


without fear in different contexts and writingfor various purposes is the need of the hour.So changes in the teaching methodology areinevitable and preparation of materials thatwould equip the students to effectively copewith the changing trends to strengthen theirability is essential.

Appropriate use of language consists ofappropriate grammatical structures andappropriate vocabulary. Particularly whenit comes to communication, one cancommunicate with vocabulary more readilythan with grammar. A good command ofwords and the competence to use the rightword to express a specific idea is a pre-requisite in the speech and writing process.Generically, vocabulary is defined as theknowledge of words and word meanings.More explicitly, we use vocabulary to referto the kind of words that students mustknow to read increasingly demanding textwith comprehension (Kamil & Hiebert,2005). It is something that enhances andstrengthens over time. A stock of good wordsenables us to paint a rich picture and equipsus with instruments with which one canhone ones speaking skills. Also goodvocabulary enables one to make finedistinctions between things so that one canexactly say what they mean and be clearwhile exchanging ideas and making aconversation.

Statement of problem

To aid the learners learn vocabulary, variousapproaches, procedures and methods havebeen deployed over the years. Technicalstudents are quiet aware of the necessity toenhance their vocabulary as well as boosttheir competence in communication.Though new methods and approaches are

found, majority of the techniques used byteachers to teach vocabulary are stilltraditional where the teacher mainlyconcentrates on the translation of technicaltext without much focus on interactionamong the students. Hence the focus hasnow shifted to task based teaching ofvocabulary. Innovative tasks which promoteinteraction among the students willdefinitely enhance vocabulary skills instudents.

Research question

This study was particularly designed to findout the impact of task-based teaching oftechnical vocabulary on ESL learners in thestate of Andhra Pradesh. The followingresearch question was proposed with regardto the objectives of the study:

Q1. In an ESL setting will there be anydifferences in the performance between thestudents who are taught vocabulary by atask-based approach and the students whoare taught vocabulary by a traditionalmethod?

Review of Literature

Task-based Language Teaching

Richards and Rodgers (2001), state thattask-based language teaching is anapproach which purely employs the use oftasks as the prime unit of instruction andplanning in the teaching of language (p.223). According to Nunan (2004) task is aprime element in designing syllabus,assessing learners and classroom teaching(p. 1). As per the view of Ellis (2003), taskholds a principal place in present secondlanguage acquisition (SLA) research andlanguage teaching (p. 1). Willis (1996) says


that tasks are always activities where anoutcome is achieved by using the targetlanguage for a communication purpose (p.23). Richards and Rodgers (2001) passed fewassumptions which underlie TBLT. He saysthat language is primarily a means whichmakes meaning and this meaning is veryimportant. This was referred by Skehan(1998), in his definition. Richards andRodgers (2001) state that TBLT focuses oninteractional, functional and structuralmodels (in some cases) of language.According to Skehan (1998) believes thatStructural model should be consideredwhen we deal with task complexity. Whenit comes to the theory of learning, Richardsand Rodgers (2001), state that both inputand output necessary for languageacquisition are provided by tasks and addsthat task, activity and achievement aremotivational (p. 228). Language learning forsure needs motivation. Brown (2000) arguesthat with proper motivation it is easy insecond language learning to claim that alearner will be successful (p. 160).

Vocabulary

For Engineering students technicalassociations are paramount which demandgood language fluency and clarity ofthought. In the present day scenario wheremajority of students are ESL in Engineeringcolleges, students find it difficult to gainaccess to a particular thought in the targetlanguage as they spend much of their timein their mother tongue which is their firstlanguage. One of the main reasons for thisis poor vocabulary. It was found thatstudents taking university courses identifiedvocabulary as a major hindrance inacademic writing tasks (Leki &

Carson.1994).Wilkins (1972) said thatwithout grammar very little can be conveyedbut without vocabulary nothing can beconveyed (pp.111-112). Particularly whenESL learners try to acquire good expressionand fluency in English, it is paramount forthem to develop more productivevocabulary. Vocabulary learning issuccessful when it involves livelyparticipation that goes beyond theoreticalor definitional knowledge. As per Stahl andKapinus (2001) when children ‘know’ aword, they not only know the word’sdefinition and its logical relationship withother words, they also know how the wordfunctions in different contexts. Stahl (2005)said that vocabulary knowledge isknowledge and the knowledge of a word notonly entails a definition, but also implieshow that word fits into the world. Accordingto Richards and Renandya (2002)vocabulary is a primary component oflanguage proficiency and gives much of thebasis for how well learners speak, listen,read, and write (Richards & Renandya,2002, p. 255).

Enhancing vocabulary through Task-basedlearning:

“Tasks …..are activities which have meaningas their primary focus. Success in tasks isevaluated in terms of achievement of anoutcome and tasks generally bear someresemblance to real life language use. So,task-based instruction takes a fairly strongview of communicative languageteaching.”(Skehan 1996 b:20)

It is believed that vocabulary learningdepends on involving students in differenttasks that make them to understand themeanings of words and engage in realistic


and purposeful communication. Evenresearch has proved that one remembersnew words much more easily if one thinksabout them in relation to ones’ ownexperience and uses them in a context thatis meaningful.

English vocabulary expansion is exciting butit also demands the attention andinvolvement of teachers and students alike.By using tasks teachers can retain a higherlevel of student engagement as the wordsare learnt from the context not from the lists.

This is an empirical study and is based ondata collected from students from anengineering college named Devineni VenkataRamana and Dr. Hima Sekhar MIC Collegeof Technology in Kanchikacherla,Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

Methodology

The study was carried out in an EngineeringCollege in the state of Andhra Pradesh inIndia. This is an experimental study hencethe data collection and analysis isquantitative in nature. However, whenstudents are involved – the study cannot becarried out wholly in a controlledenvironment. There are certain aspects thataffect the results/ outcome of the study.

Procedure

The study was carried out at the beginningof the semester. The participants weredivided into two groups as control group andexperimental group after being homogenizedas per their competence in generalvocabulary. After grouping a teacher-madepre-test regarding their technical vocabularyknowledge was conducted. Two differentapproaches were applied to teach technical

vocabularies to the participants. Theparticipants in the control group weretaught technical vocabulary in a traditionalmanner i.e., study the text, translate andanswer some non-task-basedcomprehension questions at the end. Forthe experimental group the same text withsome task-based exercises were used.Finally a post-test was conducted to findout the probable differences between theperformances of the two groups.

Sample

Two tasks were designed to make studentsinvolve

Participants: III B. Tech. students ofElectronics and CommunicationsEngineering Branch

Sample Size: Two sets of students arechosen with 30 students in each set. All thestudents belong to the same branch andsection to avoid the differences in the levelsof understanding.

Vocabulary

25 vocabulary words highlighted in apassage are picked and the same passageis used for both the sets of students.

Execution

Stage-1:

For both the groups

The selected passage is given to the studentswith the vocabulary words highlighted. Themeanings of the vocabulary words are givenat the end of the passage. Students areasked to read the passage and based on themeanings given at the end are asked to


comprehend. Now a pre-test is conducted.

Stage-2:

For the control group

Teacher explains the meanings of the wordsto the control group in the traditionalmanner explaining the meaning withexamples and asking the students to notedown.

For the experimental group

Task -1:

The teacher writes the vocabulary words onthe board and then describes the meaningof one of them. Referring to the passagegiven students in group should guess whichword is described and say aloud the correctone.

Task-2:

Fill in the blanks

Two students are formed as a team and theteacher gives list of words followed byblanks. Discussing with each other studentscomplete the task.

Task-3:

Re-Writing sentences

The group is divided into teams with 4members in each. A sheet is given whichconsists of sentences with the meanings ofthe target vocabulary. Now student 1 takesthe sheet and reads a sentence which hasmeaning of one of the target vocabularyword. The remaining students shouldrewrite the same sentence using the targetword directly. The sheet is rotated until allthe sentences are done. At the end students

check the answers.

For Ex:

Sentence given in the sheet which thestudent reads aloud:

The worker escaped without intimation witha weeks’ pay.

What the others have to write:

The worker absconded with a weeks’ pay.

Task-4:

Students are divided into teams with fourmembers in each. Now they have to developany theme of their choice using all thewords. After the theme is ready, one afterthe other each team has to come forwardand read what they have written. It can bea story, a concept, a paragraph etc. Theremaining teams will listen to the varioususages of vocabulary contextually. Theteacher and the remaining teams caninterfere and correct mistakes if any duringpresentation.

Stage 3:

Now a post test is conducted to both thegroups. The question paper is the same forboth the groups. The average percentage ofthe pre test and post test marks of both thecontrol group and experiment group arecompared.

From the comparative chart shown above itis revealed that learners in the experimentalgroup who have been taught vocabularythrough task-based language teachingoutperformed the learners in the controlgroup who have been taught vocabularythrough traditional approach.


For the control group the difference ofaverage percentage of marks between thepre test and post test was 2.9%. For theexperimental group the difference of averagepercentage of marks between the pre testand post test was 7.2%. In the experimentalgroup the learners acquired a goodcommand of vocabulary taught and thecompetence to use the right word accordingto the situation. Also it was found that whileperforming tasks, learners’ interactionimproved as language use and languagelearning took place simultaneously. Besidesfeedback from the teacher, learners receivefeedback from the team members. Theexistence of such a feedback provided a morerelaxing and less threatening condition forlearning foreign language.

Conclusion

From the above study it is revealed thatchanges in the teaching methodology areinevitable and preparation of materials thatwould equip the learners to effectively copewith the changing trends to strengthen theirability is essential. Vocabulary learning

enhances by involving students in differenttasks that make them understand themeanings of words and engage in realisticand purposeful communication. Especiallyby using tasks teachers can retain a higherlevel of student engagement as the wordsare learnt from the context not from the lists.

References

Abdullah Sarani & Leila Farzaneh Sahebi(2012). The Impact of Task-based Approachon Vocabulary Learning in ESP Courses.English Language Teaching; Vol. 5, No. 10;2012, ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750.

Batters, J. (1986). Do boys really thinklanguages are just girl-talk? ModernLanguages, 67(2), 75-79.

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principle of languagelearning and teaching. New York: PearsonEducation.

Choudhury, A. (2010). Teaching vocabularyin the ESL/EFL classroom: centralpedagogical issues. MJAL Journal, 2(4), 306-316.


Cubillo, P., & Brenes, C. (2009). Using task-based instruction in ESP course in thecomputer center at the University of CostaRica. INIE Journal of Costa Rica University,9(1), 1-25.

Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998).Developments in English for Specif icPurposes. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Ellis R. (2003). Task-based LanguageTeaching and Learning. Oxford, OUP.

Farrell, P. (1990). Vocabulary in ESP: a lexicalanalysis of the English of electronics and astudy of semi-technical vocabulary CLCSOccasional. Journal of Trinity College, 10(3).

Gibbs, J. (2001). Tribes: A new way oflearning and being together. Windsor, CA:Center Source Systems.

Howatt, A. (1984). A history of Englishlanguage teaching. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

Kashefian, S., & Maarof, N. (2010). A studyof the use of language learning strategiesamong students in Iran. Malaysian Journalof ELT research, 6, 195-233.

Nito, R. (2004). Vocabulary & ESP: TeachingBusiness Vocabulary. Retrieved 25thOctober 2011, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/46984761/ESP

Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based languageteaching. Cambridge University Press.

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Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second languagepedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. (2001).Approaches and methods in languageteaching.

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Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (2002).Methodology in language teaching .Cambridge:

Cambridge university press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667190

Robison, P. C. (1991). ESP today: Apractitioner’s guide. UK: Prentice HallInternational Ltd, Willis, J. (1996). Aframework for task-based learning. Harlow:Longman.

Skehan, P. (1998a). Task-based instruction.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18,268-286.

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Yarahmadi, M. (2011). Gender differencesviews on problem-solving reading strategiesin L2 a case study of Iranian EFL learners.Journal of basic and applied scientificresearch, 1(12), 2633-2634.

Zare, P. (2010). An investigation in tolanguage learning strategy use and genderamong Iranian undergraduate languagelearners. World science journal, 11(10),1236-1247.


The 75- minute lively and interactivewebinar on 28th October 2017, the first ofits kind organized by the ELT@I BesigChairMs. Lalitha Murthy and her dedicatedteam, was a unique and edifying experiencefor ELT professionals like me, who had theprivilege of attending it.

The choice of the presenter, Evan Frendo,was a master stoke I would say. In manyconferences and seminars we have ‘experts’who have very little direct and currentcontact with the classroom/training roomrealities. In Evan we had an ESP specialistwith enviable multidimensional qualitiesand skills, being a teacher,presenter,corporatetrainer and a writer/publisher ofseveral books in the field.

As the seminar progressed, the presenterestablished his credentials and revealed hisclose and authentic familiarity with all keyspheres of the ESP, making for a trulyeducative and enlivening session. The topictoo was of great practical relevance to thefunctional communication needs of theworkplace.

The presentation was well structured andright in the beginning, the participants weregiven a clear idea of what was to be expected.

It tackled, head- on, the basic concept ofESP,and the potential challenges in thesuccessful implementation in any given

Report on Webinar on ESP

training context. He termed this the criticalsuccess factors. He outlined the qualitiesexpected of a successful ESP trainer. Hisfocus was on the corporate training aspectof ESP, the most challenging scenarioperhaps, and shared valuable insights. Healso dwelt on the need for a proper ‘needsanalysis’ in ESP training, more than in anyconventional teaching context.

The fine blend of pedagogic /linguisticprinciples with practicalillustrations and anecdotes made it easy andinteresting for the participants to keep pacewith the proceedings. The delivery wasmarked by assurance, clarity andsmoothness.

The illustrative ppt. slides had a veryprofessional touch and contributed to thegeneral impact of the presentation. Theycarried just enough info and the apt usefont and images served to capture ourattention. It was an object lesson for uswhen we attempt to prepare slides for ourpresentations.

Thepresenter also ensured periodic activeinvolvement of the participants throughsurvey questions and by calling forcomments and questions, and handled themat the end, without hindering the smoothflow of the presentation.

Aslide that particular caught my attention


was about the role of ‘small talk’, includingoffice gossip as an inevitable aspect of oralbusiness communication. The discussion onthe degree of formality/informality in evenwritten communication and the need to haveanopen and flexible stance was an eyeopener. The conventional approach ofimposing‘native speaker’ norms on learnersin such diverse environments may not befeasible or desirable. Evan also made a cleardistinction between ‘language aboutbusiness’ and‘language for doing business’.

We were provided with an effective summingup of the salient features before Evan tookup a few of the questions we had typed in,and answered them in a precise and assuredmanner.

As someone who had spent the past year orso at a couple of Oil and Gas Industrycamps

for on-site training of staff in TechnicalEnglish, I could easilyidentify with differentaspects of the discussion that broadened myunderstanding.

Overall, it was a valuable learningexperience. I would eagerly look forward tomore such sessions. Those who failed toshow up after registering for the webinarmay not realize what they missed. I do hopewhen the next such session comes up, agoodnumber of our SIG members would attendand derive the same benefit as attending aregular conference session, but in thecomfort of their home, anywhere in theworld. That will also be a well-deservedappreciation of the special efforts put in bythe organizers.

Rajan Philips

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A Two-Day International Conference on‘’Language and Literature: DynamicResources in the ELT Classroom” wassuccessfully conducted by the Englishdepartment of SSN College of Engineering,Chennai, during 10-11 November 2017.

Dr. NS Prabhu’s session was a ‘masterpiece’.He shared his current thoughts and criticalinsights into several pedagogical issues inELT. It was webcast through Facebook. Itwas an enthralling experience for theparticipants listening to such an eminentscholar.

Prof. Geetha Durairajan from EFLU,Hyderabad, and Prof. Shrimathi V, HoD-English, Anna University delivered veryinsightful lectures followed by question-and-answer sessions.

The participants were from manygovernment and affiliated colleges in India.Noteworthy among them isthe participation from EFLU (Hyderabad)premier institute for language studies,NIT Andhra Pradesh, NIT Trichy (researchscholars), IIT Kanpur (research scholars),IIT Dhanbad, IIT Madras and privateuniversities such as SRM, VIT, SymbiosisUniversity, Pune and others. The

Report on International Conference on Language andLiterature: Dynamic Resources in the ELT Classroom

international participants who attended theconference included I.A. University,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, University ofDhaka, Bangladesh.

Another highlight of the conference is thatselect papers are to be published in Vol 4,Special Issue 2, 2017 of Veda’s JOELL, aUGC-approved journal. This was launchedat the conference venue. A few other paperswill be published as a book with ISBNsubsequently.

Yet another interesting outcome is that theHead, department of English, AnnaUniversity has proposed a joint conferenceby AU and SSN. This collaborative effortwould be a unique event next year.

The sponsors of the conference includeCambridge University Press, OrientBlackSwan, Karadi Path, and Entrayan.

The participants left the conference withmuch intellectual enrichment and learning.

Dr Deepesh and Dr Martha were thecoordinators and Dr. Thiruvenkataswami,Professor and Head, Department of English,was the convener.

- Deepesh and Martha


Kavya Manjari: A Collection of Poems byDr V. SaraswathiRam may be termed a contradiction in terms,for he is a rare combination of creative writingand ELT expertise, in a world which considersELT practitioners as creatures incapable ofappreciating literature. Kavya Manjari is adelightful, scintillating, thought- provokingcollection of 82 poems. Once you open the book,you find it impossible to put it down, until youhave run through the whole galaxy of poems.The interest never wanes from the first to thelast page as absorbing as a thriller fiction. Ofthe very first poem, Butterfly Effect, onGandhiji, John Leong says, “…..that gave me abrief history lesson on India; really eye-opening!”Ram’s amazing familiarity with religion,mythology and literature is evident all over thebook. Look at his courage, to write on, of allthemes, Absurdity! The poem begins thus:

Is it a new phenomenon?Known to the world

Through Becket and Camus?The last line reads:

Christ had known.The poem, Identity and Difference, a winnerin Premiere poetry contest, is commended forgreat story telling. It narrates the story of tworival kings who shared the same language, butdifferent dialects, when the neighbouring kingoffered to mediate, like the proverbial monkey,

There was no triangleOnly a big red circle.

Marvellous symbolism loaded with irony!The poem, I like Muslims, describes, with atouch of humour, Ram’s friendship withMuslims in Yemen.

Pakistani Gazals areAlways popular in India

And Indian films—nowadays secretlywatched—

Are a craze in Pakistan.Ram has experimented with different forms ofpoems like Haiku, Sonnet, etc. Here is his haikuon haiku!

Haiku I tried….tried…A miserable attempt ‘twas

I admit….I failed.Ram’s ability to laugh at himself, a mark of besthumour, is evident in his Ugly Duckling, whichis autobiographical.

My friends pitied meFor my sphinx like face

I don’t approve of my looks eitherI would, however, look in the mirror on the sly,

And flatter myself on my charms.Ram’s keen insight into human nature is evidentin poem after poem. His poem Catch-22 gives apoignant account of his betrayal by a friend, ofwhom he says,

You are a round character, after all,An Iago at that.

I appreciate your motiveless malignity.One can go on and on, but I must stop here,and allow you the pleasure. This book is a mustfor all lovers of poetry. Go ahead and buy a copyat Notion Press, 38/6Mc Nichols Rd.Chetpet,Chennai 31. It is also available on Amazon,Flipkart and Infibeam.

Dr V SaraswathiProfessor of English (Retd)

Madras University, [email protected]

Book Review


READING ACTIVITY

READING POPULAR TEXTS* (SQ3R* Strategy)

Dr. K. Elango, National Secretary, ELTAI &(Formerly) Professor of English, Anna University, [email protected]

Objective : Facilitating learners to read any text intensively from a prescribed textbookto comprehend, retain, retrieve and apply

Participation : IndividualMaterial : Any text from any of the prescribed textbooks (Example: “How Pertinent is

the Nuclear Option?” from Mindscape prescribed in Anna University in 2015)Preparation : Attempting to read all the texts intensively as against the practice of casual

readingProcedure:Choose any lesson from a textbook and survey it first. Surveying begins from the title of the lessonand includes all the sub-titles, visual materials such as pictures, graphs, and tables and anythingthat is highlighted. But, often textbooks don’t have many of these features, in which case oneshould start with reading the entire first paragraph and following it up with reading first sentencesof some of the paragraphs and ending with reading the last paragraph and by then a reader wouldhave gained fairly a clear idea of what the text is about. This has to be carried out as quickly aspossible.Questioning should also begin with surveying the title and continues with throughout the readingprocess. However, raising questions before reading is quite significant for two main reasons: a)reading becomes a focused activity, and b) reading turns out to be highly critical. Looking at the titleone could ask questions such as why nuclear energy has become a controversial issue globally,what are the options available to meet the growing demands, how much of nuclear energy is generatednow, what is the stand of the scientists, why there are so many anti-nuclear activists and so on.These questions elicit one’s own viewpoints even before reading the text.One should begin reading the text only after surveying and initial questioning. As the text is somewhatfamiliar by now reading can be done much faster. Surveying and questioning also enable readers tounderstand all the aspects of the text in detail.While reading, a reader should stop at regular intervals or whenever some important ideas arementioned in the text to recall them or even recite them aloud to oneself so that those ideas can beinternalized and remembered for long. For instance, in the middle of the text a reference has beenmade to the Three Mile Island. A reader has to pause here to recall the ideas relevant to thereference and recalling can also happen in the form questions and answers as well.Reviewing at the end has to be an integral part but unfortunately not many readers engage withthis sort of activity. Reviewing is not merely to glean all the vital ideas of the text but also to critiquethe text, considering the perspective of the writer and style of the writing and formulating one’s ownstandpoints on the nuclear issue. In case, a reader is an anti-nuclear activist he would oppose thewriter’s neutral stand and form opinions against the nuclear option.

Learning outcomes:1) Learners realize that textbooks have to be read differently from other kinds of materials as the

in-depth knowledge is expected of them not only for examination but for all purposes.2) Learners recognize that the SQ3R is a very effective study strategy if they were to move away

from mere memorizing contents as it poses severe limitations.Further activity: Reading all the lessons in any prescribed textbook following the SQ3R strategyconsciously, till it becomes an unconscious process.____________________________________________*Textbooks: They demand a different kind of reading, which is described as intensive reading. Unlike otherkinds of texts, textbooks have to be read and understood thoroughly as one’s academic performance dependson them.*SQ3R: This is an acronym that stands for 5 steps of effective reading: S – Survey, Q – Question, (3Rs) R – Read,R – Recall/Recite, and R – Review.

Documents

C O N T E N T SEltai.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ELTAI_SEP-OCT_2017.pdfDuring the course of an interview for The Teacher Trainer, when Alan Maley asked NS Prabhu to talk about the