UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES EDUCATION
ASE 330
TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY
SCHOOL LEVEL

COURSE OUTLINE
1. What is Language?
• Definition of language
• Properties of human language
• Functions of human language
• Implications for the ESL Teacher

2. Language Acquisition and Language Learning: the Differences

• Language Acquisition
• Stages of language acquisition
• Implications for Educational/classroom practice
• Language learning
• Factors that influence second language acquisition
• Implications for the ESL Teacher

3. Second Language Teaching: Theories, Methods and Approaches

• Approaches, Methods Procedures, Techniques
• Language learning theories:
• Grammar- Translation Methods
• Direct Approach
• Audio-lingual Approach
• Situational Approach
• Communicative Language Teaching Approach
• Eclectic Approach

4. Developing Listening Skills

• What is listening?
• Importance of listening
• Intensive and extensive Listening
• Activities to promote listening skills
 - Use of dialogues
- Use of cassette recorder
- Completion exercises
- Story telling
- Active guessing

5. Speaking Skills
• What is speech?
• Importance of spoken English
• Activities for promoting spoken English
- Dialogues discussion
- Drama sketches
- Communication games
- Story telling
- Prepared talks

6. Developing Reading Comprehension at the Senior Secondary School Level

• What is Reading?
• Problems of Teaching Reading Comprehension in Nigeria
• Characteristics of Poor readers and good readers
• Nature of reading materials at SS Level
• Stages of teaching reading comprehension:
- pre-reading stage
- reading stage, and
- post reading stage
• Evaluating reading comprehension

7. Developing Process Writing Skill at the Senior Secondary School Level

• What is writing?
• Criteria for successful writing
• Types of writing
• Problems of teaching writing at the senior secondary school
• Steps in Process Approach to writing:
- Give a task
- Pre writing
- Drafting/writing
- Rewriting/revision
- Producing the final draft
- Publishing

8. Integrating the Four Language Skills

 REFERENCES
Bello, O. R. (2001). Second language teaching theory and practice. Lagos: Ola Publishers.

Brown, H. D. (2005). Principles of language learning. London: Cambridge Press.

Maduekwe, A. N. (2007). Principles and practice of teaching English as a second language.

Lagos: Vitaman Publishers.

LESSON ONE & TWO

Definition of Language
Linguists are in broad agreement about some of
the important characteristics of human language
and a widely accepted definition of language
that shows the different areas of convergence of
scholars is that:
“Language is a system of arbitrary
vocal symbols used for human
communication”
Features of Human Language
Inherent in the definition of language above are
the following features:
•language as system
•Arbitrariness of Language
•Language is vocal
•Language is mainly for human
•Language as communication

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Language as a System
•This implies that language consists of
two system: system of sound and
meaning (duality pattern of
 language). The duality of language
makes it systematic.
•by this, we mean that only certain
combinations of sounds are possible in
a language, for example: bank is a
possible combination of sounds in
English language, but nbak is not.
•In other words, the sound system of a
language allows a small number of
sounds to be used over again in various
combinations to form unit of meaning.

Arbitrariness of Language
• This simply means that we cannot
predict exactly which features we will
find in a particular language; there is no
way of predicting what a word means
 just from hearing it, or knowing in
advance how a noun is inflected.

•However, linguistic systems are not

completely unpredictable, as all these
phenomena mentioned above are found
in all languages, variation only exists in
their manner of realization in different
languages.

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More on Arbitrariness of Language

•Also, there are linguistic universals, i.e.
common features that are predictable in
all languages, such as:
•All languages have nouns and verbs;
•All have consonant and vowels
•All have devices which allow speakers to
make statements, ask questions, give
commands and make requests.

Language as Vocal
Vocality refers to the fact the primary
medium of language is sound and it is
sound for all languages, no matter how
well developed their writing system. This
confirms the fact that language is based on
speech work. Writing systems are attempt
to capture sound and meaning on paper.

Language as Symbol
•Language as symbol refers to the fact that
there is no connection or at least in a few
 cases only minimal connection, between the
sounds that people use and the objects to
which they refer.
•It also implies that language is a symbolic
system, a system in which words are
associated with objects, ideas and actions by
convention.
•For instance, there is no iconic connection
between the word ‘chair’ and the
object used to denote that concept in
English. Indeed other language use different
words to denote the same object.
Yoruba: aga, Hausa- kujera, Igbo- oche, Fre
nch- la chaise.

More on language as a Symbol

•In only a few cases, there are some direct
representations between word and some
phoneme in the real world.
•Onomatopoeic words like bang, boom, splash,
crash, roar, are examples from English,
although the meanings of these words would
not be at all obvious to speakers of either
Chinese or Russian.

Language as Human
•The term ‘human’ refers to the fact that the
kind of system that interests us is possessed
only by human beings and is very different
from the communication systems that other
forms of life possess.
•No system of animal communication employ
arbitrary signals. No animal allows its users
to do all that language allows human being
to do like:
●reminissance over the past;
●Speculate about the future;
●Tell lies at will; and,
●Make noise at will.
Language as Communication
•Language is used for communication.
Language allows people to say things to
each other and express their communicative
needs.
•Language is a cement of society allowing
people to live together, pray, work, tell the
truth, but also tell a lie. Language also
functions to communicate general attitude
towards life.
•This is why Chomsky regards language as the
“human essence, the distinctive qualities of
the mind that are unique to man.
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Functions of Human Language

To discuss this topic, we will answer the
question, why do we use language?
•Apart from the fact that language functions
primarily to communicate our ideas, there are
other important functions that are performed
by language.
•Halliday (1969) proposes a typology of the
functions language can perform. The
typology can be summarized as follows:
●Instrumental: this involves the use of
communication as a means of getting things
done for the satisfaction of personal material
needs.

More on Functions of Human

Language
●Regulatory: the use of communication as a
means of regulating the behavior of others.
●Interactional: the use of communication for
maintaining and mediating one’s relationship
with others.
●Personal: the use of communication to
express ones individuality.
●Heuristic: the use of communication as a
means of finding out, questioning.
●Imaginative: the use of communication to
project oneself into an environment of ones
own

Self Assessment Questions

•What is language?
•Briefly explain what arbitrariness means as it is used to
describe a property of language.
• Discuss the characteristics of language.
LESSON THREE

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
•Language acquisition is an internally driven
process that results from unconscious and
intuitive responses to language.
•The term language acquisition is a more natural
process which has parallels with first language
development. Acquisition results from meaningful
exposure to naturally occurring language and from
using it for meaningful communication. Language
acquisition results from unconscious and intuitive
responses to language.
•The context is usually natural and the exposure is
largely random. It is the gradual development of
ability in a language by using it naturally in
communicative situations Yule (1996).
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More on Language Acquisition

•Language acquisition with children results
from the combination of inborn abilities and
child’s experience in its physical and social
environment.
•Language acquisition is an internally driven
process. This is as a result of Language
Acquisition Device (LAD) which consists of
innate knowledge of grammatical principles.
•It is the Language Acquisition Device that
enables a child to ‘pick up’ the first language
he comes ion contact with in his environment
effortlessly

LANGUAGE LEARNING
•Language learning refers to a conscious process
whereby the rules of structure and conventions of
usage are explicitly studied and taught.
•It also applies to conscious process of accumulating
knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of a
language. thus, language learning is associated with
language teaching in schools .
•However, for learning to take place, learners need to
be exposed to a large amount of second language
input which is meaningful, interesting and relevant,
not grammatically sequenced in a tension free
environment Krashen (1982).
•In sum, the difference between language acquisition
and language learning is that language acquisition
is an unconscious act, while language leaning
involves a conscious process of learning the
language.

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Stages of First Language Acquisition

•The acquisition of verbal language in infancy
is one of the most remarkable and astonishing
processes of human development.
•Children do not just wake up with all the rules
of social communication in their heads, the
speed of linguistic development is
phenomenal. There are
obvious obviousstages that are inherent in
first language acquisition, these are:

More on Stages of First Language

Acquisition
•Association stage
•Babbling stage
•One-word stage (Holophrastic)
•Two-to-three word stage (Telegraphese)
•Compound-complex stage

Association Stage
•Essentially, when a child is acquiring a language, he
will listen first before hearing the language spoken
by people around him or her.
•At first the sounds may appear strange, later, the
child associates listening to certain configuration of
sounds as representing certain objects and concepts
•Listening is the first skill the child develops. Even
from the womb, the child listens, when the child is
born, he begins to associate what he hears with what
he sees

Babbling Stage
•At this stage, the child not only cries, he coos. When he is hungry or
uncomfortable, he cries, when he is comfortable and contented, he
coos. Another sound the child makes is babbling
•As a result, a mother learns to respond in a specific way to the child’s
different sounds and needs.
•The process of crying, cooing and babbling marks the beginning of the
child’s speaking skill because the child is learning social skills and
interaction with the mother.
•This is not to say that the child is aware of the connection between his
crying and discomfort or his cooing and contentment, but the adults
around him have to recognize the rudimentary semantic context of his
crying and cooing.

One-word Stage (holophrastic)

•As babies reach the end of the first year, specific attempts are made to imitate
words, utterances and speech.
•At this stage, the child utters the first word heard around his environment.
•The child learns to say ‘ku’ for key, eter for water, dada for daddy and so on.
•It is important to note that these first words are usually nouns, and they are used to
express their feelings,
•Though, these words do not have grammatical structure.

Two-three-word Stage (telegraphese)

•At about 18 months to two years, two-word utterances begin to surface. Verbal
language takes over the gestural communication used before now.
•At this stage, language to the child is not only a means of communication, it also
serves a means of organizing thoughts and describing
reality
•This implies that there is now an awareness of object and action, relationship
between objects and the ordering of individual experience into a coherent
whole.
•At this stage, the child’s words multiply considerably, and begin to combine with
each other to form two-three word sentences.
•Examples:
●When the child points to an object or situations and comments on something e.g.
•Identification: ‘see phone’
•Location: ‘bag there’
•Possession: ‘my shoe’
●The child comments on some relational aspect of a situation e.g.
•Agent-action: ‘mama go’
•Action-object: ‘beat you’
•Agent-location: ‘sit chair’
●The child asks questions about various aspects of situations e.g.
•Where my book?
•Where ball?
•What that?
•How are you?
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Compound-complex Stage
•By the end of three years, most children can comprehend an incredible quantity
of linguistic behavior.
•Their speech capacity mushrooms as they become generator of non-stop chattering
and incessant conversation.
•They have a working command of many of the phonemic and syntactical structure
of the mother tongue and their use.

•Although, certain rules have not been fully mastered, grammatical mistakes are
very few.
•The fluency continues into school age as children internalize increasingly complex
structures, expand their vocabulary and sharpen their communication skills.
•At this stage, they learn the social functions of the language, that is, what to say
and what not to say.
•They also develop their own forms of morality, judgement and their conduct is
beginning to be governed by rational principles.
NOTE: Many people unexposed to formal education have only two language
skills- listening and speaking throughout life. The other two skills – reading and
writing usually come with formal education.

Implications and Reflections for

Practice
•Readiness: the issue of mother tongue acquisition is a long and
complicated process, although we tend to take the language
acquisition process for granted. From infancy, we observe that the
 child is engaged in crying, cooing and babbling. He does not
usually say any distinct word, until between twelve and fifteen
months. In essence, a child must be physically developed in order
to learn and speak his mother tongue with competence. By
implication, each stage of language development requires
maturity and readiness. The organs of speech- lips, tongue, vocal
cords, teeth, e.t.c. must be properly placed if the child is to
articulate well.
•Parents and Home: the basic language education given to a child
at home before the child goes to a formal school is in many normal
situation done by the mother. A child’s speech habits will be
readily formed by the time he starts school, and his use of
language will reflect the level of conversation in his home and his
parents’ width of experience and vocabulary. The role of mothers
in the total development of the child is great and must not be taken
for granted. They must therefore see themselves as role models
enforcing and consolidating interaction continually with the child.

More on Implications and Reflections for

Practice
•Reasoning Ability: intelligence will be affected by environment,
and the richness of experience and language which a child meets
in his early years will help to determine his reasoning ability.
There is nevertheless, a considerable element of inborn ability
here and language development will be affected by it.
•Experience: a child learns mainly through imitation of adults
around. They imitate parents, siblings, uncles and people around
them. Consequently, adults should not only serve as good models
but they must also provide adequate environment, guide and
motivate the child in acquiring his mother tongue. The richer the
experience the child has had, the better the development of
 language is likely to be. In this context, the role of the language
teacher becomes very crucial in the positive and successful
achievement of the language policy, planning and
implementation.
•Proficiency in mother Tongue: this is advocated before any other
language, be it second or foreign language. experts have also
suggested that the ability to read and write in the mother tongue is
a key factor in helping to acquire the second language.

Self Assessment Questions

Now, answer these questions:
•Critically examine the distinction between language acquisition and
language learning
•Discuss the principles of L1 and L2 acquisition.
•Expatiate the implications of L1acquisition in real classroom situation.
 LESSON FOUR
ENGLISH AS A
SECOND LANGUAGE

Second Language Learning

•The term learning applies to a conscious process of
accumulating knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of
a language. it deals with the knowing the rules and
regulations guiding the use of a particular language.

•second language implies that the individual/society already

has a first /native language (L1) which in most cases is the
mother-tongue (MT).
•In addition, when the individual or society acquires another
language which is used as another means of communication,
it the second language (L2).

•Therefore, second language is that language you speak in

addition to the language you acquired when you were a
child.

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Characteristics of Second Language

Learning
Brown (1989) summing up the characteristics of second
language learning notes that:
•It is sequentially the second language of a bilingual person.
•It may or may not be the sequentially second language of the
multilingual person.
•It is a language in which a bi- or multi-lingual person conducts
part of his everyday activities, sharing this role with another
language in which the speaker has greater linguistics facility
and intuitive knowledge.
•It is a language which aids the socio-cultural function of
serving as instrument of forcing bilingualism on its user
country or community.
•It is a language, which, for the effectiveness of its
functions, reuires the learner/user knowledge of all the four
basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
ACQUISITION OF A SECOND
LANGUAGE
A second language can be acquired in a variety of ways, at any age, for
different purposes and to varying degrees. The learning of the second
language is more difficult, intricate and formal than learning the first. It
involves learning and conscious effort acquired through formal training.
Basically, Singuan and Mackey (1987) categorized three ways of
acquiring a second language:
•At the same time as the first language (simultaneous second
language acquisition).
•After the first language, by a spontaneous process (spontaneous
second language acquisition).
•After first language, by an academic process (Guided second
language acquisition).

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Simultaneous Second Language Acquisition

SSLAA
•In this type of second language acquisition, a child
may grow up in a home environment where two
languages are spoken. In such a case, the process of
acquiring both languages may be regarded as
identical.
•The fact that the two languages are being developed
in parallel does not mean that they are not mutually
supportive or that no interference occurs.
•However, it is important to note that from the early
age of three onwards, the child is capable of keeping
the two linguistic systems apart and develop them
simultaneously.

Spontaneous Second Language

Acquisition
•Spontaneous second language acquisition denotes the acquisition of
an L2 in everyday communication; in a natural fashion, free from
systematic guidance.
•For example, a person trying to acquire ESL in native English
speaking country like England, such person may begin by using
non verbal means such as gestures, facial expressions, e.t.c. which
allows him or her to enter into communication, though at a very
reduced level.
•Whatever the actual communicative competence of the learner at a
given point in time, he is faced with two related but distinct tasks:
●The communication task: to utilize his/her quite limited repertoire
in an optimal way, in expressing himself as well as in
understanding others.
●The learning task: to approximate to the target language by fine-
tuning all aspects of his use of language to meet up with the
standard.
Guided Second Language Acquisition
GSLA
•This involves the learning of L2 by means of
systematic and intentional influence achieved
through regular language instruction or academic
process such as English language teaching in
school.
•The classroom language learning is accompanied by
an organized formal instruction with a restricted
time frame.
•While the major objective SSLA is communication,
by whatever means, the focus of GSLA is language,
whereby learning errors are avoided and corrected.
•In sum, GSLA encourages the pre-established norms
of the language.

Self Assessment Questions

•In your own words, explain second language learning.
•What are the characteristics of second language learning?
•Highlight the various ways a second language can be
acquired.
•Explain them in details.
LESSON FIVE
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE
SECOND
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Wolfgang (1986) identifies three major factors as
indispensable components in any language learning.
These factors include:
•Propensity
•Language Faculty
•Access

PROPENSITY
•Propensity refers to the need or urge to learn
language.
•it is the force that propels the language learner
along the path of language acquisition and
urges him to make progress.
•Propensity can be induced by factors like
communication needs, need for social
integration and the attitude of learners
towards the language and its speakers.
•Other factors that can motivate language
learning are status, symbol, and religious
motives.
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LANGUAGE FACULTY
Language faculty refers to the natural capacity that every human
being is endowed with, which encompasses the ability to
process language (i.e. to produce and comprehend utterances)
and if necessary, the ability to learn a language. the function of
the language faculty includes among other things:
•The ability to discriminate among speech sounds and also to
produce them correctly.

•The ability to analyse sound sequences into the sound units of

the language and relate these units for particular things or
events in the environment.
•The ability to remember these relationships and combine the
lexical units into larger entities (sentences).

ACCESS
•In addition to propensity and language faculty, a learner must have access
to the target language for language learning to occur.
•Access covers two related but distinct components:
●The amount of input available and
●Range of opportunities for communication
•Input refers to the target language, the patterns of speech sounds and the parallel
information about the context of the speech events, at least in spontaneous second
language second language acquisition.
●In guided second language acquisition, the input includes representations of
linguistic units in the written language as well as rules of grammar.
•Opportunities for communication could be in the spoken or written medium.

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It is important to note that each of these factors-

propensity, language faculty, and access, may vary
considerably among learners. However, the stronger
the propensity, the more excellent the language faculty
and the greater the access to the target
 University of Lagos
Faculty of Education
Department of Arts & Social Sciences Educ

Course Title: Teaching English as Second L

at SSS Levels
Course Code: ASE 330
Topic 6: Teaching Listening Skills at SS

Lecturer-In-Charge: Prof. A. N.
Maduekwe
 Introduction
 Listening is an active process in which
listeners select and interpret information
which comes from visual and auditory clue in
order to determine what is going on and
what the speaker is trying to express.
 It also involves the ability to understand
without difficulty, the spoken language which
satisfies the requirement of national or
international intelligibility.
 It is a crucial skill because a pupil’s academic
attainment depends to a large extent, on how
he listens to get information being relayed to
him. Children who listen to carefully selected
literary texts, have opportunities to build the
linguistic backgrounds necessary to become
literates.
 Introduction (Cont’d)
As children listen to or talk about literary texts

become increasingly aware of, and familiar with langu

literature . The skill of listening needs to be fully emph

in English Studies Curriculum, and ought to be delib

taught right from the basic school level, so that pu

able to dispense the old habit of mother

interference and inculcate new ones .

 Introduction (Cont’d)
 As children listen to or talk about literary
texts, they become increasingly aware of,and
familiar with language of literature.The skill
of listening needs to be fully emphasised in
English Studies Curriculum, and ought to be
deliberately taught right from the basic
school level, so that pupils are able to
dispense the old habit of mother tongue
interference and inculcate new ones.
 Learners of a new language often have
difficulties listening to the language because
they are not given systematic practice early
enough. Consequently, teachers of English as
second language (ESL) setting should
endeavourto introduce the attainment of
this skill in pupils at the basic school level
until it becomes a permanent feature of their
lives.
 Introduction (Cont’d)
Practice, starting from the basic school
levels should involve pupils in a variety of
listening experiences as stated in the
curriculum:
◦ Listening for main idea;
◦ Listening for supporting details;
◦ Listening for identification of sound units;
◦ Listening of thematic identification of
subject-matter;
◦ Listening of entertainment or
appreciation; ◦ Listening for
instructional guideline; and
◦ Listening for critical assessment (Goh,
2002:4).

Introduction (Cont’d)
 Sounds perceived by the ears need to be
decoded to make meaning.
 This step is demanding because distinctions
have to be made between lots of similar
sounding words.
 Knowledge of the syntax of language, a good
grasp of vocabulary of the language and a
quality of mind that can easily establish a
logical relationship between ideas are all
needed in comprehension of what one’s
auditory apparatus perceives.
 The sound pattern of English is so complex
that sometimes the only factor that
determines meaning in a sentence is the
context, e.g.
 It turned out a waste of time.
 It turned out my waist was smaller than I
thought.
 Introduction (Cont’d)
In this context, the word waste and waist have the same

sound (phonemic) components.

The difference in meaning can only be discerned by the logic


of the context.

A learner who is not familiar with both words may find it


difficult to draw a distinction between them in a sentence.
 Types of Listening
 There are different types of listening at
different levels for different purposes.
Generally, listening is of two types: Casual
and Focused.
 Casual listeningis the activity in which the
listener may be involved with some other
works while listening. For instance, pupils
listen casually when they listen to the radio
while gossiping with friends.
 Conversely, in Focused listening, people
are made to listen with full attention for
details on specific information or for a
particular time without distraction.

Types of Listening
(Cont’d)
 For instance, a pupil listening attentively to a
lesson is part of focused listening.
 In order for the teacher to accomplish these
aims in a literature class, pupils are
encouraged to frequently listen to
discussions, talks, dialogues, descriptions,
debates, advertisement (both on the radio
and television), lessons, lectures, directions,
instructions, news broadcasts, telephone
conversations, songs, noise, movements and
so on (Odejide, 1989).
 In so doing, they will be able to differentiate
meanings, sound patterns and phonetic
articulations, among other things.

Activities to Promote
Listening Skill
 It is an undeniable fact that the resources of
language can be fully utilized at the basic level
by taking recourse to literature as an
important aspect of language learning.
 Let us now examine some of the activities for
developing listening skills. Some of these
 activities are specifically designed for practice
in listening with or without a cassette
recorder.
 These activities include:
 Use of Audio Recorded Rhymes
 Completion Exercises
 Listening Games
 Story Telling and
 Creating a Relaxed, Happy Environment
 Use of Audio Recorded
Rhymes (Poem)
Author: Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

Title: Oh! Look at the Moon

Look at the moon!

She is shining up there,

Oh! Mother, she looks

Like a lamp in the air .

Last week she was smaller

And shaped like a bow

But now she’s grown bigger

And round as an O
 Use of Audio Recorded
Rhyme
(Poem)
Pretty moon, pretty moon

How you shine on the door

And make it all bright

On my nursery floor!

You shine on my playthings

And show me their place

And I love to look up

At your pretty bright face

 Use of Audio Recorded
Rhymes (Poem)
And there is the star
Close by
you, and
maybe
That
small,
twinkling
star Is
your
little
baby!!!

 Furthermore, in teaching the above poem,

pupils may be told about the moon and the
lamp as sources of light.
 These two words will inspire the pupils’
imagination as it enters their receptive
cognitions and suggest the intended
 meaning of the lines when they observe the
sky at night.
 The words light, lamp, twinkling and shining
conjures the image of the moon, while the
moon conjures the image of love and hope.
Consequently, frequent contact with these
words reinforces pupils’ propensity for
adducing meaning from contexts in which
they appear.
Completion Exercises

 Listening can also be acquired through

completion exercises. Pupils can listen
to a variety of sentences which are
brought to a sudden stop. Such
exercises train students’ sense of
anticipation, prediction, and alertness
on the next question.
 Completion Exercises
Teacher :

There is a catalogue ---- ----- cupboard, once I show you
g.
how to use it, everything will

fall into place.

h.
Steve has sore throat --- feels ---- and ---- ----- bread.
i.
You are interested in ---- please ---- the score in the
j.
match between ---- and ---- .

 For example, the teacher reads the

following sentences and asks students
to predict and provide plausible
completions or fill in gaps.
 Completion Exercises
Other related activities include: ix. The teacher
may recite a poem before the pupils, then ask
some questions related to the poem.
x. The teacher may dictate a few lines of a
novel to the pupils then test their listening
skills.
xi. The teacher can ask the pupils to identify
who is talking in a recorded tape, which, of
course, must be a familiar speaker.
xii. The pupils may take home assignments in
which they may be asked to listen to the
news on radio at home and write down the
major points.

Listening Game
 Another interesting method of teaching
listening skill is the listening game.
 The teacher instructs the pupils on how to
play the listening game with the following
 instructions: I am going to pass a message
round the class. “I went to the market to buy
some tomatoes, but the large crowd I met there
discouraged me”.
 The message will be relayed into the ear of
the first student sitting in front of the class.
The student will in turn relay the message
word for word to the student next to him
and so on.

Listening Game
 The last person that received the message
comes out to write the message he has just
received on the chalkboard for all to cross
check with what the others in class have.
 Do not be surprised, if you discover that the
breakdown in communication started right
from the first student.
 Constant repetition of the listening game
such as the one described above helps
students to consolidate on attentive listening
to messages and instructions.
 Story Telling
Story telling can provide excellent listening
strategy for students. At any stage of the
story, the pupils can be asked to predict
what is coming next or be asked to describe
people in the story, or comment about their
impression of the story.

Creatinga Relaxed, Happy

Environment
◦ Essentially, developing good listening
habits should involve creating a
relaxed happy atmosphere among and
between learners. A learner who is
relaxed and free from emotional
strain can listen more easily than one
who is uneasy and afraid.
 Summary
On the final note, the teacher should endeavour to be a

perfect model for students to imitate. Correct pronunciat

stress and intonation patterns should emanate from the

teacher so that students would not hear other voices other

than the teacher’s outside the classroom. This way, the

students will be able to carry out instructions based only on

what they listened to in the class.

LESSON SEVEN
Introduction
•An able speaker is one who listens efficiently, so speaking is
sequential to listening. Speaking skill is meant to develop
the capacity of pupils to express themselves in a language
freely and correctly, speak with proper articulation,
correct intonation and pronunciation, develop verbal
ability, reasoning and fluency and follow the sequence of
ideas expressed.
•The proper pronunciation of words contributes a great deal
to the intelligibility of the speaker and therefore, his
communicative effectiveness.

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Introduction (Cont’d)
•At the senior school levels, distribution between close
sounding words should be made very clear. For instance:
i.tin thin /t/ /ϴ/
ii.face vase /f/ /v/
iii.tank thank /t/ /ϴ/
iv.then den /ɚ/ /d/
v.dear their /d/ /ɚ/
vi.cake bake /k/ /b/
Introduction (Cont’d)
•The teacher should note that a feature like stress plays an
important role in the quality of the pupils’ spoken English.
It reduces intelligibility when correct positions of primary
stress are muddled up in some words in different
sentences. For instance, in the sentence below:
i.It is on `record.
ii.It is on re`cord.
iii.I have finished the `research.
iv.I have finished the re`search.
v.She was `absent from school.
vi.Don’t ab`sent yourself from the birthday party.

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Introduction (Cont’d)
•We observe that the first sentence presents an audio
machine that has been manipulated to accept new
materials on tape, while the second sentence claims
information that has been stored somewhere for future
reference.
•Generally, a sensitive listener should listen with his total
personality to the speaker in order to learn how to speak
well himself.
•At the senior school level, teaching speaking skills will
involve a presentation of different activities to enhance
learning.

Introduction (Cont’d)
•The teacher can use the following activities depending on
the level of the learners.
i.Repetition of words phrases;
ii.Teacher/pupils originated questions;
iii.What is on the screen/ in the picture?
iv.Role playing;
v.Exchange of opinion and discussion;
vi.Give one word for synonym or antonym;
vii.Describe what you heard or saw;
viii.Summarise what happened;
ix.Commentary work;
x.Chain-story telling; and
xi.Songs and games.

Introduction (Cont’d)
•The teacher of English Language, who is able to impart this
essential skill, must first take cognisance of the problems
the students are likely to face due to the L1/L2 contact.
•Some consonants for example, that is present in the English
Language, might be absent in the mother tongue of some
of the learners.
•The implication is that the students affected, might replace
the English sound with his native sound e.g.

◦the /ts/in change might be changed to /s/ sang

Introduction (Cont’d)
•This therefore means that the teacher has to gear efforts
towards the drilling of such exercises as this will make
students acquire meaningful improvements in their spoken
English.
•A resourceful and creative teacher will employ the use of
these activities with appropriate audio-visual aid to
facilitate speaking skills in the basic students.
•The teacher should in this situation be aware that the
students are out to imitate him as their model. He should
therefore pronounce these words as the students repeat
after him without affectation or accent.
•It is through this, that the semantic and phonological
competence of English sounds and words can be achieved.
Activities for Promoting
Speaking Skills

•In schools, teaching speaking skills should involve a

presentation of different activities to enhance language
learning. Practice makes perfection as the saying goes, so
the more words, phrases, sentences and so on that are
repeated, the more fluent the learner becomes.
•It is important to consolidate students’ speaking skills,
because some of the spelling mistakes in their written
examination are caused by wrong pronunciation.

Activities for Promoting Speaking

Skills

•In teaching English as a second language, a creative and

resourceful teacher should organise conversation exercises
whereby certain words that sound alike are brought to the
fore and students should be made to pronounce and
 differentiate them in such a way that another listener
should not be confused.
•Such practice includes:
i.Sound Differentiation
ii.Short Pronunciation
iii.Drills and Repetition
iv.Dramatization
v.Dialogue
vi.Prepared Talks
•Let us now discuss some of these examples one by one:

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Sound Differentiation

•Teacher trainees should understand that they can use sound

differentiation e.g. to record different sounds and play
back to students. The pupils can be asked what each sound
represents. For instance, the sound of a moving vehicle,
sound of running water, sound of a moving train, sound of
a barking dog, sound of grass field being cut by a school
gardener, sound of crying baby, sound of children singing
and clapping, e.t.c.
•These sounds call for creativity and lots of initiative on the
part of the trainees.

Short Pronunciation Exercises

•Teachers can help the pupils in a short pronunciation of

confusing words by making sentences with
them. For example, the secretary bought a pack/park
of pencils.
•Other confusing words include:
a.bird and bed
b.birth and bath
c.three and tree
d.collar and callers
e.hut and hurt
f.fare and fear
g.thing and thin
Short Pronunciation Exercises (Cont’d)

•Furthermore, the phonetic sounds of English language

should not be taught in isolation, but in context. The
pupils should also be made aware of the forty-nine sounds
in English language and their contrastive features.

Drills and Repetition

•Activities on speaking can equally involve drills and

repetitions for reinforcement. The drills must have enough
content and act as a guide to appropriate intonation and
stress patterns. For example:
Nouns Verbs
•`conduct con`duct
•`object ob`ject
•`convict con`vict
•`export ex`port
•`absent ab`sent
•`present pre`sent
•The teacher should pronounce these words with stress in
the correct position, while pupils are made to repeat them
for reinforcement, thereby facilitating learning. Pupils
should also be encouraged to look for more examples to
practice in the class.

Dramatisation

•The pupils may be asked to play different roles in the class

while teaching a unit of drama.
•Pupils can act drama sketches in class and make notes of
their observations. They can then write report on the
activities of each student for the school magazine.
Short Conversations
•Pupils may be encouraged to make short conversations for
the following situations:
i.At a party, student (A) spills soft drink over student (B’s)
dress.
ii.Student (C)is unhappy about forgetting (Ds) birthday.
iii.Student (E)
rings up student (F) to discuss the problem of
her stolen phone.

Dialogues

•Pupilslisten and study two short model dialogues. Their

attention is drawn to ways of expressing the function or
notions of likes and dislikes. For example:
•Let’s talk about a new phone:
Lola is visiting Dupe. Dupe bought a new phone and is showing it to
Lola.
Dupe: Look dear, I have a new phone.
Lola: Mmm, it is quite nice.
(Dupe gives the phone to Lola).
Lola: Mmm, it is indeed beautiful.
(Hands the phone back to Dupe)
Dupe: I think so. You can afford to buy one like that, can’t you?
Lola: Yes, I can. You will take me to ShopRite tomorrow to buy one.
Dupe: Yes I will.
Lola: Thank you very much.
Prepared Talks

•Another form of popular activity for speech improvement is

the prepared talk where students make presentations on a
topic of their choice like: my birthday, my favorite food, my
best teacher and so on.
•Such talks are not designed for informal spontaneous
conversation, but they are often prepared. Prepared talks
are extremely interesting to both speaker and listeners.
•Teacher trainees can source other teaching strategies to
help students listening found on www.teachhub.com or
use resources found on www.wabisabilearning.com “ Eight
Methods for Effectively Improving Students’
Communication Skills-February 22, 2017.

Summary
•Spoken English teachers should give special attention to
students that have speech defect or withdrawal problem.

Introduction
•What is Reading?
•Reading is a specialised and complex skill involving a number
of more general or lesser skills and requires a lifetime
effort to perfect. It is a skill that cannot be mastered once
and for all, yet it is a basic tool for
learning. Researches such as (Adedun, 2010; Adekoya,
2011) confirm that good reading culture is a sine-qua non
to personal and national development.
•It adds to the quality of life, produces access to culture,
empowers and emancipates citizens as well as having a
better understanding of who we are. Forming a culture of
reading has become imperative in the 21st century,
especially for our children and the future of the nation.

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Introduction (Cont’d)
•Reading is concerned with helping students acquire proper
motor skills which will facilitate the efficient physical
processing of written materials. The ability to read is
perhaps the toughest skill and it determines to a large
extent, the academic future success of a student.

•If the reading foundation is not solid, a lukewarm attitude to

studies is implanted. Reading is an activity in which the eyes,
the mind the soul, the body and the brain interact in the
process of perceiving, analysing, reasoning, interpreting and
integrating a problem.

What is Comprehension?
•Comprehending involves making meaning out of the
relationship between letters and sounds on one hand and
between the sounds and what they refer to in the physical
and social environment of the language on the other.
•Making meaning or comprehension involves recognizing
what words and of the text say, which can be known by
the reader through his or her own general knowledge and
the knowledge of the subject or issue being read in the
text, and of course, the reader’s knowledge of the
language being used.
•It must be emphasized that reading that does not lead to
comprehension is “barking at print”, and a useless
exercise. That is why reading is not pronunciation or
vocabulary and neither does it consist in the ability to
recite the letters of the alphabet.

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What is Comprehension?
•The goal of reading is to understand. In other words,
reading is a meaning searching and meaning getting activity.
However, the goal of reading and comprehension are not
just concerned with getting the meaning out of the page.
As an integrated skill it also involves, much importantly,
putting the message into the page.
•Effective comprehension involves interpreting the message
according to the circumstances or context shaping the
writer’s knowledge and reader’s experience.
•To effectively teach reading to learn, teachers must have a
good understanding of what reading is and must have
clearly defined objectives for every reading comprehension
lesson they undertake. Does he want to develop in the
student the ability to identify main idea, infer, evaluate,
skin or scan? What word attack skills does he want to use
to develop his lessons?
Comprehension (Cont’d)
•Reading comprehension passages serve as a means of
assessing certain language abilities and communication
skills which the reader may have acquired consciously or
unconsciously.

•Thus, they test the following aspects:

a.The reader’s ability to understand the English language at a
particular level of usage;
b.His familiarity with the lexical items used and their
meanings in context presented;
c.The ability to follow the development of , and elaboration
on, ideas, and distinguish between major and minor
points;

Comprehension (Cont’d)
a.Hisability to perceive the links between the ideas and
concepts discussed in the text-leading to drawing
conclusions and inferences; the ability to understand the
world view presented and relate it to his own world
view and personal experiences; ability to recognize
stylistic niceties that the passage may contain;
b.Abilityto pay attention to details and respond, as directed
by the examiners, to the questions that follow the
passage and,
c.His speed of reading the passage and his rate of grasping
the points made, both of which serve as indicators of the
reader’s familiarity with various aspects of English
language.
•The qualities listed above are all closely related to
communication skills in English, and comprehension
passages usually provide ample opportunity for them to be
tested and graded.

Problems of Reading
Comprehension

•In the task of teaching comprehension tests in English, there

are bound to be problems. These problems often show up
as handicaps on the part of the students and may be
summarized:
a.Inability to understand the passage;
b.Difficulty with the meaning of some lexical items;
c.Very little familiarity with English grammatical structures;
d.Limited exposure to English expression, especially those
that fixed meanings like idioms;
e.A very slow rate of reading, especially the inability to read
through the passage several times and still be able to
answer all the questions within the time specified;

Problems of
Reading Comprehension (Cont’d)

a.A deep-seated belief that English Language is difficult; and,

b.The physical condition of the candidate.
c.All these are serious handicaps on the part of the students.

•A great many of these problems have to do with the

students’ failure to master the English Language, some with
his reading skill, some with his psychology and others with
examination strategies he has adopted.

Stages of Reading
Comprehension
Pre-Reading Stage
Learners may be prepared for the text in various ways
depending on the text and the level of the learners. Some
possibilities:
i.Learners are encouraged to form certain expectations
about the text based on clues
from accompanying pictures or photographs, the text
type, layout, heading and sub-headings.
ii.Necessary or helpful background information is provided
or recalled, e.g. what do you know about ….? Do you
remember …..?
iii.Learners are order a list of jumbled sentences or join up
split sentences which contain the main points for the
text.
iv.Key vocabulary and expressions are noted on the
chalkboard and learners try to guess what the text might
be about.

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Stages of Reading
Comprehension
Pre-Reading Stage (Cont’d)
i.A listening text on the same topic is presented e.g. and
news item from the radio or television is played before
reading about the same event.
ii.A diagrammatic representation which summarizes the text
is studied and discussed.
iii.Learnersare given the theme of the text. In a
brainstorming activity, they try to anticipate some of the
main points and offer their own ideas in a pre-reading
discussion. A few general questions may be supplied to
guide the discussion.
iv.A number of statements are made about the theme.
Learners are then asked to say whether they agree or
disagree with them and give their reasons. When reading
the text, they check to see whether or not the writer
shares their views.

Stages of Reading
Comprehension
Reading Stage
•This is the stage at which students are asked to read
silentlybecause reading is a sustained individual activity.
Reading aloud at this stage is a hindrance and must be
discouraged.
•For students to learn to read they must have contact with
the text. The teacher should watch and discourage faulty
reading habits such as movement of their lips or
vocalization, undue head movement, finger pointing which
slows down the reading speed.
•Another feature of this phase is discussion, where
students, after reading, answer first of all, the purpose
 setting questions and some other questions that may
follow the passage or that the teacher may construct.

Stages of Reading
Comprehension
•Reading Stage (Cont’d)
•Another feature of this stage is vocabulary
treatment where the teacher specifically guides students
to use such vocabulary attack skills as context clues and
structural analysis to decode new words.
•The teacher must resist the temptation to explain difficult
words to students or to hastily ask them to resort to the
use of the dictionary.
•Only a few words (not more than three per lesson) and
unusual or figurative/idiomatic expression should be
pointed out in relation to their context rather than turning
a reading lesson into a vocabulary one.

Stages of Reading
Comprehension
Post Reading Stage
•Learners react in a personal way to the text, relating it to
their own opinions, feelings and experiences.
•Activities may also involve further discussions consolidation,
evaluation and conclusion.
•This stage is meant to reinforce the specific skills the
teacher has consciously developed by asking further
questions, usually more inferential and critical questions.

Nature of Questions for

Reading Comprehension
•The teacher should ensure that three types of questions are
asked Literal
(factual), Inferential (interpretative), Critical (evaluative
or applicative).
Literal questions
•Literal Questions call for restatement or recall of
information that is text explicit. These types of
questions require little thinking on the part of the reader
since the facts are clearly stated in the text. They require
who? When? Where? How? How many? How much? etc.
Inferential questions
•Inferential questions require ‘reading between and beyond
the lines”. It involves understanding deeper meanings that
are not clearly stated in the passage. In the process the
students draw conclusion, make generalizations, sense
relationships, predict outcomes and realize the author’s
purpose.
Nature of questions for
Reading Comprehension
Critical questions
•Critical questions involve examining the material in the light
of comparing statements and concluding or acting upon
the judgment, e.g. Did you enjoy the story?, For what
reasons?, How did you know?, Is this a true story? What is
the author’s opinion? Why?
•It must be stressed that teachers need to prepare
thoroughly for comprehension lessons bearing in mind
that reading is a purposeful goal getting activity and must
be taught as such: The pre-reading class discussion with
the questions left on the board enables the readers to
confirm or change their predictions after reading the
text.

Summary
1. Retell the story of the passage.
2. Write a similar story.
3. Give story an alternate title.
4. Draw to illustrate a story and their feelings about a text.
5. Summarize the story.
6. Change a narrative into a drama.
7. Exploit the text for grammar and vocabulary
learning, e.g. rewrite in a different tense, find synonyms
and antonyms for words etc.
8. Discuss and justify their different interpretations of
a text
9. Undertake a project on the theme of the text

LESSON NINE

Introduction
•The criteria for measuring literacy are the ability to read
and write. However, the art of effective writing is not an
easy task. There are many frustrations and obstacles that
come with learning to write. Kiefer (2001) is of the
opinion that writing is ‘one of the most complicated
human activities’. Implicitly, every writer will at one time
or the other struggle with this complex process. Struggling
remains an important part of learning to write.
•Sincewriting, especially a good one, is one of the surest
ways of ascertaining the educational objectives at the
secondary school, it becomes therefore, pertinent to learn
the art of effective writing from Junior to the SSS levels.

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Introduction (Cont’d)
•The presentation and facilitation of writing skill depend
ultimately on the teacher’s attitude and feelings toward
writing. Therefore, the English teacher is in the best
position to impart the writing skill in the pupils.

•A teacher that is apathetic towards writing skill will pass on

the attitude to the pupils.

What Is Writing?

•Learning to write is not just a natural extension of learning

to speak a language. Writing is quite a technical skill that
involves complex and varied processes some of which may
 be going on at the same time. It has been described as the
most difficult of all the four language skill and the last of
the skills to be acquired.

•To write well requires a whole range of abilities- listening,

speaking, reading, vocabulary, grammar and so on. In other
words, every writing has a purpose-to communicate
something about a topic to a particular audience of
readers.

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Qualities of a Good Writing

For any writing to be adjudged good, it must contain the

following qualities:
◦Economy; Simplicity; Clarity.
•A good writer must make economic use of words. He must
not write too much to say so little. For instance, consider
the two sentences below;
a.My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and my
uncles visited the Oba (wordy)
b.My family visited the Oba of Benin (concise)
While the first sentence contains fourteen words, the
second contains five but they both express the same idea.
Students should therefore, be taught to avoid being too
wordy when writing.

Qualities of a Good Writing

(Cont’d)

Again, they should present their writing in simple English and

should not try to impress any person but pay more attention
to the message they are passing across. Lastly, clarity entails
having a clear idea of the purpose of writing.
•Ideas should be expressed clearly without vagueness or
ambiguity. Consider the sentence below:
◦He has gone to the bank.

•‘Bank’in the sentence above has a dual meaning: bank of the

river and the financial institution. The writer should avoid
being vague as “obscurity and vagueness are clear signs of
a writer’s lack of adequate knowledge of his subject.

The Writing Process Approach: Meaning

•The writing process approach is a new shift to composing
writing which has replaced the out-dated traditional
product composition emphasizing rules of writing imposed
on students by teachers. In this context, the process
writing encourages students to experience the writing
process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and
publishing.
•Writing as a process is to be experienced by students than
only a product to be evaluated. In so doing, the approach
emphasizes the communicative purpose of writing by
establishing students interactive and collaborative groups
within the classroom.
•Furthermore, in process writing students are helped to
generate content, to discover purpose and to write not
only to fulfill their own intentions but to meet their
readers needs between major and minor points;

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

•Writing is a craft or skills, which like every other craft-

painting, carpentry, or sewing is built in
stages. Nobody can build a house without having proper
plan and foundation. So it is with writing.

• At the Senior Secondary levels, we can identify process

writing as a journey shaped into stages, beginning with:
◦Step 1, giving a task,
◦Step 2, pre-writing\ planning,
 ◦Step 3, drafting\writing,
◦Step 4, re-writing\ revision,
◦Step 5, producing final draft and
◦Step 6, publishing.

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

•Let us now look at the steps in detail.

•Give a Task
Giving a task entails giving student’s assignment or essay topic
to write.
•Pre –writing \Planning stage
This stage involves whatever the writer does towards
gathering materials to write the essay, e.g. researching,
observing, brainstorming, reading books around the topic.

Outlining
Senior secondary school students must be taught at stage 2,
to make use of the outlines in writing out the ideas gathered.

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

•Asideas begin to flow or pop randomly into your head, you

need to scribble them down quickly. No arrangement of
 ideas is required at this level because outlining simply
means, jotting the ideas randomly as they come into your
head. The outlining guides the writer to achieve the
expected end. Outlining is therefore, a means to an end not
an end itself.

Loop and Arrange Ideas

The next stage is that students should also be taught how to
always have an organized writing by looping together related
ideas. These looped similar ideas and joined points are to
form your paragraphs. These loop involve organizing plans to
enable one present the introduction, the body of the essay
and conclusion. The day’s lesson might end here.

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Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

•Drafting\ Writing Stage

This is the stage where the actual process of writing begins.
Here, the writer is expected intellectually to express
something meaningful on paper. Drafting does not mean that
that what is written is final, there must be revision.
Consequently, drafts are often sloppy and full of
errors. Do not worry, because it implies that learning is
taking place. Teachers are expected to move around and
make students understand that errors are inevitable at this
stage.

The SSS students will be asked to write the draft at home

while the junior ones are guided to write in the classroom.

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

Rewriting\ Revision\Editing\ Proofreading\ Stage

Rewriting stage is very critical. The draft are brought to the
next class and the writing of each group or individual is
critiqued and improved upon. Re-adjustment in this context
involves adding new ideas, deleting, rearranging words and
phrases. This is the process. The emphasis is focused on
revision of communicative ability, grammar, vocabulary, style,
and mechanical accuracy.
Writing at this stage is viewed as a process workshop where
learners experiment as they reflect, discuss, share write and
edit their draft or for others.
•Revision also implies revising to look at the writing with
fresh eye. Revision check list can always be helpful.

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

•Editing is also crucial at this stage. When you edit, you
check the technical correctness. It takes a lot of patience.
Whenever students are revising, the teacher should resist
any impulse to hurry them.
•Proofreading should follow as they check the final draft
very carefully ensuring that the final writings have unity of
coherence. In other words, all the elements such as
words, sentences and paragraphs in making up an essay,
for example, must have unity of purpose. All the materials
must be arranged in a logical manner.
•A paragraph is a unit of idea so each paragraph should
deal with one idea at a time. It should begin with a topic
sentence. These paragraphs should be related and well
developed to create a complete picture. As every unit of a
chain, makes part of the whole write up, closely
joined together as illustrated above.

Steps in Teaching Writing as a Process

(Cont’d)

•Sequencing: For logical sequencing of ideas, the following

transitional connectives can be used: moreover,
furthermore, in addition, however, similarly, firstly,
secondly, finally, conclusively and so on. It is not enough
for the students to understand all that has been discussed
above without any knowledge on punctuation,
 capitalization, spellings and of course, having legible hand
writing. All these further make a good write-up.
•Therefore, in the process of closing in, the students must be
effectively taught how to use each of the punctuation
marks like the full stop (.), the comma (,), the colon (:), the
semi colon (;), the question mark (?), the quotation mark
(“) and so on. The use of capital letters should also be
imparted, for example, names of person, countries are
always capitalised, and the first letter of every new
sentence is also capitalised. Students should also be taught
to be mindful of their spellings and use of tense.

Sequencing of Ideas

Producing and Publishing the Final Draft

• This is the stage of writing the final essay. The final draft
which is a well written and improved essay will be
submitted to the teacher for assessment. Publishing invites
students to share their writing with others and celebrate
their work.
Summary
•The four language skills, listening, speaking, reading and
writing, cannot be taught in isolation. In all these, there
should be an integration of the four language and
communication skills in a concatenating
manner. The teacher should therefore, try to integrate
these skills with the teaching of a literary text and make the
teaching/learning situation lively and interesting through
class participation, reinforcement, exercises and home
works.
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