CENTREFORENGLISHTEACHERTRAINING-CETT.doc

CENTRE FOR ENGLISH TEACHER TRAINING E?TV?S LORáND UNIVERSITY B.Ed. Programme: 2nd Year SELECTED READINGS IN ELT METHODOLOGY AND CLASSROOM STUDIES Edited by Szesztay Margit Christopher Ryan 1994 PREFACE This anthology of articles and excerpts is intended to give you an overview of the main issues of teaching English as a foreign language. It is divided into two parts, A and B. Most of the articles in Part A are practical in nature; they offer suggestions and ideas for dealing with day-to-day classroom concerns. Some of them have more of a theoretical orientation; they probe and question basic teaching principles, or describe and evaluate different approaches to teaching. With very few exceptions the authors are practising teachers with many years of primary / secondary school experience behind them. They come from a variety of backgrounds including places as far apart as Italy, Turkey, China and Japan. The excerpts in Part B are more concerned with questions such as How do people actually become teachers? Can someone tell me or show me what to do, or must I find my own way? Once I have graduated from university, how can I continue my professional development? How much can I learn by observing other teachers at work? What is the best way to observe? Although you may be considering classroom questions from the teachers perspective for the first time, you too have many years of valuable school experience behind you. You will need to draw on this experience and relate what you read in this book to the classrooms, teachers and learners that you have known. PART A SECTION 1: Introduction The excerpt given here invites you to take a fresh look at classrooms, this time from the teachers angle, and think about some basic concepts of teaching and learning. SECTION 2: Textbooks and syllabuses Choosing the right materials for a group of learners, understanding the role of coursebooks, working out or adapting a course syllabus are all part and parcel of what a teacher