ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

SKILLS
Receptive and Productive Skills
RECEPTIVE SKILLS
Receptive skills are the ways in which
people extract meaning from the
discourse they see or hear.
When we read a story or a newspaper,
listen to the news, or take part in a
conversation we employ our previous
knowledge as we approach the process of
comprehension and we deploy a range of
cognitive skills.
LISTENING
Consiste en identificar y
comprender la informacin
expresada a travs de textos orales
en ingls, tales como expresiones,
dilogos y monlogos.
Reading
Supone construir significados a
partir de informacin escrita en
idioma ingls, y expresada en
textos de diverso tipo, tales como
mensajes, cartas, textos
informativos, publicidad, y textos de
carcter literario breves y simples.
DIFFERENT ABILITIES TO DEVELOP THE
RECEPTIVE ENGLISH LINGUISTICS SKILLS
The processes we go through when
reading a novel or listening to a poem are
likely to be different from those we use
when we are looking for someones
number in a telephone directory, or when
we are listening to a spoken alert
message on a computer. Our use of these
different abilities will frequently depend
on what we are reading or listening for.
Identifying the topic
Good readers and listeners are able
to pick up the topic or a written or
spoken text very quickly. With the
help of their own schemata they
quickly get an idea of what is being
talked about.
Predicting and guessing
Both readers and listeners sometimes
guess in order to try and understand what
is being written or talked about,
especially if they have first identified the
topic. Sometimes they look forward trying
to predict what is coming; sometimes
they make assumptions or guess the
content from their initial glance or half
hearing as they try and apply their
schemata to what is in front of them.
Their subsequent reading and
listening helps them to confirm their
expectations of what they have
predicted or to readjust what they
thought was going to happen in the
light of experience.
Reading and listening for general
understanding
Good readers and listeners are able to
take in a stream of discourse and
understand the gist of it without worrying
too much about the details.
Reading and listening for such general
comprehension means not stopping for
every word, not analysing everything that
the writer or speaker includes in the text.
A term commonly used in reading is
skimming (which means running
your eyes over a text to get a quick
idea of the gist of a text)
Reading and listening for specific
information
In contrast to reading and listening
for gist, people frequently go to
written and spoken text because
they want specific details.
We may listen to the news, only
concentrating when the particular
item that interests us comes up. In
reading this ability is frequently
referred to as scanning.
Reading and listening for detailed
information
Sometimes people read and listen in
order to understand everything in
detail. This is usually the case with
written instructions or directions.
Interpreting text
Readers and listeners are able to
see beyond(mas alla) the literal
meaning of words in a passage,
using a variety of clues(pistas o
claves) to understand what the
writer or speaker is implying or
suggesting.
ACTIVITY
Read the following text and answer
the questions.
EVALUATED ACTIVITY
De acuerdo a los Programas de Estudio
responda brevemente:
De qu manera progresan las
habilidades receptivas?
Cules son las orientaciones especficas
para el desarrollo de las habilidades
receptivas?
Cules son las Unidades Temticas
(Didcticas) del Programa que eligi?
De qu manera progresan las
habilidades receptivas?
Estas dos habilidades progresan en
funcin de dos dimensiones:
Caractersticas de los textos ledos o
escuchados, y la capacidad de construir
significado a partir de estos.
En el siguiente cuadro se seala la
manera en que estas dimensiones se
relacionan con las habilidades a lo largo
de la enseanza escolar.
Cules son las orientaciones
especficas para el desarrollo de las
habilidades receptivas?
Para el desarrollo de estas
habilidades se sugiere siempre
planificar las clases considerando
tres tipos de actividades:
actividades de pre-lectura / audicin: se anticipa
el texto en base a imgenes, vocabulario
relevante y se hacen conexiones con sus propias
experiencias relacionadas con el tema. Por una
parte, esto tiene por finalidad despertar la
motivacin por leer o escuchar los textos que
debern ser trabajados. Por otra parte, permite
contextualizar los textos a escuchar y leer, y por
medio de esto contar con los conocimientos
necesarios para construir significado a partir de
ellos. Por ultimo, estas actividades permiten
introducir las palabras clave para comprender
estos textos.
actividades de lectura / audicin: se
trabaja en la comprensin del texto en si.
A travs de estas se recomienda que los
estudiantes confirmen o modifiquen las
predicciones que hayan realizado en
relacin a los textos, y que desarrollen
actividades destinadas a identificar el tipo
de texto ledo o escuchado, as como a
identificar informacin especifica y
relevante que aparezca en estos.
actividades de post-lectura /
audicin: se utilizan los textos como
modelos para el trabajo de
produccin posterior, en cuanto a
lxico y estructuras; tambin se
reflexiona sobre lo aprendido en el
texto.
Resulta necesario tambin
considerar algunas orientaciones
diferenciadas para la comprensin
auditiva por un lado, y para la
comprensin lectora por otro.
Comprensin auditiva. Es imprescindible que los
alumnos sean expuestos al idioma oral
procedente principalmente del profesor haciendo
uso del leguaje ingls en forma oral apoyado por
comunicacin gestual y ldica, mas el uso de
grabaciones de distinta procedencia. Es
aconsejable recurrir a dilogos, poemas y
canciones. Esto ser primero solamente
escuchado, luego imitado y repetido sin exponer
al alumno a su forma escrita sino solo cuando ya
tenga internalizado el vocablo y su significado. En
lo posible el vocabulario a ser enseado se usar
en expresiones y oraciones completas y no en
forma aislada.
Comprensin lectora. Es importante dar a
los alumnos la posibilidad de leer en voz
alta para que se acostumbren a reconocer
sus dificultades y percibir su progreso a
medida que van adquiriendo mayor
fluidez. El prximo paso es la lectura
silenciosa sobre todo para concentrar su
atencin en la compresin general y
especifica del texto lo que ser controlado
por medio de diversas estrategias.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP
READING COMPREHENSION
Think for a while, what are the most
frequent learning activities we use
to develop in our students the
reading comprehension skill?
Reading means reading and
understanding. A foreign language
learner who says I can read the
words but I do not know what they
mean is not, therefore reading in
this sense. He or she is merely
decoding translating written
symbols into corresponding sounds.
Text + comprehension questions
activities.
A conventional type of reading
activity or test consists of a text
followed by comprehension
questions
READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS
Yesterday I saw the palgish flester gollining
bregrunt the bruck. He seemed very chanderbil,
so I did not jorter him, just deapled to him
quistly. Perhaps later he will besand cander, and I
will be able to rangel to him.
1.- What was the flester doing, and where?
2.- What sort of a flester was he?
3.- Why did the writer decide not to jorter him?
4.- How did she deaple?
5.- What did she hope would happen later?
You probably have no difficulty in
answering the questions, however,
this obviously did not show that you
have understood the passage. In
other words, you do not in fact read
the text successfully at all.
That kind of a text +
comprehension questions does not
provide successful reading
READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS
Yesterday I saw the new patient hurrying along the
corridor. He seemed very upset, so I did not follow
him, just called to him gently. Perhaps later he will feel
better, and I will be able to talk to him
1.- What is the problem described here?
2.- Is this event taking place indoors or outside?
3.- Did the writer try to get near the patient?
4.- What do you think she said when she called to him?
5.- What might the job of the writer be?
6.- Why do you think she wants to talk to the patient?
The questions here are different
because they require some kind of
interpretation and application of the
readers background knowledge.
This questions demand real
comprehension, and encourage and
interactive engaging with the text.
This kind of questions often have
more than one possible answer.
Guessing questions + text
Another type of reading activities
consists of try answering some
questions before reading a text.
READ THE QUESTIONS AND GUESS WHAT
THE ANSWERS ARE GOING TO BE. LATER,
YOU WILL READ THE TEXT AND BE ABLE
TO CHECK HOW MANY YOU GOT RIGHT
1.- Where was Jane walking?
2.- What did she hear behind her?
3.- What was her necklace made of?
4.- What did the thief steal? (two things)
5.- What did he do next?
You probably felt more motivated to
read because of the challenge of
finding out whether you had got
your answers right or not. Probably
at least some of your answers were
in fact right. This kind of activity is
a way to motivate learners to read a
text.
As Jane was walking down the
street, she heard someone walking
quietly behind her. She began to
feel afraid. Suddenly a large hand
touched her neck, her gold necklace
broke and disappeared. In another
moment, her bag too was gone, and
the thief was running away.
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
SPEAKING AND WRITING
In order for communication to be
successful we have to structure our
discourse in such a way that it will
be understood by our listeners or
readers.
Speaking
Consiste en la capacidad de usar el
idioma ingls para comunicarse de
manera inteligible al participar en
intercambios orales y
conversaciones, as como al realizar
monlogos, haciendo uso de una
adecuada pronunciacin.
la capacidad de exponer ante otras personas;
la expresin de ideas y conocimientos de manera organizada;
el desarrollo de la argumentacin al formular ideas y
opiniones;
un uso del lenguaje con niveles crecientes de precisin,
incorporando los conceptos propios del sector;
el planteamiento de preguntas para expresar dudas,
inquietudes, y para superar dificultades de comprensin;
la disposicin para escuchar informacin de manera oral,
manteniendo la atencin durante el tiempo requerido;
la interaccin con otras personas para intercambiar ideas,
analizar informacin y elaborar conexiones en relacin a un
tema en particular, compartir puntos de vista y desarrollar
acuerdos.
Writing
Capacidad de utilizar la escritura en
ingls en situaciones comunicativas.
Se aspira a que los estudiantes
puedan hacer uso de esta capacidad
en situaciones comunicativas
simples, personalmente relevantes
y con propsitos bien definidos.
la escritura de textos de diversa extensin y
complejidad (por ejemplo, reportes, ensayos,
descripciones, respuestas breves);
la organizacin y presentacin de informacin a
travs de esquemas o tablas;
la presentacin de las ideas de una manera
coherente y clara;
el uso apropiado del vocabulario en los textos
escritos;
el uso correcto de la gramtica y de la ortografa.
Rules for speaking
Sociocultural rules: to know how to
speak to each other in terms of how
formal to be, what kind of language
speakers can use, how loud to
speak, how close to stand to each
other.
Turn-Taking: The way in which
participants in conversations get
their chance to speak.
Rules for Writing
These go from the Netiquette of
computer users (short for "network
etiquette" or "Internet etiquette. It
is a set of social conventions that
facilitate interaction over networks);
to the accepted and successful
patterns of a letter
Orientaciones Especficas para el
desarrollo de las habilidades
productivas.
Expresin oral. La expresin oral esta ligada al
adiestramiento auditivo de manera que la
reaccin natural de los alumnos sea repetir y de
manera gradual emitir y comprender el
significado de vocabulario sin necesidad de
traduccin. Es un proceso imprescindible
apuntando a que el lenguaje sea primero
percibido luego usado con naturalidad con el
propsito de que los alumnos adquieran confianza
al usar el idioma extranjero. Gran parte de los
primeros niveles estar dedicado a entrenar estas
dos destrezas, creando el habito de usar
expresiones correctas de comunicacin diaria. En
los niveles superiores se debe apoyar a los
alumnos a que expresen o defiendan opiniones.
Expresin escrita. Inicialmente, se recomienda
que los estudiantes escriban en base a los
modelos presentados por el profesor. Una vez que
se adquiere confianza en este proceso pueden ir
creando sus propias oraciones con variedad de
vocabulario, considerando las formalidades
necesarias de acuerdo a quien esta destinado y el
propsito del mensaje. Es solo despus de lograr
esta habilidad que los alumnos podrn crear
trozos propios haciendo uso de conectores,
manteniendo la estructura adecuada y corrigiendo
sus errores.
Dealing with difficulty
When speakers or writers of a
foreign language do not know a
word or just cannot remember it,
they may employ some or all of the
following strategies to solve the
difficulty they are encountering.
Improvising: Speakers or writers
sometimes try any word or phrase that
they can come up with in the hope that it
is about right. Such improvisations
sometimes work, but they can also
obscure meaning.
Discarding: When speakers or writers
simply cannot find words for what they
want to say or write, they may discard
the thought that they cannot put into
speech.
Foreignising: Speakers or writers
choose a word in a language they know
and foreignise it in the hope that it will be
equivalent to the meaning they wish to
express in the foreign language.
Paraphrasing: Speakers or writers
talking about something for cleaning the
teeth if they do not know the word
toothbrush
Activities to develop Speaking
Discussion Activities:
Describing Pictures
Picture Differences
Things in Common
Shopping List
Solving a Problem
Things in commom
Students sit in pairs, preferably
choosing as their partner someone
they do not know very well. They
talk to one another to find out as
many things as they can that they
have in common. These must be
things that can only be discovered
through talking. At the end they
share their findings with the full
class.
Interactions:
Interactional talk: How to greet,
take leave, begin and end
conversations, apologize, thank,
and so on.
Short turns: Only one or two
utterances.


Long turns: String of utterances.
(telling stories, telling jokes,
describing a person or place, giving
a shor talk or lecture, arguing a
case)
Role Play
Role Play
To play the role of someone other
than themselves, and using
language appropriate to this new
content or situation.
Dialogues, plays, simulations, role
play.
Dialogues: This is a traditional language-
learning technique that has gone
somewhat out of fashion in recent years.
The learners are taught a brief dialogue
which they learn by heart.
Then they perform it.
Also they can suggest a continuation with
two or more additional utterances which
carry the action further.
For beginners or the less confident,
the dialogue is a good way to get
learners to practise saying the
second language without hesitation,
and learning by heart increases the
learners vocabulary of ready made
combinations of words.
Plays: These are an expansion of
the dialogue technique, where a
class learns and performs a play.
This can be based on something
they have read, or composed by
them or the teacher, or an actual
play from the literature of the
english language.
Rehearsals and other preparations
are rather time consuming, but the
results can contribute a great deal
both to learning and to learner
confidence.
Simulations: An imaginary situation in
which students simulate being another
person.
You are the managing committee of a
special school for blind children. You want
to organize a summer camp for the
children but your school budget is
insufficient. Decide how you might raise
the money
Role Play: Participants are given a
situation and they allotted individual
roles. For example:
Role Card A: You are a customer in a cake
shop. You want a birthday cake for a
friend. He is very fond of chocolate.
Role Card B: You are a shop assistant in a
cake shop. You have many kinds of cake,
but not chocolate cake.
Role plays are the best way to give
our learners the opportunity to
practise improvising a range of real
life spoken language in the
classroom.
Activities to develop writing