DIPLOMA
IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(D.El.Ed.)
Course-503
Learning
Languages at Elementary Level
Block
-2 Skills Associated with Language Learning
BLOCK
INTRODUCTION
Unit
4 & 5 talks about Listening ,Speaking and Reading skills and the 6 unit is
devoted to writing skills. In all the units we will notice that children make
mistakes while learning a language because that is an essential phase of
language learning process; their errors are indicative of their knowledge and
not of their ignorance. We have to understand whether our focus should be on
language acquisition or the contents of the texts that are used for language
acquisition in textbooks.
CONTENTS
Sr.
No. Unit
Name Page No.
1. Unit
4: Listening and Speaking 1
2. Unit
5: Reading 22
3. Unit
6: Writing 39
UNIT
4 LISTENING AND SPEAKING STRUCTURE
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Learning Objectives
4.2 Listening and speaking
4.2.1 What
is listening?
4.2.2 What
is speaking?
4.3 Need for dialogue in the classroom
4.4 How can we provide opportunities of
listening and speaking in a classroom?
4.4.1 Children’s
song/ poem / Listening and Singing Poems
4.4.2 Pictures
4.4.3 Story
telling
4.4.4 Play/theater
4.4.5 Co-curricular
activities
4.5 Accuracy vs. fluency
4.6 Let Us Sum Up
4.7 Suggested Readings and References
4.8 Unit-End Exercises
4.0
INTRODUCTION
In
the previous unit we noted that children are able to easily learn more than one
language, being spoken in their home environment. This is possible because they
get ample opportunities to speak and listen to these languages. We also learnt
that this can be true for those languages which are to be learnt by children in
school, if they are given enough opportunities to speak and listen to these
languages.
In
this unit, we will talk about listening and speaking skills. We will try to
understand: What do we mean by listening and speaking and how these skills are
helpful in learning language? Along with this we will also understand a
teacher’s perspective towards these skills, while teaching language.
4.1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After
reading this unit you will be able to:
• understand
the meaning of listening-speaking;
• understand
the role of listening-speaking in the process of language teaching-learning;
• identify
the desirable roles and responsibility of the teacher for teaching these
skills; and
• understand
the importance of accuracy and fluency in the process of speaking
4.2
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
When
children start going to school, they are given a lot of practice in listening
and speaking in the initial 2-3 months. This is done in various ways and
prominent among these is the teacher reading out poems, songs, numbers, letters
etc., to children and children repeating, word-to-word, after the teacher.
The
expectation is that children rote-memorize the lesson, even if they do not
understand what they are speaking. They are thus made to continuously repeat
the lesson till the time they are able to memorize it.
The
teachers obviously believe that through such an activity of repeatedly speaking
and listening to the same sounds, children will be able to memorize them.
Teachers have an unshakeable belief that a child cannot learn new sentences or
words if the particular word or sentence is not spoken to her. It implies that
“a child first listens and then speaks”.
However,
listening and speaking are parallel processes. When you are speaking something,
then you are also listening to yourself. Sometimes we are only listening, for
example when we are listening to the news on TV, radio, etc. But this
consumption of news is also not like the one done by a tape recorder which
records everything that is spoken and can repeat word-to-word. Another
significant characteristic of our listening-speaking mechanism ‘understands’.
Without ‘understanding’ we cannot carry forward a dialogue. This is clear if we
think about how we talk over a telephone. We first listen to the person on the
other side, try to understand what she is saying, and then respond to her;
without understanding we cannot carry on with the conversation.
So
in order to learn a language, we cannot look at these skills separately. These
are mutually dependant skills wherein the processes of thinking and
understanding are intertwined.
Check
Your Progress-1
1. What is a significant part of
listening- speaking?
a) listening b)
speaking c) understanding d) receiving information
2. What is the difference between the
process of listening-speaking and the process of receiving information?
3. What kind of opportunities are given to
children to listen and speak usually, in the earlier classes in schools? Are
these opportunities sufficient? Give your opinion.
4. Your friend will be unable to listen to
today’s morning news on AIR. She has asked you to listen to it and tell it to
her. What will you tell her? What will you be required to do in order to
accomplish the above task?
4.2.1
WHAT IS LISTENING?
We
hear various kinds of sounds in our environment – these include sounds produced
by humans, machines, animals etc. However, all these sounds we hear do not hold
meaning for us. For example, the sound produced by a turned on machine (which
we may hate) or a chirping bird (which we may enjoy) have no meaning for us.
The
act of listening essentially includes meaning. While having a conversation the
listener has to instantly make sense of the conversation. She does this in two
ways and these have been discussed below in detail.
First,
the listener understands the dialogue based on its words. This essentially refers
to decoding of words, clauses, sentences and text. The listener needs to be
aware of the meaning of words and the arrangement or pattern in which they
would appear in the sentence. Let us understand this through an
example-supposing a friend invites you to his house for dinner and you have
never seen his house. On calling him, he guides you:
‘Take
a right into the 3rd street from City Centre. Keep going straight and then take
a left, into the lane housing Bawarchi Hotel. The third house in the lane is mine.’
In
order to locate the house, you keep repeating the dialogue (verbatim) in our
mind while in the process of locating the house. In this process your complete
attention is on the dialogue and you know that you should follow the sequence
of instructions. In this we divide the dialogue into small fragments like
(third street from City Centre, take a right, go straight, take a left,
Bawarchi Hotel lane, third house), decode them and understand the dialogue. In
this whole process, the ability to recognize the key fragments/phrases of the
sentence as well as the relationship between them is very important and comes
with persistence.
In
order to understand a statement in this manner, the listener should be well
versed with a rich vocabulary and sentence structure. A consistent practice of
this process helps in acquiring the following skills:
- To
listen to a sentence carefully
- To
recognize the key words
- To
understand the grammatical relationship between the key words and sentences
- To
understand the relevance of any stress and pause that the speaker uses, for
example to identify a key word.
The
second way in which we understand the sentence is based on our previous
knowledge. While the process of understanding meaning based on words takes us
from word to meaning the process of understanding meaning based on previous
knowledge, takes us from meaning to words. For this we need previous knowledge,
which may be based on some conversation, experience, reading etc.
For
example if I hear during news time ‘Last night a furious earthquake hit China’,
the word ‘earthquake’ raises a set of questions in my mind, like:
• How
intense was the earthquake?
• How
many people died or were injured?
• What
kind of damage did it cause to property?
• What
relief work is being carried out?
All
these questions help us in understanding the aforesaid statement. Thus, we are
able to understand the meaning of the sentence with minimum information; our
prior knowledge plays an important role in this. The minimum information that
this statement provides is that an earthquake has hit China and the time that
this event occurred. Our previous knowledge which could have come from what we
have seen, heard or read about earthquakes helped us raise the above questions
and understand the meaning of ‘an earthquake hitting China’. If a listener is
unable to understand meaning through this process, then either the dialogue is
incomplete or she does not have any previous knowledge about earthquakes. The
practice of this process helps in acquiring the following skills:
To
make sense of the conversation based on key words
• Raise
questions about the situation
• Estimate
the cause and effect relationship
• Estimate
the unsaid details of a situation
Both
these processes run in parallel while listening . The responsibility of deciding
the extent to which each process will be used will depend upon how familiar the
listener is with what is being talked about, the depth of information, the type
of the information and the listener’s purpose of listening.
Check
Your Progress-2
1. In how many ways do we understand
meaning while listening?
(a) one (c)
two (b) three (d)
four
2. How do we build meaning when we understand
a dialogue based on words? Explain with an example.
3. What is the difference between the two
processes - building understanding based on words and building understanding
based on prior knowledge?
4.2.2
WHAT IS SPEAKING?
Speaking
does not mean mere pronunciation of sounds, words and sentences. Jean Aitchison
in her book ‘The Articulate Mammal’ has talked elaborately about the linguistic
understanding of human beings. According to her, while speaking we are
simultaneously involved in many processes. Before speaking we plan in our
minds, as to what we should speak such that the listener understands what we
are saying. We also make up our mind about ‘what’ and ‘how’ to speak depending
upon who we are speaking to. For example even if we are communicating the same
thing to our friend and our grandfather, there will be a difference in the
manner we speak and our choice of words.
However,
in both the situations we first plan for what we have to say. The process of
thinking of what we have to say first and then what goes next on while we are
speaking. Let’s understand this with an example:
‘I
will return home late today’
‘Mother
will get annoyed’
‘I
will have to stay out of home.’
The
structure of all the three sentences given above is simple. If we have to speak
these sentences in the following order, they are easy to understand as well as
speak. Now when if we make these sentences dependent on each other, will they
be as easy as before?
‘If
I return home late today, then mother will get annoyed and I will either have
to stay out of home or go to some friend’s house.’
In
the above sentence ‘then’ is dependent on ‘if’, similarly, ‘either’ is related
to ‘or’. Clearly, even before speaking, the whole sentence has been formed in
our mind along with its sound and its characteristics. All this happens in a
planned manner. (Based on Jean Aitchison’s book ‘The Articulate Mammal’)
It
is evident from this example that during a conversation we have to keep
planning while talking, it is a must. This process happens so fast that we
don’t realize its existence while talking. This is more relevant in the context
of our mother tongue. While learning second language, these processes can be
observed very closely.
While
speaking, it is very important to select the right words along with their
grammatical structure, which expresses our thoughts and feelings. In Hindi the
sentence structure is Subject + Object + Verb and even before speaking, during
the phase of planning, this structure is correctly formed in our minds and
there is no confusion in this.
Voice
modulation, pauses and even rhythm play an important role in conveying while
speaking. We shall try understanding the significance of a pause, with an
example-‘Pakdo mat jaane do’
The
meaning of this sentence changes depending upon where we pause while speaking
it. If we momentarily pause after “pakdo” then we are being instructed
to catch someone and not let him go but if the same pause is given after “pakdo
mat” then the opposite meaning is being implied. Such understandings are an
integral part of language learning and develop with practice.
Similarly,
while speaking if we emphasize or pronounce a word with a different rhythm then
it also impacts the meaning of the sentence.
‘Yeh school hai’
The
above statement can be question, can be expressing surprise, can be expressing
sarcasm or can simply be stating a fact depending on the its rhythm. At the
same time the usage of non-verbal signals like gestures and expressions
influence meaning while speaking,
Check
Your Progress-3
1. What is the sentence structure of Hindi
language?
(a) Subject - Verb - Object (b) Subject – Object – Verb (c) Verb – Object - Subject (d) Can’t Say
2. Write down 10 sentences spoken by
children in the age group of 3-4 years. From the perspective of rules of
language, analyze and mention all that the child knows.
3. Make a list of 5 sentences spoken by a
non-English language speaker. Analyze the sentences and state the areas where
she is facing difficulty?
4.3
NEED OF DIALOGUE IN THE CLASSROOM
Speaking
and listening are the first steps for learning a language. It is also clearly
evident that both speaking and listening processes occur simultaneously during
a dialogue.
It
is often seen in language classrooms, teachers lecture and students quietly
listen or teachers ask students questions and students voices are restricted to
only answering these questions. These cannot be classified as dialogues, as
dialogues occur when students are able to express their ideas and thoughts
without any pressure from the teacher. Teachers think that class discipline is
disturbed and in turn learning gets hampered due to such dialogues. It is
because of this attitude that teachers are unable to comprehend the importance
of dialogue in children’s learning.
At
the primary level, children are easily able to converse in their home language
as well as understand it well. It is because till now they have been using it
and as soon as they join school, they encounter a new language. The problem
occurs when children are forced to learn and use the school’s language. In
fact, there is a need to accommodate both the languages in the classroom and the
only way to reduce the gap between these languages is to provide them with more
opportunity for dialogue. In these early opportunities a child’s language
should also be adopted so that she is able to respect her surroundings and able
to feel confident about herself. This encouragement proves helpful to the child
in acquiring the new language and also in increasing her enthusiasm.
CARTOON:
(Please make the following changes in the adjoining picture)
Girl
– Look this lady is wearing a ring today!
Boy
– You hadn’t seen it before?
Girl
– No…. Yes, yes I had seen it before.
Boy
– Oh but this is a different ring!
Girl
– The lady has bought a new ring. It is smaller than the previous one.
Boy
– No this one is thinner’
Here
children are exposed to several learning opportunities while they are engaged
in a dialogue. Come, let’s analyze these – By listening to the boy’s statement,
the girl got a chance to revisit her statement that the lady had worn a ring
even earlier. Also, children were able to differentiate between new- old and
small-thin.
In
order to be conscious of the benefits of dialogue, it is necessary that we get
used to listening to our children but adults mostly donot listen to their
children. In any random dialogue, carefree children are found effortlessly
reviewing, comparing and even imagining, passing predictions or reinforcing
their statements with logic. We will have to recognize the possibility of
learning through dialogue, for children.
Check
Your Progress-4
1. Which two processes run simultaneously
during a dialogue?
(a) listening and seeing (b) reading and listening (c) listening and speaking (d) listening and laughing
2. What do teachers think about children’s
dialogue in the class?
3. What role is expected from a teacher in
the classroom, so that the children get ample opportunities for dialogue?
4. Observe the dialogue of any 3-6 year
old child in your neighbourhood and write down your experience. Now analyze,
which of the above stated actions is present in their dialogue?
4.4
HOW CAN WE PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING IN THE CLASSROOM?
Schools
had opened after the summer holidays. Due to rains there were puddles full of
rain water everywhere. A teacher was teaching in her class. Two children who
were seated at the back were busy talking to each other. The teacher suddenly
noticed them and asked them affectionately, ‘What is the matter, tell me? What
are you two talking about? And if there is something interesting then do tell
your classmates as well.’
The
two children got nervous for a while and kept mum. The teacher then said,
‘Don’t be afraid. What was it that you were talking about?’
One
of the children gathered some courage and said, ‘While we were coming from our
home we heard frogs making loud sounds.’
The
teacher said in an encouraging voice, ‘Oh! What happened next?’
Children-
Frogs were jumping on the boundary of the puddle. The frogs were large.
Teacher-
Then what happened?
Children-
Then... Then when we went near them, they jumped into the puddle.
Both
the children gained confidence. They were convinced that they would not be
scolded for what they were sharing.
One
of the children asked the teacher, ‘Where do frogs go after the rain?’
The
teacher, leaving aside what she had been teaching, took up the topic– ‘Has
everyone seen a frog?’ There was nobody in that class who had not seen a frog,
ever. In response to the teacher’s question, the whole class echoed , ‘Yes’.
Each
and every child started getting impatient to say something about frogs. One
child said, ‘Frogs produce turr-turr sound in rains.’
Another
child said, ‘When my backyard was being dug, frogs came out from it.’
One
child shared that she had seen a frog eating insects. Someone was saying that
frogs can jump from the coping of the step-well.
The
atmosphere of the class turned “frogous”! Some children were making frog sounds
[turr turr] while some were jumping like frogs.
The
teacher was carefully listening to the children’s conversations and watching
their activities. Also, the teacher was intermittently trying to maintain
discipline in the classroom.
The
teacher told the children, ‘Look, now carefully observe the frogs around you
and ponder on where they go after the rains.’
Finally
the teacher asked children to write 5 sentences on frogs.
In
the conversation about frogs, the teacher was easily able to relate with the
habitat, food habits, colour, size and nature of the frogs, with her teaching.
If children are given such opportunities of conversation by the teachers, then
slowly and steadily they will become capable of expressing their feelings and
thoughts related to their experience. They will also be able to have a better
understanding of the knowledge contained in various subjects. The teachers do
not have to look out for such opportunities; but they can find them in the
school environment or around it in places like – garden, farm, sewer, small
culvert, flower, butterflies, road, soil, gate, nest, etc. By closely observing
such things the children will be able to converse about them.
Here,
the teacher gave the children abundant opportunities to speak as well as,
encouraged them to speak. If the teacher had not encouraged the children, such
interesting conversation would not have taken place in the classroom. In this
manner, connecting children’s lives and experiences with the class, makes
learning spontaneous and natural.
Check
Your Progress-5
1. What is the advantage of giving
children opportunities for dialogue?
(a) will
become capable of expressing their experiences and thoughts (b) will learn words
(c) will
learn rhyming words (d) will learn to read
2. Why is it necessary for a teacher to
provide the child with opportunities to speak?
3. How will you become a medium of
learning-teaching dialogue to the children in the classroom?
4. According to you, what should be the
atmosphere in the classroom during teaching?
4.4.1 LISTENING AND SINGING POEMS/4.4.1 CHILDREN’S
SONG/ POEM
Amma’s
rotis
Round
and small
Puffed
up like a ping-pong ball.
Amma’s
rotis on a plate
I
sat down and finished eight
I
am a little tea pot
Short and stout
Here is my handle
Here
is my spout
When
i get all steamed up
Hear
me shout
Pick
me up and pour me out
One,
two buckle my shoes
Three,
four shut the door
Five,
six pick up sticks
Seven,
eight lay them staight
Nine,
ten a big fat hen
We
often find children in lanes and neighborhood, singing nursery- rhymes by
themselves or with their friends. While singing they do not fear being scolded,
punished or ridiculed. Each and every child is fascinated by the rhythm and the
words of the rhyme/poem.
Many
times they use the words of the rhymes by extending their meaning and coming up
with a nonsensical usage; they enjoy doing it. Playing with words can serve a
wonderful role in flowering the creativity and energy of children. This poem
presents an example of this-
Five
little monkeys
Jumping
on the bed
One
fell down and
Bumped
his head
Mama
called doctor
Doctor
said
No
more monkey jumping on the bed
Usually
while singing such songs, children keep adding and removing words but the
rhythm of the poem is not broken. For example, the above poem is sung by a 4
year old like this-
Three
little babies
Jumping
on the bed
All
fell down
And
bumped their head
Mama came in
And all of them said
No
more babies jumping on the bed
Poem
is a potential medium to express ourselves and to relate it to our lives. By
regularly listening to poems and songs, children comprehend the basic structures
of language. For instance- children are able to comprehend the meaning of new
words, do rhyming by playing with the rhythm of the poem. At the same time the
poem connects the children with their experiences. If the same poem is read by
two different children, then both of them will construct the understanding of
the poem by relating it to their own experiences.
It
is left to the educators to make use of the poems in the classroom, such that
the children develop creativity and are able to express their feelings and
experiences through poems and songs.
Check
Your Progress-6
1 What do children comprehend by regularly
listening to poems and rhymes?
(a) word (b)
sound (c) rhythm (d) basic structure of language
2. Make students of class 3 do the poem
“Walking through the jungle ”. Ask them to extend the poem further by creating
more lines. Discuss the lines added by children, as to why did they write these
lines?
Walking
through the jungle
What
did I see?
A big
lion
Roaring
at me
Walking
through the jungle
What
did I see?
A
long snake
hissing
at me
Walking
through the jungle
What
did I see?
A
little baby monkey
Roaring
at me
3. What all opportunities of learning language are provided to the children
by this poem?
4.4.2
DISCUSS THROUGH PICTURES
Picture
is one such medium through which we can find ample possibilities for dialogue
and discussion with children from standard 1 till standard 8. In primary
standards children are very fond of pictures; they enjoy observing and drawing
pictures. In any book, it is the pictures that first attract the attention of
the children. It is easy to spontaneously talk to them about pictures. Children
very closely observe pictures and can come up with numerous things to talk
about them, which is beyond our imagination.
When
we discussed the picture with the children of standard 3, we found that along
with naming the objects evident in the picture they were also able to relate
their observation with their experience and come up with logical statements.
However all of them had their own perspectives. Some such examples are as
follows:
i.
The man is taking the cow/ A man is tying
the ox/ A boy is entering the hut.
ii.
One girl was climbing the tree, a boy
stopped her as the tree was too big and she might get hurt./ Girl is swinging
on the tree. / Trees are shaking. / Many trees are growing on the mountain.
iii.
Sun is rising in the morning, birds are
flying in the morning/ Sun is coming out/ It is evening/ Sun is setting
iv.
Wife is returning home/ The women is
carrying water.
v.
Two heron are flying
The
above sentences hint at the fact that children can do varied conversations over
a picture. The conversation over pictures has the potential to promote
creativity and analysis capability in children. Irrespective of whether those
pictures are printed in newspapers, advertisement, ticket or at the back of a
calendar. These pictures can be used in different ways for initiating
conversation even in upper primary standard.
Sitting
amongst children and letting them see a picture at their own pace; giving them
the freedom to express their thoughts is very useful in developing uninhibited expression
in them. The objects in the picture which had not yet caught the attention of
the children can be brought to their notice by the teacher, through questions.
In this way the ability of critical observation can be developed in children.
Questions asked during the dialogue on pictures, give children an opportunity
to sharpen their skills. The questions should be such that they help children
in finding objects, in developing logic, imagination, prediction and in
association of objects and incidents with their experience. For instance these
questions based on the above picture demonstrate how to further the dialogue by
asking questions -
What
all is kept under the tree? (Explore)
Why
is the girl standing beside the well, crying? (Use logic)
What
are the women, standing by the village well, be talking about? (Imagine)
What
will the women do once they reach home? (Predict)
Have
you ever been to a village, if yes then what all did you see there? (Establish
relation)
Check
Your Progress-7
1. Showing the picture to the children and
asking them to tell what all is kept under the tree? What opportunity does this
present?
(a)
to reason (b) to explore
(c)
to imagine (d) to establish relation
2.
With respect to this picture, what all can be discussed with children? Form
questions; practice them with children of standard 3 and write down your
experiences.
4.4.3
STORY TELLING/ LISTENING
Listening
and telling stories helps children in learning language in primary classes.
Listening to stories is of interest to children and also enhances their
creativity. Often it is seen that children mould the stories they have heard as
per their wishes, while telling it to their friends. Through this children not
only learn meaning of the words but also develop an understanding of various
incidents and this facilitates in enhancing their imagination. Another way in
which stories are beneficial is that it enhances the ability of children to
estimate. For example, whenever children are listening to a story, they are
curious to know about what happens next? They guess as per their understanding
and if the story progresses as per their guess, they grow more confident and
with time their estimates become more accurate. Most notably, these stories
help the children to prepare for their future life. For example, the rabbit-
lion story prepares them mentally to face the difficulties life brings. In the
story telling we keep incorporating our life experiences in them. Sometimes
when the story teller finds something very important then she exaggerates that
part of the story. While doing this, the main focus is on shaping the life’s
incidents, characters, etc. and also in attracting the attention of the
listener. Moreover the story teller’s manner of telling the story impacts the
interest generated in the story. And whenever new words are used in a story,
the children are able to guess the meaning of the word by observing the
expressions of the story teller. This facilitates in enhancing their
vocabulary, listening- understanding and estimation.
Discussing
about a story after listening to it, is a little difficult task but if the
teacher is prepared with its objective then it can become a useful medium. Most
of the teachers feel that after telling the story, it is their right to ask the
children, about the lesson they have learnt from it. Whereas in order to
initiate a meaningful dialogue with the children, raising this question is not
at all correct.
Telling
stories to children is as important as listening to stories from them. This
helps the children in developing their ability to express themselves. Instead
of asking the children to repeat the story told by the teacher, it is more
beneficial to ask them to tell any story that they like. While responding to
the personality and the character of the story, the child includes her
experiences in it. Every child in the classroom should be given the freedom
that she can talk anything regarding the story, can even exaggerate it through
her imagination.
Check
Your Progress-8
1. Along with telling stories to children,
what else is necessary?
(a) make
them read the story (b) make them memorize the story
(c) make
them recite the story (d) listen to their story
2. While talking to children in standard
I-II, ask them which stories they like listening to? Keep writing these names
on the blackboard. Then while making use of these names, ask children to form
stories.
3. While story formation, each child
should contribute one sentence and you keep writing these sentences on the
blackboard. Share your experience based on the following pointers-
(i)
what were the words on which the story was based?
(ii)
what was the story that was made by the children?
(iii)
what has been your role during the activity?
(iv)
what difficulties did you face during the activity?
4.4.4 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH DRAMA / THEATRE
/PLAY
Drama
is not new for children. We often see children imitating cartoon or film
characters or playing games like mother-father, doll’s marriage, school-school,
etc. In this manner, during games play children do drama like; imitating
someone, exaggerating something and making excuses. Every child has dramatic
skills but children do not get any opportunity to utilize them in their
classroom. The reason for this is that activities like drama- acting are
performed only during annual functions or when some chief guest visits the school.
Even in such situations, dialogues are written by teachers and there is always
a risk factor during the performance.
Making
use of acting as a day to day activity in a classroom is very different from this.
In order to use drama as a linguistic activity, two characteristics need to be
included- freedom and enjoyment. No special preparation is needed by the
teacher or children for conducting drama in the classroom. The teacher only
needs to encourage the children to share their experiences naturally. At the
primary level: any incident, story or cartoon that children see in their
environment can be taken up for acting. For example, any animal, its movement,
its complexion, etc. At upper primary level, the teacher should motivate
children so that they form small groups wherein they themselves decide the
topic, write the dialogues and act it out. At the same time children should be
encouraged to act out traditional games and folk tales as this will not only
enhance their creativity but also connect them to their cultural environments.
4.4.5
CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
In
order to provide opportunities for listening and speaking to children in the
classroom, some other activities can also be undertaken. Activities that give
them an opportunity to ponder over and present their thoughts in their own
words are really important. Extempore activities wherein children have to
immediately present their views on a given topic often prove challenging and
productive. To make it interesting we can take up some entertaining topics so
that children enjoy speaking and listening about them. Like- “if I found
Aladdin’s lamp”, “if I were a magician”, “if I were a clown”, etc.
The
second activity is debate. In this children have to present their views on
either for or against the topic and have to strongly refute their opponents’
views in such a manner that the speaker is able to influence and convince as
much audience as possible. For example, “Industry: a boon or a bane”, “Fast
food vs. Health”. Such activities can be conducted for children of all levels.
Children get such opportunities through these activities that enable them to
establish a relation between their thoughts and their speech, organize them in
a systematic order while incorporating logic in their experience; they become
an effective speaker and an efficient listener.
In
order to accomplish this, the teacher from the very beginning has to inculcate
the habit of patient listening and respecting other’s views, in her children.
Check
Your Progress-9
1. Children involved in a child’s play; imitate,
exaggerate and make excuses. Which skills of children are evident from this-?
(a) skill
of speaking (b) skill of dialogue (c) memorizing skill (d)
dramatics skill
2.
Pick an agreeable topic and conduct an extempore activity in 7th
standard. Write your experiences.
4.5
FLUENCY VS. ACCURACY
Accuracy
and fluency are the two elements involved in language proficiency. What is the
role of these elements in the learning of language by a child and as a teacher,
what needs to be focused more during teaching language to children? It is
important to think on these issues. The capability through which the learner
correctly pronounces a sentence, while using the correct grammar and
terminology is called accuracy. The level of accuracy of a child at primary
level is different from that of an adult. As we have read in unit 3: at each
and every level, a child learns language by committing mistakes. A child’s
errors help her in learning and simultaneously even while committing error she
is following the rules of language. For instance a 3 year old child speaks in
order to express herself:
Mummy
car chahiye hai.
Paani
chahiye hai.
The
child knows that every sentence ends with the word “hai” and therefore she uses
“hai” after “chahiye”. As per language rules, “chahiye” is an auxiliary verb.
For instance- “humein rasgulla khaana chahiye”, in this sentence “chahiye” is
an auxiliary verb while in the above sentences it is a main verb. Another
auxiliary verb “tha” is used along with “chahiye”, only in past tense. For
example: “Mujhe wahan jaana chahiye tha”. Although the child is unaware of this
rule but she uses it.
In
reference to the learning proficiency, fluency means the ability through which
a child is spontaneously able to express herself by speaking, reading and
writing. In this, emphasis is laid on meaning and context rather than on
grammatical errors.
Today
a language teacher faces a huge dilemma, as to which out of the two should she
seriously pursue? Both the perspectives are present in front of us.
Traditional
teachers give greater importance to accuracy, in language learning. They force
the children to read and write in correct grammatical terms. For this, they
test the children through various periodic assessments. In most of the classes
children are hardly given an opportunity to improve by recognizing their own
errors. Examination centered approach is influenced by this accuracy based
perspective.
Another
group of teachers believe that language is the medium for expression of
feelings and experiences. They give more importance to fluency. Instead of
grammar, they lay focus on understanding the meaning and reference, along with
this, they emphasize that the children speaking fluently should be able to express
themselves in such a way that the listener understands it correctly. These
teachers believe; that since initiation, the more the child will make use of
language, the more her level of fluency will rise.
In
fact after having a look at both the perspectives, it seems that both stand
correct in their own place. In order to learn language from an overall
perspective, children have to be skilled in both. Reaching class 10, children
start using language with fluency. It is then that we should focus on accuracy
because timely and appropriate help plays a very important role in a child’s
language development.
Check
Your Progress-10
1. “I need a car”, what is “need” in this
sentence -
(a) auxiliary
verb (b) adjective (c) noun
(d) main verb
2. Explain “accuracy” and “fluency” in
your own words.
3. In your opinion out of accuracy and
fluency, which one is more meaningful in learning language?
4.6
LET US SUM UP
In
this unit, we discussed that listening and speaking do not mean the mechanical
activity of hearing and speaking but it also involves an equally important
conceptual process. We also realized that children spontaneously become
proficient in their mother tongue but in order to achieve a similar level of
proficiency in their school’s language, special efforts are required. Most
significant amongst them is to provide children with opportunities to speak in
the classroom, which is a unique means of learning and which leaves a deep
impact on children’s social behavior and personality. It was also discussed
that a teacher has a significant role in making opportunities available to the
children and that she can encourage the children towards uninhibited
expression. During this, another important aspect emerged that fluency has a priority
over accuracy in learning language by children.
4.7
SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
• Agnihotri,
R.K. and Bagchi, Tista (2007), Construction of Knowledge. Udaipur: Vidya Bhawan
Society.
• Agnihotri,
R.K. (1999), Bachchon ki Bhaashaa Sikhane ki Kshamataa, Bhag.1,2 (Shaikshik
Sandarbh). Bhopal: Eklavya
• Kumar,
Krishna (1996), Bachchon ki Bhaashaa Or Adhyaapak. New Delhi: National Book
Trust.
• Richards,
Jack C. (2008). Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
• Chafe,
Wallace (1985). Linguistic Differences by Differences between Speaking and
Writing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
4.8
UNIT-END EXERCISES
1. Which
capacities in children can be developed with the help of stories?
2.
The moment children speak in the classroom,
they are checked. Do you find this attitude correct? Present your view.
3.
Write a story based on which plenty of
discussion can happen in a classroom and through which a child’s listening and
speaking capacity can be developed?
4.
Which is your favourite way to encourage
children to discuss and why? Illustrate through an example.
5.
What is really involved in listening?
6.
There are some children who do not
participate in the discussions in classroom. What strategy will you devise to
include such children in the classroom discussion? Elaborate on any two.
7.
Find a poem of 4 lines for standard 3
children, which they can build upon. Do this exercise in the classroom.
8.
Why is there a difference in listening and
understanding between home language and schools’ language?
9.
While telling a story in the classroom, a
child falters or uses incorrect pronunciation. How will you plan for her
improvement?
10. In
the sequence of teaching language, at which level should accuracy be a priority
and at which level should fluency be a priority and why?
ACTIVITY
Observe
children who are engaged in their conversation. Try to let them talk as
naturally as possible. Notice what all they talk. How will you use their
conversation in the classroom?
Make
children from standard 3.5 to present a story in the form of a play. For this,
facilitate the children in writing dialogues and then ask them to enact it.
Describe your experience.
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