|
Micro-teaching
Although microteaching has long been used as a
professional development tool in in-service teacher
training programs, teacher trainees seldom take this
training seriously. At least this is the situation in
Egypt. This attitude greatly diminishes the usefulness
of microteaching, which can be beneficial.
Microteaching helps teachers to better understand the
processes of teaching and learning. It provides
teachers with ample opportunities to explore and
reflect on their own and othersأ¢â‚¬â„¢ teaching styles and
to acquire new teaching techniques.
Microteaching can be defined as a training context in
which a teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s situation has been reduced in scope
or simplified in some systematic ways. There are three
ways in which teaching may be scaled down:
1. The teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s task may be simplified and made very
specific.
2. The length of the lesson may be shortened.
3. The size of class may be reduced.
This article addresses microteaching as an inservice
tool, and how school-based microteaching can be
beneficial to all involved in the learning and
teaching processes.
Origin and development
Microteaching, as a training technique, began at
Stanford University in the early 1970s. It was first
applied to teaching science, but later it was
introduced to language teaching. The theoretical basis
for the Stanford approach was initially related to the
psychological theory of behaviorism. However, it is
more valid to see microteaching as a technique for
professional reflection than as a technique for
shaping behavior.
Why microteaching
Besides being an effective technique for professional
growth, microteaching, as a tool for reflection, helps
teachers scrutinize their own teaching in order to
discover their strengths and weaknesses. Reflecting on
their own teaching styles enables teachers to focus on
certain areas of teaching and to view them from
different perspectives.
It also makes teachers conscious of developing their
own skills and strategies in order to understand their
teaching. Through microteaching teachers are able to
pursue self-initiated, self-directed, and
self-observed growth. This growth comes about because
teachers are able to criticize, either positively or
negatively, their own work.
Stages of microteaching
There are four distinct stages of microteaching. In
the briefing, teachers receive information on the
skill to be practiced and the method to be used.
During the teaching stage, the trainee teaches the
microlesson, and if possible, the micro-lesson is
videotaped or audiorecorded. In the analysis and
discussion period, the traineeأ¢â‚¬â„¢s microlesson is
reviewed, discussed, analyzed, and evaluated. Finally,
in the reteaching stage, the trainee reteaches the
microlesson, applying those points raised during the
discussion and analysis.
Preparing a microlesson
The microlesson can be prepared by an individual or a
group of teacher trainees. The objective and
procedures of the microlessons should be clear. A
variety of aids may be used to facilitate teaching the
microlessons. These may include cards, actions,
gestures, and drawings on the board. The lesson should
last from five to ten minutes.
Teaching a microlesson
This is the interactive stage of microteaching where
the trainee puts into practice what the group has
planned. The teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s task in microteaching is to
practice one skill at a time. The size of the class is
usually fewer than ten students, sometimes only four
or five. Students may be real students or fellow
trainees.
Microteaching should be in a school setting, because
it allows teachers to use real students. Also,
school-based microteaching creates a positive
atmosphere among participants.
Although the lesson is short, it should generate
useful discussions. During the teaching, fellow
trainees take notes that they can use during
reflective discussions. This is especially useful if
the students are also trainees because the experience
provides insights into learning problems. To reduce
the pressure on the teacher, the role of the
supervisors should be minimized. They should not
interfere with the microlesson in any way.
Observation during the microlesson is a learning
experience. Fellow teachers should prepare for this
task by selecting a focus and purpose, and a method of
data collection and by cooperating with those
involved.
Following up the microlesson
The follow-up should include analyzing, discussing,
and interpreting the data and the experiences
acquired, and reflecting on the new experiences.
Conclusion
Some people argue that microteaching is both a risky
and costly procedure. It is risky in that trainees or
inservice teachers may be exposed to criticism by
their colleagues and/or supervisors. There are also
costs involved both in the resources that may be used
and the amount of time the microteaching absorbs.
However, microteaching should be considered a positive
experience because it aids in the gradual development
of professional expertise and minimizes the risk of
failure in the classroom.
Bibliography
Richards, J. and C. Lockhart. 1994. Reflective
teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Wallace, M. 1991. Training foreign language teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wajnryb, R. 1992. Classroom observation tasks.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Essam Wahba
Teaching Pronunciation - Why?
Learning to pronounce a language is a very complex
task, and the learning process can be facilitated if
the learner is aware of exactly what is involved. It
is obviously difficult for learners to do this for
themselves. So the teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s job is to help learners
by dividing the language into its components, such as
sounds, syllables, stress, and intonation. The learner
needs to understand the functions of these components
as well as their forms.
Once learners are aware that English words have a
stress pattern, that words can be pronounced in
slightly different ways, and that the pitch of the
voice can be used to convey meaning, they will know
what to pay attention to and can build upon this basic
awareness. Learners also need to develop an awareness
of the way they pronounce words. Egyptian students
face certain problems related to pronunciation. Some
of these problems are related to stress, others are
related to intonation. However, most of these problems
can be attributed to the differences in pronunciation
between English and Arabic.
Myths and Facts about Learning and Teaching
Pronunciation:
Many students and teachers have myths about what it
means to learn and teach the pronunciation of English.
These are four most commonly held ones:
Myth #1:
Learning the pronunciation of English means learning
how to pronounce the individual vowel and consonant
sounds.
Fact #1:
There is much more to the pronunciation of English
than its individual sounds. How these sounds are
organized plays a greater role in communication than
the sounds themselves. Two major organizing structures
are rhythm and intonation.
Myth #2:
It is difficult, if not impossible, for students to
hear and pronounce some sounds, such as the difference
between the vowel sound in ship and the vowel sound in
sheep. Therefore, it is useless to spend time on
pronunciation.
Fact #2:
Pronunciation is an integral part of language
learning. The abandonment of pronunciation instruction
has been based on the mistaken belief that
pronunciation means only sounds, and on the failure of
such a limited focus to affect learnersأ¢â‚¬â„¢ overall
pronunciation. As I have tried to show here, the scope
of pronunciation is much broader than an inventory and
description of sounds. It embraces the elements of
rhythm and intonation, which function in the
communication process. Thus, any learner with a goal
of learning English for communicative purposes needs
to learn the rhythm and intonation of English.
Myth #3:
Pronunciation instruction is boring:
Fact #3:
Pronunciation teaching is not intrinsically boring.
Perhaps pronunciation teaching has been boring because
it has been done in a boring way. However,
pronunciation teaching is not by nature boring.
Teaching that does not involve the studentsأ¢â‚¬â„¢
intelligence is boring. Teaching that employs material
that is irrelevant to the students is boring. Practice
that is monotonous and unvaried is boring. A teacher
who believes pronunciation teaching is boring is
boring.
.
Myth #4:
Nonnative speakers of English cannot teach
pronunciation.
Fact #4:
Nonnative speakers of English can teach pronunciation.
Much of the concern about teaching pronunciation has
centered around the exact pronunciation of vowel and
consonant sounds. However, if the goal of teaching
learners is to enable them to communicate in English,
we can see that communicative effectiveness depends
not only on the pronunciation of these vowel and
consonant sounds but on being intelligible speakers.
Being able to use the rhythm and intonation of English
will enable speakers to be much more intelligible than
being able to pronounce vowels and consonants
perfectly.
Stress
It is important for students to know which words of a
sentence are stressed and which are not. English words
can be divided into two groups:
a) Content words: These express independent meaning.
Content words include nouns, main verbs, adverbs,
adjectives, question words, and demonstratives.
Content words are usually stressed.
b) Function words: These have little or no meaning in
themselves, but they express grammatical
relationships. Function words include articles,
prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns, conjunctions, and
relative pronouns. Function words are usually
unstressed unless they are to be given special
attention.
While all content words receive major word stress, one
content word within a particular sentence will receive
greater stress than all the others. This type of
emphasis is referred to as the major sentence stress.
In most cases, the major sentence stress falls on the
last content word within a sentence.
In English there is a special relationship between the
different parts of a word. In an English word of two
or more syllables, one of these will have a stress. If
the learner does not stress one syllable more than
another, or stresses the wrong syllable, it may be
very difficult for the listener to identify the word.
The stress pattern of a word is an important part of
its identity for the native speaker and may affect
comprehensibility.
Generally speaking, stressed words are different in
three ways:
أ¢â‚¬آ¢ They are louder.
أ¢â‚¬آ¢ They are spoken with a different pitch.
أ¢â‚¬آ¢ They are usually lengthened.
Stress is also used to emphasize information in a
sentence. Usually the words that are stressed are the
ones that give new information to the listener,
information that the listener does not really know. In
the following statement, the speaker is introducing
the subject: "I went to the movies last night" (no
change in pitch). But if it is an answer to the
question "Where did you go last night?" the answer
should stress "the movies." If the question is "Who
went to the movies last night?" the answer should
stress "I," and so on.
When using someoneأ¢â‚¬â„¢s name, we separate the name a bit
from the rest of the sentence. The pitch is often
different from the rest of the sentence, and the name
is stressed. Look at this example:
"Ali, I'd like you to meet Carol."
This is an introduction. "Ali" is slightly separated
from the rest of the sentence and it is stressed. The
teacher can use countless examples to show students
how stress affects the meaning.
Intonation
Speech is like music in that it uses changes in pitch.
Speakers can change the pitch of their voice, making
it higher or lower at will. So speech has a melody
called intonation. The two melodies are rising and
falling. These can be very sudden or gradual and can
be put together in various combinations
(rise-fall-rise, fall-rise-fall, etc.).
Speakers use pitch to send various messages. For
example, if Ali had said "There isnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t any salt on the
table," Carol might have repeated the same words but
with gradually rising pitch. This would have had the
effect of sending a message such as "Are you sure? I
am amazed. I was sure I put it there." Alternatively,
Carol might want to send the message "There is salt
somewhere, but not on the table," in which case she
could do this by using a falling then rising pitch on
the word "table."
What does intonation do?
1. Intonation is used to put certain words in the
foreground. Speakers use pitch to give words stress.
There are two ways in which pitch is used: a) the
speaker can emphasize a word by jumping up in pitch,
and (b) the speaker can use varying pitch, rising or
falling sharply, to make a word stand out.
2. Low pitch is used to put things in the background,
to treat something as old,
to show anger, or as shared information.
3. Intonation is used to signal ends and beginnings in
conversation.
4. It is used to show whether a situation is open or
closed. A high or rising pitch indicates an open
situation, whereas a falling pitch indicates a closed
situation.
5. Intonation is used to show expectations. Strong
expectations are shown by low or falling pitch,
whereas lack of expectations is shown by high or
rising pitch. The best example here is the use of the
question tag. With a falling pitch on the tag, this
shows that we expect the answer to be "No." (He
doesnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t speak Russian, does he?)
Some techniques and strategies for teaching pronunciation:
There are several techniques and practice materials
that are still being used to teach pronunciation
Listen and imitate: In this technique students listen
to a teacher-provided model and repeat or imitate it.
This technique can be enhanced by the use of tape
recorders, language labs and video recorders. (See
أ¢â‚¬إ“Hello! 7, Unit 1, Exercise J, Page 5.
Phonetic training: The teacher uses the phonetic
alphabet. This may involve doing phonetic
transcription as well as reading phonetically
transcribed text. (See أ¢â‚¬إ“Hello! 8أ¢â‚¬â€Œ, Unit 8, Exercise I,
Page 38 and Unit 12, Exercise J, Page 56
.
Minimal pair drills: This helps students distinguish
between similar and problematic sounds in the target
language through listening discrimination and spoken
practice. (See Hello! 8, Unit 7, Exercise J, Page 33.
Visual aids: The aim here is to enhance the teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s
description of how sounds are produced by audiovisual
aids such as charts, pictures, realia, etc.
Tongue twisters: These can help students to pronounce
the sounds accurately. (See أ¢â‚¬إ“Hello! 8, Unit 10,
Exercise E, Page 45)
Practice of vowel shifts and stress shifts: This
technique is used with intermediate or advanced
learners. The teacher points out vowel and stress
shifts in words and sentences.
e.g. Stress shift: PHOtograph phoTOGraphy
Sentence context: I can tell from these photographs
that you are very good at photography.
(See Hello! 8, Unit 4, Exercise J, Page 20 )
Reading aloud/recitation: Passages or scripts for
learners to practise and then read aloud, focusing on
stress, timing and intonation.
Recordings of learnersأ¢â‚¬â„¢ production: Learnersأ¢â‚¬â„¢
spontaneous speeches and free conversations can be
tape-recorded . Subsequent playback offers
opportunities for feedback.
Use of authentic materials in teaching pronunciation:
Teachers can use commercially produced materials for
teaching pronunciation. They can also use anecdotes,
jokes, passages from literature and the like.
Limericks are an excellent source of material for
illustrating the segmental and suprasegmental features
of English. Here is an example:
There was an old man of Peru
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe
He awoke in the night
In a terrible fright
And found it was perfectly true.
10- Using multimedia in the teaching of pronunciation:
Multimedia learning aids such as videorecorders,
computers and other electronic aids present a number
of advantages, including:
access to a wide variety of native-speaker speech
samplings.
Practice sessions in which the learners can take risks
without stress and fear of error.
Opportunity for self-pacing and self-monitoring of
progress
No need for a teacherأ¢â‚¬â„¢s constant supervision.
An entertaining game-like atmosphere for learning.
Teaching pronunciation to Arabic-speaking students
There is a difference in the comparative force of
pronunciation of stressed and unstressed syllables in
English and Arabic. In English there is a great
difference in force: unstressed syllables can be
pronounced very weakly; stressed syllables can be
fully pronounced. In Arabic this difference is not
nearly so extreme; unstressed syllables can have full
vowels and be pronounced fairly clearly.
Sentence stress in Arabic is similar to that in
English. Content words are usually stressed, and
function words are usually unstressed. However, there
are two differences that can lead to problems:
1. Function words in Arabic do not have two forms.
Vowels in words in an unstressed position keep their
"full" value, unlike vowels in unstressed words in
English, which are reduced to "schwa."
2. Verb phrases do not occur in Arabic. Therefore,
teachers of English have to pay special attention to
errors such as the use of full forms of auxiliary
verbs when the weak form should be used ("I can /kan/
do it" instead of "I can /k2n/ do it"). It will sound
as if the speaker is protesting or denying a previous
statement ("I can do it even though you say I canأ¢â‚¬â„¢t"),
when this meaning is not intended.
The most noticeable difference between English and
Arabic with regard to intonation is that Arabic tends
to use a narrower range of falling pitch over the
phrase or clause. To the English speakerأ¢â‚¬â„¢s ear, this
may be interpreted as a lack of the correct completion
signals and may give an impression of
inconclusiveness.
Another difficulty that teachers of English to
Arabic-speaking students usually encounter is the
absence of certain English sounds in Arabic, like /p/
and /v/. This makes it difficult for students to
pronounce correctly words containing such sounds.
References
Avery, P., and S. Ehrlich. 1992. Teaching American
English pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Kenworthy, J. 1987. Teaching English pronunciation.
New York: Longman.
1995. Speech Works. University of Maryland Baltimore
County Computer Lab. Software Program.
The Effect of Testing on Test Takers and Test Users (The Backwash Effect)
In the following short article , I am going to tackle
the impact of testing on both test takers and test
users, with special reference to the testing situation
in Egypt.
The impact of testing on teaching and learning is
known as backwash (or washback). Backwash is assumed
to have an impact on individuals, educational systems
and societal systems.
If the test contents and testing techniques are at
variance with the objectives of the course, then there
is likely to be harmful backwash. The proper
relationship between teaching and testing is surely
that of partnership. It is true that there may be
occasions when teaching is good and appropriate and
the testing is not.
In the following sections, the impact of testing on
individuals (test takers and users) will be
investigated in more detail.
The Impact of Testing on Test Takers (Students):
A variety of individuals will be affected by a given
test in any particular situation. Test takers
(students) are most directly affected by the test.
Students can be affected by three aspects of the
testing procedure:
the experience of taking and, in some cases, preparing
for the test,
the feedback they receive about their performance on
the test, and
the decisions that may be made about them on the basis
of their test scores.
In the case of public examinations, or standardized
tests for nationally or internationally recognized
qualifications, test takers may spend weeks preparing
for the test. In Egypt, public examinations are used
for selection and placement into higher levels of the
school system or into colleges and universities.
Consequently, teaching is usually focused on the
syllabi of such examinations for up to several years
before the actual tests are taken and the techniques
needed for testing are practised in class.
The General Secondary Certificate Examination in Egypt
places very heavy demands on high school students
because studentsأ¢â‚¬â„¢ acceptance or non-acceptance into
universities depends on the scores they obtain on this
test. Therefore students work day and night preparing
for this examination.
The experience of taking the test itself can also have
an impact on test takers. The test takerأ¢â‚¬â„¢s topical
knowledge can be affected if the test provides topical
or cultural information that is new. Test takersأ¢â‚¬â„¢
areas of language knowledge may also be affected by
the test. For many test takers, the test can provide
some confirmation or disconfirmation of their own
perceptions of their language ability. The test taker
may improve his/her language knowledge either while
taking the test or from feedback received.
The types of feedback test takers receive about their
test performance are likely to affect them directly.
Feedback must be relevant, complete and meaningful to
the test taker. Feedback is almost always in the form
of some sort of score. We need to consider additional
types of feedback such as verbal description to help
interpret test scores as well as verbal descriptions
of the actual test tasks and the test takerأ¢â‚¬â„¢s
performance.
Finally, the decisions that may be made about the test
takers on the basis of their test scores may directly
affect them in a number of ways. Acceptance or
non-acceptance into an instructional program, and
advancement or non-advancement from one course to
another are examples of decisions that can have
serious consequences for test takers.
Impact on Teachers
The second group of individuals who are directly
affected by tests are teachers. Most teachers are
familiar with the amount of influence testing can have
on their instruction. If teachers have to use a
specified test, they may find أ¢â‚¬إ“teaching to the testأ¢â‚¬â€Œ
almost unavoidable. Teaching to the test usually
implies doing something in teaching that may not be
compatible with the values and goals of the
instructional program. If teachers feel that what they
teach is not relevant to the test (or vice versa) ,
the test may have harmful backwash , or a negative
impact on instruction.
In Egypt, the ultimate goal of teaching English as a
foreign language in Egyptian high schools is to enable
students to use the language for purposes of
communication, as well as for other academic purposes.
However, because of the great significance of the
General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC)
Examination, the main goal of most teachers of English
is to prepare their students for this examination. The
result is obvious to all. Language is no longer viewed
as a means of communication. There is indeed a wide
gap between the material taught to students and the
final exam that evaluates their progress.
Unfortunately, teachers view language in the same way
they view biology or physics. They are not teaching
the language. They are actually teaching about the
language.
In this situation, we should be able to bring about
improvement in test procedures and instructional
practices through the use of tests that incorporate or
are compatible with what is believed to be principles
of effective teaching and learning.
Enhancing the Positive Impact of Testing:
To enhance the positive impact of testing on test
takers, the following classroom testing procedures
should be avoided:
using tests as punishment - for example, because no
one did the homework,
administering tests instead of giving instruction,
using tests as the exclusive measure for grading,
Testing material that was not taught,
Returning tests to students without offering
corrections or explanations,
Using only one testing method,
Giving tests that students did not know how to take,
and
Taking too long in returning tests.
The following classroom testing procedures have been
found to be very effective in enhancing positive
backwash:
broadening the scope of what is included in assessment
from tests alone to a variety of formal and informal
assessment techniques,
viewing assessment as an opportunity for meaningful
interaction between teacher and student,
judging students on the basis of the knowledge they
have, rather than on what they do not know,
using assessment measures intended to help learners to
improve their skills,
making sure that the criteria for success on an
assessment task are made clear to the respondents,
having studentsأ¢â‚¬â„¢ grades reflect their performance on a
set of tests representing different assessment
methods, rather than being based on just one measure,
training the test takers in test-taking strategies if
performance on the assessment task could benefit from
such training,
returning the evaluated tests promptly, and
discussing the results in class or in individual
sessions.
In summary, in assessing the impact of test use, we
must consider the characteristics of the particular
testing situation in terms of the values and goals of
the individuals affected and of the educational system
and society, and of the potential consequence for all
parties concerned. The notion of backwash in language
testing includes the potential impact on test takers,
on teaching and learning activities and on educational
systems and society.
References:
Andrew D. Cohen. 1994. Assessing Language Ability in
the Classroom. Heinle and Heinle Publishers.
Lyle F. Bachman & Adrian S. Palmer. 1996. Language
Testing in Practice. Oxford University Press
W. James Popham, 1995. Classroom Assessment: What
Teachers Need to Know. Allyn & Bacon.
Essam Wahba
Learning English and Mother Tongue (Arabic) Interference
The interference of the mother tongue has always been
a major problem in teaching and learning English as a
foreign language. I particularly refer here to the
trace left by someoneأ¢â‚¬â„¢s native language upon the
foreign language they are acquiring. Thus, the
Frenchman who says, أ¢â‚¬إ“I am here since yesterdayأ¢â‚¬â€Œ, is
imposing a French grammatical usage on English.
Egyptian students who learn English as a foreign
language often make lexical, semantic and phonological
errors because of the interference of their native
language (Arabic). I will survey here, as briefly as
possible, the most common errors I have observed
during my work as an EFL teacher in Egyptian public
and private schools.
Arabic speaking students often resort to redundancy
when writing compositions and essays. They usually
cannot avoid using redundant patterns. The following
sentences are just a few common examples of
redundancy.
* Mona lives alone by herself.
* The problem is very serious in the nature of it.
* The boss advanced forward the date of the
meeting.
In the previous examples, the words أ¢â‚¬إ“aloneأ¢â‚¬â€Œ, أ¢â‚¬إ“in the
nature of itأ¢â‚¬â€Œ and أ¢â‚¬إ“forwardأ¢â‚¬â€Œ are redundant. It is , of
course, the duty of the teacher to explain to his
students that simple, direct and non-redundant
sentences are preferred to complicated, indirect and
redundant ones. Students should be aware of the
unnecessary information that has to be omitted.
Therefore, instead of saying, أ¢â‚¬ع©repeat againأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©two
twinsأ¢â‚¬â„¢, etc., students should say أ¢â‚¬ع©repeatأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©twinsأ¢â‚¬â„¢,
respectively.
Another area of difficulty is related to using
prepositions. Arabic speaking students sometimes use
prepositions where they are not supposed to. When
writing, they would normally use أ¢â‚¬ع©affect onأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©enjoy
with or byأ¢â‚¬â„¢ etc. because such verbs normally take
prepositions in Arabic (phrasal verbs). Moreover, they
often make errors in choosing the correct preposition.
They tend to say أ¢â‚¬ع©ashamed fromأ¢â‚¬â„¢, composed fromأ¢â‚¬â„¢,
أ¢â‚¬ع©object onأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©blame onأ¢â‚¬â„¢ where أ¢â‚¬ع©of, of, to and forأ¢â‚¬â„¢
should be used respectively.
Students also tend to use أ¢â‚¬ع©theأ¢â‚¬â„¢ before nouns which are
not normally preceded by this definite article, such
as names of most diseases and many other nouns. The
reason for this is that in Arabic such nouns are
usually preceded by the definite article. Notice the
following examples:
My father suffers from the diabetes.
He was filled with the sadness.
He studies the music.
He left at the twilight.
The use of run-on sentences (i.e. sentences which are
incorrectly connected) is also common in compositions
and essays written by Arabic speaking students. Look
at the following examples:
We waited a long time, he didnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t turn up.
My uncle and his family lived in the capital I knew I
could stay with them.
Teachers should be able to help their students avoid
run-on sentences by using appropriate connecting words
or punctuation.
Other syntactical errors occur in using adjectives.
The fact that in Arabic, adjectives follow nouns makes
it difficult for learners of English to put adjectives
in their proper place. Therefore, students are likely
to make errors such as the following:
Tourists come to Egypt to enjoy the weather beautiful.
Men and women enjoy rights equal.
This is a book very interesting.
Arabic speaking students - affected by their mother
tongue - tend to make a syntactical error by using an
adjective plus a noun derived from the main verb
instead of using an adverb, thus imposing an Arabic
grammatical usage on English. The following examples
make this point clear:
The temperature rose a sharp rise (instead of: The
temperature rose sharply).
The singer performed a wonderful performance (instead
of: The singer performed wonderfully).
The prices have increased a gradual increase (instead
of: The prices have increased gradually).
Through intensive practice and using varied examples,
such errors are likely to disappear. Teachers should
attract their studentsأ¢â‚¬â„¢ attention to the correct
sentence order in English.
The subject pronoun أ¢â‚¬ع©youأ¢â‚¬â„¢ in English is used is used
to refer to the person (singular) or to the person
being spoken to, and it has a separate plural form
only in the reflexive (yourself, yourselves). In
Arabic, the second person pronoun has various forms
depending on whether we are speaking to one person,
two people or more than two, and also depending on
whether we are speaking to males or females.
Therefore, Arabic speaking students tend to use أ¢â‚¬ع©youأ¢â‚¬â„¢
incorrectly when just one person is being spoken to,
e.g. أ¢â‚¬إ“You has caused me a lot of trouble.أ¢â‚¬â€Œ
Another difficulty faced by Arabic speaking students
is related to the use of countable and uncountable
nouns. Many uncountable nouns in English such as
أ¢â‚¬ع©informationأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©moneyأ¢â‚¬â„¢, damageأ¢â‚¬â„¢, أ¢â‚¬ع©houseworkأ¢â‚¬â„¢,
أ¢â‚¬ع©homeworkأ¢â‚¬â„¢, etc. are countable in Arabic.
Consequently, students often add an أ¢â‚¬ع©sأ¢â‚¬â„¢ to these
uncountable nouns and use plural instead of singular
forms of verbs. Following are some examples:
The informations I received were useful.
Housewives do a lot of houseworks.
The storm caused great damages.
The absence of certain English sounds in Arabic like
/p/ and /v/ causes real phonological problems for
Egyptian students who usually find it difficult to
pronounce words containing such sounds. Thus words
like أ¢â‚¬ع©parkأ¢â‚¬â„¢ and أ¢â‚¬ع©vanأ¢â‚¬â„¢ are likely to be pronounced
أ¢â‚¬ع©barkأ¢â‚¬â„¢ and أ¢â‚¬ع©fanأ¢â‚¬â„¢. This detrimentally affects language
learning and it particularly impeded developing
listening and speaking skills. These difficulties are
by no means insurmountable. Through giving students
sufficient practice and drills and exposing them to
intensive listening activities, teachers can attain
good results,
One last area of difficulty for Arabic speaking
learners of English is related to lexico-semantic
usage. Certain words that have distinctive meanings in
English, like أ¢â‚¬ع©specialأ¢â‚¬â„¢ and أ¢â‚¬ع©privateأ¢â‚¬â„¢ have only one
equivalent in Arabic. Students, therefore, are likely
to say:
My brother went to a special hospital.
This is a very private occasion.
For the same reason, words like أ¢â‚¬ع©economic/economicalأ¢â‚¬â„¢
أ¢â‚¬ع©historic/historicalأ¢â‚¬â„¢ أ¢â‚¬ع©barrister/solicitorأ¢â‚¬â„¢ are often
confused and misused in Arabic.
To sum up, Arabic speaking students should be aware of
the fact that English and Arabic are quite different
languages. If students are taught how to think in
English and avoid doing a mental translation, their
learning will be greatly enhanced. Teachers certainly
have a great role to play in the process of
acquainting and familiarizing their students with the
language areas that are likely to hinder their
language acquisition. We are badly in need of more
research into this area.
References:
J. A. Bright and G.P. McGregor, 1982. Teaching English
as a Second Language. Longman Group Limited.
Myrna Knepler, 1990. Grammar with a Purpose. Heinle &
Heinle.
Randolph Quirk and Sydney Greenbaum. 1985. A
University Grammar of English. Longman Group Limited.
Essam Wahba
|
|
