TESOL 668 2013 Vietnam

Reading 1: Harmer Ch. 1b: EFL, ESL, ESOL, and ELF

Harmer (2007) introduces the main acronyms that are associated with TESOL. These include ESP, EAP, ESL, EFL, and
ELF. Harmer notes the current and ongoing challenge to theorists, researchers and educators to account for the actual
use of English in their conceptions of English and discusses the push to legitimise World Englishes.
Q: For what purpose(s), and in what context(s), will/do your students typically use English?
Harmer (2007) discusses the recent focus of applied linguists (see Jenkins and Seidlhofer) on the grammar of English as
a lingua franca or common language. Harmer notes that the identification of characteristics that are common to English
as a lingua franca challenge the assumption that so-called native speaker varieties are the norm to which all varieties of
English, including learner English, ought to be judged.
Q: Which variety of English do you teach and why?
Task: Read Harmer, section B2 and answer the questions below:
1. According to Jenkins, which English should be taught?
2. What arguments can you find against Jenkinss position?
Harmer also discusses the varieties spoken by inner-circle monolingual users (after Jenkins) of English. Harmer
presents research to illustrate the diversity within the various inner circles varieties of English:

(Harmer, 2007, p. 22)

Discussion
What ideologies can you attribute to the following? ESL, EFL, ELF
If you were teaching Vietnamese in Australia which acronym would you use?
If you were teaching Vietnamese in Australia which variety would you teach and why?

Dr Maggie McAlinden
Department of Education
TESOL 568@curtin.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (WA) 02637B (NSW). 211083-08-10

TESOL 668 2013 Vietnam

Reading 2: Crystal Ch. 5: Language and Thought
Pre-reading activity: Linguistic determinism
1. Doctor story: A father is driving in a car with his son. They get into an accident, the father is killed instantly, and the
son is rushed to a hospital. The doctor comes in and says, I cannot operate, this is my son.
How can that be?
2. Answer the following questions:
a) How are thoughts connected and organised in language?
b) What is the traditional view of the relationship between language and thought?
c) Is thought independent of language, or is it interdependent?
d) Create a metaphor to illustrate the relationship between language and thought.
3. Review Crystal, Ch.5, p. 15 and compare your answers.
4. Different languages divide and name phenomena differently. Different language structures lead you to see and
interpret the world in different ways:
Studies have shown that people find it easier to recognise and remember shades of colours for which they have
a specific name.
Mental illness is very likely to be bound by language and culture - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
5. Can you give your own examples of the relationship between language and thought that the statements below
describe?
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (Wittgenstein, 1922)
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate
from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the
contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscope flux of impressions which has to be organized by our
minds - and this means largely by our linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into
concepts, and ascribe significance as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it
in this way - an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our
language. (Whorf, 1956)
Whorf, B. L., 1956. Language, thought and reality; Selected writings. Edited by J.B. Carroll. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p.212-13.
Wittgenstein, L., 1922 (1974): Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, tr. D.F. Pears and B.F.McGuinness, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Dr Maggie McAlinden
Department of Education
TESOL 568@curtin.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (WA) 02637B (NSW). 211083-08-10

TESOL 668 2013 Vietnam

Reading 3: Crystal Ch. 16: Grammar
Pre- reading task
1. What are words? Can you identify individual words in the texts below?

2. How would you teach yourself to understand the texts above?

3. A very influential linguist Stephen Krashen argued that learners dont need to focus on rules or repetition to learn a
second language:
"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require
tedious drill" (Krashen, 1981, p. 6)
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. English Language Teaching Series. London: Prentice-Hall
International

How can we learn or teach language without grammatical rules?

4. Texts and Contexts: Without a context, it is difficult to know the intended meaning of a word or phrase:
Port does not exist.
Why do we typically decontextualize language in order to teach it? It is easier to examine a fish out of water than in its
natural habitat, but when we take words, sentences and texts out of context, we can lose intelligibility:
Hes reading.
What is he doing? Hes reading.
He never talks when hes reading the newspaper.
Hell be writing in the morning, but hes reading in the afternoon.
Hes reading in his room a lot more these days. Do you think he is ok?
So, hes reading that book and then the fire alarm goes off, so he never finishes it.
5. Grammar exercise: Choose the correct form of the verb:
a) Do you work/ Are you working every weekend?
b) Cigarette? No thanks, Im not smoking/ I dont smoke.
c) What do you eat/are you eating?
What is wrong with the exercise above?
6. Write a short dialogue to contextualise the use of the first conditional to a group of elementary learners. Plan how you
would use the dialogue to introduce and practice this structure.

Dr Maggie McAlinden
Department of Education
TESOL 568@curtin.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (WA) 02637B (NSW). 211083-08-10

TESOL 668 2013 Vietnam

Lesson Example
Reading Practice
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

What is the name of the passenger?

Where is he flying to?
Which airline is he flying with?
What is his flight number?
What time does the plane leave?

Dialogue: At the office

Michael: Whats the time?
John: Its about 7.30.
M: 7. 30! Oh no. Im going to miss my plane. If I miss the plane, Ill lose my job.
J: No, you wont. If you leave now, youll catch your plane.
M: I hope so. See you.
J: Ok. Take care.
Questions
a.
b.
c.
d.

How much time does Michael have to get to the airport?

How does Michael feel?
What will happen if Michael misses the plane?
Will Michael miss the plane?

Dr Maggie McAlinden
Department of Education
TESOL 568@curtin.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (WA) 02637B (NSW). 211083-08-10