9789144080536

Bo Lundahl is an Associate Professor of English at the Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University. He is the writer of several books on language learning and teaching and he is a frequent speaker at conferences, nationally and internationally.

BO LUNDAHL

TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS

| TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS

TE ACHING ENGLISH IN YE ARS 4–6

The title of this book identifies three concepts that are central to language acquisition and language teaching: texts, topics and tasks. Texts are viewed broadly, including images in addition to oral and written language. Topics represent the content of l­anguage learning and teaching, whereas tasks are further keys to language learning and teaching.

While providing a solid theoretical and research-based foundation, the book is also practical. Texts, Topics and Tasks advocates clear structures in language teaching: explicit models for wor­king with texts, a combination of function and form, and tasks that incor­porate different dimensions of language learning. It ­also promotes a sociallysupportive learning environment, where pupils are guided by a sense of confidence, participation and cooperation.

TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS TE ACHING ENGLISH IN YE ARS 4–6

Texts, Topics and Tasks is aimed at student teachers and teachers who focus on years 4–6 in their education or teaching, but the book will also be of interest to K–3 teachers.

Art.nr 36063

BO LUNDAHL

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Copying prohibited All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The papers and inks used in this product are eco-friendly.

Art. No 36063 ISBN 978-91-44-08053-6 First edition 1:1 Š The author and Studentlitteratur 2014 www.studentlitteratur.se Studentlitteratur AB, Lund Cover design: Magnus Adolfsson Cover illustration: Š pullia/shutterstock.com Printed by Eurographic Danmark A/S, Denmark 2014

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Contents

Acknowledgements 9 Preface 11 Chapter 1

Teaching English in years 4–6: Some key factors 15

English in Swedish education 16 English in Sweden and the world 17 Sweden as a multicultural and plurilingual society 17 English in media and popular culture 18 Educational ideologies 21 Theories and ideals about learning and language acquisition 22 Communicative competence 24 The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) 25 Traditions in language teaching 27 Communicative Language Teaching 29 The local context 29 Teachers’ beliefs and values 31 Learners 32 Concluding remarks 36

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Contents Chapter 2

The syllabus for English 37

Communication is at the heart of language development 37 The syllabus for English and consequences for teaching 39 1. English should be used as much as possible 40 2. The language skills should not be separated from one another 42 3. The content should relate to learners’ interests and include increasing challenges 43 4. It is necessary to focus on meaning 43 5. There should also be a focus on form 44 6. A wide range of text types and genres needs to be introduced 46 7. Strategies need to be included 47 8. There is a need to focus on assessment 47 9. There should be a focus on phrases 48 10. Pronunciation should be taught 48 A missing dimension? 49 Chapter 3

Texts 51

Text types and genres 54 Materials evaluation 57 Chapter 4

Topics – culture 63

English as a language-driven subject 64 Themes/topics 65 The importance of content 66 Culture 67 Stereotypes 69 Intercultural understanding 70 Culture in the syllabus for English 72 India in textbooks for years 5 and 6 75 Concluding remarks 76

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Contents Chapter 5

Tasks 79

Task design 83 Some concluding remarks 88 Chapter 6

Projects 91

Learner-centred approaches 91 Learner autonomy 93 Projects 95 Planning a project 97 A project in year 5 99 Conclusion 105 Chapter 7

Words and phrases 107

The importance of words and phrases 108 Words 110 Phrases 111 Classroom English 114 Language play 116 Learning words and phrases 119 Listening and reading 119 Speaking and writing 123 Intentional learning 125 The effectiveness of different approaches 126 Chapter 8

Listening and reading 129

Listening and reading in the syllabus for English 132 Listening and reading comprehension 134 Listening and reading strategies 140 Some concluding points about listening and reading 145

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Contents Chapter 9

Speaking and interacting 147

The importance of speaking 147 Speaking and interacting according to the syllabus for English 150 Building a repertoire of spoken language 154 Classroom dialogue and oral feedback 161 Negotiation for meaning and tasks 164 Cooperative learning 166 Think pair share 166 Placemat 166 Jigsaw 167 Assessing speaking and discussing 168 Chapter 10 Writing

171

Writing development – language development 172 Writing and speaking 177 Writing as a cognitive process 179 Writing as a social act 182 Text types and genres 183 Describing something 186 Writing frames 189 Creative writing 190 Digital storytelling 191 Book reports 192 Feedback – assessing writing formatively 192 A summary of principles for teaching writing 195 Chapter 11

“The pied piper of Hamelin” 197

G a i l Mc H ugh The context 197 Using literature 197 Discussing right and wrong 198 What we did 202 The conclusion and some of the results 208

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Contents Chapter 12 Lizzie Zipmouth in year 5

213

M a r i e Ron n e bäc k a n d S a r a S a l l ro t h Björ k Background 213 The novel and its links to Lgr 11 213 The planning of Lizzie Zipmouth 216 Chapter 13 Pronunciation

227

Pronunciation in communicative language teaching 227 English as a global language 228 Principles for teaching pronunciation 232 Chapter 14 Grammar

237

Some key points about form and language development 239 Learner language and grammar 241 Ways of promoting language awareness 245 Language awareness takes time 246

References 249 Index 259

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the co-writers of this book, Gail McHugh, Marie Ronne­ bäck and Sara Sallroth Björk. Your chapters and stories from your classrooms show what can be done when language teaching is carefully thought through and targeted to the experiences and needs of different learners.

I have been very fortunate to receive comments from colleagues and friends around the country, and their comments have helped me to refine my thinking and clarify many points. I am therefore indebted to my colleagues Malin Reljanovic Glimäng, Sirkka Ivakko, Shannon Sauro, Björn Sundmark, Anna Wärnsby and my former colleague Primrose Duvander. I also wish to thank Christoffer Allen, Linnaeus University; Jenny Andersson, 4–6 teacher working in Malmö; Pernilla Andersson, 4–6 student at Malmö University; Alastair Henry, University West; Francis Hult, Lund University; Samúel Currey Lefever, University of Iceland; Gun Lundberg, Umeå University; Roald McManus, Karlstad University; Maria Nilsson, Stockholm University; Cecilia Nihlén, University of Gothenburg; Katrin Nord, 4–6 teacher working in Malmö; and Emil Tyberg, Linnaeus University.

I would also like to thank all the wonderful teachers that Malin Glimäng and I have met as part of Lärarlyftet, Jenny Andersson and Katrin Nord being two of them. This book has greatly benefitted from the knowledge and experiences that these teachers have shared.

Many able and keen student teachers of English – past and present – have been an equally important source of inspiration. The media tend to give a bleak portrayal of student teachers and teacher education, but those of us who work within the system know that those who complete their teacher

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education have reason to be proud of what they have achieved. They make fine teachers.

A special thanks to my much-loved Lyndell, Hanna and Mimmi.

Malmö April 2014 Bo Lundahl

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Preface

This book focuses on the teaching of English in years 4–6, and its main target audience is student teachers and teachers who focus on these school years in their education or teaching. Since 4–6 teachers are required to have 30 credits of English, there is a demand for academic texts that acknowledge the special circumstances that surround these school years. There are several excellent books on English and young learners, but many of them cover a broad age range, and to my knowledge, this is the first one in English that places the teaching of English in a Swedish context while connecting it to the Swedish policy documents. The analysis of the syllabus for English and its consequences for learning and teaching is complemented by a critical view of some of the features of the syllabus for English and of certain traditions in language teaching, such as the isolation of vocabulary learning. Such a critical stance is not intended to be negative. As much as teachers should abide by the system and its requirements, they should also retain critical judgement.

Where I am critical, I also give suggestions on how to make changes.

The book does more than connect to policy. It introduces and explains key theories of language acquisition, and each content area covered in the different chapters is grounded in research. I have tried to use a reasoning tone and have tried not to depict anything in black or white. Since there are so many factors to consider in a classroom, language development and language teaching are shrouded in complexity. Consequently, research into language development is best served by the modest ambition of achieving better understanding rather than searching for proof of one approach being superior to others. This is why this book combines a cognitive (psycho­

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linguistic) way of explaining language development with social constructivist (socio-cultural) models.

While the book attempts to provide a solid theoretical and researchbased foundation, it also sets out to be practical. As for language teaching, it advocates clear structures, explicit models for working with genres and text types, a combination of function and form, and tasks that incorporate different dimensions of language learning. It also promotes a socially supportive learning environment where pupils are guided by a sense of participation and cooperation, and where there are high cognitive and linguistic demands as long as these are accompanied by corresponding teacher support.

Regarding learning, the book acknowledges the importance of learner responsibility and that learning often works best if it starts with a focus on learners’ experiences, interests and understanding. However, as much as there is also need for educational differentiation (one educational model does not fit all), there is also the risk that so called active-learning approaches do not result in learning. Copy and paste is another danger. This is why project-based learning needs to be very carefully structured and monitored.

The title of this book identifies three concepts that are central to language acquisition and language teaching: texts, tasks and topics. They are all given separate chapters, and they are so central that they appear in many of the chapters in this book. In the book, texts are viewed broadly, incorporating images and spoken language as well as different types of media texts.

In language education, the word task denotes a certain type of language activity different from exercises. As the chapter on tasks will show, the concept invites us as teachers to approach teaching based on the relationship between teaching and learning, and there are certain principled ways in which we can design and teach tasks so that pupils face different types of challenges while being given support (scaffolding) in order for them to be successful. The chapter on tasks is also careful in pointing out that task design is only the first step. When tasks are part of teaching and learning, they are embedded in a social context where what happens will reflect the dynamic encounter between teacher and learners’ different backgrounds and experiences. Task as action is thus different from task as plan.

Topics are themes, and the chapter on topics emphasizes the need for teachers (and learners) to be aware of the fact that communication and language learning should be based on some tangible content. In the syl12

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labus for English this content is most clearly defined as culture. However, in a language-driven subject like English, there is a risk that the content becomes secondary to language use, merely functioning as a stepping stone for language learning. If so, the focus of the teaching is on language use and skills, and any communication taking place will probably amount to pseudo communication rather than meaning making.

I could go on commenting on ideas that have formed the backbone of the book, but hopefully the chapters speak for themselves. It is worth mentioning, though, that a book covering such a huge field cannot possibly provide too detailed an account of each content area. Each separate chapter could be developed into a book, but realistically speaking, 30 credits of English do not allow for any such detail or depth. Hopefully, the holistic ambition of this book offers other merits. Assessment could easily merit a chapter of its own, but since assessment should be part of learning and teaching, it forms part of the chapters on listening and reading, speaking and interacting and writing.

The contents of the fourteen chapters of this book are as follows. The first chapter provides a background to the role of English as a global language.

It also describes and explains changes that have taken place in language education and gives an overview of factors that impact the learning and teach­ ing of English at the local school level. In addition, it discusses challenges language teachers face, not least connected to the relationship between school English and extra-mural English, all the English young people are exposed to and use in their spare time.

Since Swedish syllabuses should outline what to teach rather than how subjects should be taught, chapter 2 describes and discusses the syllabus for English with a focus on consequences for teaching.

The third chapter is about texts and the role they play in language education. This chapter also focuses on text types, genres, media texts and materials evaluation.

The fourth chapter deals with the content of classroom communication.

As mentioned previously, the most clearly identifiable content in the syllabus for English concerns culture, and the chapter includes a discussion of the consequences of viewing culture as products (facts) or processes, for example in the name of intercultural understanding.

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language acquisition theories, they can provide important keys to what language teachers can do to promote meaningful communication and language development.

The following chapter is about projects, and as language teachers know, projects have their advantages and disadvantages. Despite the learner orientation and ideals connected to learner responsibility, the work form requires considerable teacher support.

Chapter 6 deals with words and phrases. I have placed the other languagerelated chapter last, but “Words and phrases” has its rightful place before the chapter on listening and reading since reception should be viewed in light of a language threshold. Words and phrases are simply vital for pupils’ chances to communicate.

The seventh chapter focuses on listening and reading while the following chapters are about speaking and interacting and writing.

Chapter 11 contains Gail McHugh’s account of her language teaching in a year 4. It may be a surprising to read for some 4–6 teachers. How can the cognitive and linguistic level be so high? As Gail herself explains, the learners’ high level of English should be understood against the background that they started studying English in year 1 and are part of a language profile. Even so, the chapter shows what can be achieved under the right circumstances.

The twelfth chapter presents another account of learning and teaching written by two teachers, Marie Ronnebäck and Sara Sallroth Björk. Marie and Sara used Lizzie Zipmouth, a children’s novel by the British writer Jacqueline Wilson, in a sequence of language lessons. Their chapter gives a solid example of so called constructive alignment where what was taught and learned was carefully aligned to the syllabus for English, the local criteria and the forms of assessment. The learner texts included in the chapter provides evidence of the meaningful learning that took place over the course of a few weeks.

The same practical orientation is true for the final chapters which are about pronunciation and grammar.

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Chapter 3

Texts

Discussion points

1 The Swedish syllabus for English repeatedly talks about “spoken language and texts”. Does this mean that “conversations, dialogues and interviews” (Skolverket 2011a, p. 33) are not texts?

2 In media texts, verbal language in the form of listening and reading is combined with still or moving images (viewing), but in many learning materials for English images merely function as illustrations. Language activities are restricted to verbal language only. To what extent should language teaching also concern itself with images? If so, why?

3 In the syllabus for English, the core content for years 4–6 mentions words like “instructions”, “descriptions”, “narratives”, “[s]ongs”, “sagas” and “poems”. Three of them are text types and the other three genres. Which are which, and what differences are there between text types and genres? What other text types and genres can you think of?

4 The syllabus also mentions ”connected speech and writing” (p. 34).

What does this mean?

We are continually surrounded by texts, and they appear in a great variety of forms. Some of them are for reading, such as text messages, e-mails, blogs, timetables, news articles, novels or reminders on post-it notes. Others are for listening, such as dialogues, music, radio programmes or audio books, while others are for listening and viewing, TV programmes, films and plays.

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brought together: print, image (moving or still) and sound. This variety of texts is a challenge to language education, since a literate person needs to be able to deal with a broad range of texts and use them for different purposes and needs.

Communication presupposes the use of texts, and texts are thus central to language use and language development. According to the Common ­European framework of reference for languages (CEFR), “[t]here can […] be no act of communication through language without a text” (Council of Europe 2001, p. 93). CEFR views text as “any piece of language, whether a spoken utterance or a piece of writing, which users/learners receive, produce or exchange” (Ibid., p. 93). We can note that this definition is limited to verbal language. Images, signs and symbols are not included, and as a consequence, viewing is excluded from how texts are defined. Another definition of text that limits text to verbal messages is as follows: “A text can be defined as any stretch of language which forms a unified whole, whether spoken, written or electronic (Hewings & North 2010, p. 42).

At a first glance, texts are defined even more narrowly in the syllabus for English. The reoccurring phrase is “spoken English and texts” (Skolverket 2011a, p. 33). According to such a formulation, conversations, dialogues and interviews are not texts, but a closer look at the core content suggests that texts should be viewed more broadly and that texts should incorporate not only reading and writing but also listening, speaking and viewing. The core content for listening and reading should for example comprise “[c]learly spoken English and texts from various media”; [o]ral and written instructions and descriptions”; [d]ifferent types of conversations, dialogues and interviews”; ”[f]ilms and dramatised narratives for children and youth” as well as ”[d]ifferent ways of searching for and choosing texts and spoken English from the Internet and other media”. In addition, learners should study “[h]ow words and fixed language expressions, such as politeness phrases and forms of address, are used in texts and spoken language in different situations” and “[h]ow different expressions are used to initiate and complete different types of communications and conversations”. These examples show that “spoken English” also appears in the form of texts. This is further shown in the core content for Speaking, writing and discussing, which mentions “[p]resentations, instructions, messages, narratives and descriptions in connected speech and writing”. All these examples represent texts.

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Texts may be placed along a continuum signalling degrees of closeness/ distance, concretization/abstraction and informality/formality. A text message to a close friend is informal and probably quite concrete and despite the physical distance suggested by the medium, it is likely to be close in tone.

A fifth grader’s conversation with an elderly person she has just met may be quite formal, concrete and distant in tone despite the face-to-face situation. In school, year 4 texts are usually quite concrete and informal in tone while many of the texts in year 6 represent a higher degree of abstraction and formality. Spoken and written texts can be placed along the following continuum (McCarthy et.al. 2002, p. 57f.):

Informal spoken English

Formal written English

Casual conversation: Letter to an Job interview Written academic cosy chat with a acquaintance article close friend E-mail to a friend Conversation with Public speech manager at work Figure 3.1

In school, learners should get used to dealing with the variety of texts that are found along the continuum in the figure above. This is one reason why one of the overall goals for English states that pupils should “develop their ability to … adapt language for different purposes, recipients and contexts” (Skolverket 2011a, p. 32). English education in school should help learners to develop both at an informal everyday level and at a formal more abstract level. The variety of texts included in the syllabus for English for years 4–6 shows that the textbook will not suffice. Pupils need to encounter many other types of text, such as advertisements, cartoons, TV programs, films, music, news articles and texts from the Internet.

When texts that learners encounter in their spare time are used in school, there is a risk of a clash between how children/teenagers engage in them in their spare time and at school. Sometimes teachers use films only for relaxation, but that is hardly in line with the ideal that education is about © T he au th o r and S t u dentlitterat u r

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learning. Some scholars (e.g. Pahl and Rowsell 2005) have suggested that there is a need to construct a third space, an in-between space between schooling and learners’ spare time. In such a space, the pupils’ experiences are listened to and respected while their interests are also taken into account.

Continual connections are therefore made between schooling and the pupils’ lives outside of the school. Different types of media are also used, including music and aesthetic activities, but the activities are placed in the context of a school-based structure and organisation. This means enquiry-based and structured group work with clear goals and aims with regular references to the curriculum. It also means that the content that the learners work with is processed cognitively and metacognitively as they engage in it when listening, reading, viewing, speaking, interacting and writing. Furthermore, the activities are assessed by learners as well as by the teacher.

Text types and genres Text types and genres are ways of categorising texts that we come across when listening, reading, viewing, speaking, interacting and writing. The ability to understand and use a range of text types and genres is a real indicator of language proficiency. In that sense, text types and genres are keys to language development. As far as text types are concerned, we as teachers of English may ask questions as follows: Are my pupils able to understand/read/tell/ write stories (the text type narration)? Are they able to describe something (description)? Are they able to understand and follow instructions (procedure)?

Can they understand text that offers information and explanations and are they able to inform about and explain something when speaking or writing (information and explanation)? To what extent can they discuss something, for example in terms of advantages and disadvantages (discussion)? Are they able to express their own opinions while listening to the arguments of others (persuasion/argumentation)?

These examples show that text types are different ways of using language for specific purposes, for example to narrate, describe, inform, explain, instruct, discuss or persuade. Text types tend to have certain characteristics, such as a particular overall structure and special language features. While text types may be viewed as ideal representations of texts, genres are used in real life. Recipes and manuals are thus genres representing the text type 54

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procedure, and nursery rhymes and lullabies are genres mostly told or sung in certain situations. Furthermore, shopping lists, birthday greetings, wishingyou-well notes and letters to the editor are written genres where readers expect certain characteristics.

The syllabus for English for years 4–6 includes both text types and genres.

The text types for reception and production are procedure, description and narrative. The genres included for listening and reading are conversations, dialogues, interviews, songs, sagas and poems, and the ones for speaking and writing are presentations and messages. However, teachers of English have strong reasons for seeing beyond the text types and genres mentioned in the syllabus. The core content also states that pupils should get the opportunity to express their “[v]iews, feelings and experiences” (Skolverket 2011a, p. 33).

There should thus also be room for the text types discussion and explanation.

When the syllabus also includes [d]ifferent ways of searching for and choosing texts and spoken English from the Internet and other media” (p. 34), it implies that the text type information should be included. In order to support and stretch the learners’ language development, we need to include a broad range of purposes for using the language. These purposes are in turn connected to different thought patterns which often can be reflected in how texts are structured. Non-fiction is often based on the following thought patterns which all result in different types of text: • Cause and effect – the cause of a phenomenon or event is presented

along with its consequences

• Comparison/contrast – two or more things are compared to one

another in terms of similarities and differences

• Listing – information is presented through a listing of characteristics

or examples

• Problem/solution – a problem is presented and then followed

by a solution

• Question and answer – information is introduced through one

or several questions which are answered

• Sequence – information is given in a certain order

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In selecting texts for learning, text types and genres should therefore form a large part of the teacher’s thinking, and the teacher should use ways of showing learners how different text types and genres work.

Since the urge to listen to or tell stories is very basic, narration is the mother of all text types. The primary purpose of a narrative is to entertain, but stories may also be told for other reasons, for example to encourage thinking or to teach about something. Examples of narrative genres include fables, fairytales, legends, myths, adventure, fantasy, mystery and science fiction. Narration appears in different media: cartoons, comics, graphic novels, computer games, TV and films. The typical structure of narration is as follows: 1 Introduction Here the narrator tells the listener/reader who is in the story, when and where it is taking place and what is going on. Once listeners or readers have an idea of these features of a story, they have made the journey into the text.

2 Complication This is where the narrator introduces something that will trigger a chain of events.

3 Sequence of events The narrator tells how the characters respond to the complication.

4 Resolution The problem is solved. In many fairytales, there is also a moral or message to be learned from the story.

Many children’s narratives are told chronologically, but when a story becomes more complex, there may also be flashbacks. Narratives are full of action verbs and descriptions, and they are often told in the present or past tense.

A sense of how stories work can only be built up through narrative. The language classroom should therefore be full of stories that are told, listened to, read, viewed and written. In order to make pupils aware of how stories function, the teacher can also encourage them to identify the structure, particularly how stories begin and end. This is mentioned in the following way in the syllabus for English: “How different expressions are used to initiate and complete different types of communications and conversations” (Skolverket 2011a, p. 34).

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Similarly, the teacher can construct speaking or writing frames to help learners tell or write stories, for example as follows: Beginning Who is in the story?

Where does it take place?

When does the story take place?

How does the story start?

What happens?

Body Body Body

What happens next?

What happens next?

What happens next?

Conclusion

How does the story end?

Teaching is made visible and explicit through such writing frames or templates (Hattie 2011). In addition, learners are given scaffolding (support) that enables them to succeed.

Materials evaluation No textbook can cover the variety of texts that learners should get in touch with as part of their study of English. Selecting relevant and appropriate texts is therefore an important part of the English teacher’s work. Materials evaluation is the commonly used name to describe this selection process, and materials should be understood as any type of aid representing different media that can be used to support the learning process: printed, electronic or auditory texts of many kinds; books, magazines, dictionaries, games, posters, images, audio materials, computer and tablet games and programs, television programs, films and web sites.

Depending on the focus and purpose of the materials evaluation, the following overall dimensions may be considered (Lundahl 2012): • The syllabus and the curriculum. How does the material work in

relation to the syllabus for English and its communicative view of language learning? To what extent do the materials seem to cover the

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five overall goals of the syllabus (including reception and production strategies and the fact that learners should develop the ability to use language in different contexts for different purposes)? How does it function with regard to the curriculum as a whole?

• The teacher. How does it work in relation to the teacher’s teaching, view of English and ideals of language development? Are the activities found in the materials in line with these ideals?

• The pupils. How do the materials function in relation to the pupils?

Does the content have the potential to interest them? What linguistic and cognitive demands do the texts and tasks pose? Do they offer the learners sufficient support? To what extent do the activities focus on the learners as individuals or is cooperation promoted?

Do the activities run the risk of controlling or restricting the pupils’ learning?

A detailed evaluation should take many of the following points into account: Practical and economic considerations 1 How is the material organized and presented? Is there an all-in-one model or does the material comprise different parts? How attractive is it? Will it last? How much does it cost?

View of learning 1 To what extent is the material in accordance with the syllabus for English and the curriculum and other policy documents?

2 What basic view of language learning does the material (including the teacher’s manual) represent? To what extent do the materials include awareness raising activities, including reception and production strategies? To what extent do they reflect that learners should develop the ability to use language in different contexts for different purposes?

View of content/culture 1 What view of culture does the material represent? Is there a focus on culture as facts or do texts promote intercultural understanding?

Is there a focus on English-speaking countries or is there a broader 58

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view of English, including English as a global language? Is there also a broader view of culture? To what extent are there cultural stereotypes? Are cultural differences emphasized or do some of the texts promote a sense of global interconnectedness?

2 From what perspective is the culture of a region or country presented? From the outside or from the inside? To what extent is it from a tourist’s perspective?

3 To what extent is the focus on culture or cultures? Is the inherent message one of unity or are also differences included, such as in living standards, language backgrounds, traditions, beliefs and values?

4 How are girls/women and boys/men represented, including in images? Do any activities focus on gender? If so, how?

5 To what extent does the material reflect the fact that English is a lingua franca represented in many different varieties (world Englishes)?

6 To what extent are the texts authentic or have they been adapted/ rewritten by the writers of the materials?

7 To what extent do the activities that accompany the cultural content focus on the content or do they instead focus on language skills, such as reading ability, vocabulary and grammar?

The organization of the materials 1 How are the materials structured and based on what principles? Is there a thematic/topic-based organization? What themes/topics are represented and are they in line with the core content of the syllabus for English?

The materials from a teaching perspective 1 How do the materials function for the teacher? Can different teaching approaches be used? Do the materials seem to encourage learners to use English as much as possible or is there a lot of Swedish? Do the materials leave scope for the teacher’s and learners’ own creativity and initiatives, or is there a risk that the materials will control the teaching and the pupils’ learning?

© T he au th o r and S t u dentlitterat u r

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Bo Lundahl is an Associate Professor of English at the Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University. He is the writer of several books on language learning and teaching and he is a frequent speaker at conferences, nationally and internationally.

BO LUNDAHL

TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS

| TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS

TE ACHING ENGLISH IN YE ARS 4–6

The title of this book identifies three concepts that are central to language acquisition and language teaching: texts, topics and tasks. Texts are viewed broadly, including images in addition to oral and written language. Topics represent the content of l­anguage learning and teaching, whereas tasks are further keys to language learning and teaching.

While providing a solid theoretical and research-based foundation, the book is also practical. Texts, Topics and Tasks advocates clear structures in language teaching: explicit models for wor­king with texts, a combination of function and form, and tasks that incor­porate different dimensions of language learning. It ­also promotes a sociallysupportive learning environment, where pupils are guided by a sense of confidence, participation and cooperation.

TEXTS, TOPICS AND TASKS TE ACHING ENGLISH IN YE ARS 4–6

Texts, Topics and Tasks is aimed at student teachers and teachers who focus on years 4–6 in their education or teaching, but the book will also be of interest to K–3 teachers.

Art.nr 36063

BO LUNDAHL

www.studentlitteratur.se

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