Speaking - Elementary [antikvár]

VI FOR F WOR D series covers the four skill iireas of Listening, Speaking. Wivi^ YV VylVJ_y Reading and Writing at four levels — elementary, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Although we have decided to retain the traditional division of language use into the 'four skills', the skills are not treated in total isolation. In any given book the skill being dealt with serves as ihe focus of attention and is always interwoven with and supported by other skills. This enables teachers to concentrate on skills development without losing touch with the more complex reality of language use. Our authors have had in common the following principles, that material should be: • creative — both through author-creativity leading to interesting materials, and through their capacity to provoke creative responses from students; • interesting — both for their cognitive and affective content, and for the activities required of the learners; • iiuency-focused — bringing in accuracy work only in so far as it is necessary to the completion of an activity; • task-based — rather than engaging in closed exercise activities, to use tasks with pay-offs for the learners; • problem-solving focused — so as to engage students in cognitive effort and thus provoke meaningful interaction; • humanistic — in the sense that the materials speak to and interrelate with the learners as real people and engage them in interaction grounded in their own experience; • learning-centred — by ensuring that the materials promote learning and help students to develop their own strategies for learning. This is in opposition to the view that a pre-determined content is taught and identically internalized by ali students, in our materials we do not expect input to equal intake. By ensuring continuing consultation between and among authors at different levels, and by piloting the materials, the levels have been established on a pragmatic basis. The fact that the authors, between them, share a wide and varied body of experience has made this possible without losing sight of the need to pitch materials and tasks at an attainable level while still allowing for the spice of challenge. There are three main ways in which these materials can be used; • as a supplement to a core coui'se book; • as self-learning material. Most of the books can be used on an individual basis with a minimum of teacher guidance, though the interactive element is thereby lost. • as modular course material. A teacher might, for instance, combine intermediate Listening and Speaking books with upper-intermediate Reading i\i\6 elementary with a class wJiich had a good passive knowledge of English but which needed a basic grounding in writing skills. (A/an Maley, Madras 1986)