ENG519 Midterm Solved Papers by Maha Malik

Q. Historical background of language curriculum development. (Topic 03)

The rationale why we are starting from historical perspective of the LCD (Language Curriculum Design) is that it will help us better understand how earlier approaches and issues to curriculum design shaped our understanding of the existing curriculum. The notion of LCD, as we know it today, really began in the 1960s. However, the issues of syllabus design emerged as a major factor in language teaching much earlier. In this lecture, our focus will be the main approaches to syllabus design that emerged in the first part of the twentieth century. We will also examine the approaches that laid the foundations for more broadly based curriculum design that is used in language teaching today. If we look back at the history of language teaching throughout the twentieth century, much of the impetus for changes in approaches to language teaching came about from changes in teaching methods. The method concept in teaching - the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning - is powerful and the quest for better methods has been a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists since the beginning of the twentieth century. Many methods have come and gone in the last 100 years in pursuit of the “best method”.

Q. any 3 methods of teaching (Topic 04)

1GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD 2THE DIRECT METHOD 3TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD

Q. Approaches to Gradation (Topic 10)

The following approaches to gradation are possible:

Linguistic distance: This approach emphasizes first on those teaching structures that are similar to the native language. This is because the elements that are similar the learners’ native language will be simple for them and the ones that are different will be difficult.

Intrinsic difficulty: This principle argues that simple structures should be taught before the complex ones and this is the commonest criterion used to justify the sequence of grammatical items in a syllabus. Communicative need: Some structures will be needed early and cannot be postponed despite their difficulty (such as the simple past in English) since it is difficult to avoid making reference to past events for very long in a course.

Frequency: The frequency of occurrence of structures and grammatical items in the target language may also affect the order in which they appear in a syllabus, although as we noted, this sort of little information is available to syllabus planners. Frequency may also compete with other criteria. The present continuous is not one of the most frequent verb forms in English but it is often introduced early in a language course because it is relatively easy to demonstrate and practice in a classroom context.

Q. Describe ESP and EGP in detail? (5) (Topic 14)

In contrast to students learning English for general purposes for whom mastery of the language for its own sake or in order to pass a general examination is the primary goal, the ESP student is usually studying English in order to carry out a particular role such as that of a foreign student in an Englishmedium university, a flight attendant, a mechanic, or a doctor. Jupp and Hodlin (1975) describe the traditional pre-ESP response to this situation in the 1950s citing the example of a country that needs to teach foreign languages to key personnel dealing with trade or foreign business. Trainees are released for four hours daily for a year. Two language laboratories are equipped with materials and the trainees follow a state-of-the-art audiovisual course in “spoken colloquial English” based on selection and gradation by structural criteria with some additional situational language. However, the course takes no account of functional communicative needs or the-learner’s own immediate situation. The English setting is largely a matter of an English family and some English surroundings; there is certainly no attempt to teach the English ‘rules of use’ in terms of situations and relationships. The concept of ‘spoken colloquial English’ is one largely based upon a structural description of written English and without reference to functional uses and roles (Jupp and Hodlin 1975).

Q. Write a short note on environmental constraints, answer not more than 2-3 lines. (Topic 30)

The teacher, the learners and the situation. In order to understand a constraint fully, it is usually necessary to examine the nature of the constraint in the environment you are working in. Some of the major constraints include the time available, cultural background, the effect of the first language on language learning and special purposes.

Q. Needs analysis (Topic 32)

Needs analysis is directed mainly at the goals and content of a course. It examines what the learners know already and what they need to know.