1.2 Teaching English As A Foreign Language in Algeria Context
1.2 Teaching English As A Foreign Language in Algeria Context
cultural institutions). Its status thereofis that it is considered as the second foreign
language, besides French,despite the fact that it does not particularly play an
important role inthe national and social life of the Algerian people. As it (English)
economic daily realities. Also, English in Algeria isnot the students’ natural
English they hear, speak,read or write in the classroom, English is, to a certain
Great Britain, or any other English-speaking country forthat matter. In spite of the
communication, it is amazingly true tosay that only the teachers of English or the
textbooks and the readingdocuments they provide the learnerswith are considered
to be the onlysource that can inform them (to some extent, however) about the
wayof thinking and living of the English speaking peoples. More than that,and as
stated by Hayenne (1989 : 43), English is considered by someAlgerians as “ a
system. Hence, most of thAlgerian studentsand even their parents are becoming
People, all over theworld, use it for both sending and receiving messages. Of all
It is the world’s most widely spoken language afterChinese. Also, it is the common
1989: 1). As such, it is regarded as the unique language for global communication
in the 21stcentury. Most people who use English these days are not English
people’s notice, but it has gained access to both their heartsand minds as well.
Again, the number of speakers of English as a second/foreign language is
maritime power, the expansion of the British Empire,and growth of commerce and
industry, of science and literature,have, each in its way, contributed to make the
English language what it is today. In short, the English language reflects in its
commerce has made it possible to set up international bodies and organize events
on a global scale. The United Nations, theWorld Bank, and the European Union all
researchers “Motivation”.
Harmer (2001: 68)defines motivation as “some kind of internal drive that
that “teachers, who want to be successful in teaching, should have this definition in
mind when planning lessons to encourage themselves andtheir pupils.” On his turn,
combination of effort plus desire toachieve the goal of learning the language plus
From the very first session, experienced teachers can spotthose skilful ones with a
motivated pupils, are mostly a big help to teachers. By the same token, it could be
also, noticed that some other students with a potential in learning a foreign
in all, we can say that there are two types of pupils; those who
come into the classroom with an intrinsic motivation to learn while others rely on
It is obvious that, variety is one of the most important factorsin maintaining a high
level of motivation and interest among the learners. Yet, there are many things that
can be done by the teacher orthe textbook writer which add variety not only to the
learning process but also to thepupils’ interest in English. All teachers know
thatnothing is more tedious for the pupils than doing the same activitiesevery day.
1999, state that the learner should achievecommunication in its various forms,
- socio-cultural objectives;
-humanistic objectives;
-educational objectives;
-academic objectives .
mental abilitieand skills which should be catered for by all the included in the
curriculum because these skills are the basisfor any efficient acquisition of
language. They are: (always, accordingto the Algerian directives of June 1999.)
1999), the syllabuses of the English language aimat providing the Algerian learners
with the language necessary tocommunicate efficiently in a normal social and /or
working situationboth in speaking and in writing. At the same time, they aim at
enhancing those who go on further studies to use the foreign language as a means
English language, translation, or journalism) and those who join the job market to
occupations.
exploring and exploitingmaterials that are linked to their field of study without
The pupils at middle school level are supposed to have attendedabout 250 hours of
English teaching classes (4 hours per week in 3 AFand 5 hours per week in 4 AF).
They are supposed to have acquired basic English (structures and vocabulary)
necessary to express thefour main functions of the language which are: description,
speaking, reading, and writing). As a result, they areexpected to master the basic
(English) correctly and appropriately during their first years in secondary schools.
This situation and the newly divised time-table have led thesecondary school
teachers to devote a large part of the teaching sessions to the brushing up of the
English has not really helped. Bearing in mind that 2 hours per week for the
scientificclasses and 3 hours for literary classes during their first year in
thesecondary school are just sufficient to preserve some of the acquired language,
they have to restrict their objectives to the mere reactivationof basic elements seen
in the previous two years. They have for the literary streams, supplied a few more
functions and structures whereasfor the scientific stream, the effort has been
and their related structures. Besides that, some school administratorsbelieve that
(the afternoons) where the pupils are lessenergetic and less motivated. In most
secondary schools
By the end of their first two years in secondary school, thepupils are supposed to
have attended 296 hours of English, (156 forthe literary streams and 140 for the
scientific streams) and they aresupposed to have acquired more knowledge in the
-they should be able to understand a simple oral message saidin everyday English
in interpersonal exchanges;
-they should understand the broad lines of a short talk that is delivered in standard
English.
2- oral expression
simple English.
3- reading comprehension
-they should be able to read simple authentic texts and documents (maps, charts,
forms, notices…).
4- written expression.
functions:
i- instructing.
These functions are studied deeper with literary streams asthey get more sessions
of the language (during their first year only). In scientific streams, more
- describing processes
- instructing…etc.
secondary school
At the end of the third year, the pupils are expected to have
1- listening comprehension
scientific, and technical themes (this talk couldbe worked out in terms of lexis,
2- oral expression
(even with some mistakes in pronunciation and grammar) without a risk of false
interpretations.
3- reading comprehension
4- written expression
(Stone and Morris, in Issac, 2010). Furthermore, Issac (2010) explains that
teaching tactics are that behavior of the teacher which he manifests in the class i.e.,
the developments of the teaching strategies, giving proper stimulus for timely
responses, drilling the learnt responses, increasing the responses by extra activities
and so on.
Lawton define, “teaching strategy is a generalized plan for a lesson(s)
which include structure desired learner behavior in terms of goals of
instructions and an outline of planned tactics necessary to implement the
strategy”. Teaching strategies refer to methods used to help students learn the
desired course contents and be able to develop achievable goals in the future.
Teaching strategies identify the different available learning methods to enable
them to develop the right strategy to deal with the target group identified.
1. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a process for generating multiple ideas/options in which
judgment is suspended until a maximum number of ideas has been generated. Al-
maghrawy in Al-khatib (2012: 31) also defines that brainstorming as a group
creativity forum for general ideas.
Moreover, Sayed in Al-khatib (2012: 31) purposed some importance of
brainstorming for the students. Those are: (a) helping students to solve problems;
(b) helping students to benefit from the ideas of others through the development
and build on them; and (c) helping the cohesion of the students and building
relationships among them and assess the views of others.
In addition, brainstorming has some advantageous, they are: (a) actively
involving learners in higher levels of thinking; (b) promoting peer learning and
creates synergy; (c) promoting critical thinking; and (d) helping groups reach
consensus.
On the other hand, there are some disadvantageous of brainstorming. (a)
requiring learners discipline; (b) may not be effective with largegroups; and (c) can
lead to “group think”.
3. Demonstration
Demonstration means performing an activity so that learners can observe how
it is done in order to help prepare learner to transfer theory to practical application.
Moreover, demonstration strategy involves the teacher showing learners how to do
something (Adekoya and Olatoye, 2011).
The advantageous of demonstration are to (a) help people who learn well by
modelling others; (b) promote self-confidence; (c) provide opportunity for targeted
questions and answers; and (d) allow attention to be focused on specific details
rather than general theories.
The disadvantageous of demonstration: (a) is of limited value for people who
do not learn best by observing others; (b) may not be appropriate for the different
learning rates of the participants; and (c) requires that demonstrator have
specialized expertise if highly technical tasks are involved.
4. Games
Games are used to bring competition, participation, drills, and feedback into
the learning experience as a motivator and opportunity for application of
principles. Carefully planned uses of games in the classroom (e.g., for practicing
certain verbs, tenses, questions, locatives, etc.) add some interest to a classroom
(Brown, 2000: 146).
The advantageous of game: (a) actively involves learners; (b) can add or
regenerate motivation; (c) promotes team learning and collaborative skills; (d)
provides a challenge that can lead to confidence in knowing and expressing the
material; (e) provides feedback; and (f) can create a “fun” learning environment.
5. Independent Study
The disadvantageous of game: (a) can create in-group/out-group
feelings; (b) can demotivate students who are not competitive by nature; (c)
can create feelings of inadequacy in those not as skilled or forceful; and (d) can
discourage creativity if the format is very rigid and the focus is strongly on
winning.
Independent study is a teaching strategy designed to enhance and support
other instructional activities. Learning activity is typically done entirely by the
individual learner (or group of learners) using resource materials. It may be done
using computer/web-based technology. Alberta Learning (2002: 73) also defines
independent study as an individualized learning experience that allows students to
select a topic focus, define problems or questions, gather and analyze information,
apply skills, and create a product to show what has been learned.
The advantageous of independent study:
(a) fosters independent learning skills
(b) allows learners to progress at their own rate
(c) enhances other learning experiences.
The disadvantageous of independent study:
(a) may be disconnected from immediate objectives
(b) may be difficult to identify/access appropriate materials.
Vocabulary is important to learn because the students may not have good
ability to do the communication when they do not have good enough mastery on
passive stage before becoming active knowledge so that teaching vocabulary must
Vocabulary is fundamental to the mastery of the all skill, because they are
ask what a particular word means, or how to say a word in the foreign language”.
the words that someone knows, learns or uses. Moreover, according to Webster
(2003): vocabulary is: 1)A list or collection of words and phrases usually
list or collection of terms or codes available for use. In another words vocabulary is
a list of items and phrases generally organized and explained in any subject,
words that individual speakers of language might use". That is, vocabulary may
refer to list of words and expressions that language speaker employs in his
the meanings of new vocabulary items to their learners. Thus, the teacher's
intervention is required.
Gains & Redmen (1986 reviewed the most common way in presenting and
conveying the meaning of the new vocabulary items. The techniques divided into
1. Visual Techniques
a) Visuals
wall charts and realia. In addition these techniques are used for conveying
meanings, and they are especially valuable for teaching tangible items of
vocabulary for instance, food or furniture, and other areas of vocabulary such as
meanings. When teaching an item such as" to swerve". A teacher might build a
situation to illustrate it in the black board, and then he can use gestures in order to
2. Verbal techniques
This technique is useful for teaching abstract items. Instructors can use
different situations and contexts in order to assist the learners understanding and
This technique is generally used with the low level students; teachers
can use synonyms to explain the meaning of items. For example: to explain the
meaning of "humorous", the teacher directly use the synonym "funny". Moreover,
clearly contextualized illustrations are required to clarify the limits of the item.
presenting words and their meanings. Therefore learners can grasp the sense of
d) Scales
Once learners have learnt two contrasting or related items, this way can be
useful to revise and feed new items. This can be seen in adverb of frequency
e) Translation
transmitting meaning and messages. Besides, translation does not consume a lot of
time, and it is obviously one way to solve the problems of explaining the difficult
word.
1.4.3 Definition of drawing
Drawing is considered one of the most beautiful types of art, and one of the
skills that children learn early to increase their intelligence, develop their finger
muscles, increase their visual acuity ,and they may have an ability to learn any
language in an easy way.
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1.4.4 Types of drawing
illustrators engage in multiple kinds of drawing to express their plans and ideas.
1. Caricature drawing
2. Cartoon drawing
world. Similar to caricatures, they may use overdramatized shapes and colors to
show emotion or tone through images. Teacher may use cartoons in illustrations,
include:
Comics
action panels. Besides images, comics use textual devices like captions and speech
bubbles to create more robust stories. They may vary in length—from a single
graphic novels and Manga, a type of comic book developed in Japan that includes
anime-like characters.
Editorial :
are usually only one panel long, use captions and other textual devices for clarity
3. Figure drawing
making observations of the physical world. Subjects are often human models, but
can also include objects like fruit, vehicles or items in nature. Teacher who work
in figure drawing try to capture the world as they see it. Art instructors typically
use figure drawing to teach fundamentals and help students learn perspective,
4. Gesture drawing
However, gesture drawing focuses on movement and hopes to capture action, form
and pose. Often, models or subjects change poses every one to five minutes to
enact motion. The shorter the pose, the less an artist can capture, so gesture