Transcript title

Integration of Skills in ELT:
21st Century
Mark Krzanowski
Plenary 1
Sultan Qaboos
University ELT
Conference 2008:
LSHTM, University
of London
23-24 April
Muscat, Oman
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ABSTRACT of PLENARY 1
• Abstract (75 words)
• The presenter will look at the degree of
integration of skills in teaching English for
General, Academic and Specific Purposes in
the 21st century and will review the most
relevant methods, approaches and
techniques in the UK and worldwide. The talk
will be divided into five parts, and the
speaker will address most of the 23 subthemes of the Conference with references to
his varied and extensive UK and international
ELT experience. (70 words)
2
SUMMARY of PLENARY
• The purpose of the talk is provide a detailed discussion of the
degree to which specific skills are fully or partially integrated in
teaching English in various contexts, and how this is achieved via a
judicious application of pedagogical methods, approaches and
techniques.
• The author will:
• examine the merits of integrated-skills teaching in General English
and discrete-skills teaching in English for Academic and Specific
Purposes
• offer suggestions how to remedy ‘skills gaps’ in course syllabi or
commercially produced materials (with emphasis on materials
design and self-produced authentic materials)
• demonstrate how to address the needs for specific language skills
among learners with ‘spiky profiles’
• analyse the advances of the ELT learning and teaching environment
in the 21st century and how these can be tapped into for successful
language skills promotion, integration, and implementation
• enumerate the advantages and shortcomings of integrated-skills and
discrete-skills approaches in ELT. (149 words)
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Integration of Skills in Teaching ELT:
21st Century
• 1.Introduction
• 2. Historic overview of skills treatment
in ELT
• 3. Current Trends and approaches
• 4. Other relevant issues
• 5. Conclusions & Qs-As session with
Audience
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2. Historic overview of skills treatment in ELT
• - the Grammar-Translation Method (1840s –
1940s): language skills subsumed under
translation skills; major focus: Reading &
Writing; major deficiency: lack of context, skills
practised on sentence level
• - the Reform Movement – 1880s onwards: shift
of focus; spoken language and speaking skills
seen as most important; emergence of phonetics
as an independent discipline
• - the Direct Method (late 1860s): emphasis on
oral communication skills, and exclusion of L1
from classroom instruction; “ungraded speech”
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• - the Oral Approach & Situation Language Teaching
(1930s – 1960s: British applied linguists): skills
taught implicitly, new language introduced
situationally, oral skills preceding written skills;
systematic principles of selection, gradation &
presentation
• - the US (1929): the Coleman report: promotion of
rapid silent reading (skills)
• - the US (1942): the Army Specialised Training
Programme: goal – conversational proficiency / shift
of emphasis onto oral skills; the ‘Army Methods’ (10
years of influence)
• - 1939: Michigan – the first English Language
Institute; the Oral Approach, the Aural-Oral
Approach; the Structural Approach – training in this
order of skills: aural, pronunciation, speaking,
reading, writing
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• - the Audiolingual method (1964): combination of the
above + contrastive analysis & behaviourist
psychology; learning language – mechanical habit
formation; aural-oral training needed to provide
foundation for development of other skills; context
finally comes in; skills subsumed under linguistic
syllabus promoting syntax, phonology and lexis;
order of language skills taught: listening, speaking,
reading, writing; grammar as the central component
of language; dialogues and drills predominate;
• English 900 & the Lado English Series; outcome –
skills transfer: a problem; Chomsky – language is
not a set of habits; sentences not learnt by imitation,
but from generated from a speaker’s competence;
skills acquisition via pattern practice, drilling and
memorisation – questioned;
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Other relevant sources
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• Teaching by Principles: An
Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy
(Paperback)
by H. Douglas Brown
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(Longman Pearson)
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Chapter 2
A “Methodical”
History of Language Teaching
Approach, Method, and Technique
Changing Winds and Shifting Sands
The Grammar Translation Method
Gouin and the Series Method
The Direct Method
The Audiolingual Method
Cognitive Code Learning
“Designer” Methods of the Spirited
Seventies
Community Language Learning
Suggestopedia
The Silent Way
Total Physical Response
The Natural Approach
Beyond Method: Notional-Functional
Syllabuses
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• - Communicative Language Teaching (from
1960s onwards): the communicative
competence – a goal of language teaching, and
development of procedures for teaching four
skills that acknowledge interdependence of
language and communication; a more
humanistic approach to teaching;
• - Total Physical Approach (1925) –
comprehension skills precede production skills
in language learning; skills acquired through
listening transfer to other skills;
• - the Silent Way (1960s) – dealt primarily with
the basic level of aural/oral proficiency;
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• - the Natural Approach / the Direct Method
(1977): claims to be communicative; emphasis
on structure learnt via the ‘I + 1’ model (influence
of Krashen); aims to develop ‘basic
communication skills’ at low levels
• - Suggestopedia (1970s) – harnessing nonrational and non-conscious influences to
optimise learning; typical lesson – 3 parts: (a)
oral review session; (b) new material presented
and discussed; (c) the séance or concert
session; skills taught indirectly;
• Source: Richards & Rogers “Approaches and
Methods in Language Teaching” (Cambridge
University Press)
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3. Integrated-skills teaching in ELT:
Current Trends and Approaches
• - language learning – holistic; all 4 skills should not be
separated in learning and teaching
• - implications for materials design: current books – equal
emphasis on 4 skills duly integrated in multi-level books
designed at 4 or 5 levels
• - offered normally in General English classes
• - taught predominantly by one teacher (able to control
development of all students’ skills and subskills)
• - materials provide a cohesive and progressive approach
to language learning in a naturalistic manner
• - integrated-skills books reflect holistic learning better (cf
the importance of “affect”)
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OUP ELT – Headway: 6 levels Plus 1
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Beginner
Elementary
Pre-Intermediate
Intermediate
Upper Intermediate
Advanced
‘Plus’: here - academic
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OUP ELT – other multi-level courses
3 levels
1 level
5 levels
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CUP ELT – multi-level courses
4-level course
4-level course
5-level course
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Longman Pearson - multi-level courses
4-level course
6-level course
5-level course
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Macmillan - multi-level courses
5 levels
3 levels
2 levels: FCE + CPE
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Garnet Education – ESP
one book, a range of levels + multi-skills model
Another productive model for skills integration: in ESP books where a
single book caters for a range of levels
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• - the I-S approach: predominant in General
English classes
• - emulation of the model in General Business
English coursebooks (e.g. Market Leader or
Intelligent Business); difference – topics;
methodology; the same/similar
• - overt inclusion of pronunciation, grammar
and vocabulary (taught explicitly)
• - Exceptions to the rule: some EAP or ESP
books following the I-S approach (e.g. EAP
Now!)
• - streamed testing & assessment of skills in
commercially produced coursebooks
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Exceptions to the rule
Longman Pearson
A highly successful attempt to use the integrated-skills
approach to an EAP book
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• - I-S classes lend themselves to being
taught by one teacher or to being teamtaught by 2 tutors (e.g. even and odd
chapters in books); more difficult if a
larger team of teachers involved
• - I-S coursebooks and materials tend to
offer a reasonable level of coverage of
relevant sub-skills, macro-skills and
micro-skills
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Discrete skills – current trends
and approaches (EAP & ESP)
• - claims that GE classes do not go into sufficient
details to address the specifics of productive and
receptive skills
• - teaching materials for ESP focus on discrete skills
– as demonstrated in classic EAP and ESP books
• - such materials or books offer an opportunity to
provide in-depth training in a particular skill (e.g.
academic writing or presentation skills)
• - there are situations where the teaching of a
discrete skill is of utmost importance, and this needs
to be recognised
• - practical examples of how successful ESP & EAP
textbooks approach a discrete-skills approach (e.g.
Garnet Education, CUP and Pearsons books)
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• - promotion of sets of skills depending on a
specific need (e.g. listening and speaking in
Aviation)
• - covert inclusion of grammar, pronunciation
and vocabulary (taught implicitly)
• -Exceptions to the rule: some GE books
following the D-S approach (e.g. CUP books)
• - D-S coursebooks and materials tend to
offer an extensive or exceptional level of
coverage of relevant sub-skills, macro-skills
and micro-skills
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Examples of EAP and ESP books designed in a
discrete-skill mode: Garnet Education books
A highly successful series of 7 (seven) EAP books devoted to a specific
EAP ‘skill’ (reading, writing, speaking, listening, pronunciation, research
skills, vocabulary)
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Semi-integrated approaches to
skills delivery
• - commonly held view: certain skills go
together or are almost inseparable (e.g.
reading & writing or listening & speaking)
• - probably a good solution to skills delivery;
a sound compromise
• - alternative practices: reading and listening?
speaking and reading? listening & writing?
• - examination of how the above approaches
are offered in coursebooks
• Skills extension, e.g. Study Skills
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Semi-integrated approaches to skills delivery –
specimen books
CUP
OUP
Longman
Destination Grammar
and Vocabulary Series
Macmillan
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Skills extension – Study Skills
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- how to remedy ‘skills gaps’ in course syllabi or commercially
produced materials (with emphasis on materials design
and self-produced authentic materials)
• - commercially produced books may not address all
the skills needed by students on a course
• - importance of skills audit (on the basis of precourse questionnaires and needs analyses)
• - skills supplementation via cut-and-paste additions
from other books, adapted materials and in-house
custom-designed materials
• - reasons for inadequate skills provision in
commercial materials (e.g. insufficient range of
authentic materials)
• - significance of promotion of process syllabus
(tweaking skills delivery as and when required)
• - D-S classes ideal to being taught by one tutor
responsible for a particular skills (e.g. insessional
EAP courses in the UK)
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- demonstrate how to address the needs for specific
language skills among learners with ‘spiky
profiles’
• - teaching skills to EFL and ESOL students (UK
terminology)
• - importance of literacy skills in L1 for successful
skills acquisition in L2
• - UK: EFL learners: homogenous; impact on testing
and assessment (e.g. Cambridge examinations: FCE,
CAE & PCE)
• - UK: ESOL learners: often heterogeneous
(historically disadvantaged) & with ‘spiky profiles’ (cf
the article ‘Citizens in Search of a Voice’)
• - implications for testing and assessment – ESOL
assessment bodies & registration of ESOL learners
depending on their profile
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Specimen ESOL publications
UK ESOL materials and publications have successfully embraced the issue of
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students with ‘spiky profiles’
- analyse the advances of the ELT learning and teaching
environment in the 21st century and how these can be
tapped into for successful language skills promotion,
integration, and implementation
• A modified approach to skills delivery can be offered
owing to:
• - greater access to an exceptionally wide range of
ELT resources
• - emergence of challengers and competitors: the
‘Arctic Monkeys’ phenomenon
• - ever-growing importance of ELT materials in nonEnglish and non-traditional countries.
• - importance of the Internet, globalisation &
internationalisation: the world is a small place;
productive skills of speaking (e.g. SKYPE) and
writing (e.g. email) are more important than ever
before
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• - skills development often vested in the
learner him-/herself: learner autonomy,
learner independence, blended learning,
distance education, self-access
Skills enlargement:
• (a) traditional skills: speaking, listening,
writing, reading
• (b) extended mix (e.g. in EAP): four of the
above + study skills + communication skills
+ critical thinking skills OR + translation
skills OR cultural skills
• - debunking stereotypes: listening & reading
previously taught to be passive/receptive;
can be ‘active’ depending on methodological
approaches
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enumerate the advantages and shortcomings of
integrated-skills and discrete-skills approaches in ELT
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Integrated skills:
Advantages:
- promote holistic learning
- capable of replicating real life situations more
faithfully than D-S approaches
- offer variety and vibrancy to the classroom
- enable the learner to ‘shine’ in the sub-skills they
are best at
- offer choices to an ELT practitioners
Shortcomings:
- can unintentionally or ‘unwittingly’ ignore ‘deeper’
aspects of a particular skill
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Discrete skills
• Advantages:
• - promote learning linked to exploration and mastery
of a relevant skill, sub-skill, macro-skill and/or microskill
• - offer teachers an opportunity to specialise in a
certain range of skills (e.g. Academic Writing)
• - provide a focused context to a student
• Shortcomings:
• - may unintentionally or ‘unwittingly’ ignore the
wider context, or an interdependence of one skill on
another skill / on other skills
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Other skills or concepts closely connected with
English language skills
Transferable academic skills (e.g.
‘TASK’ – Garnet Education:
•Key Foundation Skills
•Academic Culture Skills
•Seminar Skills
•Team Working Skills
•Problem-Solving Skills
•Critical Thinking Skills
•IT Skills
•Essay Writing Skills
•Scientific Writing Skills
•Research and Referencing Skills
•Presentation Skills
•Examination Technique Skills
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Other skills or concepts closely connected
with English language skills
• Essential skills
• http://www.essu.org/
What are Essential Skills?
The ability to read, write and speak in English / Welsh and to use
mathematics at a level necessary to function and progress at work
and in society in general.
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Other skills or concepts closely
connected with English language skills
• http://www.ceg.org.uk/nq/core/frm-000.htm
• Core Skills
The five Core Skills are:
1. Communication
This has two component parts:
Oral Communication – listening and talking
Written Communication – reading and
writing.
2. Numeracy
3. Problem Solving
4. Information Technology (IT)
5. Working with Others
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Other skills or concepts closely
connected with English language skills
• Academic Literacy and Oracy Skills
Academic Literacy and Oracy
“The Institute offers a range of insessional
courses to assist its students in developing their
academic literacy and oracy skills.”
http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid
=13871&13871_0=13898
“The place of academic oracy in comparison to academic
literacy” in:
ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING: NEW
IDENTITIES OR OLD REALITIES? By Alex Barthel
http://learning.uow.edu.au/LAS2001/unrefereed/barthel.pdf
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Other skills or concepts closely connected
with English language skills
• Soft skills
• http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/Other/fs_seminar.html
• International Conference on Soft Skills Development
Strategies: Corporate and Academia perspectives
at BITS, Pilani from September 19 - 20, 2008
• Definition of soft skills: non-technical skills as opposed to
‘hard skills’ (related, for example to one’s knowledge of a
specialist subject)
• The Soft Skills of Business English (Goeran Nieragden):
http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/September2000/art282000.htm,
e.g.: Communication: listening skills & presentation skills
• BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6311161.stm
“Many graduates 'lack soft skills”: ‘candidates are normally
academically proficient but lacking in soft skills such as
communication as well as verbal and numerical reasoning.’
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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT:
examples of professional use / terminology
• “The other thing is that I believe there are certain activities we can
use in each of the different intelligence areas that can actually be
used to help learners to develop skills that maybe are not that well
developed yet. So, for example, the visual skill. One sub-skill is
the ability to be able to focus on pictures. If we give learners
discovery pictures that you can use for all kinds of language
purposes, and at the same time focus their attention and
concentration, this is important for two reasons. First of all there are
studies that show that children's concentration span seems to be
becoming shorter - this has a lot to do with the fact that our children
live in a world of visual overload and fast-moving pictures have a
certain effect on their concentration span. So, if you give them an
activity like a picture with a number of animals hidden and half
hidden and ask, "How many lions, snakes etc. are there?", from the
language teaching point of view it's plural nouns plus revision of
animal vocabulary and numbers. From the point of view of
developing their visual intelligence, it's all about helping them to
focus their attention, which is a cognitive skill that forms the
foundation for a number of other more sophisticated cognitive
skills.”
Herbert Puchta http://www.cambridge.org.br/site/articles/interviews.php?id=2450
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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT:
examples of professional use / terminology
• Translation in the Context of EFL - The Fifth Macroskill? (Stuart
Campbell, School of Language and Linguistics University of
Western Sydney)
• Abstract: EFL teaching methods often ignore the first language
altogether and as a consequence ignore the potential of translation
in language learning. Four factors that undermine the lack on
integration of translation and EFL are 1) a strong anti-translation
bias in EFL teaching methodology; 2) lack of recognition of
translation in EFL publishing industry; 3) obstacles stemming from
the demographics of EFL; 4) lack of interest from translation
scholars. This paper argues that there are advantages of
incorporating translation into ESL teaching.
• http://www.malang.ac.id/jurnal/fs/teflin/2003a.htm
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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT:
examples of professional use / terminology
• English for Academic Study: Writing: Course Book (English for
Academic Study S.) Anne Pallant
• Format: Paperback, 2nd Revised edition Edition
• Author: Anne Pallant
Publisher: Garnet Publishing Ltd, 1 August 2006
ISBN: 185964838X EAN: 9781859648384
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Table of Contents
• 1. Academic achievement Microskills: Planning & Introductions 2.
Early human development Microskills: organising your ideas &
paragraph leaders 3. Mobile telephones 4. Statistics without tears
Microskills: organising your ideas, concluding sentences &
conclusions 5. Human activity & climate change Microskills:
definitions & exemplification & support 6. The global village
Microskills: organising essays of cause and effect 7. The new
linguistic order Microskills: organising essays: situation, problem,
solution, implications, evaluation
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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT:
examples of professional use / terminology
•
‘The fifth language skill?’
With many more courses available in intercultural
communication, should all teachers be trained
in it? (Barry Tomalin, EL Gazette, EL teaching
Matters, March 2008)
“We teach listening, speaking, reading,
writing skills in English. Should we also
be teaching cultural skills as a subset
of skills on its own?
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Other ‘language’ skills
• Citizenship language and cultural awareness skills
• ESOL Entry level 3
• The Citizenship Materials for ESOL learners project was
led by NIACE and LLU+ at London South Bank
University. The initiative is part of the new Government
strategy to make becoming a UK citizen a more
meaningful event. From November 2005, there are two
routes to naturalisation. Applicants with sufficient
English language skills can take an online, multiple
choice citizenship test, Life in the UK, at any of the 90
Life in the UK Test centres. Applicants who need to
improve their English language skills can follow an ESOL
course, using the new Citizenship Materials for ESOL
learners pack.
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4. Other relevant issues: comments on
Conference sub-themes
4. How improvement in one skill can affect the development of
other skills
•
Positive washback effect
•
http://www.cambridge.org/elt/ces/methodology/fourskills.htm
•
each and every skills is important
•
in EAP, academic writing used to be over-emphasised to the
detriment of other skills; the balance redressed these days
5. Practical ideas for helping teachers to integrate language skill
•
A need for alternative practices
•
Going beyond coursebooks – a condition sine qua non
•
Is one coursebook sufficient?
•
Why not experiment with skills – reading & speaking
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9. The implementation of an integrated skills approach
•
•
May vary from one group of students to another
Quality assurance: identical educational experience – a goal;
reality?
•
Avoid binary oppositions
•
Instances when skills need to be separated or semiintegrated
10. Challenges and opportunities in developing materials for
integrated skills
•
Clear benchmarking for levels (e.g. the Council of Europe
specifications)
•
Current trend – five levels
•
Mats – commissioned from item writers or taken from real
sources
•
Team work or individual approach? 5 levels & 4 skills – who
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writes what; practical dilemmas
11. The use of authentic materials in the
integrated skills approach
• The issue of copyright: authenticity of material
or authenticity of purpose?
12. The integration of skills in the ELT
classroom and its effects on student’s
motivation
• Degree of integration depends on skills audit
and the nature of course (EFL/ESOL, EAP,
ESP, tailor-made)
13. Creative methodology within integrated
skills approach
• 21st century – enlightened eclecticism;
Communicative Language Teaching +
judicious touches of other methods and
approaches
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18. The place of grammar in the integrated skills approach
19. The integrated skills approach and vocabulary
acquisition
•
Grammar and vocabulary – prominent position in
curricula, syllabi and schemes of work; taught explicitly
or implicitly
22. Methods for assessing integrated skills
23. Challenges in the assessment of integrated skills
•
Well-established testing and assessment frameworks for
classic / traditional EFL or ESOL examinations
(Cambridge/UCLES, Trinity or City & Guilds or LCCI);
IELTS; TOEFL; TOIEC;
•
Variations - autonomy of the university sector: challenge;
are university teachers exam item writers? importance of
consistency and benchmarking; scope for creativity.
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5A. Conclusions
The survey of integration of skills in the first decade of the 21st
century seems to demonstrate that ELT practitioners
(publishers, coursebook writers, teachers) have been applying
a vast range of approaches.
The degree of integration varies, ranging from classic applications
of integrated skills aimed at promotion of holistic learning, via
semi-integrated skills paradigms geared towards combining
certain skills for a more thorough study, to a specific focus on
a discrete skill for in-depth examination, and more
comprehensive learning of that discrete skill.
I believe that an experienced ELT practitioner is left with a choice,
and ultimately makes an informed decision based on specific
variables. I feel that we need to avoid binary oppositions, and
should not say that one approach is better than the other. A
complementary and inclusive attitude may well be the answer.
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Thanks & Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the colleagues from the following
publishers for supporting me, and for furnishing me with
copies of a wide range of titles so that I could examine them
and make the content of my talk more informed:
• Cambridge University Press (ELT)
• Garnet Education
• Macmillan and Palgrave Macmillan
• Longman Pearson (ELT)
• Oxford University Press (ELT).
All these publishers continue to offer an exceptionally wide
range of skills books which cater for all the needs of the
discerning ELT learner of the 21st century.
Mark Krzanowski
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5B. Qs-As session with Audience
• Thank you for your attention.
• Questions?
• Mark Krzanowski
• [email protected]
51