The questions...
1. Describe the difference in assumptions/beliefs regarding fluency practice between the audiolingual method and the communicative approach. What attitude does each take towards it and why? (Potentially relevant to Paper 2/2 and 2/3)
2. Describe the difference in assumptions/beliefs behind the use or otherwise of authentic texts between the audiolingual method and the communicative approach. What attitude does each take towards it and why? (Potentially relevant to Paper 2/2 and 2/3)
3. In a unit with the overall purpose of teaching Ls to use question tags to express agreement, activity 1 asks Ls to discuss the topic, answering the questions : Do you like taking photos? Why/Why not? In your opinion what makes a good photo? Do you think you are good at taking photos)Why/Why not? In activity 2 they then discuss a photo where someone is setting up a professional looking camera and decide a) what’s happening b) why the photographer needs help from a friend. Activity 3a asks them a) to listen and see if their predictions were correct and 3b to listen again and answer some more detailed true/false questions about the dialogue. Activity 4a focuses on the question tag used in the dialogue – A: …it’s quite difficult. B: Yeah, it’s hard, isn’t it? while in 4b-c the Ls to work on some guided discovery questions for both aff/neg and neg/aff tags and 4d is a controlled practice activity.
How do activity 1 and/or 2 combine with activities 3a and/or 3b? (Relevant
to Paper 2/2)
4. Can you identify the form, meaning and use of up and any associated words in each of the following sentences?
1. I’m not very well up on cosmology.
2. She turned up late
3. She went up the stairs.
4. It was uphill all the way.
5. They usually up their prices once a year.
6. We’ve had our ups and downs.
(Relevant to
Paper 1/5)
5. Can you identify the form, use and possible features of connected speech of the highlighted phrase in the following sentence : I am amazed to have come so far. (Relevant to Paper 1/5)
6a. Can you give a definition of the term "conjunction"? Which of the following highlighted words are conjunctions, and what type? And what word class do the others belong to? (Potentially relevant to Paper 1/1,1/2 and 1/5)
a) I love fish and chips.
b) I always feel good after going for a run
c) Before you add the tomatoes, you need to fry the onions.
d) The evidence appears conclusive. Therefore a guilty verdict would seem inevitable.
e) We employed him despite our doubts.
6b. What “umbrella term” could you use to describe
all the highlighted words in sentences a-e?
7. Can you identify the types of lexical chunk (in bold) seen in the following sentences? Would you be able to define the term and give another example? (Relevant to Paper 1/1, 1/2 and 1/5)
a) The thing is, I'm not sure if he'll agree
b) I finally agreed in spite of my misgivings.
c) I think it's a really wild idea.
d) We went back and forth for ages.
e) That was when Alan let the cat out of the bag.
f) He sold it all, lock, stock and barrel.
8. In the exam, it’s essential that you know how many marks there are for each point you make, and what content is required to gain those marks. How would you do in Paper 1/3? You are asked to identify three key language items/subskills that learners would need to be able to control in order to complete a spoken or written task successfully. Imagine that the task is A C1 level group are asked to discuss what developments are liable to occur during the next ten years in relation to various topics – the environment, health, education, work, shopping. How many marks would the following answers get, and why would they gain or lose marks?
a. The use of modal expressions (will /might/ are likely to etc) to make predictions, including the use of perfect, progressive and/or passive infinitives. Eg : I think cars using petrol will have been abolished in ten years time.
b. Discourse management - Ability to interrupt
politely in order to take over the turn. Eg. Sorry, can I say something
about that?
c. Ability to use lexis related to the topic, including lexical chunks. Eg : I think pay TV will have taken over completely, and we’ll be able to watch all programmes on demand and with a rewind function.
9. A B1 class of ten adult Ls, who have 60 min lessons, has been working on a number of units including lexis in the field of travel and sightseeing, and making suggestions. As the speaking part of a progress test, the T. asks them to imagine that they are going to either London or Paris for a weekend and, in pairs, to plan what they want to do. They will, in turn, hold their conversation in front of the class, each pair speaking for about 5 mins. The conversations will be recorded and marked later on a scale of 1-5 for each of the following categories: Range and accuracy of grammar; range and accuracy of lexis; fluency and ability to keep the conversation going.
Identify one consistent strength and one consistent
weakness in the learner’s use of liaison and dental fricatives. Relevant to Paper 1/4
And the Suggested Answers
1. AL = Assumption/Belief: It was to be avoided. Reason: Fluency work would inevitably lead to error/mistakes which would reinforce incorrect habits (Skinner - behaviourism) and therefore be detrimental to learning.
CA = Assumption/Belief: It is necessary. Reason: Learners need practice in communicating with all the language at their disposal if they are to become proficient users.
2. AL = Assumption/Belief: It was to be avoided until the most advanced level. Exposure to language which had not been previously taught would inevitably lead to confusion and errors, which would reinforce incorrect habits and therefore be detrimental to learning.
CA = Assumption/Belief: It is necessary. Reason: Learners need to learn to “cope” with input that they may not fully understand as this is what they will encounter outside the classroom.
3. Both of the following would gain marks :
a) Activities 1 and 2 activate schemata on the topic (activity 1, content and linguistic schemata; activity 2
situational schemata). This facilitates both bottom
up and top
down processing in the listening stages (3a/b) as
the Ls are “expecting” certain topics to be discussed and certain language to occur.
b) Activity 2
provides a gist listening task for activity 3a which, because it has been
“created” by the Ls engages them more in the listening stage than a task set by
the book might.
Notice how both these points focus on the effect of the combination on
learning/the learner's ability to do the task etc. It is for identifying this
effect that you will gain marks - not just for describing the individual
activities.
1. I’m not very well up on cosmology. F : Phrasal Adjective; U : With this meaning of informed or knowledgeable
about is usually found in the fixed collocation well up (adj + adj) on (preposition)
2. She turned up late F: Adverb; U: Part of intransitive phrasal verb turn up meaning arrive
3. She went up the stairs. F: Preposition; U: Head of prepositional phrase (with the stairs as complement) acting as adverbial in the clause; expresses the meaning from the bottom towards the top.
4. It was uphill all the way. F/U: Compound adjective - Preposition up expressing the literal meaning from the bottom towards the
top plus noun (hill); U: Depending on context, can be used
literally, or figuratively (metaphorical) meaning difficult.
5. They usually up their prices once a year. F: Verb – 3rd person plural present simple; U: Here
used as the main verb in the clause expressing the meaning raise; present
simple used to express the concept of a permanent /regular event.
6. We’ve had our ups and downs F: plural countable noun; U: part of the binomial expression ups and downs meaning good times and bad times. Fixed lexical chunk.
5. Can you identify the form, use and possible features of connected speech of the highlighted phrase in the following sentence : I am amazed to have come so far. (Relevant to Paper 1/5)
Form : infinitive particle to plus
perfect infinitive, composed of auxiliary verb HAVE in infinitive form plus
past participle of irregular lexical verb COME
Use : As a non-finite
(infinitive) clause post-modifying the adjective amazed. The use of perfect
aspect expresses a prior (here past) event
Pronunciation : to have /tuː hæv/ potentially becomes a) /tuːwəv/ b) /tuːwə / or c) /təv/
- The /h/ in have is likely to be elided in all cases above: a, b and c
- This results in two adjacent vowels (a and b). Liaison with the intrusive consonant /w/ facilitates pronunciation.
- The /v/ in have may also be elided (b)
- The vowel /u:/ in to may also be completely elided (c)
6. A conjunction is a word that joins two (or more) grammatical items of the same class within a single sentence. So here :
(a) and is a co-ordinating conjunction.
Here it joins two nouns.
(c) before is a subordinating conjunction
– it joins two finite (SV) clauses.
The others :
b) after =
preposition d)
therefore = adverb e) despite = preposition
Umbrella term : All these conjunctions,
prepositions and adverbs are connectives – ie they indicate the semantic relationship between two items or propositions in the
text.
7. Can you identify the types of lexical chunk (in bold) seen in the following sentences? Would you be able to define the term and give another example?
a) The thing
is, I'm not sure if he'll agree
= gambit
b) I finally agreed in
spite of my misgivings. =
polyword
c) I think it's a
really wild idea. = collocation
d) We went back
and forth for ages. = binomial expression
e) That was when Alan
let the cat out of the bag. = idiom
f) He sold it all,
lock, stock and barrel. = trinomial expression
You can find definitions and more examples
of all these terms here
8. a. The use of modal expressions (will /might/ are likely to etc) to make predictions, including the use of perfect, progressive and passive infinitive. Eg : I think cars using petrol will have been abolished in ten years time.
= 4 marks: 2 for the
point and 2 for the example. Both are at C1 level and related to this specific
activity
b. Discourse management - Ability to interrupt politely in order to take
over the turn. Eg. Sorry, can I say
something about that?
= 2 marks. The point
is valid, but the example is below C1 level. Compare it with the lexical and
structural complexity of : Sorry if I’m
butting in, but could I just pick up on what Gianna said?
c. Ability to use lexis, including lexical chunks, related to the
topic. Eg : I think pay TV will
have taken over completely, and we’ll be able to watch all programmes on
demand and with a rewind function.
= 4 marks? Both the
point and the example are valid and pitched at the correct level. However, note
that the structural formulation overlaps with the example in (a). All your
examples should be clearly distinct. Overlap could lose you the marks for the
second point, even if on its own it would be valid.
9a. Positive – Content validity : The Ls would need to use the language that they had been studying, - both suggestions exponents (Why don’t we.. We could) and lexis associated with tourist sites and activities (museum, palace, tower, bridge, go on a boat trip, take a guided tour). Effects : a) The test would therefore give an accurate reflection of how much of this language they had assimilated and the T. would know if Ls needed more work on these areas before moving on; b) the Ls would see its connection to the course which would give it face validity.
9b. Negative - Coverage : As the learners have been working over a number of units, they have presumably also studied a larger number of items than just those stated. The speaking test has no “fresh starts” and therefore does not give the learners the chance to demonstrate their competence in relation to those other items – which may be stronger or weaker than those actually tested. Effect : This could result in a false view of the extent to which they have assimilated the material taught.
Negative - Coverage : While the Ls are
listening to the others they are really wasting time which could be spent doing
other test sections individually (eg Use of English, Reading, Writing) leaving
the final part of the lesson to finish these and/or do a listening in full
class mode. Effect : This would mean
much greater coverage of items /skills during the test and would therefore
give greater reliability to the test.
NB: Note the layout of the answers : Positive or Negative - Test Feature – Explanation – Effect
There are 2 marks for identifying the feature, plus another for
identifying the effect on / application to the learner
Remember that in the
exam you should give one effect only and should not repeat effects. You will only get the marks the first time you use each one.
10. Strength : Liaison - consistent use of “intrusive” palatal approximant /j/ to create liaison between adjacent vowel sounds : /hiːjɑːskt/ /miːjɪf/ /vaɪjaɪ/
Weakness: Dental fricatives – consistent use of voiced alveolar plosive /d/ where voiced dental fricative
/ð/ is necessary: /dæts/ /deə/
Remember: anywhere in the exam that you discuss phonology, you must illustrate your comment accurately with phonemic transcription or no marks will be awarded, even if the comment is correct.
Remember: if the feature is a key strength or weakness, you will be able to identify several examples. But in the exam, give one example only - any of those listed above would gain the marks.
How did you do? If you found your answers were incorrect or incomplete, it means you need to work intensively on these sorts of questions before the exam. And these are only tasters. Apart from those which will be published here each week in April/May, you'll find a lot more available in our Exam Preparation Programme available for only a €50 donation to a charity of your choice. See here for details
