The Role of Grammar in Language Study

 

1) Grammar exercises take too much time that might be given to communication.

2) New grammar books appear every year.

3) Grammar provides short cuts to the acquisitionof the foreignlanguage as a communication tool.

4) Grammar rules should begiven before training and speechpractice.

5) Grammar is a reflection of logic,...etc.

E.g.: "It is often true that grammar exercises take too much time that might be given to communication. Yet there is no doubt that grammar rules should be given before training and speech practice."

 

2. Множественный выбор, касающийся сути проблемы.

Предлагается серия вопросов. Задание выполняется в парах. Задающий вопросы (которые воспроизводятся по памяти) также делает свой выбор и соответственно добавляет один-два вопроса по той же проблеме. Близость проблем позволяет собеседникам, меняясь ролями, принимать различные смысловые решения за счет дополнительных вопросов.

Read each of the given series of questions and reproduce each set addressing your partner. Add a question or two concerning the same problem. Your partner should formulate the problem: "In a word, you want to know if (how, why, etc...) ". E.g.:

Are you going to give more time to language study? Is language one of your hobbies or do you have to study it? Is it difficult to study foreign languages at your age? Has it got anything to do with your going abroad?... etc.

In a word, you are wondering whether: a) studying a foreign language is going to help me to achieve further progress in my field; b) whether studying languages develops one's mind; c) whether studying a foreign language is a pleasure or hard work.

 

3. Связная реплика (как часть монолога или диалога), основанная на самостоятельной формулировке проблемы (перечисляются ее различные аспекты), с добавлением одного-двух неупомянутых аспектов проблемы.

Complete the utterance formulating the chief problem and adding a few words of your own about some other aspects to be considered. E. g.:

If you want to know... you must, first and foremost, makeup your mind what you mean by discipline and whether you want children to obey blindly or to cooperate with you. You must tryto understand how to show your disapproval without humiliating the child and whether it is desirable or not that pupils should feel intimidated. You must also find out how to avoid unnecessary rivalry among your pupils....

(If you want to know how to encourage and how to punish your pupils,...you must also decide if it's right to give your pupils bad marks for misbehaviour and whether it's necessary at all to give marks at every lesson as a means of maintaining discipline).

 

4. Комментарий по поводу информации, предъявленной письменно: вычленение различных аспектов объекта объяснительного высказывания, о которых в данном тексте упомянуто, и перечисление неупомянутых аспектов проблемы.

Look through the given part of the text and explain what kindofinformation is given and what is not given in it: "The author mentions (explains, points out) how (why, that..., etc.), but he does not say... "

"So now I've finished my first term at a British University and I want to try to formulate some of my impressions. It's very different from my previous experience of higher education. Perhaps I should describe my first tutorial. A tutorial usually lasts an hour, and in it a group of two or three students meet a lecturer to discuss their work, listen to each other's essays, and hopefully catch some pearls of wisdom." (cm. [52].)

E.g.: The speaker explains how long a tutorial lasts and how students make up a group. He also gives a general idea of what is done during a tutorial. But he doesn't say a word about the actual methods used by a tutor. Neither does he explain how often tutorials take place and whether the relationship between the tutor and his students is usually friendly or strictly formal..., etc.

 

5. Заполнение пропусков в диалоге, в которомвторой участниккомментирует объяснение, полученное от первого.

Fill in the gaps in the "telephone talk". Your task is to help the second speaker produce his explanation, so you are to comment upon his ideas.

"I know I'm going to fail the exam."...

"It's not that I haven't worked. This term I've done nothing but sit in the library."...

"Well, I'm scared of failing. You see, I am one of those people who panic in exams; all my thoughts seem to go out of my head."

"That's what's wrong with the system, isn't it?..."

"Yes. Some people can do exams, some can't; I am one of those who can't."

"Well, what does that prove? Passing an exam just shows...". (V. J. Cook.)

 

6. Обучение прогнозированию на уровне смысловых гипотез: прослушивание части объяснительного текста и формулировка ряда вопросов, требующих дополнительной информации; прослушивание остальной части текста и суммирование результатов прогноза: на какие вопросы удалось получить ответы (и какие именно), а что так и не удалось выяснить.

"It is an unquestioned assumption of modern society that education is good, that nothing can accrue but advantages from the prolongation of the educational process. One of the most commonly used statistics for measuring a country's educational development is the number of years of compulsory schooling. In Britain today all children are forced by law to attend till they are sixteen.

Of course, an intelligent and willing child will benefit from the extra time he spends at school. But many thousands of teenagers who see their school as a prison merit our serious consideration." (cm. [52].) (What makes children reluctant to attend school? What inhibits our understanding of schoolchildren? Do they gain anything from the final year at school? Should the minimum school leaving age be raised or lowered? By what measures can we encourage teenagers to stay at school? etc.)

"...They are unhappy at school because they see no relevance to their lives in the kind of education they are being given because they want to get out and start work. They want to earn their money, to make their own decisions, to take their places as adults in society....Serious attempts have been made to make education more relevant for this kind of pupil, but with very limited success. It would seem that you should look at other alternatives. One radical proposal is that we should actually lower the school leaving age so that pupils could leave when they wanted to"...etc. (The author explains that teenagers are reluctant to study because their studies are divorced from life and because they want to feel they are grown-ups. He suggests that the school leaving age should be lowered. But he does not explain what measures can encourage teenagers to go on studying at school...)

 

7. Монологическое высказывание по проблеме с попутными ответами на вопросы товарищей по группе. Вопросы должны логически вытекать из полученной информации и направлять говорящего в желаемое русло.

"Interrupted speech": Give your ideas on the problems given below and be ready for interruption. Answer each question and go on speaking according to у our plan.

a) "The essence of corporal punishment at school lies in the maintaining of discipline."

b) "I wonder if a child's success depends on the manner of teaching rather than on his inborn abilities."

c) "Are college exams necessary every term?"

E.g.: "There's little doubt that a child's success depends both on his inborn abilities and on the manner of teaching. On the one hand, a child who seems to be dull can make quick progress under the guidance of a clever and friendly teacher. But on the other hand, it is evident that there are slower and brighter pupils in every class, no matter what kind of teacher they have. So..."

"But do you think that one can have universal abilities which ensure success in every subject?"

"Why, no, I don't think so. One can have a good head for figures but be a poor speller at the same time. What I mean is that good teaching can ensure minimum adequate knowledge for everyone. As I was just going to say...", etc.

 

8. Диалог типа «расспрос-разъяснение». Вопросы и общий ход объяснения могут быть продуманы партнерами, но без взаимного обсуждения. Проблемы аналогичны тем, что давались в предыдущих заданиях.