Teaching Language Skills for Prospective English Teachers

Teaching Language Skills Course is one of the core courses offered in English Language Teaching (ELT) programs. As we all know, nothing is the same as it was a decade ago, thus, we need to update our theoretical and practical knowledge in the teaching of these skills. Therefore, in this book, we aim to highlight the current trends in teaching language skills from some distinguished faculties' view points. In each chapter, we review the skills within the framework of their historical development and pedagogical implications followed by a sample plan.

In Chapter 1, Dr. Enisa Mede and Dr. Yesim Kesli Dollar draw attention to teaching reading skill and they help students have an insight into the history of reading, providing them with the skills and strategies needed to be able to integrate reading in language classrooms. At the end of the chapter, they introduce some sample lesson plans for reading in order to help students understand the steps of reading instruction in foreign language education.

In Chapter 2, Dr. Ekrem Solak and Gamze Erdem focus on teaching listening skill which is called as a Cinderalla Skill overlooked by its elder sister speaking. They maintain that listening is not a passive skill but an active process of constructing meaning from a stream of sounds. At the end of the chapter, current issues in the teaching of listening skill are highlighted to indicate the future direction of this skill. In addition, a sample lesson plan is added to link the theory and practice in the teaching of this interactive skill.

In Chapter 3, Dr. Yaşar Kürüm places an emphasis on teaching speaking skill and he states that speaking is more than to form grammatically correct sentences; it rather covers broad areas of mechanics, functions, pragmatics and social interaction. He also highlights that in contemporary methodologies, the emphasis in speaking is fluency rather than accuracy. Awareness raising activities, controlled activities and autonomous activities are elaborated by the author. In addition, some speaking strategies are introduced to encourage the unmotivated students to produce speaking in language classroom.
In Chapter 4, Dr. Betül Bal Gezegin addresses teaching writing as a skill for future second language (L2) writing teachers. She asserts that teachers who teach English as a second/foreign language need to understand the components of writing, what it means as a skill, and what it requires to teach it in language classrooms. She provides readers with historical and theoretical background to teaching writing in English. Then she touches upon main approaches to teaching writing (product, process and genre based approaches) with their key ideas and foundational practices. She ends the chapter with a genre-based sample lesson plan as a suggestion and practical instructional model for teaching writing.

In Chapter 5, Dr. İsmail Fırat Altay elaborates on teaching pronunciation as an integral part of language learning and teaching process. He draws attention to the fact that Turkish learners of English may have difficulties in pronunciation as a result of the main differences between the two languages. To overcome the difficulties, teachers of English language need to make use of some specific ways of pronunciation teaching. He proposes the audio articulation model and dwells the basic ways of pronunciation teaching on the mentioned model. Finally, he presents two pronunciation teaching lesson plans to learners to see pronunciation teaching in a concrete way.

In Chapter 6, Dr. Mehmet Altay and Dr. Kenan Dikilitaş discuss the teaching vocabulary skill for student teachers. They stress that vocabulary teaching has always been among the most popular issues of linguistic pedagogy though the needs, strategies, and purposes of language learners may have shown variation in time. In this chapter, our readers are introduced to some prominent incidents which shape the conception of vocabulary learning and teaching. A couple of questions related to the quantitative and qualitative features of vocabulary competence are discussed. The final part of the chapter includes a sample lesson plan for vocabulary teaching using the data and certain instruments mentioned within the chapter.

In Chapter 7, Dr. Deren Başak Yeşilel and Dr. Müfit Şenel center upon teaching grammar and point out that grammar has always been taken an important part of EFL classes for years. Grammar has been accepted as the backbone of a language and if it has not been taught directly, learners cannot produce grammatically correct statements and they will not be accurate learners of the language. However, in our present day, they stress that the importance of communicative skills on language learning has been understood; direct grammar teaching lost its necessity. Therefore, they suggest in the chapter that grammar teaching should be done integratively. Additionally, two sample lesson plans have been added to enlighten the readers about grammar teaching in EFL classes.

In Chapter 8, Sedat Mulayim, Oktay Eser and Miranda Lai elaborate on teaching translation and interpreting skills for pre-service teachers. In this chapter, they aim to help students have an insight into the history of translation and interpreting, and provide them with the skills and knowledge needed to be able to translate and interpret functionally. At the end of the chapter, they offer some sample lesson plans for translation and interpreting in order to help students to understand translation competence effectively.

All in all, I would like to take the opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to each contributing author who reflected their experience and knowledge in this work and they devoted their time, effort and patience without any constraint. I hope, this book will serve to train distinguished English Teachers.
Ekrem Solak