2 Approach to teaching 21st Century English for...

2 Approach to teaching 21st Century English for Libya, Preparatory 3 is a topic-based course that follows a clear grammatical and functional syllabus. Within this framework there is a coherent strand of skills development. This is generally thought to be the most effective organizational principle for English-teaching material used within state school systems, where there are a variety of constraints on learning. The main constraint is time. Lack of time means that lessons can only provide a framework within which language can develop. Students will inevitably need to put in extra work, whether by studying independently, taking additional courses of study or travelling to English-speaking countries. An additional constraint is the importance of testing within the state system. This understandably leads to a certain emphasis being placed on knowledge of the language as one of the objectives of learning. 21st Century English for Libya, Preparatory 3 applies a communicative approach to teaching and learning and takes the development of communicative competence as its principal aim. Within the overall principles of communicative methodology, a wide variety of strategies are used. One important strategy, which has been introduced in the Preparatory stage, is a more overt analysis of the structure of the language. This has been adopted for a number of reasons: • The cognitive ability of students at this age means that they are better able to understand the concepts behind the rules of English and how they help to convey meaning. In other words, the study of structure becomes part of the development of communicative competence. • Language needs constant recycling if students are to develop accuracy and fluency. Studying how language is put together is an opportunity for learners to revisit language previously studied in a less academic way. The process of discovery also helps give the students a sense of ownership and makes the language more memorable. • The constraints placed on teaching by the examination system mean that students need to demonstrate both knowledge of language and an ability to use the language. Fortunately, these two aspects go hand in hand, to some extent, for students of this age group. Within this approach to learning, mistakes should be seen as part of the developmental process. Students at the Preparatory stage need to be encouraged to think for themselves, experiment with the language, and take some responsibility for their own learning. However, the teacher has a clear role in bringing clarity to the process with regular classbased summaries of progress. The Round up lesson is a useful reminder to do this at the end of each unit. Self-study and individual learning activities form an important strand of the course. The development of self-study skills should also be encouraged during class time, with students working through activities on their own to arrive at their own answers and conclusions. These can then be discussed and corrected with a partner, a group or the whole class, as part of the learning process.