Next
3.
I. READING
Reading is the
one activity that can be done easily and without any equipment by students
outside the classroom. All they
need is access to suitable texts and reference material such as dictionary or
wordlist. This can be provided
easily by the coursebook and most include reading passages from early on at
Elementary level. (Cunningsworth,
A., 1995, p.73)
In
Enterprise, reading passages start from the very first unit of Beginner level.
Students are given 4 short passages that are about people from all around
the world, introducing themselves. From
Enterprise 1- Unit 1, till Enterprise 4- Unit 12 every unit has a reading
passage which is meaningful and authentic and mostly cross-cultural. Reading texts are mainly used for introducing new language
items (grammar and vocabulary). In
the following activities and exercises students are asked to fill in the blanks
by choosing the words used in the reading texts.
For instance, in Episode 2, 'The Wrong Photograph', after listening and
reading the episode students are asked to read a similar short passage and fill
in the gaps with words given. (Enterprise
1- Beginner, p.47)
Reading
material is mostly linked to listening skill works.
As almost all the reading materials are taped to be listened to and all
listening materials are in written form in the coursebooks it's hardly possible
to think these two skills apart from each other.
Interesting,
authentic and cross-cultural topics have been chosen to be used in reading
sections. However, there is no
apparent emphasis on reading for pleasure and for intellectual satisfaction.
In spite of this, as the topics varies it's possible that one can find a
topic in field of his own interests.
There
are reading passages in every unit and furthermore, in some units there are more
than one reading text. For instance, in Unit 13 of Enterprise 1, there are two
different reading texts, one about a letter to a friend about summer plans and
the other about horoscopes. Reading
passages start to take place from the first unit of first level of Enterprise
and continues regularly continues through out all the levels.
The
texts aren't so long. They consist of 200- to 350-words and reflects authentic
types and styles of writing. Even
when they are too long they are given in small units.
For instance, in Unit 18 of Enterprise 3, there is 2 reading passages one
of which is a poem and the other is an article are short enough for learners to
understand better (see Appendix). Short
passages also limit the number of vocabulary given once at a time and so that
prevent students from getting lost.
There
are both kinds of complete and gapped texts.
In gapped texts students are asked to read the text and fill in.
For example, in Unit 9 of Enterprise 1- Beginner, there is a passage
about the ancient Romans. Students
are expected to read the text and fill in the blanks with proper verbs of simple
past tense and then read it once again and answer the questions given just below
the text which measure how much the students have understood of the text.
(see Appendix 10, Enterprise 1, p.66)
3.
II. LISTENING
Listening,
which is one of the two receptive skills, plays an important role in a foreign
language learning/ teaching process. One
has to be able to understand what is said to be involved in a conversation.
Therefore, forign language students must be educated also in listening
skills. This can be done by
supporting the coursebooks with cassettes.
Listening
activities should have pre-listening activities, such as pre-questions or asking
students to look for certain items of information contained in the listening
material, in order to focus learners' attention on the topic of the passage.
This gives purpose to the activity, allows an element of predicition and
also makes the passage more accessible by placing it in a context.
In
Enterprise Coursebooks, as to all other skills, listening is also given
importance to improve students' listening skills while preparing them for the
reading tasks. From the very first
unit of Enterprise 1- Beginner, listening activities take place just before the
reading tasks. For example, in Unit
1 of Beginner level, after the "lead-in" part comes the "listen
and repeat" activity and then students are asked if they can explain what
the sentences, which they have read and listened, mean.
After that , they are wanted to listen and match the letters to the
numbers they hear. In pronunciation
part, students are again asked to listen and repeat, and in grammar part, to
read the dialogue, then listen and fill in the missing words and in the
following exercise they have to listen to the dialogue and repeat it, then in
pairs act out similar dialogues. In
the other exercise they are asked to listen to the dialogue and put it into the
correct order. In the communication
section, the students are wanted to write the sentences given in the correct
speech bubbles, then listen and check, and finally, to act out the dialogues.
Then in the vocabulary part, they are asked to listen to the cassette and
fill in the missing information, and then talk about some of the teachers, who
work at Mortimer College, as in the example.
This
sequnce is followed almost in each unit with some small changes accordingly to
the topic of the unit. The quality of the recorded sound is quite high and the speed
of speaking is appropriate to the students' level. In Beginner level the speed is slower and it gets faster
through the process.
3.
III. SPEAKING
Speaking
practice takes place through the oral presentation and practise of new language
items, in dialogue work and in roleplay. The
more mechanical aspects of speaking are also covered in pronunciation practice,
where this forms part of the course package, and these elements combined
normally ensure that students receive good spoken models from their teachers and
ample opportunity to practice themselves. (Cunningsworth,
A., 1995, p.69)
In
Enterprise Coursebooks, there are speaking sections, in which students are asked
to read texts and ask and answer questions about them, and talk about specific
people or topics. This is done in each unit of Enterprise series.
PART
4
TOPIC & METHODOLOGY
4.
I.
TOPIC
In language teaching
the main aim is to teach the language items and language expressions that are
used in the 'target language'. Since
these items are very different in each language or sometimes even don't exist in
the learners' native language, learning a forign language may occur as a strange
and difficult process. The learners
need to see the use of language and principles to contribute their experiences
of their first language and the one of the second languages.
In
Coursebooks, this can be enabled by presenting language in a meaningful context,
with topics that provide languae use as in real world.
As a consequence, Coursebooks must and do represent language as it is
actually used and contain subject matters dealing with topics of various kinds. (Cunningsworth, A., 1995)
4.
I. 1.
REALITY OF THE TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE COURSEBOOK
In
Enterprise package the topics are about different aspects of life. They are chosen from areas which would be in interest of
learners and develop their knowledge system.
For instance, topics about different countries, places, famous people,
foods are common topics. In
Enterprise 1- Beginner, Unit 12 has an article about 'Los Angeles'.
The
Enterprise set is for beginner, elementary, pre- and intermediate levels.
Hence, the topics and the way of their presentation are chosen according
to the appropriateness of the use of vocabulary for learner's level of English.
There are
15 topics taken up in the Beginner, Elementary and Intermediate levels while
Pre-Intermediate takes up 22 topics. The
texts presented in the Coursebooks are realistic and accompanied by good visual
aids. The visual aids help students
to imagine the places and people they read about.
The topics used,
represent different real language and create real responses in real world among
learners. The learners can make their own expressions and state their
own ideas and judgements. The topic
is a stimuli which makes up students' interaction.
Authentic material is used as in real life, so students see actual
language use and develop their own communicative abilities.
4.
I. 2.
RELATION OF THE TOPICS TO THE LEARNER'S KNOWLEDGE
SYSTEM
It is important to
encourage all learners to learn the language, to engage all learners to use the
language and to get involved in the learning process actively.
Because all learners have different backgrounds, interests and needs, the
Coursebook tries to include various topics and subject matters.
In all books, each unit has a different topic with a subject content.
The first objective of choosing a subject matter is to make learning more
meaningful and provokative. Unless
there is a subject matter, the learning process becomes abstract and
understanding the linguistic aspects of the target language, which is English in
that case, becomes more difficult
for the students. Hence, the
contents are designed in a way in which students do not only see the grammar of
English or develop skills, but also can enrich and learn/ see the communicative
aspects of English. For instance,
while reading the articles 'Bill Gates' (Enterprise 2- Elementary, Coursebook,
Unit 7, p.52) and 'Tips to Travellers' (see Appendix ?) the students get
informed about how to give permission or give advice and meanwhile see the use
of 'Present Perfect Tense' and enrich their experiences.
As said
before, vocabulary is used appropriately taking the language levels of the
learners into consideration. The
texts, 'Quality or Quantity' and 'Problems of the Planet' (Enterprise 3-
Pre-Intermediate, Coursebook,Unit 19, p.85 - Unit 18, p.79 [see Appendix ?]) are
both about nature, the damage of the human-beings to their own lives.
Although the contents are mostly about science, more sophisticated
topics, they are presented in such a way that the students of that level can
understand them easily and find them interesting as the topics don't contain
difficult vocabulary and terminology.
Since the topics in the
Coursebooks are linked to other subjects, such as history, geography, science
etc., the students can develop their knowledge of world that they bring with
them while learning. The text,
'Night and Day Around Milky Way' (see Appendix ?), develops learners' knowledge
about astronomy. Also, 'See New
Places, Meet New Friends' is useful for learners who want to go to those
countries or for who are keen on geography.
4. I. 3. COMPREHENSIBILITY OF THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS
In
Coursebooks writers must be sensitive to students' social-cultural values.
They must take different cultures into consideration.
The book must include writing activities, reading passages which are
somehow related to students' lives, in sense of their cultural, social and moral
peculiarities or at least which don't run counter to these values of them.
When the students handle a book which doesn't include anything that they
can harmonize to their points of view, their culture and moral system, the
leaners may become unsuccessful. This
is because, while learning the students get involved in the process by
expressing their points of view, judging, discussing and justifying.
When the topic activities are not interpretable for them, they can't do
this.
Enterprise
Coursebooks try to use social-cultural contexts which are interpretable for all
kinds of learners from different countries.
Most events and characters are meaningful, and can make sense for most of
the learners. However, the most
famous characters are chosen from the British and the American societies, such
as the arcticles about 'Princess Diana' and 'Backstreet Boys' (see Appendix ?).
At the same time, they try to balance the other cultures as well; a lot
of pictures and articles about other European cities, traditions and even
Far-East Countries can be found. For
instance, in Enterprise 2- Elementary Coursebook, there is a text about 'The
Hamamatsu Kite Festival', which takes place in the Japanese city of Hamamatsu,
in Unit 13, and in Unit 9, there is an article about 'Wieliczka', which is a
place in southern Poland, near Cracow. Also
another article about 'Celebrations & Festivals', which take place in
different parts of the world can be come across in the 7th Unit of Enterprise 4-
Intermediate, Coursebook. There is
no specific ethnic group emphasized, both black and white, African or Japanese
characters can be found. The books
aim to draw every learner's attention by putting all kinds of people into the
book. In the 11th Unit of
Enterprise 2- Elementary, Coursebook, speeches in bubbles of people from Brazil,
Italy and even from Kenya can be read (see Appendix ?).
Also in the very first Unit of Enterprise 1- Beginner, Coursebook, there
is a 'fill in the gaps' exercise, whose objective is to make learners acquainted
with the names of the countries by showing their flags and giving out the names
of the native people from those countries.
In that exercise, learners can see Canadian, Argentinian, Greek, Mexican
and even Turkish flags.
The
appearance of women in the
Coursebooks can be evaluated as books' giving importance to equality of women
and men. There is no discrimination
of women that they have a specific occupation or that they can only do specific
things. Women appear in different
positions through the books. The
article about a woman, working in African city of Angelo as a doctor, helping
sick children may be an example. The female characters are portrayed as individuals not
depending on men.
Most of the characters, presented in the books, have no changing social relationship, they only appear in one part of the book, participate with other characters but then disappear. There is no continuation among the characters through-out the books. The pictures and articles, about people who have been put into the book, are accompanied by an expression, a grammar item or vocabulary etc. to make the learning more meaningful. In the 5th Unit of Enterprise 1- Beginner, Coursebook, there are pictures of people shown to teach feelings, and in the Exercises 15 and 16 of the 8th Unit of Enterprise 2- Elementary, Coursebook, pictures of people are shown. But, in neither of them information about these people, like who they are, what their feelings are, can't be got as there is no social setting among those characters.