Table Of ContentContents
The author and series editor 1
Foreword 2
Introduction 3
How to use this book 8
1 Getting started 12
Setting up a study centre 12
Self-access work in the classroom 22
Materials design and production 23
Classification and access 26
Materials storage and display 30
Staffing 31
2 Ways in and through 34
Activity Level Activity type Focus
2.1 Orientation task All Discovery task Learner training 35
2.2 What kind of learner Lower Study guide Learner devel. 41
are you? intermediate
upwards
2.3 Needs analysis Lower Study guide Learner devel. 44
intermediate
upwards
2.4 Individual study All Study guide Learner devel. 47
plan
2.5 Individual contract All Study guide Learner devel. 48
2.6 Reading programme Intermediate Study guide Learner devel. 49
2.7 The arts in Britain Advanced Quiz Ref. skills 52
3 Receptive skills 54
3.1 Dangerous coconuts Intermediate Cloze text Intens. reading 55
3.2 Sleep Advanced Scrambled text Intens. reading 57
3.3 Introducing Lower Comprehension activity Intens. reading 59
Sherlock Holmes intermediate
3.4 Superman versus Intermediate Information transfer Intens. reading 61
smoking
3.5 Weekend Elementary Reading laboratory Intens. reading 62
3.6 Book review Intermediate Reading and review Extens. reading 66
writing
3.7 Helen and Ellen Intermediate to Minimal pairs activity Intens. listen. 69
Advanced
3.8 The seaside Intermediate Dictation Intens. listen. 70
3.9 The Nuthatch Intermediate Cloze text Intens. listen. 72
3.10 A busy life Elementary Listening and sorting Intens. listen. 73
scrambled pictures
3.11 The big fight Lower Picture matching Intens. listen. 74
intermediate
3.12 Horoscope Upper Listening text with Intens. listen. 76
intermediate comprehension task
3.13 Philip’s party Lower Information transfer Intens. listen. 78
intermediate
3.14 How to use a Intermediate to Study guide Extens. listen. 83
tapescript Advanced
3.15 How to use a Intermediate to Study guide Extens. listen. 84
summary Advanced
3.16 How to use Intermediate to Study guide Extens. listen. 85
comprehension Advanced
questions
3.17 Reactive listening Lower Listening and Extens. listen. 86
intermediate to reacting
Advanced
3.18 Programme review Upper Listening and review Extens. listen. 88
intermediate to writing
Advanced
4 Productive skills 89
4.1 Fast food? Beginner Copying or tracing Handwriting 91
4.2 Important words for Intermediate to Study guide Spelling 93
spelling Advanced
4.3 Dropping an T Elementary to Study guide and Spelling 94
Lower practice activity
intermediate
4.4 Important words for Lower Study guide Punctuation 96
punctuation intermediate to
Intermediate
4.5 Why is punctuation Lower Study guide and Punctuation 97
important? intermediate to practice activity
Intermediate
4.6 Capital letters Lower Study guide and Punctuation 98
intermediate practice activity
4.7 Furnish the house Beginner Creative copying Control, writing 100
4.8 Janet’s ambition Intermediate Cloze text Control, writing 102
4.9 A chance meeting Intermediate to Marking links in a text Control, writing 103
Upper
intermediate
4.10 Wartime agriculture Upper Sentence combining Guided writing 105
intermediate to
Advanced
4.11 Europe Lower Parallel writing Guided writing 106
intermediate
4.12 Improving your Intermediate to Study guide Free writing 109
written English Advanced
4.13 Writing for real Intermediate to Study guide Free writing 110
Advanced
4.14 TheYega Advanced Summary writing Free writing 111
4.15 A nasty surprise Intermediate to Story writing Free writing 116
Advanced
4.16 A strange move Intermediate to Story writing Free writing 117
Advanced
4.17 Words for Beginner Study guide Indiv. sounds 120
pronunciation to Lower (pronunciation)
intermediate
4.18 /i/and/i:/ Elementary to Pronunciation practice Indiv. sounds 122
Intermediate (pronunciation)
4.19 Suffixes: -i + Intermediate to Discovery task and Word stress 124
vowel + ? Advanced practice activity (pronunciation)
4.20 Word stress activity Intermediate Practice activity Word stress 127
4.21 Two kinds of Upper Discovery task Compound word 128
compound noun intermediate to stress (pron.)
Advanced
4.22 A time to be born Intermediate to Recognition activity, Rhythm and 129
Advanced repetition, and stress (pron.)
discovery task
4.23 Speaking for real Intermediate to Study guide Speaking 134
Advanced
4.24 Improving your Intermediate to Study guide Speaking 136
spoken English Advanced
4.25 Identify the pair Elementary to Communication task Speaking 137
Lower
intermediate
4.26 Describe and draw Lower Communication task Speaking 138
intermediate to
Upper
intermediate
4.27 Describe and arrange Lower Communication task Speaking 139
intermediate to
Upper
intermediate
i
4.28 Find the difference Intermediate to Communication task Speaking 141
Advanced
4.29 Tell the story Intermediate to Communication task Speaking 143
Advanced
4.30 Language for games Lower Study guide Speaking 145
intermediate to
Upper
intermediate
4.31 Out of the hat Intermediate to Game Speaking 145
Advanced
4.32 Dangerous island Intermediate to Problem solving Speaking 147
Advanced
4.33 A treasure hunt Upper Problem solving Speaking 149
intermediate to
Advanced
4.34 The camping trip Lower Problem solving Speaking 152
intermediate to
Intermediate
5 Building blocks * 153
5.1 Nicola’s room Elementary Problem solving and Verbs: tenses 155
practice activity
5.2 A perfect evening? Lower Problem solving and Verbs: tenses 157
intermediate practice activity
5.3 Missing person Intermediate to Problem solving and Verbs: modals 158
Upper practice activity
intermediate
5.4 Cat burglar Intermediate Practice activity Articles 160
5.5 Medical relatives Intermediate to Problem solving and Relative prons. 162
Upper practice activity
intermediate
5.6 Family tree Elementary Practice activity Apostrophe ‘s’ 163
5.7 Comparative quiz Elementary to Quiz and practice Comp. adjs. 165
Lower activity
intermediate
5.8 How? Lower Practice activity Advs. - manner 166
intermediate to
Intermediate
5.9 Which preposition? Intermediate to Practice activity Preps, with 168
Upper verbs
intermediate
5.10 Learning new Intermediate Study guide Vocabulary 170
vocabulary upwards learner train.
5.11 Remember more Lower Study guide Vocabulary 172
words! intermediate learner train.
upwards
5.12 Similar meanings Upper Discovery task and Diet, work: 175
intermediate to practice activity synonyms
Advanced
5.13 Connections Upper Discovery task and Diet, work: 177
intermediate to practice activity homonyms
Advanced
5.14 Choosing your words Intermediate Discovery task and Vocabulary 178
practice activity
5.15 The waiter Upper Discovery task and Related words 179
intermediate to practice activity
Advanced
5.16 New words in Intermediate to Study guide Guessing 181
difficult texts Advanced meaning from
context
5.17 The senses Lower Discovery task and Vocab: topic 182
intermediate to practice activity based work
Intermediate
5.18 Making things Intermediate Study guide and Word building: 184
happen practice activities affixes
5.19 Beastly idioms Lower Discovery task and Idiomatic 186
intermediate to practice activity language
Advanced
5.20 Work it out! Lower Practice activity Phrasal verbs 187
intermediate to
Intermediate
5.21 Folk wisdom Intermediate to Discovery task and Proverbs 188
Advanced reflection
5.22 Thematic crossword Intermediate Thematic crossword Vocab: games 190
5.23 Step by step Lower Word puzzle Vocab: games 191
intermediate
5.24 Wordsearch Advanced Puzzle Vocab: games 192
5.25 Word pictures Intermediate to Creative, forming Vocab: making 194
Advanced associations memorable
5.26 Right answers Intermediate to Discovery task and Social lang.: 195
Upper practice activity set responses
intermediate
Conclusion 196
Appendix 1 and 2 198
Bibliography 198
The author and
series editor
Susan Sheerin started her teaching career as a secondary school
modern languages teacher, but soon became interested in teaching
English as a Foreign Language. She retrained, taking an RSA
Diploma in TEFL/TESL, and then from 1978 taught and directed
ESP and teacher training courses at the Colchester English Study
Centre. In 1982 she took up the post of Materials Co-ordinator at
CESC and was responsible in this capacity for managing teaching
and learning resources in the centre, including the library and
learning centre. In 1984/5 she took a year’s leave of absence to
study for an MA in Applied Linguistics at Essex University. In
1986 she was appointed Director of Studies of the Bell School,
Cambridge, where among other things the author is closely
associated with and has responsibility for the self-access facility in
the school. She is co-author of Spotlight on Britain (OUP 1985).
Alan Maley worked for The British Council from 1962-1988,
serving as English Language Officer in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy,
France, and China, and as Regional Representative for The British
Council in South India (Madras). He is currently Director-General
of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge.
He wrote Quartet (with Frangoise Grellet and Wim Welsing,
OUP 1982) and Literature, in this series (with Alan Duff, OUP
1990). He has also written Beyond Words, Sounds Interesting, Sounds
Intriguing, Words, Variations on a Theme, and Drama Techniques in
Language Learning (all with Alan Duff), The Mind’s Eye (with
Fran^oise Grellet and Alan Duff), and Learning to Listen and Poem
into Poem (with Sandra Moulding). He is also Series Editor for the
New Perspectives and Oxford Supplementary Skills series.
Foreword
The movement for learner independence springs from the powerful
yet commonsense perception that it is learners who do the learning.
(Teachers, however good, cannot do it for them.) It is strengthened
by the further observation that every learner is different from every
other learner. Disillusionment with ‘lockstep’ teaching and the
development of a communicative/humanistic teaching philosophy
which has shifted the focus from teachers to learners have given
added impetus to the movement.
The early days of learner independence were characterized by much
terminological debate. What exactly was meant by ‘autonomy5,
‘self-directed learning’, ‘individualization’, etc.? These concerns
seem now to have been superseded by the more urgent practical
need to develop effective mechanisms for allowing students a
degree of choice and for helping them to exercise it.
This book describes one such mechanism: The Self-Access Study
Centre. Such centres offer students the opportunity to pursue their
learning in their own preferred way and at their own pace. They
need, however, to be carefully conceived so as to offer a
systematically-designed framework of support for the student.
Thought has also to be given to organizational systems which
integrate the work done in the Study Centre with that done in the
classroom or elsewhere.
This book offers highly practical advice, supported by examples of
materials, and thus provides invaluable information for anyone
considering setting up a self-access facility, however modest.
Alan Maley
3
Introduction
What is self-access?
This book aims to help EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and
ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers with the practicalities
of setting up and managing self-access study facilities. The primary
aim of such facilities is to enable learning to take place independendy
of teaching. Students are able to choose and use self-access material
on their own and the material gives them the ability to correct or
assess their own performance. By using such a self-access facility,
students are able to direct their own learning.
At first glance it may appear that providing self-access facilities
amounts to a conspiracy to rid the world of teachers, but this is
certainly not the case. This book assumes that self-access learning
takes place in conjunction with classroom learning and is
complementary to it.
Why bother to set up self-access?
Any attempt to cater more for the individual needs of students
inevitably means a lot of hard work and effort on the part of
teachers in terms of the provision of material and in the general
change of attitude and approach required. It is no easy option. On
the contrary ‘It takes better teachers to focus on the learner’,
Strevens (1980). No teacher will undertake such a commitment
lightly, and it is therefore appropriate to consider the reasons which
might make individualization and the provision of self-access
facilities worth all the trouble involved.
Learner independence/responsibility
Society teaches us that we need to be taught, i.e. that learning is
dependent upon being taught/Jt does this by the traditional roles
that are assigned to teachers and students, whereby the teacher is in
tight control, transmitting content and knowledge, selecting and
directing activities. Learning and the correction of errors are the
teacher’s responsibility. The student, on the other hand, is passive,
led by the teacher , marching in lock-step with others. Learning is
not his or her responsibility. Thus, these traditional roles foster an
insidious lack of independence and responsibility in the student.
This is liable to hinder learning because of lack of involvement and
self-investment in the learning process on the part of the student.
Naiman et al. (1978) in their study of the characteristics of good
language learners, found that the most successful language learning
INTRODUCTION
strategies are connected with assuming responsibility for one’s own
learning.
Teachers cannot learn for students, and in order to increase learner
independence and responsibility for learning, the traditional roles
need to change as follows, Stevick (1976):
Teacher
paternal/ assertive —» fraternal/permissive
dispenser of all knowledge —> resource person/consultant
fostering dependence —► training for independence
Student
passive active
no responsibility for learning assume responsibility for learning
seeking approval doing without overt approval
submissive involved in decision-making
Learning to learn
Many educators argue that our world is changing so rapidly that
some people may need to retrain several times during their working
life due to the need either to keep abreast of developments in their
occupation, or to change a redundant occupation for a new, non-
redundant one. According to this view, life should be seen as a
continuing process of education. The following view is expressed
by Carl Rogers (1969):
Teaching and imparting of knowledge makes sense in an
unchanging environment. This is why it has been an
unquestioned function for centuries. But if there is one truth
about modern man, it is that he lives in an environment which is
continually changing . . . We are, in my view, faced with an
entirely new situation in education where the goal of education,
if we are to survive, is the facilitation of change and learning. The
only man who is educated is the man who has learned howlo
learn; the man who has learned how to adapt and change; the
man who has realized that no knowledge is secure, that only the
process of seeking knowledge gives a basis for security.
(Rogers’ emphasis)
If this is the case, there is a radical need to equip people with the
tools for undertaking their own learning.
Learners are individuals
Influenced by humanistic psychology, educators have recently
emphasized the fact that students are individuals with different
needs, styles and interests, and that we as educators and fellow
human beings should take account of these differences in the
provision made for their learning.
