Teaching English as a Foreign Language

257 Pages·1993·1.334 MB·

by  Dr Geoffrey Broughton, Geoffrey Broughton, Christopher Brumfit, Anita Pincas, Roger D. Wilde

Teaching English
as a Foreign Language
Routledge Education Books
Advisory editor: John Eggleston
Professor of Education
University of Warwick
Teaching English
as a Foreign Language
Second Edition
Geoffrey Broughton,
Christopher Brumfit,
Roger Flavell,
Peter Hill and Anita Pincas
University of London Institute of Education
London and New York
First published 1978 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
Second edition published 1980
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1978, 1980 Geoffrey Broughton, Christopher Brumfit, Roger
Flavell, Peter Hill and Anita Pincas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utlized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Teaching English as a foreign language—(Routledge
education books).
1. English Language—Study and teaching—Foreign students
I. Broughton, Geoffrey
428’ .2’ 407 PE1128.A2 78–40161
ISBN 0-203-41254-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-72078-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-05882-1 (Print Edition)
Contents
Preface vii
1 English in the World Today 1
2 In the Classroom 12
3 Language and Communication 25
4 Basic Principles 37
5 Pronunciation 49
6 Listening and Speaking 65
7 Reading 89
8 Writing 116
9 Errors, Correction and Remedial Work 133
10 Assessment and Examinations 145
11 Young Children Learning English 166
12 Learning English in the Secondary School 174
13 Teaching English to Adults 187
14 The English Department 201
Appendix 1 211
Appendix 2 212
Glossary of Selected Terms 214
Bibliography 233
Useful Periodicals 240
Index 241
v

Preface
The increased learning and teaching of English throughout the
world during recent years in both state and commercial
educational institutions has produced a new cadre of
professionals: teachers of EFL. Some have moved across from
teaching English as a mother tongue, others from teaching
modern languages; many have been drawn into service for no
other reason than that their own spoken English is good, or
perhaps because they are native English speakers. Many have
started without specific training, others feel they need to
rethink the basis of their teaching.
This book is written for teachers of all backgrounds. Our
aim is to discuss a wide range of teaching problems—from
classroom techniques to school organisation—in order to
help practising teachers in their daily tasks. We have adopted
an eclectic approach, recognising that the teaching of English
must be principled without being dogmatic, and systematic
without being inflexible. We have tried to show how the
underlying principles of successful foreign language teaching
can provide teachers in a wide range of EFL situations with a
basic level of competence which can be a springboard for
their subsequent professional development. We gratefully
record our debt to colleagues and students past and present
at the London University Institute of Education, whose
experience and thinking have helped shape our own.
Particularly, we would like to thank our colleague John
Norrish for compiling the bibliography.
vii

Chapter 1
English in the World
Today
English as an international language
Of the 4,000 to 5,000 living languages, English is by far the
most widely used. As a mother tongue, it ranks second only
to Chinese, which is effectively six mutually unintelligible
dialects little used outside China. On the other hand the 300
million native speakers of English are to be found in every
continent, and an equally widely distributed body of second
language speakers, who use English for their day-to-day
needs, totals over 250 million. Finally, if we add those areas
where decisions affecting life and welfare are made and
announced in English, we cover one-sixth of the world’s
population.
Barriers of race, colour and creed are no hindrance to the
continuing spread of the use of English. Besides being a major
vehicle of debate at the United Nations, and the language of
command for NATO, it is the official language of
international aviation, and unofficially is the first language of
international sport and the pop scene. Russian propaganda to
the Far East is broadcast in English, as are Chinese radio
programmes designed to win friends among listeners in East
Africa. Indeed more than 60 per cent of the world’s radio
programmes are broadcast in English and it is also the
language of 70 per cent of the world’s mail. From its position
400 years ago as a dialect, little known beyond the southern
counties of England, English has grown to its present status as
the major world language. The primary growth in the number
1