Key features of the coursebook
I. Pedagogical principles
New Prospects is the last of a series of three coursebooks designed for the teaching of English to secondary school students. As one would expect, the procedures followed here are similar to those adopted for the making of the first two books. They comply with the recommendations issued in the official syllabus set down by the Ministry of National Education (2006). Its main principles rest on communicative language teaching, which engages learners in real and meaningful communication. By real, we mean that the learners are given opportunities to process content relating to their lives and backgrounds, and to develop both fluency and accuracy.
In this coursebook, we view language learning as a developmental process through which the learners make errors as a natural part of that process, and self-correct. We also regard the mastery of grammar as the cornerstone of a good command of English. This is the reason why we have deliberately foregrounded it in this book. This being said, we haven’t made of it an end in itself, but a means to an end particularly through a constant ‘translatating’ of grammar rules into language functions, thus ensuring the learners’ competencies.
New prospects provides a large number of effective learning tasks through which students are brought to notice, reflect and analyse how English is used. The tasks devised provide ample opportunities for learners to interact in the classroom and negotiate meaning. Most of these tasks involve the use of ‘discovery learning’ (inductive learning), and are intended to enhance individual learning as well as learning with peers.
These tasks are devised in such a way as to encourage students to use more complex utterances, more fluently and more accurately than in previous years of education. The cumulative effect of the diversity of tasks will enable students to gradually automatize their knowledge and recall the language acquired with greater control and ease during production. It is naturally up to the teacher to opt for the most appropriate tasks, in accordance with the needs of the classroom(s), i.e. whether the emphasis should be more on vocabulary building and on grammatical structures, or on reading and writing skills.
In this pursuit, there will be necessary returns to previously studied aspects of language, to skills and strategies approached during the first and second years. Teachers will expect their students to revise, practise and consolidate their knowledge in so doing. On the other hand, the present coursebook, with its six thematically based units, will be geared to raising more awareness of the complexities of the English language in terms of lexis and discourse. Thus the texts selected present language in different types and styles: radio interviews, dialogues, news reports, encyclopedia entries, newspaper and magazine articles, excerpts from works of fiction, poems, etc. The students will thus be preparred to interact with various language situations they will encounter in real life.
II. Organisation of the coursebook
New Prospects progressively develops in students the three competencies of interaction, interpretation and production that cover all areas of language (syntax, morphology, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling) through six graded units. In addition, the graded tasks are of the type to be found in the English paper of the Baccalauréat examination, and thus provide the students with a gradual familiarisation with the examination requirements for English. The different task types will be dealt with subsequently.
Each unit in New Prospects includes the presentation and practice of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation/spelling with the four skills. This practice is related to the theme discussed in the unit.
Each unit is followed by an evaluation grid to check on the learner’s progress. It reviews students’ knowledge of the language items presented in the unit and tests their ability to use the skills and strategies through reading passages/texts that appear at the end of the coursebook.
At the end of New Prospects, we have included the following items:
Listening scripts
The listening scripts for all listening tasks in the units can be used by the students in class to correct their own work.
Grammar reference
This is a rubric to which students are referred throughout the book. They should use it for revision and for checking when they are not clear on a grammar point. Checking grammar for themselves will foster autonomy and will make it easier for them to keep on learning after classes.
Resources portfolio
This section aims at making learners maximise their language learning experience. Working through the texts and the activities that follow will help students to consolidate the language and skills presented in the coursebook. The resources portfolio contains a number of texts which correspond thematically to the texts in the units and present topic-related reading tasks for both skimming and scanning purposes. The portfolio can be used in class as a means to providing immediate follow-up work for language practice, skills and strategies.
III. Unit description
This coursebook caters to the needs of the major Baccalauréat streams. We have tried to strike a balance between topics related to science and technology and others related to language and humanities. In each of the six units, we focus on an area of knowledge which develops a specific use of English. New Prospects is designed in such a way that each stream of students preparing their Baccalauréat will be able to choose (with their inspector/teacher) the four mandatory units which will be more directly related to their field, which means that the students needn’t work on all six units. The themes in the coursebook are as follows:
A. Ancient civilizations
B. Ethics in business
C. Education in the world: comparing educational systems
D. Advertising, consumers and safety
E. Astronomy and the solar system
F. Feelings and emotions
Each unit is structured as follows:
q Presentation of the project outcome ;
qTwo parts: Each part contains two sequences subdivided into rubrics;
q Take a break, a section wherein students are invited to relax to better start the second part;
q Research and report, a section in which students individually or in groups will start re-investing what they have learnt in the first part. It provides a training ground for the project proper;
q Project outcome
q Asssessment
q Time for…
In Part One the sequences are as follows:
1. Listen and consider
2. Read and consider
These two sequences are patterned in a more or less similar way, and contain the following rubrics:
q Language outcomes states the linguistic objectives
q Getting started
q Let’s hear it (for the Listen-and-consider sequence)
q Taking a closer look (for the Read-and-consider sequence)
qAround the text (This rubric comprises grammar and vocabulary
tasks preceded by grammar explorers and vocabulary explorers.)
q Pronunciation and spelling
q Think, pair, share
Part Two contains two other sequences:
3. Listening and speaking
4. Reading and writing
These two sequences are also patterned in a more or less similar way, and are subdivided into the following rubrics:
q Skills and strategies outcomes (which states the communicative
objectives)
q Before listening (or before reading)
q As you listen (or as you read)
q After listening (or reading)
q Say it in writing ( or writing development)
Part Two ends with the project outcome announced at the beginning of each and every unit and signposted at strategic points of the unit. Apart for offering guidelines about how to concretise the assigned project, it offers project alternatives and useful web sites.
The project outcome is followed by an Assessment section. It is devoted to language and skills and strategies assessment. Having seen how each part is planned, let us now consider how each of the two sequences is articulated.
IV. Sequence description
Sequence One (Listen and consider)
As announced above Listen and consider begins with Language outcomes, which involves no task but is a preview of the language objectives to be achieved by the end of the sequence. Thus grammatical structures, vocabulary items, idioms and features of pronunciation such as word and sentence stress, are meant to be understood and used, and also being assessed in the Assessment section of Part Two at the end of the unit.
This first sequence deals with listening comprehension. Its purpose is to lead the students to listen intently to an aural message/text, paying particular attention to features of language use described in the Language outcome preview. It will also make the students respond to the message orally or in writing. This type of focused listening (followed by a response) is meant to help the student develop an ability to listen for a purpose (understanding the gist of the text or the details). It is also to help him respond to an aural message orally or in writing with accuracy and appropriateness (for example, answering comprehension questions, re-ordering sentences, etc).
This listening task is realised in a two-step procedure: Getting started and Let’s hear it. The student will first look at the thematic pictures, discuss the topic with peers and answer the related comprehension questions. This activity is meant to access and activate her/his background knowledge of the topic and prepare her/him for the next listening phase, Let’s hear it, for which a number of exercises/tasks (Listen + re-order, listen + answer questions, etc.) are provided. E.g. Listen + re-order: the teacher reads the text while the students try to remember and re-order jumbled-up sentences. Listen and answer questions (orally or in writing) The students listen again to the whole text as it is read by the teacher and answer comprehension questions.
Around the text exploits the same text for language work and focuses on its grammatical and lexical content. Here the students are requested to look at language with a magnifying glass, as it were, and to focus on specific features of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling.
A variety of tasks have been provided in this connection. These tasks are typically intended for matching statements, identifying the functions of words, reflecting on word order and morphology, using content and function words correctly, filling gaps with appropriate items.
Pronunciation and spelling is a rubric which is devised to increase the student’s understanding of the sound-spelling relationships that characterise English. We are not expecting students to become phoneticians or linguists, but simply aiming to ‘train their ears’ to be more perceptive apropos the subtleties of English pronunciation, stress and intonation. Spelling is a goal still worth pursuing at this final level of secondary education. The more acute the reception of an auditory message, the better its interpretation; likewise, the more intelligible the pronunciation the more effective the transmission of the message.
Communication in a foreign language relies crucially on a good listening ability. Discriminating between sounds in various utterances is the ultimate stage of compretence before performance. Therefore, tasks such as ‘listen for stress’ and ‘listen for syllable division’ are provided to this end.
In the last rubric, Think, pair, share, the students will work individually, then in pairs, and lastly with other peers in a group.
The think, pair, share tasks call for an interaction with other students and their teacher, and each student will produce a piece of writing: a dialogue, a short article, a description, a narration, a poem, etc. This will be presented orally to the class.
Sequence Two of the unit is Read and consider.
This sequence includes six rubrics, just like the previous one. We have paid particular attention to the development of the reading skill, one of the most demanding achievements not only for this final year of English study at school, but also for future studies at university. To this effect, we have included a large number of additional material for extensive reading in the resources portfolio.
The first rubric is Language outcomes. Just as in section 1, this rubric contains no tasks but reminds the student of the linguistic objectives to be achieved by the end of the section. These language outcomes can also be assessed in the assessment rubric at the end of the unit.
The second rubric, Getting started, invites a brainstorming session during which the topic under focus is debated; by the same token the students background knowledge is activated when some aspects of language are previewed (vocabulary, language structures, etc).
Through this pre-reading activity, the students will build schematic knowledge necessary to understand the text.
The third rubric, Taking a closer look, involves reading the text silently and individually, and answering comprehension questions. They may be referential or inferential questions, or they may open up a discussion on comparing native situations with non-native ones. This rubric involves not only looking at its content, but also at its form. Two types of exploring activites are provided stemming from the text studied in the Around the text rubric: Grammar explorer and Vocabulary explorer. Grammar explorer comprises up to three levels of activities (I, II, III) of graded difficulty, and its main purpose is to study the grammar of the text: the students will be involved in awareness-raising activities related to tenses, prepositional verbs, etc. They will also be given an opportunity to produce messages in correct English. These accuracy-based activities end with a production task which is also meant to focus the learner’s attention on grammatical correctness.
Vocabulary explorer (I, II, III,…) caters for the student’s vocabulary building skills, and deals with word formation, the practice of idiomatic formulae, etc.
The fourth rubric, Pronunciation and spelling also deals with language-related tasks, specifically pointing to the phoneme-grapheme correspondence in English. The student’s attention is drawn here to the discrepancies existing between the pronunciation system and the spelling system in English. The students are invited to note down these while the teacher is reading the text aloud.
The fifth rubric, Think, pair, share, focuses on individual work, pair work and group work, and generates interaction between group members. The teacher will act as a facilitator and guide intervening in the class when necessary.
Take a break brings to an end the Read-and- consider sequence. It brings a lighter note to the activities carried out up to this point by introducing light jokes, proverbs, songs, etc. An intercultural dimension is added to this rubric, as a means to pointing to other people’s experiences in their own milieus. This is a moment for students to relax before moving on to the next sequence.
Research and report deals mainly with learners’ outcomes i.e., behavioural outcomes. The tasks are assigned to students to work on (individually, in pairs, or in groups) outside the classroom, either for feedback to a subsequent lesson, or lead-in to a classroom activity. A number of written/oral tasks are suggested: newspaper articles, short stories poems, speeches, public statements on a specific topic, etc. Just like Think, pair, share, the Research and report section encourages interaction/negotiation of meaning, and it is a good preparation for the final major task, i.e. the project.
Sequence Three
Listening and speaking includes four main rubrics. The first one Skills and strategies outcomes is a preview of the communicative objectives to be achieved by the students.
In this rubric, a number of receptive strategies are activated. They should be the focus of the students’ attention throughout the second sequence. Indeed now we are moving from language-based study to discourse-oriented learning, and the student is accordingly requested to move from language analysis to discourse analysis. In this sequence, the aim is to ‘unlock’, or ‘unpack’ texts to look into relations of cohesion and coherence, at lexical chains, etc. It is the examination of the logical relations between sentences in a text that will make students discover the connotative import of discourse (E.g. mood, tone) and trace ‘underside meanings’.
Before listening is a rubric that prepares the students for the understanding of an aural text through pre-listening activities, and thus allow her/him to predict content through a set of questions. These activities prepare for note taking as well.
As you listen is a rubric which includes activities requesting learners to listen for gist, for detail, and to check their expectations/inferences, confirm them or reject them.
After listening is a post-listening stage which involves activities of a more intensive nature. Unlike pre-listening activities which focus on top-down thinking through prediction of content (from a picture, for example), post-listening activities deal with bottom-up listening and help students to give shape and significance to the texts. Thus, they can construct a plan from notes and summarize the content. After listening activities, other skills such as speaking, reading and writing can be practised.
Saying it in writing
This is the natural follow-up of the previous, receptive stage, as it allows learners to build confidence through the production of material related to the listening content. This rubric prepares the students for the next section Reading and writing, a stage that follows logically from this one.
Sequence Four
The Reading and writing sequences start with Skills and strategies outcomes, a rubric which defines the objectives to be achieved by the students (linguistic, communicative, cognitive), and the levels of reception and production of a message expected.
Before reading, As you Read, and After reading focus on the students’ use of their skimming and scanning skills to make sense of authentic and semi-authentic materials. The students will first activate their pre-existing knowledge to make predictions about the topic. In many cases, they will also be required to identify the structure of the text, to infer meaning and to pinpoiint inferences from context and follow up abstract ideas.
Writing development: This is the last skills rubric in which the students will have opportunity to express opinions, give reasons, present arguments: they will have now sufficient vocabulary and grammatical command as well as the required skills and stragegies to do the writing tasks. Here, the students will demonstrate their sense of organisation, cohesion and coherence, and will draw on appropriate registers to communicate their main message.
The writing activities that we have suggested reflect real-life tasks, such as writing simple reports, brief articles, formal and informal letters, etc. Let us focus now on the ultimate learning-and-doing outcome, namely the project.
IV. About the project
As said in the foreword to the Student’s Book, ‘the project designing procedure runs in parallel with the unfolding of the unit’. It is the visible and assessable manifestation of the students’ competencies, i.e. the end result of their command of language and of the skills and strategies they have acquired throughout the unit.
The project is signalled seven times in the unit: at the top of the first page, five times throughout the unit (Brainstorming - Fact finding – Organising - Writing up – Assessing) and a seventh time – in a more detailed way, towards the end of the unit. These are flash-points, so to speak, designed to chart the students’ progress in giving shape and consistency to their project. This charting should take the form of monitoring sessions (twenty minutes at the end of a class meeting) during which the students will discuss and sort out the ways and means that apply to their project. The follow-up between two sessions is assumed to be done by the students, as a group, outside the classroom.
BRAINSTORMING is the first of such sessions, with the teacher acting as facilitator. The aim is to get the students to envisage and agree on the tasks involved, the possible sources of information and the format and content of the end product.
FACT FINDING
Most of the activities at this stage take place outside the classroom. The students enquire about where and how they will get the information they need (the Internet, a survey, an interview?…) and about the equipment they may want to use (cassette recorder, picture camera, drawings?…) as well as the places (a museum, a business company?…) they may have to visit. They may not have to meet in class at all.
ORGANISING
This is where the feedback of the students is made use of in a rational and efficient way. Divide the class into groups (5 studens per group to the maximum). Get each group to appoint a spokesperson who will make the final report to the class at the end of the project. Get all groups to agree on the tasks assigned to each of them. Otherwise leave it for each group to decide who does what and in what sequence. All the ensueing work will be done outside the class, or even outside the school.
WRITING UP
This activity will preferably take place between school hours provided each group manages to find a time and a place of its own. Otherwise, devote a whole class meeting to this session – time permitting, of course! – with each group working separately. This will involve writing (in correct English) but also editing (what colours to use, how much space will be devoted to illustrations, how much to text…) and negotiating (with possible opinion clashes). The teacher’s role at this stage is one of soft monitoring. Move from one group to another, giving advice whenever necessary.
ASSESSING
At this stage the work of each group is assessed by a board of assessors (one from each group) chaired by the teacher, or by a student elected by his peers. Make it informal however. The session starts with the spokesperson of each group reporting to the class about the work done and presenting the ‘product’ realised for appreciation. The same operation is repeated for each group. The board of assessors will eventually award the First Prize to the best project.
Naturally, the indications above should, by no means, be regarded as gospel truth. It is up to you to adapt the pedagogical route which you think to be the most suitable for your class.
Finally, it may be of interest for you to note that we have proposed alternative projects, of a ‘lighter’ kind, designed for students who want to work on their own, as well as pertinent and helpful websites (to be complemented if need be).
VI. Conclusion
New prospects has been thought out in such a way as to instill in learners ease and confidence in their communicative use of English. The units of this coursebook offer a variety of activities reflecting real-life situations and prompting the students to practise English in creative ways. Their consolidation of skills, whether oral or written , is to be realised through a number of activities stemming from the competency-based approach. The objectives of such activities are clearly identified and explained at each stage of learning/teaching.
The tasks in question have cognitive aspects elaborated in accordance with Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. The surface levels involve knowledge, comprehension and application while the deeper levels of cognitive processing appeal to analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Every unit contains a number of tasks which have been designed to provide subject-matter knowledge, lower and high order thinking skills, reading strategies and compositional skills. These will enable the students to achieve proficiency in the three competencies, namely interaction, comprehansion/interpretation and production.
At all events, we hope that this coursebook will be a pleasant pedagogic tool, and a useful document to help our students in their progress towards success at the Baccalauréat examination.
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