2. Practice activities
“Re he a rs a l o f c e rta in be ha vio urs with the
o bje c tive o f c o ns o lid a ting le a rning a nd
im p ro ving p e rfo rm a nc e . ” UR, Pe nny .
Learning a skill: three-stage process:
Verbalization;
Automatization;
Autonomy
3. Practice activities
VERBALIZATION: T. describes and
demonstrates the skilled behaviour to be
learned. Sts perceive and understand.
AUTOMATIZATION: T. suggests exercises;
learners practice skills in order to acquire
facility, automatize, T. monitors.
AUTONOMY:Learners continue to use skill on
their own, becoming more proficient and
creative.
4. Practice activities
Procedures: exercises/ activities
Activities more learner than exercises. Some
procedures could be defined by both, though.
They may refer to any aspect of language with
the goal of consolidation of the learning of sth;
the improvement of sth; or the memorization of
vocabulary, for example.
5. Characteristics of effective
language practice
Validity: The activity should activate learners
primarily in the skill or material it purports to
practice. Validity not only implies that l. should
be used for some kind of reaplication or reallife communication.
Pre-learning: Learners should only practice
what has been taught., otherwise it would not
function as practice.
Volume: More language the learners actually
engage with, more practice they will get.
6. Characteristics of effective
language practice
Success-orientation: Select tasks in which
learners are likely to succeed. Results in
effective automatization , as well as reinforcing
learner´s self-image as successful language
learners and encouraging them to take further
challenges.
Heterogeneity: Provide opportunities for useful
practice to all, or most, of the different levels
within a class.
7. Characteristics of effective
language practice
Teacher assistance: T. should assist the
students, not only later in the activity, but while
sts are doing it, monitoring, guiding them. It
increases their chances of sucess and the
effectiveness of the practice activity as a
whole.
Interest:It should be rooted not only in getting
the anwers right, but also in other aspects of it:
na interesting topic, the need to convey
meaninful information, a game-like “fun”
task,attention-catching materials,appeal to
8. SUMMARY
“Pra c tic e , the n, is the a c tivity thro ug h whic h
la ng ua g e s kills a nd kno wle d g e is c o ns o lid a te d
a nd tho ro ug hly m a s te re d . A s uc h, it is
s
a rg ua bly the m o s t im p o rta nt o f a ll s ta g e s o f
le a rning ; he nc e the m o s t im p o rta nt c la s s ro o m
a c tivity o f the te a c he r is to initia te a nd m a na g e
a c tivitie s tha t p ro vid e s tud e nts with o p p o rtunity
fo r e ffe c tive p ra c tic e .” UR, Penny
