Socio-Psychological Training
– an Effective Way to Teach a Foreign Language
The effectiveness of teaching English as a foreign language depends on
the teaching methods being used. In recent years active methods of teaching foreign
languages have become immensely popular. In our previous articles we have already
mentioned that elements of socio-psychological training are being introduced in the
process of teaching. In this article we are going to dwell on this point in more detail.
According to the research data of different investigators, a person can
assimilate 10% of information with the help of organs of hearing, 50% visually and 80% in
the process of individual work. The personal significance of this or that piece of
information also has a crucial significance for the assimilation of information as the
well as possibility to incorporate it in personal experience.
The usage of elements of socio-psychological training in the practice
of teaching foreign languages helps to include more channels of perception and elaboration
of information, to increase students’ motivation and to engage them in a dialogue
with their teachers and students.
In combination with traditional teaching methods some elements of
training are aimed at the development of personality, formation of communicative skills
and skills of interpersonal communication.
We believe that the content and methods of teaching a foreign language
being used by teachers must correspond to the particular features of future specialists
being educated by this or that university department. For psychologists, the most
professionally significant qualities are: the ability to communicate with people,
establishing positive relations with people, interest in other people, patience in
communication with people, sensitivity to the values of other people, emotional stability,
insight and self-understanding. At English language classes it becomes possible to achieve
these goals.
In this article we suggest training exercises which were tested in work
with students of the Psychology Department of Yaroslavl State University.
The training exercises suggested below may be used in work with
adolescents and youngsters.
We have grouped training exercises according to the aims which teachers
seek to realize at lessons.
1. Exercises which help to form a respectful space in a
group. The usage of these exercises helps the members of the group to: get acquainted
with each other; to define the aims and tasks of group work; create an atmosphere of
respect and confidence; to develop attention, observation, and the ability to work
coherently in a group; form interest to further education and contribute to a desire to
learn.
2. Exercises which increase “groupunity”. The use of
these exercises contributes to the ability to work in a group, to form the feeling of
“we” and the skills of co-operation and partnership. They make it possible to create a
feeling of emotional support; to improve students’ selfesteem; and to lessen students’
resistance to speaking the foreign language.
3. Exercises which improve the ability to perceive a
communicative partner adequately. The use of these exercises helps to clarify the
peculiarities of your perception of other people, as well as the way you are perceived by
other people. They help to overcome the distortions in mutual perceptions; students learn
to see the emotional state of people around them with the help of verbal and non-verbal
components of communication, and are able to more adequately perceive other people.
4. Exercises which develop the ability for effective mutual
perception. The usage of this group of exercises contributes to the understanding of
individual peculiar features, overcoming psychological barriers, understanding consistent
patterns of communication, and the ability to hear and get feedback.
5. Exercises which develop communicative skills. The use
of this group of exercises helps to overcome psychological barriers; to making
presentations in public; to forming individual styles and skills of public presentations,
and individual ways and methods of persuasion; and the perfection of verbal and non-verbal
components of communication.
6. Relaxation exercises. These relieve emotional tension
and fatigue, and help to overcome psychological.
7. Exercises which form reflexia. These exercises help to
teach students how to diagnose their own emotional states, their position in a group, and
their ability to analyze their own difficulties in communication with other students, as
well as difficulties which occur while learning a language. They help the teacher to
improve his or her own methods of teaching.
1 |
Greeting
What happened to me
Happy Birthday to You!
Typewriter |
Learners pay each other compliments about
appearances; the next time compliments may be related to psychological peculiarities or
particular actions.
A student tells the group about an interesting event or something which excited him or
her. Another student may retell the story. The task of a teacher is not to only dwell on
grammar or pronunciation mistakes, but also to direct students’ attention to the
correctness of understanding each others’ feelings and emotions.
Every student prepares a birthday present, but it should be very unusual and symbolic,
for example a country where his or her groupmate could live. (For example Estonia, because
we think that he is very well balanced, poky and tight-lipped.) Or it is possible to
present a philosophical book, paying attention to the philosophical nature of a person or
character trait which will improve the nature of a person. The main point here is that the
present must reflect a peculiar psychological trait of a person who your students
congratulate.
The way to remember the spelling of words. All letters are distributed between the
members of the group and a phrase is chosen. Each person should clap when it is his turn.
The group must be very attentive not to allow pauses and breaks. |
2 |
Shipwreck
Debates
Let’s Count |
A shipwreck takes place. The group
(approx. 6 people) has 15 things with them which they should classify according to their
significance for survival. The teacher is free to chose the stuff. At first each member of
the group should decide what things are important for himself and then the group should
come to a common decision. Afterwards the teacher may analyse the behaviour of members of
the group during the discussion.
The group is divided into two subgroups. Any topic of interest may be
chosen. One subgroup must give arguments for and another against a topic (approx. 5
minutes is given). A speaker is chosen who gives an argumentative presentation of the
point of view of the group. iscussion follows.
The teacher calls out a number and the members of the group must show
the number of the fingers according to the command. |
3 |
Associations
I’ll answer instead
Characteristics
Metaphor (Give a picture another brush)
Who am I/Who would I like to be? |
One person leaves the room and all the
rest select one person who is among them. The student returns to the room and asks
different questions beginning with: Does this person look like _____?
Does behave like _____? … and his task is to find out who is selected by the group.
One person chooses another and stands behind his back. Other members of
the group should ask him different questions (a teacher is free to choose the topic), for
example about his mood. of you… The person standing must answer all the questions as if
he were the person sitting. The aim is to render the feelings and emotions a person
sitting experiences.
Another variant of the same exercise: one person is sitting and another is standing behind
his back. The task of the person standing is to speak about the feelings, emotions of a
person who is sitting. The person sitting should express his attitude to what he has heard
and whether his state of mind was described correctly. He should comment on any mistakes
which took place.
As homework students are asked to write their own psychological
characteristics (or what they think about themselves). In class all the descriptions are
mixed and read out loud. The members of the group should guess who wrote this or that
description.
One person is invited to take the floor. All the rest are asked to
describe the picture they imagine when they see the person, what exterior can
surround him, in what fairy tale can the person live. (The topic may be chosen by a
teacher.)
a. The members of the group are asked to complete the chart and answer
the question: Who am I? Afterwards self-presentation is made and groupmates are free to
agree/disagree or express their own opinion on the information they have heard.
b. Each student writes four adjectives about himself and four about his neighbour. The aim
is to compare whether a person is perceived correctly by his groupmates and to see
differences in self-perception and perception by the group. |
4 |
Understand the Phrase
Intonation
Three Answers |
The group is divided into two teams. One
subgroup guesses the phrase and tell it to one person from another subgroup. He must show
the phrase to his subgroup using pantomime. (The topics may be chosen by a teacher, for
example: working day, cleaning the house...)
Different kinds of emotions must be written on sheets of paper by a
teacher. (e.g. anger, joy, irritation…) The teacher distributes emotions and students
must read a sentence written on the blackboard expressing the emotion. All the rest must
guess what emotion a student had to show and whether the emotion was expressed correctly.
A phrase must be rendered in three emotional states: unhesitatingly,
aggressively, uncertain. Each student chooses the order of presentations of phrases. The
group must guess the order in which emotional states were expressed. |
5 |
Presentation
Conference/Symposium
Role-playing Games |
The aim is to sweep the audience along
with the speaker.
a. During one or two minutes a speaker must captivate the attention of the audience
speaking on any topic (teacher may choose any topic). b. A speaker must make a
presentation about a useless and old-fashioned thing. The audience must be persuaded to
buy it.
The audience should evaluate the presentation and the impression produced.
Students read different articles on one topic and make presentations.
After listening to all reports, students ask each other questions on the topic and make
conclusions on the material they have discussed. |
6 |
Don’t Let it Fall.
Change Your Places |
Toss a ball to a member of the group and
tell that it is for instance a vase. So a student should show how he catches it.
There is one chair less than students. (Chairs are in a circle.) He
stands in the middle and asks a question. For example – Who is blonde? or Whose eyes are
green? Those who are blonde change their seats and another person becomes the questioner. |
7 |
A Thread
Students’ Observations
Write a Letter |
Sitting in round circle students pass a
ball oa yarn to each other and in turn (when they receive a ball) pay each other
compliments (e.g. I’m happy to meet you…). And when every student has a thread they
must feel and enjoy the feeling of being together.
Students continue phrases: I understood… I was surprised by… I
liked… I experienced… I want to know… and others.
Students write letters to themselves beginning with: Dear… Haven’t
written you for ages… |
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