COMPETENCY BASED TEACHING

Question 1

In formulating the syllabus __- for CLT, van Ek (1975/1980) argued that ‘___ objectives, like other learning objectives, are defined in terms of __. The aim of learning is ___ to enable the learner to do something which he [or she] could ___ at the beginning of the __process’. Competency-based Teaching takes this principle to its __extreme.

Answer 1

1. prescriptions
2. language-learning
3. behavior
4. always
5. not do
6. learning
7. logical

Question 2

In principle, a ___approach focuses __ on what learners ___about the language than what they can __with it. It follows, therefore, that a curriculum whose goals are defined in terms of ___– that is, the __skills that learners will be able to do – is more __than one that is based around a list of __items of __.

Answer 2

1. communicative
2. less
3. know
4. do
5. competencies
6. specific
7. functional
8. discrete
9. grammar

Question 3

____, then, starts with an __of the specific __– or __– that are needed to do a job, to pursue a field of study, or to survive as a tourist, for example. These skills (sometimes called ___ or ___) form the basis of the course design, and are the goals – or outcomes – of classroom instruction and testing.

Answer 3

1. Competency-based Teaching
2. analysis
3. behaviors
4. skills
5. key competencies
6. even life skills

Question 4

Competencies are __ in the form of __ statements, probably the __ of which (for ___) are those that were devised for the ___: ___, __, __(CEFR). For example, here are the __for the skill of __at _, __and __levels (Council of Europe 2001):

Answer 4

1. often expressed
2. can do
3. best known
4. language teaching
5. Common European Framework of Reference for Language; Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)
6. self-assessment descriptors
7. writing
8. A1
9. A2
10. B1

Question 5

These __ outcomes can be __in yet __detail: the __the __, arguably, since discrete outcomes are more efficiently __and __than __ ones. A case in point is the ____ (GSE) which boasts over __can do statements.

Answer 5

1. very broad
2. specified
3. finer
4. finer
5. better
6. taught
7. tested
8. very general
9. Pearson Global Scale of English
10. 1,800

Question 6

If a method is __– not just by its __, materials and procedures – but also by its __, then Competency-based Teaching certainly merits __as a method in its own right. It is __, though, as to how the syllabus goals are to be __. As the CEFR (Council of Europe2001) insists, ‘such statements of __ objectives say __ about the ___by which learners come to be able to act in the __ways … They say nothing about the ways in which __facilitate the processes of language __and __’. Nevertheless, the fact that the goals of learning are ___ in terms of ___(as in the __ statements), rather than as __or __items, suggests that a __ approach would be __. Such an approach would be one in which the specific __ goal – e.g. ‘writing a short personal WRITING letter’ – is ___for the learners, and then __by them until it is sufficiently ‘___’

Answer 6

1. defined
2. syllabus
   3, goals
3. consideration
4. not so clear
5. met
6. learning
7. nothing
8. processes
9. required
10. teachers
11. acquisition
12. learning
13. typically expressed
14. abilities
15. can do
16. grammar
17. vocabulary
18. skills-based
    20.

Question 7

If a method is __– not just by its __, materials and procedures – but also by its __, then Competency-based Teaching certainly merits __as a method in its own right. It is __, though, as to how the syllabus goals are to be __. As the CEFR (Council of Europe2001) insists, ‘such statements of __ objectives say __ about the ___by which learners come to be able to act in the __ways … They say nothing about the ways in which __facilitate the processes of language __and __’. Nevertheless, the fact that the goals of learning are ___ in terms of ___(as in the __ statements), rather than as __or __items, suggests that a __ approach would be __. Such an approach would be one in which the specific __ goal – e.g. ‘writing a short personal WRITING letter’ – is ___for the learners, and then __by them until it is sufficiently ‘___’

Answer 7

1. defined
2. syllabus
   3, goals
3. consideration
4. not so clear
5. met
6. learning
7. nothing
8. processes
9. required
10. teachers
11. acquisition
12. learning
13. typically expressed
14. abilities
15. can do
16. grammar
17. vocabulary
18. skills-based
19. appropriate
20. behavioral
21. modelled
22. practised
23. automated

Question 8

However, as in the case of the CEFR, attempts to ___ the descriptors
by specifying the __ linguistic elements (e.g. the __and__) that are implicated in each competence may undermine a ___ approach, inviting a more ___, __teaching approach, along the lines of the ___(present-practice-produce) model (see chapter 14). More problematic __is the fact that, whatever ___is employed, a key component of the ___is testing to see if the target ___have been acquired. And the more __and ___the competencies are defined, the more ___there will be to ___.

Answer 8

1. flesh out
2. precise
3. grammar
4. vocabulary
5. skills-based approach
6. traditional
7. atomistic
8. PPP
9. still
10. methodology
11. teaching-learning cycle
12. competencies
13. precisely
14. narrowly
15. items
16. test