SLA theories

Comprehensible input/output

"Through the highly comprehensible input, the physical involvement, and the sensual quality of the words
     and action, the students become completely absorbed in the activity, making acquisition highly 
     probable."
     (Tarvin and Al-Arishi, 1991:10)

Adult/children learning

Universal grammar

Error correction

Social identity

Motivation

Form-focussed instruction

Focus on form

Task-based instruction

Formulaic speech

Interaction

Acculturation

Communicative competence

Instruction/natural acquisition
 

Testing
 

Language Skills:

Speaking

Listening

Reading

Writing

Grammar

Vocabulary

Pronunciation
 

Syllabus Design 

Needs assessment

"Needs assessment involves finding out what the learners know and can do and what they need to learn
     or do so that the course can bridge the gap (or some part of it)."
     (Graves, 1996: 12).

"Different students have different needs, and the information gathered through needs assessment can help
     a teacher make choices as to what to teach and how to teach it."
     (Graves, 1996: 14).

"Needs assessment can also be a teaching tool because it can help students become aware and more 
     purposeful in their learning." 
     (Graves, 1996: 14).

"Setting goals and objectives provides a sense of direction and a coherent framework for the teacher in
     planing her course."
     (Graves, 1996: 17).

"Objectives are really nothing more than a particular way of formulating or stating content and activities."
    (Nunan, 1988b: 60).

Selecting and developing materials

"Experienced teachers often develop a set of core materials and activities that they adapt each time they
     teach a course. The materials themselves are flexible and can be used in a number of ways, depending
     on the target skills or competencies."
     (Graves, 1996: 26)

"For content-based courses, authentic material is the foundation."
    (Graves, 1996: 27)

"Textbooks are tools that can be figuratively cut up into component pieces and the rearranged to suit the
     needs, abilities, and interests of the students in the course."
     (Graves, 1996: 27)

"Manners in which courses are organized affect ways in which they are perceived and experienced by
     learners."
     (Murphy & Byrd, Syllabus design, P. 5)

Course evaluation

"Generally speaking, a course is evaluated to promote and improve its effectiveness."
     (Graves, 1996: 31)

"A teacher's most important means is close observation of what students do in class and how they do it."
    (Graves, 1996: 32)

The role of culture in SLA

"Culture provides a broader and deeper context for how one knows or determines what is valued,
     appropriate, or even feasible and why."
     (Graves, 1996: 23)

Culture is "the piece that makes everything else 'make sense', that enables connections to be made 
    between the language and how to use it, when to use it, whom to expect it from, and what kind of 
    response to expect after you see it."
    (Northridge, cited in Graves, 1996: 23)

Culture is the "fifth dimension of language teaching."
    (Damen, 1986)

Teaching

"Teaching involves making choices."
    (Graves, 1996: 24)
 

Learning