Activity Analysis:  Choice of material
 

One other aspect of this exercise is the instructor’s ability to choose the material and the parts of the script that are blanked out:  this determines the constraints to which the students must attend.  The material can be chosen for pertinence to the students own experience:  material from a variety of sources such as films, TV programs, news, or even custom produced video can be chosen according to the students’ level and particular needs.  But even more importantly, the parts of the script that are blanked out can be chosen according to the type of linguistic constraints they contain.  Beginners can be given a script with only the words that are easily discernable blanked out, while more advanced learners can be given a script missing more difficult words, harder to hear articles or prepositions, words or phrases used in a unique or idiomatic way or even longer complete phrases.  These words or phrases can be chosen based on previous exposure in other material, or as a way to introduce new ideas.  While the expressed aim of the exercise is to fill in the correct words in the blanks in the script, the students nonetheless gain exposure to much more than that, allowing for possible incidental or implicit learning.
 

Introduction – why analyze a technique / Temporal outline of the activity / Listening strategies / Providing context for practice and repetition / Choice of material / Group/individual aspects / Meeting curriculum needs/goals / What we can learn from this analysis – principles of classroom activities




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