A student-centred discovery approach
Due to the versatility of the vocabulary and language structures used
in advertisements, no target language patterns had been singled out
in this unit. However, students were guided to discover the key features
of language used in advertisements, for example, positive adjectives,
repetitions, alliterations, imperatives, etc.
An integrated task-based approach
The series of lessons integrates the four skills: reading authentic
advertisements, writing texts for advertisements, reporting verbally
evaluations of advertisements to peers, and watching TV commercials
(not shown in this package due to technical problems).
A high degree of learner autonomy
Due to the teacher’s professional belief that a student-centred
discovery method is a more effective approach to induce learning than
the traditional transmission approach, students were given a lot of
autonomy in their learning. For example, they were actively involved
in every stage of the lesson, and were constantly encouraged to discover
the teaching points through responding to the teacher’s initiation.
They also brought in advertisements of their own selection, and were
free to move around the classroom to choose advertisements they would
like to report on. Students were also encouraged to bring into the classroom
dictionaries to handle their diverse need for different vocabulary and
expressions in the process of creating an advertisement.
Assessment for learning purposes
To make sure that students took the learning tasks seriously, the teacher
presented the advertisement creation task as an assessment (Lessons
9 & 10). Through the use of the assessment criteria (see Worksheet
4), the teacher was able to convey key topic-related requirements and
expectations to the students, and ensure that they studied the requirements
well and applied the knowledge to the learning task. (Note: There was
originally a drama activity. Due to technical problems, it is not included
in this unit.)