ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC :SKIT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Most English language teaching  teachers nowadays advocate some elements of a ‘Communicative Approach’ and therefore recognize and appreciate the value of Skit in English language teaching  . Skit can be defined as  short comedy sketch or piece of humorous writing, especially a parody and it activity involving people in a social context and there is no doubt that effective communication in social situations involves other forms of communication that go beyond language competence and includes the use of gesture, body posture, intonation and other prosody features. However the inclusion of skit based activities is not so evident in current English language teaching course books, resource books, supplementary materials and teacher training courses. Teachers clearly need practical step by step guidance on how to incorporate skit more comprehensively and cohesively into their teaching.

                  One of the main aims of using skit in a language course is to provide an active, stimulating, fun and creative environment in which to develop the student’s language learning potential. Students are encouraged to explore English through their imagination and creativity and to express this through language, and other forms of communication, that may include: movement, action,  and role-play.

These activities aim to develop:
                     · Confidence, motivation, trust and participation
                     · Oral and written communication skills
                     · Awareness of interpersonal and socio cultural communication skill

                     · Accuracy and fluency of expression
                     · Rhythm and pronunciation
                     · Linguistic intelligence
                     · Social interactive skills

Language in English language teaching course books is typically presented without the need for learners to be actively engaged. In other words traditional classroom activities have only a surface reality and fail to appeal to, and draw on the learners’ emotional reactions and direct experience. There is a need for learners to empathize with and to be emotionally involved in the creation of language. After every communicative / skit task there should be a feedback stage where the learners reflect on their performance. The focus should be on how effectively they performed the activity in terms of their communicative competence. It should not be a stage where the teacher focuses on errors or language accuracy as the aim of drama based activities is to develop fluency. It is of course an opportunity to highlight effective language use and introduce language that could have improved the effectiveness of the communication.