Developing Language Knowledge Skills

A number of sections of the BULATS test deal with knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. The sections below give advice on how to work on these areas.

Integrate with skills work

Skills such as recognising cohesion in texts, understanding the grammatical and logical connection between words and between different parts of a piece of writing, proofreading and error correction will form an important part of students' language learning. The texts and tasks reflect real-life skills and approaches to language learning.

Encouraging students to read newspapers, magazines, brochures, notices, advertisements, emails, notes, reports, memos, etc. both inside and outside the classroom will help them acquire more vocabulary and fluency and should improve their performance on all parts of the BULATS exam. Stimulating students to make use of the internet, emails and of the increased presence of English all around them (television, films, labels, instruction manuals, brochures etc.) as sources of different types of English and different types of text will have a positive effect on their language.

Vary the focus of reading by spending time in class looking at cohesion and coherence in written texts.

Work on vocabulary which appears in reading and listening activities, with a focus on form, meaning and collocation, as well as regular practice with word building, will help build important language-learning skills.

When dealing with students' written work, encourage them to check their own and each other's work and use their errors for error-correction practice.

In these ways, integrating activities for the RLK paper into general skills work inside and outside the classroom is both easy and beneficial.

Focus on grammatical form, vocabulary and spelling

Do not neglect work on grammatical form, vocabulary and spelling. Regular practice will stimulate students and help them remember new language and extend their knowledge.

Trying to stimulate students so that a greater awareness of and interest in these areas is developed outside the classroom will be of enormous benefit. A great deal of computer software and internet material is targeted at these specific areas of language and students should be encouraged to make use of this both in class and outside, either on their own or together with friends.

Show students what is involved

By examining the best approach to each task and by asking students to create their own tasks, teachers can improve their performance on this and the other BULATS papers.

How to stimulate interest in students

You should vary the length of your activities. For example, sometimes you can use a word building exercise as a quick warmer to start the class.

Error correction can also be varied by giving them ten sentences and telling them to find mistakes in five.

Don't forget to praise as well as criticise! Tell your students the things they have done well. If students use an expression that they have been studying recently in their written work or when they are speaking, point it out and congratulate them.

Explain that probably the only way that they can make tangible progress is by trying out new words and expressions so that they become part of their repertoire.

Put your students in situations where they have to try out their language and where they can perceive the need to learn more. Often, they can 'get by' in most familiar situations but when faced with an unfamiliar context they will see that they need to acquire more resources.

Developing Reading Skills

Activities List