Language II – English: Comprehension, Pedagogy and Language Use
Language II – English is 30 marks in TNTET Paper I. It tests reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary in use, and the pedagogy of teaching English as a second language in primary classes.
Core rules
- Tense: simple present for habits and facts; present continuous for now; present perfect for a past action with present relevance; past simple with a definite past time.
- Subject–verb agreement: each, every, either, neither and one of + plural noun take a singular verb; the verb agrees with the real subject, not the nearest noun.
- Articles: a/an by sound (an hour, a university); the for unique things, superlatives and ordinals.
- Prepositions: at for clock time, on for days/dates, in for months/years; since + point of time, for + duration.
- Pedagogy: LSRW, communicative language teaching, PPP and task-based lessons, phonics, skimming/scanning, intensive and extensive reading, formative assessment and selective error correction that does not stop fluency.
Worked example
One of the boys ___ football every evening. The subject is one, which is singular; of the boys is a prepositional phrase and does not control agreement. The verb is therefore plays, not play. Reasoning: remove the phrase to test the subject - One ___ football - and the singular form is clear.
Traps
An hour takes an, a university takes a; since 2010 but for five years; senior to me, not senior than me; discuss the matter, not discuss about the matter; each of the girls has, not have. In pedagogy, over-correcting every spoken error damages fluency.