Chapter 5: Option 2

Share some personal learning experiences related to interlanguage, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 5: Option 1

Explain Maslow's (1970) hierarchy of needs theory and comment on whether you feel it is valid, as well as why or why not.  Do we as teachers really need to consider all of these needs?  In what ways are they relevant or irrelevant to us in a classroom? 

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 4:

Many instructional contexts around the world do not encourage risk-taking, instead they encourage correctness, right answers, and withholding "guesses" until one is sure to be correct. How might this affect a language learning classroom where communicative language teaching is being used.  Try to relate your answer to the principles discussed.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 3 (for undergrads):

Think about your own language learning experience.  In your classes, was grammatical accuracy more important or communicative proficiency? Try to think about this from the teacher’s perspective – why might s/he focus more on one than on the other? 

If you have continued your efforts to learn the language beyond the classroom, which if more important to you now?  Explain your reasoning.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 3 (for grad students):

According to the textbook, cooperative learning "promotes intrinsic motivation, heightens self-esteem, creates caring and altruistic relationship and lowers anxiety and prejudice." Do you agree or disagree with this statement? 

If you agree, provide examples from your own experience that illustrate the effectiveness of cooperative learning.  Make sure to include logical reasons as to why the cooperative learning was successful. 

If you do not agree with the above quote, provide examples from your own experience that illustrate the ineffectiveness of cooperative learning.  Find at least 3 specific factors that made the experience unsuccessful.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 2:

Krashen and Terrell's Natural Approach emphasizes that "the essence of language is meaning. Vocabulary, not grammar, is the heart of language.” What is your take on this?  Can you think of evidence to either support or refute this statement?  Give specific examples related to language learning that illustrate this truth or that provide counterevidence to it.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

Chapter 1:

Have you ever learned a language in a classroom setting?

If yes, think of one thing the instructor did that you thought was very helpful for your language learning experience.  Describe it in detail and discuss why it led to success in language learning.

If no, think about the advantages and disadvantages that you bring to language teaching, having never learned a language in a classroom.  Discuss at least 3 advantages/disadvantages in detail.

(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).

5301/4353 Spring 2012

Welcome to the 5301/4353 blog for Spring 2012! Throughout this semester, questions for discussion will be posted here for you to answer. You are welcome to post your own questions as well, and to comment on the questions of other students in the class. Let's make this fun, useful, and interesting!

Lifelong learning

On Wednesday, May 4, we will be discussing Lifelong Learning. In preparation for that event, I would like each of you to begin to think about ways to continue learning about current methods in TESOL even after you have left a structured TESOL program. To do that, search out one or two journals that publish articles on TESOL and language learning (you could do this online, through Googlescholar, through the library databases, or in the print journals in the library). Browse through the table of contents for several issues and find one article that interests you. Print out or photocopy that article and bring it to class with you. Before class on May 4, post the bibliographic citation to that article in the comments of this post.

Assessments!

Tonight, we'll be discussing assessment in ESL/EFL classes. For this blog assignment, think carefully about a test or assessment that you have taken at some point that you were unhappy with for reasons other than your own lack of preparation. What was the issue with this test/assessment? Was it an issue of reliability or validity? What kind, and in what way? Thinking back, what would have been needed in order for the test to give a higher level of reliability or validity?

Please answer with 2 paragraphs, one which describes the problems with the test, and another that suggests ways to fix those problems.

Responses should be submitted by classtime on May 4.

Demo Lessons

One thing that the mini lessons brought to the forefront for me was the importance of assisting students us use language skillfully, which means teaching real-life language as opposed to teaching grammar rules and scripted textbook language. I saw this demonstrated very effectively in the demo teaching of my classmates. Their lessons gave me insights into my own teaching because they were focused on what appropriate language is and how to develop the skills in students that would enable them to have meaningful interactions with native speakers and other L2 speakers outside of the classroom.

Another thing I saw the demo lesson exhibit was careful selection of materials conforming to their learners' English level. This made me more aware that input beyond the L2's level will result in no comprehension, and therefore, no persistence.

One last thing I gained out of the demo lessons was the realization that the optimal ESL learning environment is best structured in ways that increase learner participation and accountability in the process - i.e., teach them to perform both independently and interdependently.

Lessons from Teaching Demos

We've now had the opportunity to observe other students in the class teaching two times. Think about the teaching demos you have seen. Did you learn something new, like a new technique or a new activity? Did you learn something not to do, like a behavior or a task? Did you learn anything about yourself as a teacher, about teaching in general, or about what makes a good teacher?

Your blog assignment this time is to reflect upon what you learned from the teaching demos. This should be a personal reflection, and it is not your chance to criticize the teaching demos of your classmates, so please keep your comments polite and respectful and focused on your own personal lessons.

Not that this blog assignment should appear as a comment to this post, be a minimum of 1 paragraph in length, and should be completed by classtime on Monday, 4/25.

Assessing Speaking

Assessing speaking skills in any size class is a real challenge. The act of speaking is a complex process, and not very organized in that it does not go logically from one point to the next. Assessing the learner's communicative competence would be the overall objectve, but to accomplish that task, I would might have to consider that competence in selected areas most relevant to the task at hand. For example, if I chose an imitative speaking task such as sentence repetition, I would be listening for linguistic competence such as pronunciation. If I chose an intensive speaking task such as directed response, I could be checking logical order to assess discourse competence, linguistic competence (grammar and pronunciation), and maybe functional competence - did the learner complete the task. A responsive speaking task such as a picture-cued elicited description might put the communicative competence focus on the learner's ability to choose language appropriate for the situation, even as it considers pronunciation, grammar, fluency, etc. The point I am trying to make is that speaking assessment to be useful to both teacher and learner needs to be multi-dimensional in its approach, so as to better determine the learner's progress and growth in his communicative competence, and avoid evaluating one-dimensional, single-event testing, which might give the student the feeling that there are only certain dimensions of communication to be considered, when it is really about knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom in what manner.

Listening Assessment

Testing ESL listening fluency is difficult because you are not only testing the ability of the student to listen, but you are also testing ability in the other basic skills as well. He may hear what you ask him to do, but may respond incorrectly because he does not understand what to do. Still there are a variety of ways one can assess listening ability within the context of a small or larger class. For example, one could test through commands, starting out as a group exercise then moving in on asking individuals to perform a task. Reading a passage aloud and asking a series of questions about what they heard would be another. The difficulty of the task could be increased by varying the length of the passage from 2 or 3 sentences to a long paragraph. One-on-one conversational interactions to test listening would also be useful, but would be a bit more problematic in large classes. One thing I do at the outset of my classes is establish signals for when to listen, when to speak, and when to keep quiet. The finger on the ear is a good way to put them on point for listening to what is about to be said. I gravitated to the selective listening tasks because I see them as basic activities that can enhance a student's listening skills and can be easily woven into any classroom situation. As to when they are appropriate? Always and forever. Testing a learner's ability to listen and respond correctly is an ongoing teaching task, but it is especially critical in the ESL environment where understanding what the learner hears is essential for appropriate language production.

Assessing Speaking and Listening

In class, we talked a lot about teaching speaking and listening, and especially about incorporating these skills meaningfully into different lessons. Later in the course, we'll talk about assessment, but this blog assignment deals specifically with assessing speaking and listening. Take a look at pages 318-319 and pages 350-353 in the Brown book, which discuss assessment of speaking and listening. Choose one listening assessment and discuss it more in depth, especially in terms of how you might manage the assessment in a large (10+ students) class, when an appropriate time for assessment would be, and why you might choose that particular assessment type. Then do the same for speaking.

Note that you should have 2-3 paragraphs about the listening assessment, and another 2-3 paragraphs about the speaking assessment.

Also, note that this should be completed by Wednesday, April 20.

new lesson plan sheets

As noted in class on Wednesday, I've revised the lesson plan sheet for the second mini-lesson.  If you choose to just use my sheet, you'll find the word doc here, and the pdf here.

Week 10: Integrating skills

As TESOL professionals, we are sometimes asked to teach classes which focus on a particular skill, but, as we discussed in class, this does not mean that we ignore the other skills completely.  Think back to your first mini-lesson.  You likely targeted one or two skills in particular, but I want you to think about how you might integrate all the skills into that lesson. 

In responding to this blog assignment, you should post your response as a comment to this post.  First, review your mini lesson briefly, outlining the ways in which you targeted some particular skill or skills.  Then discuss in detail how you might integrate other skills into your lesson, and how this skills integration would improve the original plan.   Note that your response should be a minimum of two paragraphs in length, and should provide sufficient detail that we can (1) remember your lesson and what you did, and (2) imagine with you how the additional skills targeting would enhance the lesson.

Week 9: classroom management

This week, I want us all to think even more about different classroom management techniques, remembering that "Classroom management is a planned effort on the part of the teacher to make the classroom a comfortable place for students to learn" (Wesner 1999).   In adult classrooms, what we do and how we handle different situations is likely to be quite different from how we'd handle things with younger learners.  In this blog assignment, you'll have the opportunity to think specifically about classroom management with adults learners.

You will have two different aspects to your post:
First, go here to read about adults as learners. 

Second, go here to look at some tips on how to handle a number of different difficult situations in a classroom. 

Choose one of the situations from the second link that is relevant for you and your own teaching, and discuss (a) an additional way to handle such things, (b) an enlightening suggestion that the page gives, or (c) a similar situation in which one of those techniques worked (or didn't work).  Make sure to answer in light of what you read about adult learners, and include discussion of how possible techniques may not be appropriate for some age levels, cultural situations, etc. 

Your answer should be posted as a comment to this post, and should be at least 2 paragraphs long.

Part 2 of Blog Assignment

In the previous post, I had you list some online resources that you find to be particularly helpful.   Take a look at the different ones that other students in the class have posted.  Find one that you yourself have not checked out before and take a look at it.  On this post comment on what you think of that particular site.  What makes it a good resource and what advantages does it have?  What disadvantages does it have?  If possible, find an activity on that site that you think would be a good choice to use for a communicative activity in an ESL classroom (any age or proficiency level is fine, but you'd be smart to focus on your target group for your final project).  Post a link to that activity and tell why it is appealing to you.  Print out the activity, make at least 4 copies of it (for a total of 5), and bring it to class with you on Monday, March 7.

Note:  If you cannot find a good activity on the site new to you, you may return to one of your own favorite sites and find an activity there.  You will still need to bring 5 copies of that activity to class with you on Monday for our use in class.

Week 6 Blog Assignment!

Due to problems with the video camera, I have as of yet been unable to upload the teaching videos from Wednesday.  Hopefully I'll be able to upload them tomorrow.

For now, your blog assignment is to explore the web resources that may be most helpful to you as a TESOL professional.  To do this, google around and find some different activities that you might use as part of a lesson, either to go along with your mini-lesson or that would fit in elsewhere in your project.  Or, some pages that may not be as relevant for your project, but that you feel would be really helpful to you if you were actually teaching an ESL/EFL course.

As a comment on this post, list at least 5 different helpful websites that you found, and give a brief explanation of why you found that site to be a good one.  What kinds of resources does it provide?  How might you use them?  Is the activities on this site appropriate for all ages and proficiency levels, or only for some?  In other words, why might you recommend this site, and for what purposes?

Note:  We will discuss this blog assignment and some of the results that you are finding, on Monday, at which point I will add a second step to this assignment.  Overall, the entire blog (both this part and the additional part added on Monday), will be due the following Monday (March 7), by classtime.  You may choose to go ahead and post the first part now, or to wait and do the whole thing once you have the second part of the assignment.