Lesson Planning. What a crucial and yet excruciating topic. For some odd reason, I feel like I have already read and/or blogged about this chapter....but oh well.
First of all, can I say, I love the quote at the beginning at the chapter. It so rings true in lesson planning and makes me think a lot about backwards design in lesson planning, where you come up with your desired results from the lesson first and then plan your lesson from there.
I think that lesson planning can be a teacher's best friend but yet worst enemy. For a (somewhat) organized person like myself, I was very drawn to the idea of having a plan for what you want to achieve in your class period or unit, what have you, but the implementation always made me very nervous due to its organized fashion--I always feel as though if I deviate from the lesson plan or something goes wrong, I'd get all flustered and lose it completely. Maybe that's just me or maybe I wasn't taught lesson planning in a good way. I know that it gets more natural the longer you do it, but yeah, lesson planning isn't my favorite topic because it's so individualized and dependent upon your setting and many other factors.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Assessment: Non-Traditional and Alternative
I like that this section brought up alternative assessment because we talked about alternative assessment briefly in our ESL Testing class last week. Normally I think of alternative assessment as a way to differentiate methods and allow the students' knowledge to be measured in ways other than multiple choice tests that can hinder them and not extract their true knowledge in a way that is meaningful for them. Chapter 33 echoes my idea: "Alternative assessment is different from traditional testing in that it actually asks students to show what they can do" (339). I know that many of my greatest learning experiences in high school and college were when I was given a choice of different ways of completing a project. I am naturally a very good writer and test-taker, but differentiated methods were very much appreciated. I think it is also important for teachers to implement alternative assessment because it keeps the class engaged and eager to learn. How much more fun does acting out a play or having a group discussion seem as a basis for an assessment rather than sitting down for an hour and silently taking a test? However, as the chapter notes, the reliability and validity of these alternative assessments are still necessary.
So, how can we got about deciding which forms of alternative or non-traditional assessment will be appropriate and useful for the classroom? Obviously, we have to consider the classroom setting and participants, but chapter 34 provides three issues that need to be considered in assessment: philosophical issues, public issues, and implementation issues. Although the text presents these three idea in order of importance, I would argue that implementation issues are the most important characteristic to be considered because it refers to how the particular form of assessment can be implemented daily in the classroom, which is a huge part of how successful the classroom is.
So, how can we got about deciding which forms of alternative or non-traditional assessment will be appropriate and useful for the classroom? Obviously, we have to consider the classroom setting and participants, but chapter 34 provides three issues that need to be considered in assessment: philosophical issues, public issues, and implementation issues. Although the text presents these three idea in order of importance, I would argue that implementation issues are the most important characteristic to be considered because it refers to how the particular form of assessment can be implemented daily in the classroom, which is a huge part of how successful the classroom is.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Cultural stereotypes & consciousness
It sadly comes as no surprise to me that even a profession that is so mindful and aware of cultural differences is not free from cultural stereotypes. Kuma's article, "Problematizing Cultural Stereotypes in TESOL" addresses in particular the stereotypes that are associates with students from Asia and debunks them using sound research. An interesting point that Kuma makes is that "nearly 3 billion people belonging to cultures and contrasting and conflicting as the Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and many others" are grouped into the same cultured identity of 'Asian.' there is a stark difference between not only all of these cultures, but Indian and Chinese--to group these two extremely different cultures into one group is absolutely ludicrous.
What first struck me about this article was the mention of the first stereotype that is attributed to students from Asia: their obedience to authority. Surely is is a stereotype that we have all heard and believed, not interpreting it in an offensive way but nonetheless perpetuating something that Kuma showcases as being false. My mind went back to an article that we read in this very class: "Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports: The case of communicative language teaching in China." In this article, Hu explains the problems that teachers/classrooms trying to incorporate CLT may face. Here is an exceprt of what I said in my blog entry about the article:
"Finally, Chinese culture and customs play a big role in their unwillingness to use a communicative approach in the classroom. A communicative method, by definition, is opposed to teacher dominance--and education culture in China is not like that--they teachers are viewed as the supreme educator. "Students are expected to respect and not to challenge their teachers" (Hu 98)."
I find it interesting that in this class we were asked to read this article when we would later read another article that seems to blatantly negate and spurn the claims made. However, I do not think it so horrible: as Kuma mentions at the end of his article, "We as TESOL professionals largely deal with the unknown and unmanageable. In our attempt to deal with the complexity of our task, we fall for simple, sometimes simplistic, solutions" (Kuma 716). I do not find it hugely problematic that we have read conflicting research because it is important for us not only as TESOL professionals but as scholars of any kind to realize that there are conflicting views and research and be critical of each side.
(To be continued...)
What first struck me about this article was the mention of the first stereotype that is attributed to students from Asia: their obedience to authority. Surely is is a stereotype that we have all heard and believed, not interpreting it in an offensive way but nonetheless perpetuating something that Kuma showcases as being false. My mind went back to an article that we read in this very class: "Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports: The case of communicative language teaching in China." In this article, Hu explains the problems that teachers/classrooms trying to incorporate CLT may face. Here is an exceprt of what I said in my blog entry about the article:
"Finally, Chinese culture and customs play a big role in their unwillingness to use a communicative approach in the classroom. A communicative method, by definition, is opposed to teacher dominance--and education culture in China is not like that--they teachers are viewed as the supreme educator. "Students are expected to respect and not to challenge their teachers" (Hu 98)."
I find it interesting that in this class we were asked to read this article when we would later read another article that seems to blatantly negate and spurn the claims made. However, I do not think it so horrible: as Kuma mentions at the end of his article, "We as TESOL professionals largely deal with the unknown and unmanageable. In our attempt to deal with the complexity of our task, we fall for simple, sometimes simplistic, solutions" (Kuma 716). I do not find it hugely problematic that we have read conflicting research because it is important for us not only as TESOL professionals but as scholars of any kind to realize that there are conflicting views and research and be critical of each side.
(To be continued...)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Anthology Chapters 13, 14, & 15: Teaching Grammar
This section of the anthology encompassing the three above chapters dealt with grammar. The teaching of grammar is obviously a very important topic to be considered and constantly though about when in charge of ESL students. I liked that the first chapter brought up a very basic but extremely important discussion on grammar: why should we teach it, and what are good and bad reasons to teach it? I am in a spelling and writing class right now and we constantly discuss the problem with how spelling is taught in schools, leading to many people have such a misunderstanding of English spelling and its rules, why things are the way they are, why there are so many "exceptions" (upon closer analysis you find that these are either not exceptions at all but elements of the language etymologically preserved from the past or carelessly deemed as exceptions by the lack of motivation to investigate further). I think it is so important for every student, especially ESL students in our context, to understand the RIGHT reasons why it is necessary to learn grammar and learn it well.
Chapter 14 dove deeper and addressed a concept that I thought was interesting: in moving from a grammar-based approach to a task-based, we tend to deemphasize the explicit teaching/spoon-feeding of grammar because we feel that skills learned should be done so more naturally or in a multi-modal way, similar to how they would be acquired in a communicative or task-based approach. Richards mentions that grammar-focused activities tend to "elicit a careful (monitored) speech style," and task-based activities "reflect natural language use" (Richards 155). Where is there room left from grammar incorporation in task-based teaching. It definitely requires thinking outside the box a little bit to create tasks that involve grammar that aren't simply gap filling exercises and drills. Richards states that "form will largely look after itself with incidental support from the teacher" and that "grammar has a mediating role" (Richards 156). I took this to mean that as students engage in these tasks that require more natural use of the language, their grammar will naturally improve along the way. Even if they are not focused on speaking with 100% accuracy during the tasks, when they are engaged and focusing on meaning-making, they will be less worried about committing errors. Richards states as they continuously carry out these tasks, "they engage in the process of negotiation of meaning" which may include comprehension checks and clarifications which gradually modifies their language output and allows the features to become more correct.
The third chapter of the section brought up some very thought-provoking ideas to consider when thinking about grammar: "According to Pienemann's teachability hypothesis, a structure cannot be successfully taught unless the learner is developmentally ready to acquire it" (Richards 170). This concept is, I believe, related to the idea of the acquisition of implicit knowledge, which involves three processes: noticing, comparing, and integrating. The third step, integration, takes place at a deeper level in the mind of which the learner is not generally or often aware.
Chapter 14 dove deeper and addressed a concept that I thought was interesting: in moving from a grammar-based approach to a task-based, we tend to deemphasize the explicit teaching/spoon-feeding of grammar because we feel that skills learned should be done so more naturally or in a multi-modal way, similar to how they would be acquired in a communicative or task-based approach. Richards mentions that grammar-focused activities tend to "elicit a careful (monitored) speech style," and task-based activities "reflect natural language use" (Richards 155). Where is there room left from grammar incorporation in task-based teaching. It definitely requires thinking outside the box a little bit to create tasks that involve grammar that aren't simply gap filling exercises and drills. Richards states that "form will largely look after itself with incidental support from the teacher" and that "grammar has a mediating role" (Richards 156). I took this to mean that as students engage in these tasks that require more natural use of the language, their grammar will naturally improve along the way. Even if they are not focused on speaking with 100% accuracy during the tasks, when they are engaged and focusing on meaning-making, they will be less worried about committing errors. Richards states as they continuously carry out these tasks, "they engage in the process of negotiation of meaning" which may include comprehension checks and clarifications which gradually modifies their language output and allows the features to become more correct.
The third chapter of the section brought up some very thought-provoking ideas to consider when thinking about grammar: "According to Pienemann's teachability hypothesis, a structure cannot be successfully taught unless the learner is developmentally ready to acquire it" (Richards 170). This concept is, I believe, related to the idea of the acquisition of implicit knowledge, which involves three processes: noticing, comparing, and integrating. The third step, integration, takes place at a deeper level in the mind of which the learner is not generally or often aware.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Language Learning Strategies
Cary's second article focuses on the learning strategy introduction and integration in a teacher named Fiona's fifth grade classroom. I found this article extremely reader-friendly and encouraging in its discussion of learning strategies that the children employed. Ms. Chen's method of discussing the learning strategies that children are using with them seemed to instigate a lively discussion that worked well. However, at the postscript of the article it mentions that Fiona was "concerned with the lack of student "buy-in"; kids frequently groaned when she announced it was strategy time" (Cary 122). What was found to work best was when she focused on content and not skills or strategies. The content was the first thought, and the other two would follow.
The language learning strategies presented in the opening of chapter 11 (practicing song lyrics in the target language, reading newspapers and magazine in the target language, etc) are ones that I am extremely familiar with, have been suggested to me in the past, and have undertaken in order to strengthen my language skills. The chapter goes on to present a list of strategies that are essential for all good language learners to have. These are more general but technical as well and include being uninhibited about mistakes, taking advantage of all practice opportunities, and focusing on both form and meaning. Being aware of what strategies are being utilized in language learning leads to increased proficiency in the target language, and although research is not clear regarding whether or not less successful learners are aware of the strategies they use, they only use them sparingly and in desperation. The difference between the strategies of the two groups is that the higher-achieving learners use thoughtful and introspective strategies while the less-successful use desperate measures, if you will, such as translation and memorization, or ones that facilitate little fossilization.
Chapter 12 goes deeper into the idea of learning strategies and presents an action research study where the researcher intended "to see whether incorporating a learning strategy and self-monitoring dimension into the classroom would help" his students develop a self-reflective orientation (Anthology 133). His research questions centered around the sensitivity of the language learning process that may or may not have arisen, the possible formulation of realistic learning goals and development of learning skills, and the application of these skills beyond the classroom. Using a number of different categories that focused on topics such as strategies for dealing with pronunciation and grammar, dealing with the macroskills of reading, writing, and listening, and focusing on the content and environment of the learning process, and a number of tasks within these categories, the researcher came up with the conclusion that strategy training did lead to greater sensitivity to the learning process (over time). "Opportunities to reflect on the learning process and to develop new learning skills helped learners to identify and articulate differences between their school experiences and those encountered at university" (Anthology 143).
The language learning strategies presented in the opening of chapter 11 (practicing song lyrics in the target language, reading newspapers and magazine in the target language, etc) are ones that I am extremely familiar with, have been suggested to me in the past, and have undertaken in order to strengthen my language skills. The chapter goes on to present a list of strategies that are essential for all good language learners to have. These are more general but technical as well and include being uninhibited about mistakes, taking advantage of all practice opportunities, and focusing on both form and meaning. Being aware of what strategies are being utilized in language learning leads to increased proficiency in the target language, and although research is not clear regarding whether or not less successful learners are aware of the strategies they use, they only use them sparingly and in desperation. The difference between the strategies of the two groups is that the higher-achieving learners use thoughtful and introspective strategies while the less-successful use desperate measures, if you will, such as translation and memorization, or ones that facilitate little fossilization.
Chapter 12 goes deeper into the idea of learning strategies and presents an action research study where the researcher intended "to see whether incorporating a learning strategy and self-monitoring dimension into the classroom would help" his students develop a self-reflective orientation (Anthology 133). His research questions centered around the sensitivity of the language learning process that may or may not have arisen, the possible formulation of realistic learning goals and development of learning skills, and the application of these skills beyond the classroom. Using a number of different categories that focused on topics such as strategies for dealing with pronunciation and grammar, dealing with the macroskills of reading, writing, and listening, and focusing on the content and environment of the learning process, and a number of tasks within these categories, the researcher came up with the conclusion that strategy training did lead to greater sensitivity to the learning process (over time). "Opportunities to reflect on the learning process and to develop new learning skills helped learners to identify and articulate differences between their school experiences and those encountered at university" (Anthology 143).
Monday, October 10, 2011
Teaching of Speaking and Listening
The article for this week brought up an excellent point that I myself sometimes ponder and I KNOW that many people ponder when thinking about ESL classes: "How do I support a student's first language when I don't speak the language?" My own mother always asked me how I was going to teach ESL in the future. "Don't you have to speak all of the different languages that they speak?" Well, luckily I will be able to use my Spanish occasionally in an ESL classroom as there are likely to be Spanish-speakers, but there will no doubt be many more languages that the students speak.
I loved the backdrop that the author presented of Dolores, the teacher in an ESL classroom of speakers of many different languages, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, Spanish, Khmer, and Lao. She describes a classroom "project," if you will, where each student is responsible for being the language teacher for a week and teaches the rest of the class three phrases. The students are encouraged to use the words they have learned throughout the year when interacting with others. "Please" and "Thank you" are the main phrases the children learn. I think this is a great way to communicate the value of other languages and a student's home language in the classroom. Because it is not obviously possible to vary your instruction and use each of the student's home languages, this is a happy medium where the students can be exposed to different languages and, in my opinion, feel that they are in a multicultural-appreciative environment when in the classroom. In my practicum experience, I am lucky enough to be able to see the teacher using student's home languages in instruction, but this is because (at the basic level) there are only three students in the class and they all speak Spanish. The teachers use Spanish occasionally to clarify directions or to chat about non-school-related things.
Chapters 18 and 20 of the anthology discussed how to build discussion skills and factors to consider when developing adult EFL students' speaking abilities. First of all, I liked that this chapter specifically focused on adult EFL students--much of the research I was looking at before, although excellent, did not specify a context or age group that the theory is supposed to take place in, and therefore confused me about the plausibility of the methods. (For example, is it really possible to apply a humanistic approach to language teaching when your group of students are six years old?) One point that chapter 18 brought up was that sociocultural factors can play a huge role in oral communication. The video we watched in class touched on this a bit, although it had more to do with writing: an Asian student, when writing a paper, did not incorporate outside sources into her paper because she was taught in her home country that deviating from what they had learned was not good. Cultural practices can affect speech to a very high degree as well--from the degree of imposing on another person that is felt to be allowed to the frequency and meaning of nonverbal gestures. In addition, the specificity of things may come off differently to different cultures: the chapter gives the example of a Chinese student, when being told by another student that they should get lunch sometime, trying to come up with an exact date that they could and receiving a puzzled look. This reminds me of the very American way of saying "Hi, how are you?" or something similar when talking to a person as a very informal communication--one doesn't actually intend to know how the person is doing, and an extended reply would surprise the questioner.
I loved the backdrop that the author presented of Dolores, the teacher in an ESL classroom of speakers of many different languages, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, Spanish, Khmer, and Lao. She describes a classroom "project," if you will, where each student is responsible for being the language teacher for a week and teaches the rest of the class three phrases. The students are encouraged to use the words they have learned throughout the year when interacting with others. "Please" and "Thank you" are the main phrases the children learn. I think this is a great way to communicate the value of other languages and a student's home language in the classroom. Because it is not obviously possible to vary your instruction and use each of the student's home languages, this is a happy medium where the students can be exposed to different languages and, in my opinion, feel that they are in a multicultural-appreciative environment when in the classroom. In my practicum experience, I am lucky enough to be able to see the teacher using student's home languages in instruction, but this is because (at the basic level) there are only three students in the class and they all speak Spanish. The teachers use Spanish occasionally to clarify directions or to chat about non-school-related things.
Chapters 18 and 20 of the anthology discussed how to build discussion skills and factors to consider when developing adult EFL students' speaking abilities. First of all, I liked that this chapter specifically focused on adult EFL students--much of the research I was looking at before, although excellent, did not specify a context or age group that the theory is supposed to take place in, and therefore confused me about the plausibility of the methods. (For example, is it really possible to apply a humanistic approach to language teaching when your group of students are six years old?) One point that chapter 18 brought up was that sociocultural factors can play a huge role in oral communication. The video we watched in class touched on this a bit, although it had more to do with writing: an Asian student, when writing a paper, did not incorporate outside sources into her paper because she was taught in her home country that deviating from what they had learned was not good. Cultural practices can affect speech to a very high degree as well--from the degree of imposing on another person that is felt to be allowed to the frequency and meaning of nonverbal gestures. In addition, the specificity of things may come off differently to different cultures: the chapter gives the example of a Chinese student, when being told by another student that they should get lunch sometime, trying to come up with an exact date that they could and receiving a puzzled look. This reminds me of the very American way of saying "Hi, how are you?" or something similar when talking to a person as a very informal communication--one doesn't actually intend to know how the person is doing, and an extended reply would surprise the questioner.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Teaching Reading and Writing: Heuristics
Chapter 8 of Kuma's Beyond Methods is titled Activating Intuitive Heuristics, and understandably focused on good teaching tasks for teachers to incorporate in order to strengthen students' skills of induction and deduction, among other things. Heuristics "refers to the process of self-discovery on the part of the learner." It can also refer to "a method of teaching allowing the students to learn by discovering things by themselves and learning from their own experiences rather than by telling them things" (Kuma 176). I am very familiar with and consider myself to promote this philosophy of teaching even though I did not previously know the technical term for it. I think that the application of the idea to the teaching of reading and writing is an interesting and practical use of heuristics.
Section 12, chapters 26, 27, and 28 also focused on teaching reading. Something that stuck out to me right away upon reading was the mention of "importance of developing sound-letter correspondences for beginning reading" (Richards 276). Although I am aware that as ESL teachers we will be teaching students very basic English dependent upon their level and will be working with students who do not speak a high level of English, it is important for us to teach spelling and phonics the correct way. Too often, we are taught how to spell based on how a words sounds. How many of you have ever heard the old adage 'Sound it out!" when asking someone how to spell a word? Obviously, we should not eliminate this method altogether, but there are many instances when it does not hold true and it can be extremely confusing to native English speakers, not to mention English language learners. I encountered something similar in my practicum experience; the teacher was reviewing a phonics lesson and a few of the examples given did not precisely correspond to the correct sound, so she simply told the students not to worry about them. It's such a hard thing to effectively teaching spelling to students. Hopefully the orthography class I am taking can leave me with a clear pedagogical focus when trying to teach spelling.
Anyway, back to the chapters. As i was reading through chapter 27, I really thought about the ideas and methods they were presenting on how to teach reading effectively, and I really found it hard to think critically about these ideas since it was such a long time ago that I learned to read and once we know how to do something second-nature, we tend to have trouble explaining it. However, many of the strategies discussed I have seen displayed in my practicum classroom. In the intermediate ESL class, the teacher reads aloud from the novel while the students follow along at their desks. She often stops to explain words or ask the students what they think the word means, ask questions, and make inferences. These behaviors show exemplary teacher modeling. I also found the discussion of extensive reading to be very relatable. My grade schools often took part in extensive reading, participating in stop, drop and read programs as well as another program where we recorded the number of minutes we read independently and then were given prizes for the total number.
Section 12, chapters 26, 27, and 28 also focused on teaching reading. Something that stuck out to me right away upon reading was the mention of "importance of developing sound-letter correspondences for beginning reading" (Richards 276). Although I am aware that as ESL teachers we will be teaching students very basic English dependent upon their level and will be working with students who do not speak a high level of English, it is important for us to teach spelling and phonics the correct way. Too often, we are taught how to spell based on how a words sounds. How many of you have ever heard the old adage 'Sound it out!" when asking someone how to spell a word? Obviously, we should not eliminate this method altogether, but there are many instances when it does not hold true and it can be extremely confusing to native English speakers, not to mention English language learners. I encountered something similar in my practicum experience; the teacher was reviewing a phonics lesson and a few of the examples given did not precisely correspond to the correct sound, so she simply told the students not to worry about them. It's such a hard thing to effectively teaching spelling to students. Hopefully the orthography class I am taking can leave me with a clear pedagogical focus when trying to teach spelling.
Anyway, back to the chapters. As i was reading through chapter 27, I really thought about the ideas and methods they were presenting on how to teach reading effectively, and I really found it hard to think critically about these ideas since it was such a long time ago that I learned to read and once we know how to do something second-nature, we tend to have trouble explaining it. However, many of the strategies discussed I have seen displayed in my practicum classroom. In the intermediate ESL class, the teacher reads aloud from the novel while the students follow along at their desks. She often stops to explain words or ask the students what they think the word means, ask questions, and make inferences. These behaviors show exemplary teacher modeling. I also found the discussion of extensive reading to be very relatable. My grade schools often took part in extensive reading, participating in stop, drop and read programs as well as another program where we recorded the number of minutes we read independently and then were given prizes for the total number.
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