Report on the December 2005 Seminar for teacher trainers.
By Slaheddine Khlifi. ELT Inspector. December, 2005.
Topic: Teaching and Testing Reading with a focus on Young Learners
Date: 5, 6 and 7 December, 2005.
Venue: Centre National de Formation des Formateurs en Education (CE.NA.F.F.E) at Carthage.Tunisia.
Participants: ELT Inspectors and teacher trainers:
Mr. Med Salah Abidi - Mr. Lamjed Laabidi - Mr. Mohamed Amri - Mr. Kamel Najeh - Mr. Slaheddine Kaabachi - Mr. Ibrahim Aloui - Mr. Toumi Lafi - Mr. Abdesslem Bouafia - Mr. M'hamed Merdessi - Mr. Mahmoud Melki - Mr. Ahmed Bahloul - Mrs. Najoua Ben Ali - Mr. Messaoud Jbahi - Mr. Slaheddine Khlifi - Mrs. Aicha Mizzi - Mrs. Latifa Bousalem - Mrs. Ilhem Mansour - Mr. Ali Souli - Mr. Abdennour Khemiri - Mr. Ezzeddine Ammar - Mr. Slaheddine Ayadi - Mr. Rachid Najar - Mr. Mahmoud Melki - Mr. Touhami Fayech - Mr. Mohammed Souissi - Mr. Abdallah Ghiloufi - Mrs. Latifa Mouelhi - Mr. H'sine Chelbi - Mr. Naceur Fadhlaoui.
Facilitator: British Expert, Sue Leather.
Sue Leather is a consultant and trainer with extensive experience of learning programme development and capacity building projects in transitional and challenging contexts.
She has a particular interest in the south-east Europe region, but her experience covers Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, North Africa, North and South America. With a Masters in Education and as a certified practitioner of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Sue's passion is for enabling individuals and teams to realize their full potential. She has over 25 years international experience in language education, having developed and run exciting and innovative learning programmes for a wide range of clients internationally. Sue is also an expert presenter and facilitator of meetings, seminars and workshops. She has extensive ELT writing experience and a great interest in teaching and training materials development. Sue is an associate of the Institute of Education, University of London. She is a fluent Spanish speaker.
As you probably know, last year was a diagnostic year for writing; this year we remedy problems we noticed in the area of writing and we zero in on young learners and reading. Questionnaires were submitted to teachers and learners and an action research on young learners is under way. The objectives of this seminar are to:
- Analyse present practices in Young Learner(YL) classes.
- Reflect
upon and update the teaching and testing of young learners.
- Analyse and
update the teaching and testing of reading at secondary level.
- Discuss
issues related to regional difficulties and problems encountered by
practitioners in the areas of YL and reading skills.
- Produce a national
report on YL and reading to be submitted to an outside expert.
-Get
feedback and input from an outside specialist on the latest developments in
testing YL and reading skills.
- Produce two training modules: one on YL,
another on reading.
Much of the content from the handouts and transparencies used in this seminar was kept intact so that trainers can find it handy and adapt it easily.
My first reading lesson.
Teaching Reading
1-THE READING LESSON: PAST AND PRESENT.
After warm welcomes by Ms Jawida Ben Afia and Mr Mostapha Naifer,head of the CE.NA.F.F.E, Ms Leather started the session:"This is the second opportunity for me to come to Tunisia... and when I come, I like to learn about the culture...This morning, You're going to help me learn about Tunisia." She wrote 3 numbers on the board: 15, 50 and 100 and kindly asked participants to think to themselves as to what Tunisia was like fifteen years ago, fifty years ago and a hundred years ago. Tunisia was a French colony and it became independent about fifty years ago. It was less populated and although schools mushroomed, English was not taught then. Fifteen years ago a new era started and we also qualified for the Football World Cup. "So Tunisia is a football-playing nation," retorted the facilitator. When it comes to reading, a century ago, the teacher would assign a literary text and translate it verbatim for students, a typical scenario of the Grammar Translation Method. About fifty years ago, the teacher used to use display questions such as: "Is this a pen?" Texts were pretexts for teaching language points in an era when the Audio-lingual Method was prevalent. Fifteen years ago, Communicative Language Teaching (C.L.T) also used texts but they were authentic and interesting. Students were (and are still) urged not to try to understand every single word.
So back to the present: what happens in a reading lesson today? Dr Leather shows the picture of a classroom where one of the students is sleeping asking the participants to speculate on that:
-"What happens when students sleep?"
-"They snore," jested a witty participant.
Then individuals in each group shared information about their sleeping habits using the following handout:
Bedtime
A survey into people's sleep habits was carried out, based on the questions below. Answer the questions and then compare your answers with a partner.
1 On average, do you think you get enough sleep?
a.Yes
b. No
c. Don't know2 Do you need to be mentally alert in your work?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don't know3 How many hours do you usually sleep on weeknights
a. Less than 5 hours
b. 5 to 6 hours
c. 6 to 7 hours
d. 7 to 8 hours
e. More than 8 hours4 On average, how much sleep do you get on weekends nights?
a. Less than 5 hours
b. 5 to 6 hours
c. 6 to 7 hours
d. 7 to 8 hours
e. More than 8 hours5 When you're sleeping, what do you think your brain is doing
a. Resting
b. Working
c. Don't know
Paradoxically enough, the brain doesn't rest; it works as we shall see in the following text that the participants were instructed to read after reading the questions.
Focus on comprehension
Read the survey report on sleep and say whether these statements are true (T) or false. (F) The first one has been done for you.
1. This survey is a new one. (T)
2. It's best to sleep 7-8 hours a night.
3. If you sleep more than 9 hours a night, you could die younger.
4. 60% of adults say that they don't sleep enough.
5. The survey talked to 1,000 adults and children.
6. The survey suggests that most people sleep more at the weekend.
7. Almost 50% of people think that the brain rests while they sleep.
8. Dr. Mahowald agrees that the brain rests while sleeping."So we've talked and read about sleep, but we didn't sleep," said the guest speaker asking the alert audience to focus squarely on language.
.Focus on language
Find expressions which match the figures below: For example 33% - one in three
a. 5-15%
b. 33%
c. 60-80%
d. 51-60%
e. 80-99%
f. 40-49%
Text:
SLEEP SURVEY REPORT
According to recent medical research, sleeping more than nine hours or less than six hours a night can shorten your life expectancy. Those who are likely to live longest are people who regularly get between seven and eight hours a night. A new survey of 1,000 adults conducted by the Better Sleep Council (BSC) found that few people understand the important role sleep plays in normal daily brain functions and many people actually reduce their brain power by getting too little sleep.One in three adults admit that they do not get enough sleep, and lack of sleep is leaving millions of people without the energy to work as hard as they should. Although a large number of people say that they need to be mentally alert in their work, over half of the people interviewed say that they sleep just under seven hours a night during the week. On the other hand, most of the people interviewed say that they sleep more than seven hours a night at the weekend. This suggests that a significant number of people try to catch up on their sleep at the weekend instead of getting enough sleep during the week when they most need it.
According to this survey, nearly half of the population believe that the brain rests when the body sleeps. In fact, the opposite is true. Sleep allows the brain to go to work, filing and storing the day's events. 'Most people incorrectly think the brain is resting or recuperating during sleep. Actually, some parts of the brain are more active when you're asleep,' confirms Dr Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Disorders Center. 'Your brain is like a cluttered desktop at the end of the day. At night, when you're asleep and no more information can be put on the desk, or in your brain, your brain can then file away the information.'
You might think that this text is authentic; "it does fool me" said Ms Leather because it contains such words as "cluttered" and up-to-date vocabulary, but in fact, it is taken from a coursebook!
1 Work with a partner. Write five questions to ask people about their sleep habits using the words and expressions in the box.
Dream-have nightmares-talk: in your sleep-snore-sleepwalk-sleep on your back, on your side or on your front-have a nap-alarm clock- feel sleepy-suffer from insomnia-yawn-fall asleep while travelling- fall asleep in front of the television-early bird-night owl-go without sleep- in a double bed-have a lie-in at the weekend
2 Now ask other students in the class all five questions and write down their answers.
3 Write sentences reporting the results of your survey. Use expressions from the language toolbox to help you.
In the Tunisian context these activities may be too demanding for certain levels involving vocabulary instruction but manageable for others. Our motto has always been: "Adapt, do not adopt."
So much for sharing experience through discussion and reading activities; the focus now is on current issues in developing reading skills methodology.
2-CURRENT ISSUES IN DEVELOPING READING SKILLS METHODOLOGY
Handout 5.
CURRENT ISSUES IN DEVELOPING READING SKILLS METHODOLOGY
1-Task-text feedback circle
2-Engagement(ESA)
3-Authenticity of text
4-Authenticity of task
A)-THE TASK-TEXT FEEDBACK STRUCTURE
OHT1(Overhead Transparency1)
Checking Comprehension and Interacting with Text
1-Questioning (e.g. true or false, multiple choice...)
2-Recognising
3-Matching
4-Ordering
5-Following instructions
6-Comparing
7-Note-taking
8-Completing
9-Decision-making
10-Problem solving, e.g. jigsaw, discussion...
Adapted from Council of Europe "Communication in the Modern Language Classroom"
Although the "circle scheme" is general, it is a very useful framework to be adapted by the creative teacher. As we did the activities on the text about sleeping we went through the circle as we were led smoothly into the reading by talking about sleep. After all one doesn't read a text unless they are interested in it, which was not the case fifty years ago and a hundred years ago. The activities we did about sleep involved no preteaching of lexical items or grammar at this stage as students might get bogged down by this. Vocabulary is a real issue: to preteach or not preteach, that's the question. Sue says her "French is very rusty" ; she was in bed at the hotel and she wanted a soft pillow, so she tried "cochon ", and what made matters worse was that this was on the phone and there was no way she could go down to the reception desk!
Note: pillow is "oreiller" in French.
Vocabulary
*Depends on how much vocabulary to teach.
*Does the student need to understand every single word?
*Depends on the focus of the lesson
-skimming?
-scanning?
-intensive reading?
*Worksheet to preteach (use of worksheet).
There's enough evidence from the latest research on vocabulary and extensive reading to suggest that a lot of vocabulary is internalised as a result of extensive reading.
The Role of Extensive Reading.
"When second language learners read for pleasure, they can continue to improve their second language without classes, without teachers, without study and even without people to converse with."
Krashen 1993, p.84.
Do our classrooms have libraries or library hours?
Engage, Study, Activate.
These verbs actually refer to three stages of a lesson whose sequence is not necessarily linear. Depending on the nature and the objectives of the lesson at hand, the sequence can be quite recursive. This model may be used to replace the PPP circle (Presentation, Practice and Production). For Harmer and Rossner (1991), engagement is of utmost import if students are to get any benefit from a lesson. Students' engrossment in the lesson is in fact a prerequisite for effective learning. This can be done through the exploitation of a visual, for example. "Activate" is a key stage in which students draw on their knowledge to comprehend texts be they aural or written (reception). The converse is also true, students activate their knowledge in order to produce meaning (production). According to Jeremy Harmer (MET, VOL.5, NO2, 1996), "Reading to understand and/or react to content is an activate activity; so is writing a poem, or pursuing a passionate argument. Reading to understand minutiae, or to see how anaphoric reference works is not. Neither are invitation dialogues to practise would like and/or the present continuous." Study is a further stage that needs attention. For the most part, lessons involve some study elements. One such element may be lexis or grammar focused, another may be pronunciation or style focused.
C)-AUTHENTICITY OF TEXT is a further issue. Students should have access to authentic texts and semi authentic ones.
D)-AUTHENTICITY OF
TASK refers to what we do with the type of text at
hand in real life; for example, we don't read a menu to answer comprehension
questions! Sue's father who is a football fan scanned the back pages of
Italian newspapers to look for scores: that was an authentic task for
him.
3-WHAT IS INVOLVED IN READING?
The Reading Process (after Gagne 1991)
1. Decoding (bottom-up
process)
2. Literal comprehension (bottom- up)
3. Inferential
comprehension (top-down process)
4. Comprehension monitoring
(top-down)
Decoding, composed of automated basic skills, is the procedure whereby
readers "crack the code" of print and make it meaningful. At the level of
literal comprehension the reader uses knowledge attained through the decoding
processes to begin full comprehension of a text beyond the word level.
Literal
comprehension is composed of two
processes.
The first is lexical access, which begins once the decoding
process has activated the word precept in long term declarative memory. Since
words possess both denotative and connotative (or contextual) meanings, it is
through the process of lexical access that the reader selects the correct
interpretation for the word in the context being read. Selection of the
correct interpretation is dependent on the reader's store of declarative
vocabulary knowledge. The second element involved in literal comprehension is
parsing, the process whereby the reader combines word meanings through the
syntactic and the linguistic rules of language to achieve meaningful ideas.
Both lexical access and parsing, which are dependent on decoding skills,
combine to provide literal comprehension (Gagne et al., pp.
269-275).
The third process involved in
reading comprehension is inferential
comprehension, a mix of automated skills, conceptual
understanding, and strategies. Inferential comprehension is composed of three
sub-processes: integration, which produces a coherent representation of a
text; summarization, which functions to provide for the reader an overall
representation of the writer's meaning which can be stored in declarative
memory; elaboration, the process whereby the reader brings prior knowledge to
bear upon the writer's meaning (Gagne et al., pp.
275-279).
The fourth and final
component of the reading process is comprehension monitoring, a mix of
automated skills and strategies. The function of comprehension monitoring in
skilled reading is to ensure that reading goals are being accomplished
effectively and efficiently. It is composed of four sub-processes:
goal-setting, strategy selection, goal-checking, and remediation (or
correction) (Gagne et al., pp. 279-280). As Grabe (1991) argued, "a
description of reading has to account for the notions that fluent reading is
rapid, purposeful, interactive, comprehending, flexible, and gradually
developing" (p. 378).
4-TEXT PURPOSES (T.A.L.O, T.A.V.I and T.A.S.P)
Dr Leather split the audience up into groups named after animals living in Canada, namely the polar bear, the beaver and the raccoon each of which was to use the following handouts in jigsaw fashion in order to teach and learn about T.A.L.O, T.A.V.I and T.A.S.P.
Handout 6 for THE POLAR BEARS
Reading Jigsaw Text 1
Read, discuss and add an activity
T.A.L.O: acronym for Text as a Linguistic Object
A TALO text is used for language work, specifically grammar or vocabulary. TALO texts;
are written especially with a pedagogical purpose in mind
could be authentic texts the teacher has chosen because they contain lots of examples of a particular feature of language
could be authentic texts "adapted" to contain or highlight certain features of language.
Some sample TALO activities are:
Find all the examples of X in a text (for example, a grammar pattern, function words, a particular verb form...)
Find all the words in the text that are connected to X (words that are topically linked, or lexical sets)
Decide why certain forms were chosen over others (why was a conditional used, for example).
Handout 7 for THE RACCOONSReading Jigsaw Text 2
Read, discuss and add an activity.
T.A.V.I: Acronym that stands for: Text as a Vehicle for Information
A TAVI text has a different focus. Information within the text is seen as more important than the language. Students should understand the overall meaning of a text instead of (or at least before) the finer points of detail.
TAVI texts: can be chosen because they are motivating;
can be ones that the teacher would hope the students would like to read anyway;
can be authentic texts.TAVI type activities include:
predicting the content of the text, discussing questions or statements that relate to the text;
marking things in the text that you knew/didn't know before;
answering comprehension questions;
summarising the main points of a text;
putting events in order.
Handout 8 for THE BEAVERS
Reading Jigsaw Text 3
Read, discuss and add an activity.
TASP: acronym for: Text as a Springboard for Production.
Another text acronym is TASP. TASP stands for Text as a Stimulus for Production. This means using a text as a springboard for another task - usually a speaking or writing task. TASP approaches also fit well with the communicative approach.TASP type activities could be:
doing a role play based on the text;
discussing issues raised by the text;
having a debate about the points of view presented in the text;
writing a similar text about something the students experienced.
How can teachers 'get the most' out of a text in the 21st century? One way is to combine the different approaches. So, a text lesson from start to finish would look like this.
Choose a text that you think will be interesting and motivating for your students (but not too hard). Do this with the information content in mind, not just the language in mind (i.e. TAVI). Design activities that will help students process this information and understand the text.
Look for particular grammar or vocabulary that is worthy of mention in the text and design activities that can bring that out. (optional- some texts don't lend themselves to this). Think of what kind of task the students could do once they've finished with the text.
In class, start with TAVI-type activities, so that the students understand the information in the text.
Follow the task-text feedback circle (Scrivener's Model).
Then look at the language in the text in closer detail, through TALO type activities. (optional again).
Finally, close the lesson off with a TASP activity.Adapted from Clandfield, L. 2005 Text in language classrooms: TALO, TAVI and TASP, http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ (British Council website)
1-STANDARDISED OBJECTIVE TESTING VERSUS AUTHENTIC PERFORMANCE-BASED TESTING
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OHT4
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Day two: December 6, 2005. Focus on young learners. |
As a starter Dr Sue Leather asked the participants to stand up and think of an adjective to describe how they felt. Then she called out adjectives and individuals took it in turn to sit down as they heard theirs. These are some of the adjectives called out: "hopeful", "worried", "knowledgeable", "ignorant", "tired", "happy", "rested", "anxious", "extravagant", "relaxed", "angry", "alert", "ready", "expectant", "curious".
1-BASIC PRINCIPLES IN YOUNG LEARNER METHODOLOGY.
A)-HOW CHILDREN LEARN
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REPRESENTATION OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
"The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:
*Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
*Logical-mathematical
intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
*Spatial intelligence ("picture
smart")
*Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
*Musical
intelligence ("music smart")
*Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
*Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
*Naturalist intelligence
("nature smart")
Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of
their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem
the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner
says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts
in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists,
designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world
in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don't
receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact,
end up being labelled "learning disabled," "ADD" (attention deficit
disorder), or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and
learning aren't addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical
classroom.
The theory of multiple
intelligences proposes a major transformation in the way our schools are run.
It suggests that teachers be trained to present their lessons in a wide
variety of ways using music, cooperative learning, art activities, role play,
multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and much more. The good news is
that the theory of multiple intelligences has grabbed the attention of many
educators around the country, and hundreds of schools are currently using its
philosophy to redesign the way it educates children. The bad news is that
there are thousands of schools still out there that teach in the same old dull
way, through dry lectures, and boring worksheets and textbooks. The challenge
is to get this information out to many more teachers, school administrators,
and others who work with children, so that each child has the opportunity to
learn in ways harmonious with their unique minds. The theory of multiple
intelligences also has strong implications for adult learning and development.
Many adults find themselves in jobs that do not make optimal use of their most
highly developed intelligences (for example, the highly bodily-kinaesthetic
individual who is stuck in a linguistic or logical desk-job when he or she
would be much happier in a job where they could move around, such as a
recreational leader, a forest ranger, or physical therapist). The theory of
multiple intelligences gives adults a whole new way to look at their lives,
examining potentials that they left behind in their childhood (such as a love
for art or drama) but now have the opportunity to develop through courses,
hobbies, or other programs of self-development.
How to Teach or Learn Anything: 8 Different Ways
One of the most remarkable features
of the theory of multiple intelligences is how it provides eight different
potential pathways to learning. If a teacher is having difficulty reaching a
student in the more traditional linguistic or logical ways of instruction, the
theory of multiple intelligences suggests several other ways in which the
material might be presented to facilitate effective learning. Whether you are
a kindergarten teacher, a graduate school instructor, or an adult learner
seeking better ways of pursuing self-study on any subject of interest, the
same basic guidelines apply. Whatever you are teaching or learning, see how
you might connect it with
words (linguistic intelligence)
numbers or logic
(logical-mathematical intelligence)
pictures (spacial intelligence)
music (musical intelligence)
self-reflection (intrapersonal
intelligence)
physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
a social experience (interpersonal intelligence)
experience in the natural
world. (naturalist intelligence)
For example, if you're teaching or learning about the law of supply and demand in economics, you might read about it (linguistic), study mathematical formulas that express it (logical-mathematical), examine a graphic chart that illustrates the principle (spatial), observe the law in the natural world (naturalist) or in the human world of commerce (interpersonal); examine the law in terms of your own body [e.g. when you supply your body with lots of food, the hunger demand goes down; when there's very little supply, your stomach's demand for food goes way up and you get hungry] (bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal); and/or write a song (or find an existing song) that demonstrates the law (perhaps Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing?").
You don't have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. The theory of multiple intelligences is so intriguing because it expands our horizon of available teaching and learning tools beyond the conventional linguistic and logical methods used in most schools (e.g. lecture, textbooks, writing assignments, formulas, etc.). To get started, put the topic of whatever you're interested in teaching or learning about in the center of a blank sheet of paper, and draw eight straight lines or "spokes" radiating out from this topic. Label each line with a different intelligence. Then start brainstorming ideas for teaching or learning that topic and write down ideas next to each intelligence (this is a spatial-linguistic approach of brainstorming; you might want to do this in other ways as well, using a tape-recorder, having a group brainstorming session, etc.)."
(adapted from a text by Thomas Armstrong)
How children learn foreign languages
*Cummins (1979): B.I.C.S and C.A.L.P.
*Teach BICS first.
*Similarity to learning in other subjects.
Move your mouse over the highlighted word to read a definition.
B)-PRINCIPLES
Some principles in the teaching of Young Learners
1) Start where the child is
Children bring so much with them to the classroom that can be ignored or underestimated. They have experience of life, knowledge of their world, are good at making sense of what is around them and have already learnt at least one language. In addition, they are usually enthusiastic and well-motivated. The stage of cognitive development will depend upon the age as well as the stimuli they have received to support and trigger that development. One area of difficulty which often arises for teachers occurs when the potential and abilities of the children are ignored and they are thought of as `empty vessels'. The other is when the tasks or activities set are not designed to be seen from a child's perspective, to make sense to the child, but from an adult's perspective. This renders the task inaccessible to the child but does not show that the child is unable to do the task. The challenge for teachers is to stay in touch with their learners and set tasks at an appropriate level.
People excel in different ways. It has been shown that, rather than there being one type of `intelligence' in fact there are many. Gardner (1983), identifies eight different, possibly overlapping intelligences: linguistic, logico-mathematical, visual/spacial, musical, bodily-kinaesthatic, inter-personal, intra-parsonal and naturalist. It is, therefore, important that work in the classroom is devised and constructed so that every child, whatever their intelligence strengths, can fully participate and make progress. In addition to the intelligence aspect(s), materials need to be an appropriate balance of the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic, channel(s) through which learners process input.
Depending on the level of meta-cognitive awareness, young learners may not be aware of language as a system: neither, for that matter, are all adults. Therefore, topics are used in the English language classroom to `carry' and contexualise the target language. These topics should be meaningful, involving and interesting for learners, within their experience of life and conceptually accessible. For further discussion of the role of content, see Mohan (1986).
2) Use activities which help learners to develop independence
It is natural for young learners to be dependent on their teachers. However, if learners are to become active participants in the learning process creating their own understanding and meanings, it is important that activities are designed and sequenced to support and foster growing independence. In young learner classrooms for example, this would include the staged introduction of pair and group work and the use of dictionaries and reference materials.
3) Present language in appropriate contexts
There is much discussion as to how a foreign language is learned. The tendency has been to break language down into discrete items - traditionally structures or functions- and to teach these to learners bit by bit. Learners are then expected to put the puzzle together again. However, children do not appear to do this when learning their mother tongue. They are exposed to a wide range of language and from this assimilate and use chunks of language, working out the structure at a deeper, sub-conscious level. Lewis (1993) suggests that foreign language teaching might also be looked at from the perspective of "multiword chunks", developing learners' ability to "chunk successfully".
All too often, in young learner as well as adult classrooms, learners are restricted to a diet of `predigested' language operating only at sentence level. Rather than simplifying the process for learners, I believe this complicates it by specifying a structured learning path for all to follow regardless of learning styles, preferences, abilities and where learners are in their general and linguistic development. In young learner classrooms, stories, songs and plays are examples of how learners can be exposed to comprehensible, meaningful language at discourse level.
4) Use activities which are meaningful and purposeful for learners
Children learning their first language do not choose the contexts: these are part of their daily lives. They bring what knowledge they have to the situation and build from the known to the new, adjusting schemata constantly through `accommodation' and `assimilation'. In the English classroom too, children need to be working within clear, familiar contexts and for the interaction to be meaningful and purposeful to them, they need to know why they are doing something and for the answer to the why to make sense to them. Again it is a question of the teacher's ability to access and assess the children's level of interest and understanding and to select topics and tasks accordingly.
5) Encourage social interaction
Learning is an interactive process. Piaget, with reference to general development, holds that the quality and quantity of social interaction a child receives can markedly affect the rate of development. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) emphasises the quality of interaction "...under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (1978:86). Scaffolding, Bruner's interpretation of ZPD, is a metaphor to describe the intervention by one `learned' person in the learning of another. Halliday also supports the interactionist view: "As well as being a cognitive process, this learning of the mother tongue (and subsequent languages) is also an interactive process. It takes the form of the continued exchange of meanings between self and others," (1975:139).
2-IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING.
Implications for how to teach
*Introduce language in the same way as in other subjects (practical, hands on before abstract).
*Follow the cognitive development of the child.
*Challenging, just beyond their present level.
*Children are not actively encouraged to understand all the workings of language at first.
*The teacher knows the linguistic purpose.
*An encouraging environment.
An encouraging environment.
How do we think we can create the right environment for our young language learners?
The following provides a checklist for teachers when trying to establish the right environment for the foreign language classroom for young learners which links back to our understanding of how young learners learn:
1. Try to create everyday, real situations for language use within the classroom in which one of the only new aspects of the interaction is the foreign language. This way the child will be familiar with everything else that is going on around it and can concentrate mainly on the new tool of communication (Tough 1976).
2. Have a continued exchange of meaning in our activities in the classroom through real interaction and communicative activities (Wells 1986).
3. Create activities through topics that are related to everyday situations and routines and which are relevant to our learners (Donaldson 1978; Tough 1976).
4. Support and extend children's learning as `caretakers' (Bruner & Haste 1987; Vygotsky 1978).5. Encourage the learner to be a thinker and problem-solver and to respond to and develop through challenge (Fisher 1990).
6. Create a stress-free, interesting and supportive environment for our learners (Donaldson 1978 ; Tough 1976).
7. Recycle input in a variety of different contexts that will create a highly meaningful, purposeful and motivating learning environment.
From Hughes, A. (2004)
Meaningful and purposeful activities
*Reflect the interests of young learners.
*Develop further knowledge in other areas of curriculum.
*Real language.
*Purposeful activity.
*Topic-centred and activity-based syllabus.
Activities for 12-15-year olds
*Surveys
*Discussion(based on relevant topics)
*Stories
*Songs
*Projects
*Chants
1. A project (all four skills) covering a number of lessons.
What is a project?
BackgroundAfter studying English language newspapers or looking at television news stories on channels like CNN, students are encouraged by their teacher to create their own newspaper.
Making choicesThey organise themselves into groups and decide which part of the paper they are going to produce. One group may be involved in creating the crossword, another with writing some news or sports items, yet another with writing the horoscopes. The topics can be light-hearted or serious, real or imaginary - it's up to the students to decide.
TimingA certain amount of time is put aside for the project with a deadline, when the newspaper will be ready for `publication'. This really depends on how much time is available. You don't want a project going on too long as students may lose interest and momentum.
Teacher's roleThey can ask their teacher for any help they need: this can be linguistic like helping get the grammar right or practical like supplying stationery.
Presentation
Students have to work together to organise who does what and what the final result will look like. "When I have done this, the students took over a wall in the classroom and displayed their newspaper there so other students and parents could come in and see it. They could have used the school photocopier to make copies and distribute it."
Language
The language that is produced is not controlled, but students should have had input on the kind of language that the project needs. For example, news stories often use a lot of passives e.g. the jewellery store was broken into and ten diamond rings were stolen. "Having studied news stories before doing the project, students have had recent contact with the language needed for their own stories. They are now practising the structures in a meaningful, creative and, hopefully, enjoyable way."
The advantages of doing projects in the classroom are many:
Students make their own choices about what they do.
Projects encourage cooperation and sharing.
They promote learner independence.
Project work is topic-based.
It involves research / questionnaires.
They lead to a presentation. They involve different skills.
They may be very creative and include artwork.
They cater for different learning styles and personalities.
They require use of all language skills.Projects can be presented as
Wall displays
Posters
Magazines
Newspapers
Books
Radio broadcasts
TV programmes
Film
Documentary
I said Sh! Sh! Baby's sleeping!
I said Sh! Sh! Baby's sleeping!
What did you say?
What did you say?
I said Hush! Hush! Baby's sleeping!
I said Hush! Hush! Baby's sleeping!
What did you say?
What did you say?
I said please be quiet Baby's sleeping!
I said please be quiet Baby's sleeping!
What did you say?
What did you say?
I said shut up! shut up! Baby's sleeping!
I said shut up! shut up! Baby's sleeping!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Not any more!
A Checklist for activities for young learners
*Is the activity interesting and relevant for the age of the learners?
*Is it suitably challenging -not too hard or too easy?
*Is it purposeful? Can the learners understand why they are doing it and has the teacher helped them understand this?
*Is there any real language in the activity? Would these learners use this language naturally in their first language?
*Is there a real product, e.g. a song, sung, a survey finished, a quiz completed, a story listened to, a game played, or a role play engaged in?
To close off this part, the particpants' task was to check 3 activities against the above list in view of the Tunisian context. Then, Dr Leather read a story about this young child, Dominic, who kept pestering his mum and dad with questions about calculators, kangaroos, UFOs, life on Mars, and the like. But he never got an answer as the parents always had something to do, a letter to post, the lawn to mow, the news to listen to, the shopping to do... . Finally, to stop her child's nagging, the mother shouted, "you don't ask questions as you grow , that's how you get to know!". Thank God! Nobody went to sleep.
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Good young learner assessment should
*focus on children's potential to learn with support, not only their ability to perform alone;
*not usually be a solitary experience for the child;
*include more than just tests(focus on what they can do);
*reflect normal classroom activities;
*be integrated into normal teaching and learning where possible so that it benefits the child;
*provide support for the child (from pictures, examples, classmates, the teacher);
*give the child a chance to develop non linguistic skills as well as linguistic ones where possible;
*come from a variety of sources i.e. formal, informal and alternative assessment.
*focus on what they can do with support as well as on what they can already do without it (children are developing as people).
Put yourself in the shoes of a young learner. How would you like to be assessed? This is how 12- year olds in Colombia would like to be assessed:
-in groups;
-in enjoyable ways;
-with their friends not individually;
-by a teacher who is always fair;
-not by a teacher who comes to school angry on that day.
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Day Three : December 7, 2005. A short morning session. |
The Director of the British Council kindly dropped in with Mr Mostapha Naifer, Head of the CE.NA.F.F.E, and interacted with the busy groups whose task was to produce the skeleton of a training session on teaching and assessing reading and another one on teaching and assessing young learners to be fleshed out by trainers. We agreed to it that an experiential approach to training should be adopted.
CONCLUSION
I hope this was a faithful account of the proceedings of this seminar. I hope teachers, teacher trainers and inspectors will use this report in their training sessions to disseminate the information in their respective areas. Many thanks to Dr. Sue leather for the patience and the expertise with which she conducted this seminar and for the permission to publish this report.
End of seminar. Lunch and dispersal.
Reading: Bibliography
Clandfield. L. (2005) Text in language classrooms: TALO, TAVI and TASP, http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ (British Council website).
Day & Bamford (1998). Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Green, C.
ELT J, October 2005; 59: 306 - 311. Integrating extensive reading in the
task-based curriculum.
Grellet, F. 1981 Developing Reading Skills .(CUP).
Heavily 'top down processing' but has many ideas for dealing with text and is
still a classic.
John T., Davies F. 1983 Text as a vehicle for information: the classroom use of written texts in teaching reading in a foreign language, Reading in a Foreign Language, 1 (1), pp. 1-19.
Krashen, S (1993). The Power of Reading. Eaglewood Colorado: Libraries Unlimited .An inspiring look at the role of extensive reading.
Paran, A. ELTJ Vol. 50/1 January (1996). Reading in EFL: facts and fictions. A good discussion of the reading as a 'psycholinguistic guessing game' argument. Paran argues that 'bottom-up processing' should be given more weight in our thinking about reading.
Scrivener, J. Learning (1996). Teaching Macmillan Heinemann. An excellent, practical overview of the field in general. Includes the task-text feedback circle as a way of dealing with both reading and listening. Intended for pre-service training, but useful for a range of teachers at different levels.
Assessing reading.
Bibliography.
Alderson, C. (2000). Assessing Reading. CUP.
Anderson, N. J. (1994). Developing active readers: a pedagogical framework for the second language reading class. System, 22, 177-194.
Bamford,
J. & Day, R. R. (1997). Extensive reading: What is it? Why bother? The
Language Teacher Online, 21(5), [on-line]. Retrieved May 17, 2002,
from
http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/97may/extensive.html
Bernhardt, E. B. (1991). Reading development in a second language: theoretical, empirical, & classroom perspectives. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Elliot, S. N. (1995). Creating meaningful performance assessments. ERIC Digest, No ED381985.
Gagne, E. D., Yekovich, C. W., & Yekovich, F. R. (1993). The cognitive psychology of school learning (2nd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.
Grabe, W. (1986). The transition from theory to practice in teaching reading. In F. Dubin, D. Eskey, & W. Grabe (Eds.), Teaching second language reading for academic purposes (pp. 25-48). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Grabe W. & Stoller F.L. (2002) Teaching & Researching Reading .Pearson Education.
Krashen, S. (1993). The power of reading: insights from the research. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Linn, R. L., Baker, E. L., & Dunbar, S. B. (1991). Complex, performance-based assessment: expectations and validity criteria. Educational Researcher, 20(8), 15-21.
Messick, S. (1996). Validity and washback in language testing. Language Testing, 13(3), 241- 256.
Messick, S. (1989). Meaning and values in test validation: the science and ethics of assessment. Educational Researcher, 18(2), 5-11.
Messick, S. (1988). The once and future issues of validity: assessing the meaning and consequences of measurement. In H. Wainer & H. I. Braun (Eds.), Test validity (pp. 33-46). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Michael, W. B. (1993). Performance-based (authentic) assessment. In W. B. Michael (Ed.), EDPT 655 Research Design Course Reader (pp. 46-51). University of Southern California.
Nation, P. (1997). The language learning benefits of extensive reading. The Language Teacher Online, 21(5), [on¬line]. Retrieved July 16, 2002, from: http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/97/may/language.html
O'Malley, J. M. & Valdez Pierce, L. (1996). Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners. New York: Addison Wesley.
Paran, A.
(1996). Reading in EFL: facts and fictions. ELT Journal, 50(1),
25-34.
Reid, J. (1992). 'The writing-reading connection in the ESL composition classroom. Journal of Intensive English Studies, 6, 27-50.
Stiefenhofer, H. (1996). How to read nonfictional English texts faster and more effectively: a "Standard Reading Exercise" for ESL students. The Internet TESL journal, 2(6), [on-line]. Retrieved October 6, 2003, from http://aitech.ac.jp/~ iteslj
Wiggins, G. (1990). The case for authentic assessment. ERIC Digest, No ED328611.
Short bibliography on Multiple Intelligences.
Gardner,
H. (1983). Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Books Inc.
Gardner, H. (1991)
The unschooled mind: how children think and how schools should teach. New
York: Basic Books Inc.
Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple
intelligences go to school: Educational implications of the theory of multiple
intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4-9.
Selected Books for Teachers of English to Young
Learners
How Children Think and Learn
Bruner, J.
(1983) Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language. Oxford:
OUP.
Bruner, J.
(1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Bruner,
J. & Haste, H. (1987). Making Sense London: Routledge.
Chomsky, N. ( 1959). Review of Verbal Behaviour Language in Language 35:26-58
Cummins, J (1979). Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children in Gardner, H (1993). Multiple Intelligences. The Theory in Practice London: Harper Collins.
Hughes, A (1993). English across the curriculum : theme-based learning in the primary classroom. In New Tendencies in Curriculum Development.
Donaldson,
M (1978). Children's Minds. Fontana.
Short, seminal, very readable account
of how children's minds develop. Contains a fascinating account of experiments
carried out that serve as a basis for the core of the book.
Lenneberg, E (1967). Biological foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Piaget,j (1967). Six Psychological Studies. London: London University Press.
Singleton, D. (1989). Language Acquisition: The Age Factor Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press: Methodology.
Cameron, L (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners (CUP).
The focus is very much on theory in this book. Especially strong on how children learn, how they learn through tasks, and how they learn vocabulary. The book includes lesson extracts to illustrate points.
Halliwell,
S. (1992). Teaching English in the Primary Classroom (Longman).
A mix of
very accessible theory and very useful activity frames. Introduces the idea of
`stir' and settle activities.
Moon, J
(2000). Children Learning English (Heinemann).
Extremely well-written and
well-organised book of ideas for use with children. Each of the 12 chapters is
crystal clear. Particularly good on seeing things from the child's point of
view.
Slattery, M and Willis, j (2001). English for Primary Teachers.
(OUP).
This book is worth looking at if you work with teachers who lack
confidence in their own level of English. Interesting in that the syllabus for
the book comes from a `corpus' of 13 real lessons taught. Book also contains
interesting classroom activities.
Vale, D and Feunteun, A (1995) Teaching Children English.
(CUP).
Good both on theory and practical ideas. Interesting for the way in
which it develops themes, and argues for a cross-curricular approach in
teaching young learners. Has a separate section of trainer's notes for its
suggested training course.
Teaching Resources
Beck, I, King, K (OUP) (1985). Oranges and Lemons.
Well illustrated,
well explained collection of children's singing and dancing games with musical
notation added. This is not ELT-focussed, but the
songs are eminently usable in an EFL context. The book has a very good
accompanying tape.
Ellis,G. and Brewster, j (2002). Tell it Again! The New Storytelling
Handbook for Primary
Teachers.
(Penguin Longman ).A revised version of the book full of
ideas on how to use children's storybooks in class.
Ellis, G, Brewster, J, Girard, D( 2002). Primary English Teacher's
Guide. (Longman).
New edition of book advising on how to choose materials,
and manage resources.
Graham,C. (1978). Jazz Chants for Children (OUP).
Classic book with
lively chants and rhymes set to music.
Gray, K (1998-2000). Jet Primary Teachers' Resource Books.
(Scholastic).
Very usable set of lesson plans and resources. Topics include
Christmas, Myself, and Animals.
Holderness, J and Hughes, A (1997). 100+ Ideas for Children. (Heinemann). A rich collection of topic-based activities.
Phillips,S. (1993). Young Learners. (OUP).
A classic recipe book of
activities, accompanied by age range, level, aims and materials
needed.
Phillips, S (1999) Drama with Children. (OUP).
Ideas on using puppets, songs,
rhymes and short plays.
Phillips, D, Burwood, S, Dunford, D (1999). Projects with Young Learners. (OUP).
Wright, A (1995). Storytelling with Children. (children aged 7-14). (OUP) .A huge range of story recipes.
Wright, A (1997). Creating Stories with Children .(children aged 7-14)
(OUP). Intriguing activities, especially those involving the making of
books.
Research
ed Moon and Nikolov (2002). Research into Teaching English to YLs. (University of Pecs Press, Hungary). Articles about research focussing on international, national, teacher and classroom findings. Nikolov's article on issues in YL research is especially lucid.
Web
resources
IATEFL Young Learner Special Interest Group
http://www.countryschool.com/ylsig
An excellent source of lesson plans,
discussion list summaries, software, articles and more colour-coded for age.
It is also possible to join a young learner discussion list through this
site.
Penguin Young Readers www.penguinreaders.com. A series of readers for young learners, graded for level and age.
British Council ELTECS discussion list site. Not YL focussed, but a good way of keeping up with regional events and professional issues http://www.britishcouncil.org.english/eltecs/index.htm
Enchanted
learning. A very rich selection of resources
www.enchantedlearning.com
British Council Learn English site. A lively
resource. Visit the kidzone. Though no age indications are given here, the
wide variety of materials compiled on different topics are likely to be of
special interest
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/
Bibliography: Assessing young learners
General
Drummond, M (2003 second
edition). Assessing Children's Learning (David Fulton publishers).
This
book is UK-specific, and focussing on learning in general rather than language
learning in particular. Presents a coherent case for starting out from the
child's needs when assessing learning.
Harris, M
and McCann, P (1994). Assessment (Heinemann)
Although it has three chapters on informal assessment, formal assessment, and self
assessment have not been written with young learners specifically in mind, but
this very short book is well worth a read. It is simply and clearly written,
and well organised.
Ioannou-Georgiou, S and Pavlou, P (2003). Assessing Young Learners
(OUP)
Focuses on assessing children aged 6-12. A very practical list of
ideas, grouped into 10 categories. Chapters 9 and 10 (Learning how to learn
and Record keeping and reporting) may be of special
interest.
Moon, j
(2000) Chapter 11. Learning to See in Children Learning English
(Heinemann).
An excellent overview of assessment. Useful ideas on
organising continuous assessment and helping children to assess their own
work.
Smith, K.
(1995). Assessing Young Learners. Can we? Should we? Testing and Young
Learners Special Interest Group (IA TEFL).
A seminal article arguing for
the need to assess rather than test young learners.
Portfolios
Samples of portfolios (My
Languages Portfolio) for Modern Foreign Languages in Britain.
http://www.nacell.org.uk/resources/pub cilt/portfolio.pdf
Council of
Europe portal to European language portfolio
http://culture2.coe.int/portfolio/inc.asp?L=E&M=$t/208-1-0-1/main pages
/welcome.html
Band descriptors
http://www.ncaction.org.uk has plenty of examples of standards , assessment profiles if you look under Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds).