Making the News: A Motivating Writing Skills Project for ESL Students
Clare Wardman
York St John University (York, UK)
Rationale
Many ESL students, children and adults alike, dislike or even dread writing tasks in the ESL classroom, finding them boring or difficult (Winer,1992: Cimcoz, 1999). This can lead teachers to avoid all but the shortest of writing tasks in the classroom, for fear of not being able to motivate or support their students highly enough.
The project described below has been used to good effect with two different groups of students studying on short courses at a university in northern England and can be adapted to suit different levels with relative ease. It can also be condensed or expanded to last between just two or three sessions and almost a whole week of a full-time programme. At the end of their programmes, both groups of students rated this activity as one of their favourites, despite initial reactions to writing tasks being rather less than favourable.
Introduction to the Project
The goal of the project is for small groups (between three and five students) to produce a newspaper, or the front page of a newspaper within the timescales decided. In completing this project the students will develop:
•Writing skills, thinking about and using a variety of registers and styles and producing a large-scale piece of writing
•Research skills, using the internet and other sources to write their articles
•Team-working skills and peer teaching, through the editing process
•Time management skills, to complete the job within given timescales
This project was carried out with a group of higher intermediate students and comprised the bulk of their work completed during the week themed “Media” of the summer programme. Adaptations made for a group of elementary learners later will be described in parentheses throughout.
Technological Requirements
There are, of course, a number of ways in which the students could present the final ‘newspaper’. Without access to computers or printers, it would be possible to produce a hand-written newspaper on A3 paper, for example. However, I found that, by using Microsoft Publisher, the groups could produce very professional-looking documents with minimal design effort, which is also endorsed by West (2002). The fact that there is a wide range of newsletter templates to choose from allows each group to opt for very different and individual styles. This and the resulting professional look certainly increased motivation levels.
At the end of the project, it is likely that you will want to print copies of the final product and therefore, it is important to think about whether the printers you have access to will cope with the fairly large files that will be produced. Additionally, the newspapers will look far better if it is possible to print them in colour, but, of course, this is not completely necessary.
The Process
In this section, I will describe the week in which the newspaper project was completed, which comprised 10 teaching sessions of 90 minutes. You may wish to omit some of these sessions and enhance or expand others.
Day One
Session 1
An introduction to the media: bring in some newspapers. This leads to a lot of discussion around newspapers in the students’ home countries and whether they read them, political leanings and the ‘quality’ versus ‘tabloid’ debate.
Session 2
This lesson is spent looking in more depth at the newspapers, scanning and skimming newspapers to categorise them and learn vocabulary about particular sections of the newspapers. At the end of this session, I set homework for the students to write about something that was making the local news in their home town, which meant that we could have an International News section in our newspapers by the end of the week. This homework was submitted on day two and feedback given for corrections on day three.
Day Two
Session 1
An introduction to writing for a newspaper: upper-intermediate and advanced students may be interested in the fact that newspaper articles and press releases are written in a very different way from more ‘normal’ pieces of writing. All of the important information is contained early on with progressively more detail added later. An interesting reading for detail exercise can be designed, using texts found in current newspapers to allow the students to discover this. In reality, whether they incorporate this in their final work is not so important.
Session 2
A short writing task, set as you wish (using coursebook materials if preferred) culminating in each student writing a film or music review that will form part of the newspaper by the end of the week.
Day Three
Session 1
Introduce the students to a piece of research per group. I did this by visiting a local museum and asking the students to choose an aspect to research and then write about in more depth later (the adaptation for the lower level group was that each student worked in a group that corresponded to their travel groups from the previous weekend and they were asked to write a report of their visit, including photographs).
Session 2
Return to the classroom to follow up on the groups’ choices and begin the online research. The group will need to decide on individual responsibilities for writing, researching and editing of the article and the teacher can set a word limit depending on the group’s capability. A number of the groups will have begun writing their article by the end of this session.
Day Four
Session 1
During this session you may wish to concentrate on headline-writing. This is not an easy aspect to cover, but there are a few course-book and online lesson suggestions to make it accessible for upper-intermediate learners.
Session 2
An interesting addition at this stage (if you feel the groups are on track) is to teach a lesson on advertising. There are a variety of fun activities on advertising and marketing to be found in coursebooks and online. To make the week feel rounded skills-wise, you may wish to include a listening exercise. Ideally, the students should feel inspired to create an advert or two for their newspaper. You may wish to incorporate that into this session or leave the decision to them.
Day Five
Session 1
Students will be working in groups to write, edit each others’ work and find photos for their newspaper. The teacher simply facilitates as required. If any students have finished their work, you may wish to have a few extra options for articles that they research and write under time pressure (great for differentiation). You could choose topics such as local events, up-coming festivals or major world current affairs.
Session 2
The newsroom deadline day. All students should be working individually and as a group to pull the final newspaper together. It is quite fun to create a slightly manic feel to this session as the deadline draws closer!
After the Project
Following the final session, you will want to print off copies for the students (a lovely memento of their studies if they are only with you and their group for a short time) and perhaps a larger colour version for the classroom wall.
Feedback on the quality of writing produced may be a very personal consideration. My opinion is that the feedback should be almost wholly positive, with perhaps only recurring issues and major issues leading to communicative breakdown being dealt with, especially given the many opportunities for peer-teaching offered throughout the project.
I believe that the value of this project lies in allowing the students a lot of free reign in terms of what they choose to write about and how they write it, hopefully giving them “an understanding of their capacity to write, motivation, self-confidence and courage” (Cimcoz, 1999). I hope you may find the same with your classes.
References
•Cimcoz (1999). ‘Teaching ESL/EFL Students to Write Better’. The Internet TESL Journal, V (10). available at URL: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Cimcoz-Writing.html
•West, L. L. (2002). Best Practices in Integrating Technology into Adult ESL Instruction: A Literature Research. Prepared for TECH21. INTELECOM Learning Resources Network. http://www.intelecom.org/ilrn/adulted/crc/crcpdf/tech21_esltech_3.pdf
•Winer, L. (1992). “Spinach to Chocolate”: Changing Awareness and Attitudes in ESL Writing Teachers’, TESOL Quarterly, 25 (1), pp. 57-80.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
In this blog, teachers, students and all those who have some kind of interest in the English language will find useful, interesting, curious and funny things to be used in their classes or for their personal enjoyment.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Warm Downs: Effectively Ending ESL/EFL Lessons
Warm Downs: Effectively Ending ESL/EFL Lessons
James Andrew Farmer
Saitama University (Saitama City, Japan)
This article presents the warm down as an effective way to end an ESL/EFL lesson. First, the purpose of the warm down is discussed. This is followed by an outline of what instructors can do along with practical examples.
Introduction
Most instructors are aware of the importance of the warm up in the ESL/EFL classroom. An effective warm up gets the students thinking in English, allows them to relax and start thinking towards the topic, and gives the instructor a chance to monitor their abilities and perhaps reassess their lesson plan. However, an equally important, but often neglected stage of an effective lesson is the warm down. Many instructors simply haven't considered how to end a lesson or if they have, don't know how to wrap it up. More often than not, instructors are happy to let an activity run through to the end of class. In this paper I will outline the purpose of the warm down and provide practical ideas and examples of what instructors can do to effectively wrap up a lesson.
The Purpose of the Warm Down
The warm up and warm down work together as the bookends of a lesson. Just like an essay needs a clear introduction and a conclusion, so too does an effective lesson. Instructors often run the final lesson activity until the lesson's end. However, allowing students to do free activities (role plays, discussions, etc.) until the end of class and suddenly concluding the lesson leaves students without closure. Even worse, the students may be left feeling the instructor was disorganized and ran out of time, or worse, was just killing time. Neither situation portrays the instructor in a positive light. On the other hand, the warm down signifies to the students that the class will soon be over and gives the lesson a clear end. An effective warm down will also leave the class with a clear understanding of what they learned and is an opportunity for teachers to address any loose ends. Hence, instructors should dedicate the final five minutes of class, depending on the length of the lesson, to a warm down.
What Can Instructors do in the Warm Down?
An effective warm down can involve correction, reviewing the target language, and/or giving performance feedback and motivation. This is also the time where homework should be assigned. It must be noted that this is not the time to be introducing new material. Doing so will detract from the effectiveness of this stage.
Correction
The warm down is a great opportunity to facilitate correction. Generally speaking, the latter half of a lesson is the freer, meaning-focused stage of the lesson. This gives students the opportunity to play with the new language in a context-rich environment while integrating it with previously learned language. Unlike in the earlier form-focused stage of the lesson where the target language was introduced, practiced, and reinforced, the instructor should try not to interrupt activities to give correction. The focus should be on language use and fluency building, but this doesn't advocate ignoring mistakes. Rather, the instructor should take notes of any major and/or persistent mistakes with the target language, as well as level-relevant target language, and address them between activities or in the warm down.
Besides not interrupting a student's train of thought during a final activity, correcting during the warm down has the advantage that the whole class benefits from the correction. This brings up the question of what instructors should correct. Note that I have used the term "mistake" in order to distinguish it from an "error". As defined in Brown (2007:257-259) a mistake is simply a slip of the tongue. It's a case of where the student knows better and if prompted, they should be able to correct it. An error is made when the student doesn't know better: they have never studied that target language before or they simply aren't ready to use it yet. I further suggest that mistakes can be further categorized: mistakes with the target language and those with previously-learned, level-relevant target language. While both can be addressed, the former gets priority considering its acquisition is the goal of the lesson. Mistakes can include pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and appropriateness of use.
There is no need to correct every mistake during the warm down. Instructors should choose the major mistakes, three to five is a manageable number, and put them on the board. Draw the class' attention to each one eliciting the correction. In the case of poor pronunciation, the instructor can model trouble word aloud with the poor pronunciation to elicit the correct pronunciation. However, correction shouldn't end here. Instructors should follow up with a quick activity to reinforce the correct form. This can be as simple as doing a choral drill and/or eliciting one or two example sentences. For example, the Instructor could address "I went to shopping" as follows.
Instructor: (after writing it on the board) Is this a good sentence?
Student/s: No.
I: Why? What's the problem?
S: To.
I: Good. What's the correct sentence?
S: I went shopping.
I: That's right. Why do we say "went shopping" and not "went to shopping"?
S: Shopping is not a place. We use "to" for places.
I: For example?
S: I went to Tokyo.
I: Good. So, shopping isn't a place. It is an activity. What are some other activities ending with -ing?
S: Dancing.
I: Right. Give an example sentence.
S: I went dancing.
I: And..?
By doing this the students are more likely to leave the class with the correction clear in their minds. For students in the class who didn't make the mistake, it serves to further reinforce the correct pattern.
Review
Another effective way to wrap up the lesson is to review the lesson. Not only does this reinforce students' understanding of the language, but they leave with a clear idea of what they learned. It can also boost confidence as it allows the students to compare their progress from the beginning of the lesson and the end.
Instead of the traditional method of an instructor telling the class what they learned, elicitation can be more effective. Asking the students what they learned keeps teacher talk time low, allows the instructor to assess if the students really understood the lesson, and actively encourages the students to think about the lesson.
Review can include the target language, new vocabulary, and pronunciation as well as newly-learned information such as information from a news article. Instructors can review these points by reusing flashcards to review vocabulary, re-reading questions from a worksheet to elicit the answers, rereading answers and eliciting the questions, asking some questions, or eliciting what they learned. Here is an example dialogue of an instructor eliciting what the students had learned:
I: What did you learn today?
S: The present perfect.
I: Good. How did you use it?
S: We talked about traveling experiences.
I: We learned a question pattern today. What was it?
S: "Have you (verb)?"
I: Good. Can you give me some examples?
S: Have you eaten sushi?
I: Good. Ask (student's name).
S1: Have you eaten sushi?
S2: Yes, I have. I have eaten sushi.
I: …
Performance Feedback and Motivation
Feedback and motivation is often restricted to a perfunctory "Good work!" It’s a good practice to give more detailed feedback including both a strength and weakness. The strength will provide motivation to continue studying whereas the weakness gives them something concrete to work on and also encourages the student to keep studying.
In a small class it is possible to give each student 15-20 seconds of individual feedback. Instructors can give a positive and a to-be-worked-on point to each student. For example, "Maya, you used today's new vocabulary well, but you have to be careful with past tense of irregular verbs." This comes with two caveats. First, bear in mind that some students don't appreciate this approach. Second, in lower level classes some students may not be able to understand.
In a larger class where individual feedback is not possible, a general comment on the class' performance will suffice. For instance, "Everyone used 'the simple past' well, but remember to use Wh-questions to get more information." Even better, the instructor can recommend a lesson in the text or class in the curriculum which addresses the weakness.
Assigning Homework
In a meta-study, Walberg, Paschal, & Weinstein (1985:79) concluded that 'there seems little doubt that homework has substantial effects on students' learning'. However, there seems to be a lack of research on whether homework assists second language acquisition for ESL/EFL learners. In one study, Wallinger (2000) found little evidence that homework either contributes or detracts from foreign language learning. Anecdotal evidence provides some support for a correlation between homework and achievement. Hence, assigning homework should be part of any class. Homework allows the students to revisit the lesson in their own time which can work to build their understanding and retention. Furthermore, it also encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning thereby promoting autonomous learning. That being said, the importance of homework needs to be balanced with the students' needs, motivation, and time.
Homework is best set at the end of the warm down. The task should be simple and clear. Homework activities don’t need to be sophisticated. The main goal is to have the students revisit the class to reinforce the material. Students need to be exposed to new words multiple times before the meaning is remembered. In fact, some studies have found that learners need to have up to sixteen meaningful encounters with a new word just to establish it in the students vocabulary bank (Paul Nation 2001 cited in Lightbown & Spada 2006:98). Doing homework assists in this.
Collecting homework at the beginning of each lesson, promptly marking and returning it to the students helps students see the benefit of participating. Rather than correcting the homework, consider highlighting problems and returning it to the students to self-correct. This will build self-correction skills (Ferris & Roberts 2001), retention (Chandler 2003), and accuracy (Li & Lin 2007). The students can then resubmit the homework for a final correction. It can also be effective if the instructor provides all students with a 'correction key' which outlines different markings for different problems. For example, '^' could indicate a missing word and an underlined word a problem with spelling. This draws the learner's attention to the problem and allows them to build their cognitive strategies. The more detailed the cues are, the higher the chance of learner self-correction (Makino 1993).
Here are some homework ideas for a lesson on the simple past:
•What did you do yesterday? What didn’t you do? Write five answers for each.
•Write example sentences for the verbs introduced in the lesson.
• Write a story about last weekend.
• Listen to the textbook's CD until you can understand 90% (for listening).
• Do the worksheet.
• Write a diary. Talk about what you did each day.
In addition to homework related to the lesson, it can also effective to have the students prepare for the next lesson. If they can pre-learn the vocabulary and/or target language beforehand, they can focus more on using the language in the next lesson.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a five to ten minute warm down is a good way to effectively wrap up an EFL class. The warm down signifies to the students that the class is coming to an end, leaves the students with a clear understanding of what they learned, and gives the instructor a last opportunity to reinforce the target language. This is achieved through giving correction, reviewing the lesson, and/or giving constructive feedback and motivation.
References
•Brown, H.D. 2007, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, Pearson Longman, New York.
•Chandler, J. 2003, ‘The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing’, Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 267-296.
•Ferris, D. & Roberts, B. 2001, ‘Error feedback in L2 writing classes: how explicit does it need to be?’, Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 161-184.
•Li, H. & Lin, Q. 2007, 'The role of revision and teacher feedback in a Chinese college context', Asian EFL Journal, vol. 9, no. 4. Retrieved on 16 March 2009 from www.asian-efl-journal.com.
•Lightbown, P.M. & Spada. 2006, How Languages are Learned, Oxford University Press.
•Makino, Taka-Yoshi. 1993, 'Learner self-correction in EFL written compositions', ELT Journal, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 337-341. Abstract retrieved October 7 2009 from eltj.oxfordjournals.org.
•Walberg, H.J., Paschal, R.A., & Weinstein, T. 1985, 'Homework's Powerful Effects on Learning', Educational Leadership, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 76-79.
•Wallinger, L.M. 2008, 'The Role of Homework in Foreign Language Learning', Foreign Language Annals, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 483-496. Abstract retrieved October 31 2009 from the Wiley Interscience database.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
James Andrew Farmer
Saitama University (Saitama City, Japan)
This article presents the warm down as an effective way to end an ESL/EFL lesson. First, the purpose of the warm down is discussed. This is followed by an outline of what instructors can do along with practical examples.
Introduction
Most instructors are aware of the importance of the warm up in the ESL/EFL classroom. An effective warm up gets the students thinking in English, allows them to relax and start thinking towards the topic, and gives the instructor a chance to monitor their abilities and perhaps reassess their lesson plan. However, an equally important, but often neglected stage of an effective lesson is the warm down. Many instructors simply haven't considered how to end a lesson or if they have, don't know how to wrap it up. More often than not, instructors are happy to let an activity run through to the end of class. In this paper I will outline the purpose of the warm down and provide practical ideas and examples of what instructors can do to effectively wrap up a lesson.
The Purpose of the Warm Down
The warm up and warm down work together as the bookends of a lesson. Just like an essay needs a clear introduction and a conclusion, so too does an effective lesson. Instructors often run the final lesson activity until the lesson's end. However, allowing students to do free activities (role plays, discussions, etc.) until the end of class and suddenly concluding the lesson leaves students without closure. Even worse, the students may be left feeling the instructor was disorganized and ran out of time, or worse, was just killing time. Neither situation portrays the instructor in a positive light. On the other hand, the warm down signifies to the students that the class will soon be over and gives the lesson a clear end. An effective warm down will also leave the class with a clear understanding of what they learned and is an opportunity for teachers to address any loose ends. Hence, instructors should dedicate the final five minutes of class, depending on the length of the lesson, to a warm down.
What Can Instructors do in the Warm Down?
An effective warm down can involve correction, reviewing the target language, and/or giving performance feedback and motivation. This is also the time where homework should be assigned. It must be noted that this is not the time to be introducing new material. Doing so will detract from the effectiveness of this stage.
Correction
The warm down is a great opportunity to facilitate correction. Generally speaking, the latter half of a lesson is the freer, meaning-focused stage of the lesson. This gives students the opportunity to play with the new language in a context-rich environment while integrating it with previously learned language. Unlike in the earlier form-focused stage of the lesson where the target language was introduced, practiced, and reinforced, the instructor should try not to interrupt activities to give correction. The focus should be on language use and fluency building, but this doesn't advocate ignoring mistakes. Rather, the instructor should take notes of any major and/or persistent mistakes with the target language, as well as level-relevant target language, and address them between activities or in the warm down.
Besides not interrupting a student's train of thought during a final activity, correcting during the warm down has the advantage that the whole class benefits from the correction. This brings up the question of what instructors should correct. Note that I have used the term "mistake" in order to distinguish it from an "error". As defined in Brown (2007:257-259) a mistake is simply a slip of the tongue. It's a case of where the student knows better and if prompted, they should be able to correct it. An error is made when the student doesn't know better: they have never studied that target language before or they simply aren't ready to use it yet. I further suggest that mistakes can be further categorized: mistakes with the target language and those with previously-learned, level-relevant target language. While both can be addressed, the former gets priority considering its acquisition is the goal of the lesson. Mistakes can include pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and appropriateness of use.
There is no need to correct every mistake during the warm down. Instructors should choose the major mistakes, three to five is a manageable number, and put them on the board. Draw the class' attention to each one eliciting the correction. In the case of poor pronunciation, the instructor can model trouble word aloud with the poor pronunciation to elicit the correct pronunciation. However, correction shouldn't end here. Instructors should follow up with a quick activity to reinforce the correct form. This can be as simple as doing a choral drill and/or eliciting one or two example sentences. For example, the Instructor could address "I went to shopping" as follows.
Instructor: (after writing it on the board) Is this a good sentence?
Student/s: No.
I: Why? What's the problem?
S: To.
I: Good. What's the correct sentence?
S: I went shopping.
I: That's right. Why do we say "went shopping" and not "went to shopping"?
S: Shopping is not a place. We use "to" for places.
I: For example?
S: I went to Tokyo.
I: Good. So, shopping isn't a place. It is an activity. What are some other activities ending with -ing?
S: Dancing.
I: Right. Give an example sentence.
S: I went dancing.
I: And..?
By doing this the students are more likely to leave the class with the correction clear in their minds. For students in the class who didn't make the mistake, it serves to further reinforce the correct pattern.
Review
Another effective way to wrap up the lesson is to review the lesson. Not only does this reinforce students' understanding of the language, but they leave with a clear idea of what they learned. It can also boost confidence as it allows the students to compare their progress from the beginning of the lesson and the end.
Instead of the traditional method of an instructor telling the class what they learned, elicitation can be more effective. Asking the students what they learned keeps teacher talk time low, allows the instructor to assess if the students really understood the lesson, and actively encourages the students to think about the lesson.
Review can include the target language, new vocabulary, and pronunciation as well as newly-learned information such as information from a news article. Instructors can review these points by reusing flashcards to review vocabulary, re-reading questions from a worksheet to elicit the answers, rereading answers and eliciting the questions, asking some questions, or eliciting what they learned. Here is an example dialogue of an instructor eliciting what the students had learned:
I: What did you learn today?
S: The present perfect.
I: Good. How did you use it?
S: We talked about traveling experiences.
I: We learned a question pattern today. What was it?
S: "Have you (verb)?"
I: Good. Can you give me some examples?
S: Have you eaten sushi?
I: Good. Ask (student's name).
S1: Have you eaten sushi?
S2: Yes, I have. I have eaten sushi.
I: …
Performance Feedback and Motivation
Feedback and motivation is often restricted to a perfunctory "Good work!" It’s a good practice to give more detailed feedback including both a strength and weakness. The strength will provide motivation to continue studying whereas the weakness gives them something concrete to work on and also encourages the student to keep studying.
In a small class it is possible to give each student 15-20 seconds of individual feedback. Instructors can give a positive and a to-be-worked-on point to each student. For example, "Maya, you used today's new vocabulary well, but you have to be careful with past tense of irregular verbs." This comes with two caveats. First, bear in mind that some students don't appreciate this approach. Second, in lower level classes some students may not be able to understand.
In a larger class where individual feedback is not possible, a general comment on the class' performance will suffice. For instance, "Everyone used 'the simple past' well, but remember to use Wh-questions to get more information." Even better, the instructor can recommend a lesson in the text or class in the curriculum which addresses the weakness.
Assigning Homework
In a meta-study, Walberg, Paschal, & Weinstein (1985:79) concluded that 'there seems little doubt that homework has substantial effects on students' learning'. However, there seems to be a lack of research on whether homework assists second language acquisition for ESL/EFL learners. In one study, Wallinger (2000) found little evidence that homework either contributes or detracts from foreign language learning. Anecdotal evidence provides some support for a correlation between homework and achievement. Hence, assigning homework should be part of any class. Homework allows the students to revisit the lesson in their own time which can work to build their understanding and retention. Furthermore, it also encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning thereby promoting autonomous learning. That being said, the importance of homework needs to be balanced with the students' needs, motivation, and time.
Homework is best set at the end of the warm down. The task should be simple and clear. Homework activities don’t need to be sophisticated. The main goal is to have the students revisit the class to reinforce the material. Students need to be exposed to new words multiple times before the meaning is remembered. In fact, some studies have found that learners need to have up to sixteen meaningful encounters with a new word just to establish it in the students vocabulary bank (Paul Nation 2001 cited in Lightbown & Spada 2006:98). Doing homework assists in this.
Collecting homework at the beginning of each lesson, promptly marking and returning it to the students helps students see the benefit of participating. Rather than correcting the homework, consider highlighting problems and returning it to the students to self-correct. This will build self-correction skills (Ferris & Roberts 2001), retention (Chandler 2003), and accuracy (Li & Lin 2007). The students can then resubmit the homework for a final correction. It can also be effective if the instructor provides all students with a 'correction key' which outlines different markings for different problems. For example, '^' could indicate a missing word and an underlined word a problem with spelling. This draws the learner's attention to the problem and allows them to build their cognitive strategies. The more detailed the cues are, the higher the chance of learner self-correction (Makino 1993).
Here are some homework ideas for a lesson on the simple past:
•What did you do yesterday? What didn’t you do? Write five answers for each.
•Write example sentences for the verbs introduced in the lesson.
• Write a story about last weekend.
• Listen to the textbook's CD until you can understand 90% (for listening).
• Do the worksheet.
• Write a diary. Talk about what you did each day.
In addition to homework related to the lesson, it can also effective to have the students prepare for the next lesson. If they can pre-learn the vocabulary and/or target language beforehand, they can focus more on using the language in the next lesson.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a five to ten minute warm down is a good way to effectively wrap up an EFL class. The warm down signifies to the students that the class is coming to an end, leaves the students with a clear understanding of what they learned, and gives the instructor a last opportunity to reinforce the target language. This is achieved through giving correction, reviewing the lesson, and/or giving constructive feedback and motivation.
References
•Brown, H.D. 2007, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, Pearson Longman, New York.
•Chandler, J. 2003, ‘The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing’, Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 267-296.
•Ferris, D. & Roberts, B. 2001, ‘Error feedback in L2 writing classes: how explicit does it need to be?’, Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 161-184.
•Li, H. & Lin, Q. 2007, 'The role of revision and teacher feedback in a Chinese college context', Asian EFL Journal, vol. 9, no. 4. Retrieved on 16 March 2009 from www.asian-efl-journal.com.
•Lightbown, P.M. & Spada. 2006, How Languages are Learned, Oxford University Press.
•Makino, Taka-Yoshi. 1993, 'Learner self-correction in EFL written compositions', ELT Journal, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 337-341. Abstract retrieved October 7 2009 from eltj.oxfordjournals.org.
•Walberg, H.J., Paschal, R.A., & Weinstein, T. 1985, 'Homework's Powerful Effects on Learning', Educational Leadership, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 76-79.
•Wallinger, L.M. 2008, 'The Role of Homework in Foreign Language Learning', Foreign Language Annals, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 483-496. Abstract retrieved October 31 2009 from the Wiley Interscience database.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Using ‘Text’ to Promote Communicative Language Learning
Using ‘Text’ to Promote Communicative Language Learning
Oliver Dammacco
Salalah College of Technology (Salalah, Oman)
This article introduces 1) the necessary elements for the successful execution of a text-based task and 2) focuses attention on ways to manipulate text in order to facilitate a learner-centred communicative flow. The author believes it would be useful to adopt the definitions for task and activity, as set out by Vigotsky (1962). The term task we will define as the teacher’s intended framework for an activity, in which learners develop semi-autonomously (i.e. with external parameters/goals). Think of it this way: you tell a group of children to play a game only in the little park outside - not beyond that boundary. They must come back in within thirty minutes, without a trace of mud on their clothes – a tangible but unlikely goal!
Introduction
The use of 'text' as a channel for communication may seem rather dry and demotivational. While it is important to provide a range of materials, including colourful pictures, photos (particularly from authentic news stock), ‘text’ is rich input that can be manipulated and serve as a springboard for highly communicative tasks. However, it is important to remember that tasks must include an overriding purpose (goal) in order to create a motive or need for the learners to communicate. Karpova (1999), Willis & Willis (1996) and Rooney (2000), point out that more traditional theories of language based on Structural-Functional approaches, rely heavily on activities, which result in the abstract practice of target language without purpose, without meaning for the learner. To this end, learners are restricted in their own linguistic resourcefulness and thus evaluated according to tight parameters of language form (as set out by the teacher). It is important to remember that the goals set allow the learners certain (creative) manoeuvrability, with some emphasis on meaning. This is more likely to result in greater motivation.
Creating Text-based Tasks
In the development and successful execution of tasks, consider the following points:
1) Learner Needs – based on your experience, your needs analysis (provided by your learners) and your overall lesson objective(s). Although you may have a large group, consider also learners who stand out, in terms of being particularly strong and particularly weak communicators. (See point 6)
2) Input – this is the material (text and possibly images) we select according to learners’ general level, interest and /or major and overall needs. What skills should we focus on? We may be gearing towards English for General Purposes, English for Special Purposes, etc.
3) Task Type – A description of the activity and goal: now we need to develop a task from our input that we feel will address the learner needs, more specifically e.g. skimming, scanning techniques etc. What modifications need to be made for e.g. individual learner roles? (See point 6)
4) Goal/Purpose – This must be clear in our minds, and in the minds of the learners during set-up. The teacher needs to be mindful in his/her instructions before shifting the ‘ownership’ and conduct of the task onto the learners. Time constraints, organization of material, justification of choices are examples of goals.
5) Task Link – This is probably the most difficult consideration. The task does not exist in isolation and functions as a component in the overall lesson objective(s). What precedes this task? What follows? Why?
6) Learner Organization and Roles – What are the groupings? Who is the ‘leader’? Who are the ‘followers’? If a learner has weak listening skills, we might consider their role as note taker/observer/reporter.
Choosing and Modifying a Text (Input)
The first concern is the learners’ level; when dealing with e.g. false beginners we must consider what is realistically achievable in using ‘text’ as our input. The content should reflect learner needs but is likely to be less authentic i.e. adapted to focus on specific language forms (e.g. adjectives) and be extremely short in length – probably no more than 10 lines. Another idea with lower-level learners might be to have them complete rather than produce information. However, one shouldn't rule out the use of authentic texts all together. Consider the rich input of real menus, travel pamphlets, recipes, etc. Dialogues or monologues (e.g. from a film) may be appropriate if the content reflects learner needs, results in a tangible goal, and is slightly more difficult than the learner’s current ability, as Krashen (1982) maintains. Also, the accompaniment of images/commercial designs is highly recommendable for lower levels.
As we move up to higher-level students, it is desirable to shift more toward, authentic material, which as in real-life situations, include an integration of language. For useful ideas and considerations in the use of authentic material, see Karpova (1999), and Kelly et al (2002). The choice of topics will again be determined by learner needs. Nunan (1999) provides some useful ideas and templates for needs analysis design.
Task-types
Some examples of text-based tasks are presented below, which can be modified according to level and goals. They have been classified according to:
•Speculation
•Jigsaw/sequencing
•Ranking & rating
•Matching
1) Speculation – With clues learners predict the nature/topic of a text
Sentences: The teacher (physically) cuts three sentences from a text (the choice is important). Learners are shown these one at a time and have to come up with an overall impression/gist. (For lower levels, images could be used).
Titles: Show learners only the title and have them speculate on what the text is about.
First Line/Last Line: The teacher reads the first line of the text. Learners have to speculate about the rest; the same can be done by revealing only the last line.
Keywords: Learners are given keywords from the text and have to suggest how the full text goes.
Image and Text: The teacher reads the text. Learners have to decide which, of a group of images, most closely relate to the text.
Cloze: The teacher whites out i) every nth word, ii) all words of a certain type (adjectives, verbs etc.) or iii) key items of vocabulary. The learners must come up with appropriate words to fill the blanks.
Completion: Students provide a likely completion for a given part of a word, sentence, paragraph, narrative, or dialogue - e.g. “Steven Biko’s life was diff…” “When I have exams, I get...”, “… and stir in gradually” .
2) Matching - pairing together words, items, objects, pictures etc. which have something in common.
Pictures and Texts: Students match a selection of pictures with the appropriate texts (e.g. newspaper photographs and their captions).
Pictures and Words: Students match a selection of pictures with the appropriate vocabulary.
Texts and Texts: Students match texts that have something in common with each other (e.g. news headlines and the related story).
3) Jigsaw/Sequence - A text/image is cut or divided into pieces, and reassembled in order.
Words/lines/sentences: Sentences are cut into words and learners read each separately. Learners share information to put a sentence together using all the words. The same can be done with paragraphs i.e. cut into lines or whole sentences whereby learners will reassemble the paragraph.
Paragraphs: The teacher cuts the text into paragraphs and learners read each separately. Learners share information to put the whole text together.
Fractions: The teacher cuts up an article at random, into strips for example. Learners have to put it back together in a logical order.
Actions: The teacher breaks a text into actions. These can be represented by words and/or images. Learners have to put the text together.
4) Ranking and Rating - A number of words / items / pictures etc. must be prioritized or categorized.
Rank and Compare: Learners individually rank a number of short news story headlines in terms of their importance and then ask questions to ascertain the others' results. With more advanced groups, the teacher should encourage more justification on the part of the learners.
Rate and Compare: learners individually rate a number of news headlines / events / images etc. (5 stars = most interesting, 1 star = least interesting) - and ask questions to ascertain the others' results
Rank and Reach a Consensus: learners are given a short story with, say, a tragic outcome involving several characters. Learners are asked individually to rank “who is most responsible for the outcome”. As a pair or group they are required to discuss and reach a consensus on this not unlike a jury would.
Rate and Reach a Consensus: learners individually rate a number e.g. job or life-skill descriptions in terms of their ‘usefulness’. As a pair or group they are required to discuss and come to a consensus in order to arrive at one (or several) item(s) deemed “very useful”.
Setting a Purpose/Goal for Communication
A purpose or goal is given at the outset, and should include a condition or set of conditions which learners might encounter in the wider society. Completing an information gap under a time limit, solving a conflict of interest, deciphering misinformation, awarding points for say, error recognition (which could be corpus-based), are just some examples. Also we should consider time constraints; in the real world we are frequently made subject to deadlines, when it comes to completing tasks in the workplace, filing our taxes, and so on. Alternatively, personalizing the task i.e. creating a meaning for the student is an equally effective motive for communication. If asked, learners sometimes express that studying English is not just about acquiring skills or knowledge. It is a way of relieving stress, after say, a hard day at work. Raising issues such as working conditions, specific duties, gender inequality might, considerably enhance a text on ‘jobs’; these issues may relate (at some point) to the experience of the learner. The learner’s motivation is fueled by a desire to let out personal frustrations – a very natural way to communicate! Furthermore, the classroom may seem a like a ‘safe-house’ for the learner in which to freely express job anxieties, where such talk may be discouraged in his/her L1 community.
Task Link
It is important (and equally difficult) to consider how a text-based task fits into the scheme of the lesson. What preceding task will ensure a smoother transition? Preceding text-based tasks with, for example, a brainstorm of ideas/vocabulary surrounding the topic/theme offers the teacher insight into what the learners already know, thus allowing for the ongoing modification and development of the lesson. Also, the learners may provide additional information surrounding the topic, which may serve as ‘fodder’ for a later task. By encouraging learners to brainstorm, rich and versatile material is created that can be utilized in a variety of ways. Material (input) that derives from the learner’s experience, knowledge, preference and imagination is more likely to result in topicality, relevance and participation, as well as greater stimulation and interest.
Conclusion
Text-based input can be used in a number of ways to produce meaningful (and thus motivational) communicative tasks. It is important to remember that the success of any task is dependent upon the six key factors listed in this article: learner needs, input, task type, goal/purpose, task link and learner organization and roles.
References
•Karpova, L. (1999, May/June). Consider the following when selecting and using authentic materials. TESOL Matters, 9(2), 18.
•Kelly, C., Kelly, L., Offner, M., & Vorland, B. (2002, November). Effective ways to use authentic materials with ESL/EFL students. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(11). Retrieved Dec 16, 2009 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html
•Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon
•Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers.
•Rooney, K. (2000, December). Redesigning non-task-based materials to fit a task-based framework. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(12). Retrieved Dec 16, 2009, from
•http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Rooney-Task-Based.html
•Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
•Willis, J. and Willis, D. (1996). (Eds.). Challenge and change in language teaching. Oxford: Heinemann/MacMillan ELT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Oliver Dammacco
Salalah College of Technology (Salalah, Oman)
This article introduces 1) the necessary elements for the successful execution of a text-based task and 2) focuses attention on ways to manipulate text in order to facilitate a learner-centred communicative flow. The author believes it would be useful to adopt the definitions for task and activity, as set out by Vigotsky (1962). The term task we will define as the teacher’s intended framework for an activity, in which learners develop semi-autonomously (i.e. with external parameters/goals). Think of it this way: you tell a group of children to play a game only in the little park outside - not beyond that boundary. They must come back in within thirty minutes, without a trace of mud on their clothes – a tangible but unlikely goal!
Introduction
The use of 'text' as a channel for communication may seem rather dry and demotivational. While it is important to provide a range of materials, including colourful pictures, photos (particularly from authentic news stock), ‘text’ is rich input that can be manipulated and serve as a springboard for highly communicative tasks. However, it is important to remember that tasks must include an overriding purpose (goal) in order to create a motive or need for the learners to communicate. Karpova (1999), Willis & Willis (1996) and Rooney (2000), point out that more traditional theories of language based on Structural-Functional approaches, rely heavily on activities, which result in the abstract practice of target language without purpose, without meaning for the learner. To this end, learners are restricted in their own linguistic resourcefulness and thus evaluated according to tight parameters of language form (as set out by the teacher). It is important to remember that the goals set allow the learners certain (creative) manoeuvrability, with some emphasis on meaning. This is more likely to result in greater motivation.
Creating Text-based Tasks
In the development and successful execution of tasks, consider the following points:
1) Learner Needs – based on your experience, your needs analysis (provided by your learners) and your overall lesson objective(s). Although you may have a large group, consider also learners who stand out, in terms of being particularly strong and particularly weak communicators. (See point 6)
2) Input – this is the material (text and possibly images) we select according to learners’ general level, interest and /or major and overall needs. What skills should we focus on? We may be gearing towards English for General Purposes, English for Special Purposes, etc.
3) Task Type – A description of the activity and goal: now we need to develop a task from our input that we feel will address the learner needs, more specifically e.g. skimming, scanning techniques etc. What modifications need to be made for e.g. individual learner roles? (See point 6)
4) Goal/Purpose – This must be clear in our minds, and in the minds of the learners during set-up. The teacher needs to be mindful in his/her instructions before shifting the ‘ownership’ and conduct of the task onto the learners. Time constraints, organization of material, justification of choices are examples of goals.
5) Task Link – This is probably the most difficult consideration. The task does not exist in isolation and functions as a component in the overall lesson objective(s). What precedes this task? What follows? Why?
6) Learner Organization and Roles – What are the groupings? Who is the ‘leader’? Who are the ‘followers’? If a learner has weak listening skills, we might consider their role as note taker/observer/reporter.
Choosing and Modifying a Text (Input)
The first concern is the learners’ level; when dealing with e.g. false beginners we must consider what is realistically achievable in using ‘text’ as our input. The content should reflect learner needs but is likely to be less authentic i.e. adapted to focus on specific language forms (e.g. adjectives) and be extremely short in length – probably no more than 10 lines. Another idea with lower-level learners might be to have them complete rather than produce information. However, one shouldn't rule out the use of authentic texts all together. Consider the rich input of real menus, travel pamphlets, recipes, etc. Dialogues or monologues (e.g. from a film) may be appropriate if the content reflects learner needs, results in a tangible goal, and is slightly more difficult than the learner’s current ability, as Krashen (1982) maintains. Also, the accompaniment of images/commercial designs is highly recommendable for lower levels.
As we move up to higher-level students, it is desirable to shift more toward, authentic material, which as in real-life situations, include an integration of language. For useful ideas and considerations in the use of authentic material, see Karpova (1999), and Kelly et al (2002). The choice of topics will again be determined by learner needs. Nunan (1999) provides some useful ideas and templates for needs analysis design.
Task-types
Some examples of text-based tasks are presented below, which can be modified according to level and goals. They have been classified according to:
•Speculation
•Jigsaw/sequencing
•Ranking & rating
•Matching
1) Speculation – With clues learners predict the nature/topic of a text
Sentences: The teacher (physically) cuts three sentences from a text (the choice is important). Learners are shown these one at a time and have to come up with an overall impression/gist. (For lower levels, images could be used).
Titles: Show learners only the title and have them speculate on what the text is about.
First Line/Last Line: The teacher reads the first line of the text. Learners have to speculate about the rest; the same can be done by revealing only the last line.
Keywords: Learners are given keywords from the text and have to suggest how the full text goes.
Image and Text: The teacher reads the text. Learners have to decide which, of a group of images, most closely relate to the text.
Cloze: The teacher whites out i) every nth word, ii) all words of a certain type (adjectives, verbs etc.) or iii) key items of vocabulary. The learners must come up with appropriate words to fill the blanks.
Completion: Students provide a likely completion for a given part of a word, sentence, paragraph, narrative, or dialogue - e.g. “Steven Biko’s life was diff…” “When I have exams, I get...”, “… and stir in gradually” .
2) Matching - pairing together words, items, objects, pictures etc. which have something in common.
Pictures and Texts: Students match a selection of pictures with the appropriate texts (e.g. newspaper photographs and their captions).
Pictures and Words: Students match a selection of pictures with the appropriate vocabulary.
Texts and Texts: Students match texts that have something in common with each other (e.g. news headlines and the related story).
3) Jigsaw/Sequence - A text/image is cut or divided into pieces, and reassembled in order.
Words/lines/sentences: Sentences are cut into words and learners read each separately. Learners share information to put a sentence together using all the words. The same can be done with paragraphs i.e. cut into lines or whole sentences whereby learners will reassemble the paragraph.
Paragraphs: The teacher cuts the text into paragraphs and learners read each separately. Learners share information to put the whole text together.
Fractions: The teacher cuts up an article at random, into strips for example. Learners have to put it back together in a logical order.
Actions: The teacher breaks a text into actions. These can be represented by words and/or images. Learners have to put the text together.
4) Ranking and Rating - A number of words / items / pictures etc. must be prioritized or categorized.
Rank and Compare: Learners individually rank a number of short news story headlines in terms of their importance and then ask questions to ascertain the others' results. With more advanced groups, the teacher should encourage more justification on the part of the learners.
Rate and Compare: learners individually rate a number of news headlines / events / images etc. (5 stars = most interesting, 1 star = least interesting) - and ask questions to ascertain the others' results
Rank and Reach a Consensus: learners are given a short story with, say, a tragic outcome involving several characters. Learners are asked individually to rank “who is most responsible for the outcome”. As a pair or group they are required to discuss and reach a consensus on this not unlike a jury would.
Rate and Reach a Consensus: learners individually rate a number e.g. job or life-skill descriptions in terms of their ‘usefulness’. As a pair or group they are required to discuss and come to a consensus in order to arrive at one (or several) item(s) deemed “very useful”.
Setting a Purpose/Goal for Communication
A purpose or goal is given at the outset, and should include a condition or set of conditions which learners might encounter in the wider society. Completing an information gap under a time limit, solving a conflict of interest, deciphering misinformation, awarding points for say, error recognition (which could be corpus-based), are just some examples. Also we should consider time constraints; in the real world we are frequently made subject to deadlines, when it comes to completing tasks in the workplace, filing our taxes, and so on. Alternatively, personalizing the task i.e. creating a meaning for the student is an equally effective motive for communication. If asked, learners sometimes express that studying English is not just about acquiring skills or knowledge. It is a way of relieving stress, after say, a hard day at work. Raising issues such as working conditions, specific duties, gender inequality might, considerably enhance a text on ‘jobs’; these issues may relate (at some point) to the experience of the learner. The learner’s motivation is fueled by a desire to let out personal frustrations – a very natural way to communicate! Furthermore, the classroom may seem a like a ‘safe-house’ for the learner in which to freely express job anxieties, where such talk may be discouraged in his/her L1 community.
Task Link
It is important (and equally difficult) to consider how a text-based task fits into the scheme of the lesson. What preceding task will ensure a smoother transition? Preceding text-based tasks with, for example, a brainstorm of ideas/vocabulary surrounding the topic/theme offers the teacher insight into what the learners already know, thus allowing for the ongoing modification and development of the lesson. Also, the learners may provide additional information surrounding the topic, which may serve as ‘fodder’ for a later task. By encouraging learners to brainstorm, rich and versatile material is created that can be utilized in a variety of ways. Material (input) that derives from the learner’s experience, knowledge, preference and imagination is more likely to result in topicality, relevance and participation, as well as greater stimulation and interest.
Conclusion
Text-based input can be used in a number of ways to produce meaningful (and thus motivational) communicative tasks. It is important to remember that the success of any task is dependent upon the six key factors listed in this article: learner needs, input, task type, goal/purpose, task link and learner organization and roles.
References
•Karpova, L. (1999, May/June). Consider the following when selecting and using authentic materials. TESOL Matters, 9(2), 18.
•Kelly, C., Kelly, L., Offner, M., & Vorland, B. (2002, November). Effective ways to use authentic materials with ESL/EFL students. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(11). Retrieved Dec 16, 2009 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html
•Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon
•Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers.
•Rooney, K. (2000, December). Redesigning non-task-based materials to fit a task-based framework. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(12). Retrieved Dec 16, 2009, from
•http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Rooney-Task-Based.html
•Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
•Willis, J. and Willis, D. (1996). (Eds.). Challenge and change in language teaching. Oxford: Heinemann/MacMillan ELT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Promoting Positive Attitudes in ESL/EFL Classes
Promoting Positive Attitudes in ESL/EFL Classes
Iakovos Tsiplakides and Areti Keramida
Introduction
It is widely accepted that an important predictor of success in a foreign language is students' attitude towards it. In ESL/EFL contexts, students who consider the learning of English as a positive and rewarding experience are less likely to suffer from foreign language anxiety. By contrast, they usually have higher levels of motivation, willingness to participate, and high language performance. Students' attitude towards the foreign language is very often influenced by: a) teacher-student relationships, b) the general classroom atmosphere, and c) the use of authentic teaching materials and activities.
This article is practical in nature. Its aim is to provide English teachers with a set of strategies and practical suggestions in order to help their students develop a positive attitude toward learning English as a foreign language.
Factor 1: Teacher-student Relationships
Teachers can make a valuable contribution to developing a friendly relationship with their students. The following is a checklist with appropriate and effective teacher behavior:
1. Remember that your everyday classroom behavior is important. Most students consider their teacher as a role model. For this reason, in order to motivate your students to learn English, you need to be enthusiastic, cheerful and sincere. (Brophy, 2004:28). Show your students that you actually care for them, and you are there to help them master the English language, rather that constantly criticizing or correcting them. Students want teachers who are friendly, caring, and trustworthy (Ebata, 2008). Always be well prepared for the lesson, and show willingness to answer students' questions.
2. Acknowledge the importance of immediacy in your classroom behavior. This involves verbal (use of humor, use of students' first names), and nonverbal (eye contact, positive gestures) immediacy behavior. Such behavior has a positive impact on motivation to learn, and can decrease foreign language anxiety (Frymier, 1993).
3. Provide to all students, regardless of their performance, enough time to answer questions. When students have difficulty answering, provide scaffolding rather than calling on another student. Use the following techniques: a) thinking aloud, b) providing hints and clues, c) providing appropriate feedback, and d) explaining the stages necessary for task completion
4. Communicate expectancies for success for all students. Do not form differential expectations for your students based on qualities such as gender, ethnicity, or parents' background (Schunk et al, 2008: 322). Remember that active participation is a major determinant of performance in the foreign language and that in your lesson you need the participation of all students. In order to avoid communicating low expectancies for success, you should avoid the following: a) calling on weak students less often to answer questions, b) providing fewer clues to low achievers when they have difficulty in answering, c) rarely expressing personal interest in low achievers, d) criticizing low achievers more often when they make mistakes, and e) smiling less often to weak students, waiting less time for them to answer, staying farther away physically, or avoiding eye contact with them
5. Address the issue of lack of interest due to past failures in the foreign language. Past failures (e.g. low exam grades) are often the main reason for students' lack of motivation and low self-esteem. One of your first priorities should be to communicate to all students that you expect all students to be successful, regardless of previous performance. Tell them that you expect them to "make a fresh start" and show them that you believe in their abilities and you are there to help them.
6. Be extremely careful in providing praise. While praise can convey "positive teacher affect" (Schunk et al, 2008: 314), it should be proportionate to the language performance eliciting the praise. For example, if excessive praise is given to students of low ability for answering a simple question, this can be interpreted by students as an indication that the teacher has little confidence in their abilities (Thompson, 1997). Thus, praise should be appropriate and provided at the time of the desired performance. Criticism should aim at explaining to students how they could do better (Kyriacou, 1997:83), and should be devoid of personal criticism or sarcasm.
Factor 2: Fostering a Positive Psychological Classroom Atmosphere
It is important to establish a kind of "classroom community", in which students feel free to communicate using the foreign language. An important thing to bear in mind is that you should create a classroom atmosphere in which language errors are considered a natural part of the process of learning a foreign language (Dornyei (2001: 42). If errors are ridiculed, some students may suffer from communication apprehension, that is, they will be unwilling to communicate using the target language. The following techniques are intended to create a friendly, non-threatening class classroom climate:
1. In speaking activities avoid excessive, "on the spot" correction. This can discourage students from speaking and experimenting with new language (Lightbown and Spada, 1999).
2. In writing tasks, adopt a correction code. Prompt students about the location and the nature of errors rather than correcting every mistake (Lee 1997:466). When students get back any piece of written work with too many corrections, their confidence is undermined, and they experience frustration and demotivation (Edge, 1989:50).
3. Establish a set of classroom rules and enforce them fairly and consistently with all students. For example, make it clear to all students that ridiculing a wrong answer, not completing homework, or misbehaving is not acceptable behavior.
4. Incorporate collaborative work in your English classroom. Short-term, or long-term projects can make students personally involved in the language learning process, and increase motivation (Lee, 2002). They help students feel that their language output is not constantly assessed. As a result, they are more likely to participate and focus on communication, rather than on accuracy. An additional advantage of project work is that students have an active role in the implementation of project work, which can both boost their confidence and also teach them collaborative skills.
Factor 3: Creating an Attractive Physical Classroom Environment
Very often teachers overlook the significance of an attractive and motivating physical environment. However, teachers can make a significant contribution to the physical environment in which teaching and learning takes place. The following is some practical advice.
1. Pay attention to seating arrangement. For example, you can encourage and facilitate cooperation among students (e.g. pair or group work), by carefully arranging three to four desks together (Levin and Nolan, 1996:126).
2. Make effective use of bulletin boards and display areas. These are excellent for displaying students' work, such as collaborative tasks and projects.
3. Posters, maps, newspaper clippings, can be used in order to provide a stimulus for classroom discussion. Posters can also familiarize students with cultural elements of the countries in which the English language is spoken.
4. Classroom procedures and rules are necessary for effective classroom organization. Posting these guidelines on a bulletin board is a good way to communicate them to students.
5. Bring to the classroom a number of English books, so that students can borrow them. This can serve as a stimulus for learners to read authentic English texts (e.g. literature) and familiarize themselves with English culture and history.
Factor 4: Supplementing the Teaching Material with Authentic Texts and Tasks
Students often develop negative attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language due to the lack of stimulating, authentic teaching material and tasks. Authentic material is meaningful to students, challenges their cognitive abilities, engages them personally. It also increases interest and intrinsic motivation. If you feel that your English coursebook contains few authentic texts, then you need to provide your students with authentic texts and activities. Authentic material and tasks should be selected based on the following guidelines:
a) They should be related to the students' interests, knowledge and everyday experiences.
b) They should foster learner autonomy by providing activities and tasks that require students to use English for authentic communicative purposes.
Conclusion
The above parameters, which have a great impact on promoting positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language, are essential by themselves. However, they overlap, and fostering of positive attitudes is a complex mixture of all the features described.
English teachers should also note that the principles and techniques described above are general. Teachers need to adapt them according to their students' needs and the specific teaching context.
Finally, apart from the above principles, it is worth mentioning that fostering positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language is a dynamic process. Teachers should be constantly observing their classrooms and their students. In this way, they will be able to identify sources of discontent among students, recognize the reasons why they misbehave, are unwilling to participate, and have low performance.
References
•Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating Students to Learn, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
•Dörnyei, Z. 2001. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
•Ebata, M. (2008). Motivation Factors in Language Learning. The Internet TESL Journal, 14 (4). http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ebata-MotivationFactors.html
•Frymier, A. (1993). The impact of teacher immediacy on students’ motivation: Is it the same for all students?. Communication Education, 41, 454-464.
•Kyriacou, C. (1997) Effective teaching in schools: theory and practice. Second. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
•Lightbown, P., and N. Spada. 1999. How Languages are Learned. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
•Lee I. (1997) ESL learners’ performance in error correction in writing: some implications for teaching. System, 25 (4): 465-477.
•Lee, I. (2002). Project work made easy in the English classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review 59, 282-290
•Levin, J., & Nolan, J.F., (1996). Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Mode. Second edition. USA: Allyn and Bacon.
•Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R., & Meece, J. L. (2008) Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications. Third edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
•Thompson, T. (1997). Do we need to train teachers how to administer praise? Self-worth theory says we do. Learning and Instruction, 7: 49-63.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Iakovos Tsiplakides and Areti Keramida
Introduction
It is widely accepted that an important predictor of success in a foreign language is students' attitude towards it. In ESL/EFL contexts, students who consider the learning of English as a positive and rewarding experience are less likely to suffer from foreign language anxiety. By contrast, they usually have higher levels of motivation, willingness to participate, and high language performance. Students' attitude towards the foreign language is very often influenced by: a) teacher-student relationships, b) the general classroom atmosphere, and c) the use of authentic teaching materials and activities.
This article is practical in nature. Its aim is to provide English teachers with a set of strategies and practical suggestions in order to help their students develop a positive attitude toward learning English as a foreign language.
Factor 1: Teacher-student Relationships
Teachers can make a valuable contribution to developing a friendly relationship with their students. The following is a checklist with appropriate and effective teacher behavior:
1. Remember that your everyday classroom behavior is important. Most students consider their teacher as a role model. For this reason, in order to motivate your students to learn English, you need to be enthusiastic, cheerful and sincere. (Brophy, 2004:28). Show your students that you actually care for them, and you are there to help them master the English language, rather that constantly criticizing or correcting them. Students want teachers who are friendly, caring, and trustworthy (Ebata, 2008). Always be well prepared for the lesson, and show willingness to answer students' questions.
2. Acknowledge the importance of immediacy in your classroom behavior. This involves verbal (use of humor, use of students' first names), and nonverbal (eye contact, positive gestures) immediacy behavior. Such behavior has a positive impact on motivation to learn, and can decrease foreign language anxiety (Frymier, 1993).
3. Provide to all students, regardless of their performance, enough time to answer questions. When students have difficulty answering, provide scaffolding rather than calling on another student. Use the following techniques: a) thinking aloud, b) providing hints and clues, c) providing appropriate feedback, and d) explaining the stages necessary for task completion
4. Communicate expectancies for success for all students. Do not form differential expectations for your students based on qualities such as gender, ethnicity, or parents' background (Schunk et al, 2008: 322). Remember that active participation is a major determinant of performance in the foreign language and that in your lesson you need the participation of all students. In order to avoid communicating low expectancies for success, you should avoid the following: a) calling on weak students less often to answer questions, b) providing fewer clues to low achievers when they have difficulty in answering, c) rarely expressing personal interest in low achievers, d) criticizing low achievers more often when they make mistakes, and e) smiling less often to weak students, waiting less time for them to answer, staying farther away physically, or avoiding eye contact with them
5. Address the issue of lack of interest due to past failures in the foreign language. Past failures (e.g. low exam grades) are often the main reason for students' lack of motivation and low self-esteem. One of your first priorities should be to communicate to all students that you expect all students to be successful, regardless of previous performance. Tell them that you expect them to "make a fresh start" and show them that you believe in their abilities and you are there to help them.
6. Be extremely careful in providing praise. While praise can convey "positive teacher affect" (Schunk et al, 2008: 314), it should be proportionate to the language performance eliciting the praise. For example, if excessive praise is given to students of low ability for answering a simple question, this can be interpreted by students as an indication that the teacher has little confidence in their abilities (Thompson, 1997). Thus, praise should be appropriate and provided at the time of the desired performance. Criticism should aim at explaining to students how they could do better (Kyriacou, 1997:83), and should be devoid of personal criticism or sarcasm.
Factor 2: Fostering a Positive Psychological Classroom Atmosphere
It is important to establish a kind of "classroom community", in which students feel free to communicate using the foreign language. An important thing to bear in mind is that you should create a classroom atmosphere in which language errors are considered a natural part of the process of learning a foreign language (Dornyei (2001: 42). If errors are ridiculed, some students may suffer from communication apprehension, that is, they will be unwilling to communicate using the target language. The following techniques are intended to create a friendly, non-threatening class classroom climate:
1. In speaking activities avoid excessive, "on the spot" correction. This can discourage students from speaking and experimenting with new language (Lightbown and Spada, 1999).
2. In writing tasks, adopt a correction code. Prompt students about the location and the nature of errors rather than correcting every mistake (Lee 1997:466). When students get back any piece of written work with too many corrections, their confidence is undermined, and they experience frustration and demotivation (Edge, 1989:50).
3. Establish a set of classroom rules and enforce them fairly and consistently with all students. For example, make it clear to all students that ridiculing a wrong answer, not completing homework, or misbehaving is not acceptable behavior.
4. Incorporate collaborative work in your English classroom. Short-term, or long-term projects can make students personally involved in the language learning process, and increase motivation (Lee, 2002). They help students feel that their language output is not constantly assessed. As a result, they are more likely to participate and focus on communication, rather than on accuracy. An additional advantage of project work is that students have an active role in the implementation of project work, which can both boost their confidence and also teach them collaborative skills.
Factor 3: Creating an Attractive Physical Classroom Environment
Very often teachers overlook the significance of an attractive and motivating physical environment. However, teachers can make a significant contribution to the physical environment in which teaching and learning takes place. The following is some practical advice.
1. Pay attention to seating arrangement. For example, you can encourage and facilitate cooperation among students (e.g. pair or group work), by carefully arranging three to four desks together (Levin and Nolan, 1996:126).
2. Make effective use of bulletin boards and display areas. These are excellent for displaying students' work, such as collaborative tasks and projects.
3. Posters, maps, newspaper clippings, can be used in order to provide a stimulus for classroom discussion. Posters can also familiarize students with cultural elements of the countries in which the English language is spoken.
4. Classroom procedures and rules are necessary for effective classroom organization. Posting these guidelines on a bulletin board is a good way to communicate them to students.
5. Bring to the classroom a number of English books, so that students can borrow them. This can serve as a stimulus for learners to read authentic English texts (e.g. literature) and familiarize themselves with English culture and history.
Factor 4: Supplementing the Teaching Material with Authentic Texts and Tasks
Students often develop negative attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language due to the lack of stimulating, authentic teaching material and tasks. Authentic material is meaningful to students, challenges their cognitive abilities, engages them personally. It also increases interest and intrinsic motivation. If you feel that your English coursebook contains few authentic texts, then you need to provide your students with authentic texts and activities. Authentic material and tasks should be selected based on the following guidelines:
a) They should be related to the students' interests, knowledge and everyday experiences.
b) They should foster learner autonomy by providing activities and tasks that require students to use English for authentic communicative purposes.
Conclusion
The above parameters, which have a great impact on promoting positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language, are essential by themselves. However, they overlap, and fostering of positive attitudes is a complex mixture of all the features described.
English teachers should also note that the principles and techniques described above are general. Teachers need to adapt them according to their students' needs and the specific teaching context.
Finally, apart from the above principles, it is worth mentioning that fostering positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language is a dynamic process. Teachers should be constantly observing their classrooms and their students. In this way, they will be able to identify sources of discontent among students, recognize the reasons why they misbehave, are unwilling to participate, and have low performance.
References
•Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating Students to Learn, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
•Dörnyei, Z. 2001. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
•Ebata, M. (2008). Motivation Factors in Language Learning. The Internet TESL Journal, 14 (4). http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ebata-MotivationFactors.html
•Frymier, A. (1993). The impact of teacher immediacy on students’ motivation: Is it the same for all students?. Communication Education, 41, 454-464.
•Kyriacou, C. (1997) Effective teaching in schools: theory and practice. Second. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
•Lightbown, P., and N. Spada. 1999. How Languages are Learned. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
•Lee I. (1997) ESL learners’ performance in error correction in writing: some implications for teaching. System, 25 (4): 465-477.
•Lee, I. (2002). Project work made easy in the English classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review 59, 282-290
•Levin, J., & Nolan, J.F., (1996). Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Mode. Second edition. USA: Allyn and Bacon.
•Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R., & Meece, J. L. (2008) Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications. Third edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
•Thompson, T. (1997). Do we need to train teachers how to administer praise? Self-worth theory says we do. Learning and Instruction, 7: 49-63.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Teaching Using Google
Teaching Using Google
Claudio de Paiva Franco
UFRJ / Colégio Pedro II (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
This article offers teachers a brief overview of some Google applications and resources, which may be incorporated into teaching, whether in face to face, hybrid or online contexts. The paper also provides examples of how to utilize Google services and suggests some classroom activities to be implemented.
Introduction
Google is a very popular search engine on the Web. This company has built a reputable name in the market by improving the quality of search results and over time has launched online tools such as a translator (http://translate.google.com), a blog constructor (www.blogger.com) and a web browser (www.google.com/chrome). What few people may know, however, is that Google has made tools available for educational purposes. Google for Educators (www.google.com/educators) offers applications to be used in the classroom, classroom activities, posters, lesson plans, tips, videos, a discussion group and other resources to support teachers. A selection of relevant Google tools as well as useful ideas for using them in the classroom are presented in this article.
Google Custom Search
It is possible to customize your search with Google Custom Search (GCS) (http://www.google.com/cse) by creating a search engine to display on your website. Designed to tailor to your needs, this tool enables you to include specific websites, providing your students with search results you regard as most significant and avoiding unexpected content. In other words, GCS refines your search once you can determine which websites will be displayed on the results page.
The next picture is a results page from a search engine created with GCS – Reading in English – whose objective is to offer EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners material on reading. In this example, the results for the query “tips” are ranked from preselected websites.
Figure 1: Example of a result list with Google Custom Search
If you teach young learners and they are being introduced to the Internet, this customized search will be a major time-saver for your classes as the students will be focused on the websites you included, not to mention that the search is improved when inappropriate webpages (with spam, pornography, ads) are left out. However, if you would like your learners to gain a more thorough web search experience, you may set your engine to search the entire web. This option lists the results with greater emphasis on the websites you select.
Google offers two editions of Custom Search: standard and business. The standard edition is free of charge and allows you to customize the look of your search and host the search box and results on your website. This edition shows ads along the search results, but they can be disabled since you are creating a search engine for educational purposes, i.e. for a nonprofit organization, university or educational institution. For the business edition there is a charge and it comes with additional options. Even though you opt for the standard edition of GCS, you must have a Google account to create your search engine.
Google Scholar
This search engine (http://scholar.google.com) provides an academic, scholarly search with a broad scope of sources from around the world. It is feasible to search from articles, theses, books, abstracts or court opinions from different subject areas and from a wide range of academic publishers, professionals and universities. Teachers may find Google Scholar useful to help learners search for trustworthy content (at least less inaccurate and misleading information) on the web as it gives access to reputable webpages and reliable top-level domains - e.g. educational websites (.edu), U.S governmental/non-military websites (.gov), U.S. nonprofit organizations (.org) - and usually provides works in printable file formats like PDF and DOC files.
Google Scholar ranks its documents for researchers, providing the author, the date of publication, as well as how often it has been cited in other scholarly literature. Results marked as citation are papers not retrieved online, but may help researchers find relevant information such as the complete reference for a document which is not available online yet.
For a more accurate search, it is also possible to specify the year in which articles were published or, should you choose the advanced scholar search, articles can be traced by author. In the same way as with the traditional Google search engine, Scholar does not require a Google account to be utilized.
Google Docs
Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) is a web-based word processing, spreadsheet and presentation program that enables the creation of documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You can also create web-based surveys and display them on your blog or educational website in order to gather information from your students. Apart from being able to create basic documents and upload most popular file formats (e.g. DOC, RTF, XLS, PPT), you can instantly share your files with your students or other teachers. They can view and edit the documents in real time, which means you can work collaboratively at a rapid pace. There is an on-screen chat window available that shows who changed what, and when. The people you invite to be collaborators may add information, edit the layout and make several revisions to the document any time, from anywhere. All contributors, however, must have Google accounts.
As group collaboration seems to be crucial in facilitating writing as a process, Google Docs can be really helpful in serving this purpose. It not only facilitates process writing by encouraging students to work together on a document, but also makes it possible to receive instant feedback from colleagues and the teacher. Another advantage is that you do not need any additional software on your computer to access the documents. Any computer connected to the Internet allows participants to effortlessly have access and save documents for free. Documents can be published to the entire world, a few people or even be posted to a website.
Keeping an electronic student’s diary, building a portfolio, sharing the course agenda, completing writing assignments and comparing experiments online are just some examples of what could be done with Google Docs. For more ideas on how to build online documents, the Google for Educators site (www.google.com/educators) offers teacher-submitted docs and ready-to-use templates. These include class activities and lesson plans organized according to the grade and school subject.
Google Groups
Google Groups (http://groups.google.com) is a free, online service that allows the formation of discussion groups. Interaction among group members is facilitated as they can communicate without difficulty and effectively via Web or email and share files. Google Groups are suitable for extending classroom discussion online, can be used as a component of an online course or deliver an entire web-based course, where participants conduct debates and exchange ideas. Additionally, teachers can make classroom materials and online resources available to students.
If you are a teacher and would like to take part in a discussion group to share ideas with fellow educators, you may join the Google for Educators Discussion Group (http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators). This group attempts to build an online community of educators where members ask questions about education, submit lesson plans, teaching resources, and classroom activities. It is compulsory to have a Google account in order to participate in the Google Groups service.
Google News
Google News (http://news.google.com) allows you to have access to news from a wide variety of sources in a single place, as well as personalize your news page to see what interests you most. It is also possible to stay tuned for the news and have them sent directly to your email. Teachers may encourage students to produce their own newspaper. Once you choose to personalize a news page, custom sections can be added with your keywords. Students could compare and contrast their views on daily or weekly news items.
Google Reader
Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) makes it easy to keep up with your favorite webpages and blogs. The service constantly checks for updates from selected websites and shows the new content in a single place to be read, sorted, and shared. Teachers and students can read items shared by one another and also make notes on the news articles.
Google Translate
Google Translate (http://translate.google.com) is a very practical online translator for foreign language students. One of its latest improvements enables users to contribute a more appropriate translation, as we can see in the following figure.
Figure 2: Example of how to suggest a better translation with Google Translator
Google Buzz
Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com) allows sharing a wide range of documents (e.g. texts, videos, pictures) with your colleagues or publicly. You can make posts and get comments on your posts. If you share a blog post in Google Reader, it automatically is added to Google Buzz. Teachers and students may find it quite easy to share content online if they are Gmail users. Buzz requires a Gmail account and is available for mobiles as well.
References
Here is a compilation of websites cited in this article (accessed 24 February 2010).
•Google Blogger: http://www.blogger.com
•Google Buzz: http://buzz.google.com
•Google Chrome: http://google.com/chrome
•Google Custom Search: http://www.google.com/cse◦Examples:■http://iteslj.org/search/ - limited to one website
■http://a4esl.org/search/ - limited to 2 websites iteslj.org/v & a4esl.org
■http://www.manythings.org/voa/search/ - limited to a sub-directory of a website.
•Google Docs: http://docs.google.com
•Google for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators
•Google for Educators Discussion Group: http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators
•Google Groups: http://groups.google.com
•Google News: http://news.google.com
•Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com
•Google Translator: http://translate.google.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Claudio de Paiva Franco
UFRJ / Colégio Pedro II (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
This article offers teachers a brief overview of some Google applications and resources, which may be incorporated into teaching, whether in face to face, hybrid or online contexts. The paper also provides examples of how to utilize Google services and suggests some classroom activities to be implemented.
Introduction
Google is a very popular search engine on the Web. This company has built a reputable name in the market by improving the quality of search results and over time has launched online tools such as a translator (http://translate.google.com), a blog constructor (www.blogger.com) and a web browser (www.google.com/chrome). What few people may know, however, is that Google has made tools available for educational purposes. Google for Educators (www.google.com/educators) offers applications to be used in the classroom, classroom activities, posters, lesson plans, tips, videos, a discussion group and other resources to support teachers. A selection of relevant Google tools as well as useful ideas for using them in the classroom are presented in this article.
Google Custom Search
It is possible to customize your search with Google Custom Search (GCS) (http://www.google.com/cse) by creating a search engine to display on your website. Designed to tailor to your needs, this tool enables you to include specific websites, providing your students with search results you regard as most significant and avoiding unexpected content. In other words, GCS refines your search once you can determine which websites will be displayed on the results page.
The next picture is a results page from a search engine created with GCS – Reading in English – whose objective is to offer EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners material on reading. In this example, the results for the query “tips” are ranked from preselected websites.
Figure 1: Example of a result list with Google Custom Search
If you teach young learners and they are being introduced to the Internet, this customized search will be a major time-saver for your classes as the students will be focused on the websites you included, not to mention that the search is improved when inappropriate webpages (with spam, pornography, ads) are left out. However, if you would like your learners to gain a more thorough web search experience, you may set your engine to search the entire web. This option lists the results with greater emphasis on the websites you select.
Google offers two editions of Custom Search: standard and business. The standard edition is free of charge and allows you to customize the look of your search and host the search box and results on your website. This edition shows ads along the search results, but they can be disabled since you are creating a search engine for educational purposes, i.e. for a nonprofit organization, university or educational institution. For the business edition there is a charge and it comes with additional options. Even though you opt for the standard edition of GCS, you must have a Google account to create your search engine.
Google Scholar
This search engine (http://scholar.google.com) provides an academic, scholarly search with a broad scope of sources from around the world. It is feasible to search from articles, theses, books, abstracts or court opinions from different subject areas and from a wide range of academic publishers, professionals and universities. Teachers may find Google Scholar useful to help learners search for trustworthy content (at least less inaccurate and misleading information) on the web as it gives access to reputable webpages and reliable top-level domains - e.g. educational websites (.edu), U.S governmental/non-military websites (.gov), U.S. nonprofit organizations (.org) - and usually provides works in printable file formats like PDF and DOC files.
Google Scholar ranks its documents for researchers, providing the author, the date of publication, as well as how often it has been cited in other scholarly literature. Results marked as citation are papers not retrieved online, but may help researchers find relevant information such as the complete reference for a document which is not available online yet.
For a more accurate search, it is also possible to specify the year in which articles were published or, should you choose the advanced scholar search, articles can be traced by author. In the same way as with the traditional Google search engine, Scholar does not require a Google account to be utilized.
Google Docs
Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) is a web-based word processing, spreadsheet and presentation program that enables the creation of documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You can also create web-based surveys and display them on your blog or educational website in order to gather information from your students. Apart from being able to create basic documents and upload most popular file formats (e.g. DOC, RTF, XLS, PPT), you can instantly share your files with your students or other teachers. They can view and edit the documents in real time, which means you can work collaboratively at a rapid pace. There is an on-screen chat window available that shows who changed what, and when. The people you invite to be collaborators may add information, edit the layout and make several revisions to the document any time, from anywhere. All contributors, however, must have Google accounts.
As group collaboration seems to be crucial in facilitating writing as a process, Google Docs can be really helpful in serving this purpose. It not only facilitates process writing by encouraging students to work together on a document, but also makes it possible to receive instant feedback from colleagues and the teacher. Another advantage is that you do not need any additional software on your computer to access the documents. Any computer connected to the Internet allows participants to effortlessly have access and save documents for free. Documents can be published to the entire world, a few people or even be posted to a website.
Keeping an electronic student’s diary, building a portfolio, sharing the course agenda, completing writing assignments and comparing experiments online are just some examples of what could be done with Google Docs. For more ideas on how to build online documents, the Google for Educators site (www.google.com/educators) offers teacher-submitted docs and ready-to-use templates. These include class activities and lesson plans organized according to the grade and school subject.
Google Groups
Google Groups (http://groups.google.com) is a free, online service that allows the formation of discussion groups. Interaction among group members is facilitated as they can communicate without difficulty and effectively via Web or email and share files. Google Groups are suitable for extending classroom discussion online, can be used as a component of an online course or deliver an entire web-based course, where participants conduct debates and exchange ideas. Additionally, teachers can make classroom materials and online resources available to students.
If you are a teacher and would like to take part in a discussion group to share ideas with fellow educators, you may join the Google for Educators Discussion Group (http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators). This group attempts to build an online community of educators where members ask questions about education, submit lesson plans, teaching resources, and classroom activities. It is compulsory to have a Google account in order to participate in the Google Groups service.
Google News
Google News (http://news.google.com) allows you to have access to news from a wide variety of sources in a single place, as well as personalize your news page to see what interests you most. It is also possible to stay tuned for the news and have them sent directly to your email. Teachers may encourage students to produce their own newspaper. Once you choose to personalize a news page, custom sections can be added with your keywords. Students could compare and contrast their views on daily or weekly news items.
Google Reader
Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) makes it easy to keep up with your favorite webpages and blogs. The service constantly checks for updates from selected websites and shows the new content in a single place to be read, sorted, and shared. Teachers and students can read items shared by one another and also make notes on the news articles.
Google Translate
Google Translate (http://translate.google.com) is a very practical online translator for foreign language students. One of its latest improvements enables users to contribute a more appropriate translation, as we can see in the following figure.
Figure 2: Example of how to suggest a better translation with Google Translator
Google Buzz
Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com) allows sharing a wide range of documents (e.g. texts, videos, pictures) with your colleagues or publicly. You can make posts and get comments on your posts. If you share a blog post in Google Reader, it automatically is added to Google Buzz. Teachers and students may find it quite easy to share content online if they are Gmail users. Buzz requires a Gmail account and is available for mobiles as well.
References
Here is a compilation of websites cited in this article (accessed 24 February 2010).
•Google Blogger: http://www.blogger.com
•Google Buzz: http://buzz.google.com
•Google Chrome: http://google.com/chrome
•Google Custom Search: http://www.google.com/cse◦Examples:■http://iteslj.org/search/ - limited to one website
■http://a4esl.org/search/ - limited to 2 websites iteslj.org/v & a4esl.org
■http://www.manythings.org/voa/search/ - limited to a sub-directory of a website.
•Google Docs: http://docs.google.com
•Google for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators
•Google for Educators Discussion Group: http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators
•Google Groups: http://groups.google.com
•Google News: http://news.google.com
•Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com
•Google Translator: http://translate.google.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Review Game for High School and University ESL/EFL Classes
Review Game for High School and University ESL/EFL Classes
Julian Pigott
Kyoto Sangyo University (Kyoto, Japan)
Introduction
Students design and play their own board games, reviewing recently covered material. This activity is ideal as a pre-test or end-of-term review. As well as being fun, the activity also:
•Can be used to revise any course material.
•Adapts itself to all levels.
•Encourages the participation of all students.
•Allows the teacher time to move around the class engaging with students.
Level
This activity is particularly suited to large classes of false-beginner to pre-intermediate students in compulsory education, from Junior high school to university, because it is a fun and non-threatening activity that requires the participation - in English - of all players.
Materials
One sheet of A3 or B4 paper per two to four students. Coloured pencils/pens. Textbooks/course materials. Dice.
Optional: Examples of board games (see Appendix). Board-game templates (see Appendix); a short list of quiz questions for low-level students.
Preparation
Depending on the students' English ability, teachers should be prepared to explain procedural details in the students' L1 in order to make sure they understand exactly what is expected of them. Depending on how much time is available, teachers may also wish to prepare board game templates beforehand, either for the students to use, or just as examples. For low-level students, it is also a good idea to prepare a list of questions for them to include in their games.
Time
This will require 90 to 120 minutes, depending on how much freedom and time students are given to design their games. Students spend the first 50 minutes (of a 90 minute lesson) preparing the games and the remaining time playing their classmates' games.
Procedure
Step 1
Explain to the students that they are going to be reviewing the materials they have studied this semester/year, and that they are going to do this in a fun way, by designing and playing a board game. Explain the timetable for making the games (see above). If you have some sample games, pass them around the class for the students to see. I have included a link to two examples of games in the appendix.
Step 2
Explain that there are four issues that the teams have to think about in designing their board game.
1) The Game's Theme and Design
Themes I have encountered in the past include local sightseeing tours, cartoon/manga characters, stepping stones across piranha-infested rivers, even a journey through the human digestive system (not for the squeamish!). If you have prepared some board-game templates, show them to the students and tell them that they are welcome to use them. Templates are easily created, or can be found with a Google search. Tell the students that their game must have a start and a finish and 'x' amount of questions. I recommend 12 as a bare minimum.
2) Rewards and Penalties
Good board games have a system of rewards and penalties. Write some of the following better known ones on the board as examples.
Rewards
•ladders (which speed the player towards the goal, skipping several steps)
•bonus squares
•go forward three spaces
•take an extra turn
•go again
Penalties
•snakes (the player slides back towards the start)
•miss a turn
•go to jail
•go back to the start
3) Questions
Write examples such as the following ones on the board.
•Name three things you did last weekend.
•Do you like sushi?
Discuss with the students the fact that the first question works better as a quiz question because it is more challenging to answer, it requires more use of English, and it is more interesting. Encourage students to come up with these types of open-ended questions. Write on the board the units of the textbook (or other material) that you have covered recently and encourage students to use these resources so that the games will be a useful review and consolidation activity.
4) Roles
Tell students to assign roles in their groups. In a group of three, for example, one group member can take care of the design, one can devise rewards and punishments, and another can write the questions down on a second piece of paper before copying them onto the board games. Explain that it is important for everybody to work together to produce a good game so that their classmates can enjoy playing it.
Step 3
Students prepare their games. In some of my classes, students tend to be more interested in the design of their game than in including relevant questions, so they may need gentle encouragement to focus on questions. As students work on their games, you may wish to circulate more examples of board games - student-made or otherwise - to provide them with inspiration. Many ESL/EFL textbooks include board game-style activies and these too can be used as a reference. If the time to play is approaching but students still don't appear to have enough questions, you can hand out a list of supplementary questions or write up a list on the blackboard for the students to use. More advanced students can write a set of rules to accompany their game.
Step 4
Students share their games and play them. In large classes there will be a constant supply of new games to play, and lots of of reinforcement of the material being reviewed. I usually rotate the games roughly every five minutes. Complaints about not having enough time to finish are soon forgotten as students wonder excitedly about what lies in store for them with the next game!
Option
In groups, students can decide which game was their favorite and think of three reasons why they like it. This can be done as a class discussion or as a short writing report to end the lesson on a quiet note.
Appendix
There are also two examples of board templates (these can be designed quickly or found with a Google search) on the following web page:
http://www.talljules.com/index.php?cID=67
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Julian Pigott
Kyoto Sangyo University (Kyoto, Japan)
Introduction
Students design and play their own board games, reviewing recently covered material. This activity is ideal as a pre-test or end-of-term review. As well as being fun, the activity also:
•Can be used to revise any course material.
•Adapts itself to all levels.
•Encourages the participation of all students.
•Allows the teacher time to move around the class engaging with students.
Level
This activity is particularly suited to large classes of false-beginner to pre-intermediate students in compulsory education, from Junior high school to university, because it is a fun and non-threatening activity that requires the participation - in English - of all players.
Materials
One sheet of A3 or B4 paper per two to four students. Coloured pencils/pens. Textbooks/course materials. Dice.
Optional: Examples of board games (see Appendix). Board-game templates (see Appendix); a short list of quiz questions for low-level students.
Preparation
Depending on the students' English ability, teachers should be prepared to explain procedural details in the students' L1 in order to make sure they understand exactly what is expected of them. Depending on how much time is available, teachers may also wish to prepare board game templates beforehand, either for the students to use, or just as examples. For low-level students, it is also a good idea to prepare a list of questions for them to include in their games.
Time
This will require 90 to 120 minutes, depending on how much freedom and time students are given to design their games. Students spend the first 50 minutes (of a 90 minute lesson) preparing the games and the remaining time playing their classmates' games.
Procedure
Step 1
Explain to the students that they are going to be reviewing the materials they have studied this semester/year, and that they are going to do this in a fun way, by designing and playing a board game. Explain the timetable for making the games (see above). If you have some sample games, pass them around the class for the students to see. I have included a link to two examples of games in the appendix.
Step 2
Explain that there are four issues that the teams have to think about in designing their board game.
1) The Game's Theme and Design
Themes I have encountered in the past include local sightseeing tours, cartoon/manga characters, stepping stones across piranha-infested rivers, even a journey through the human digestive system (not for the squeamish!). If you have prepared some board-game templates, show them to the students and tell them that they are welcome to use them. Templates are easily created, or can be found with a Google search. Tell the students that their game must have a start and a finish and 'x' amount of questions. I recommend 12 as a bare minimum.
2) Rewards and Penalties
Good board games have a system of rewards and penalties. Write some of the following better known ones on the board as examples.
Rewards
•ladders (which speed the player towards the goal, skipping several steps)
•bonus squares
•go forward three spaces
•take an extra turn
•go again
Penalties
•snakes (the player slides back towards the start)
•miss a turn
•go to jail
•go back to the start
3) Questions
Write examples such as the following ones on the board.
•Name three things you did last weekend.
•Do you like sushi?
Discuss with the students the fact that the first question works better as a quiz question because it is more challenging to answer, it requires more use of English, and it is more interesting. Encourage students to come up with these types of open-ended questions. Write on the board the units of the textbook (or other material) that you have covered recently and encourage students to use these resources so that the games will be a useful review and consolidation activity.
4) Roles
Tell students to assign roles in their groups. In a group of three, for example, one group member can take care of the design, one can devise rewards and punishments, and another can write the questions down on a second piece of paper before copying them onto the board games. Explain that it is important for everybody to work together to produce a good game so that their classmates can enjoy playing it.
Step 3
Students prepare their games. In some of my classes, students tend to be more interested in the design of their game than in including relevant questions, so they may need gentle encouragement to focus on questions. As students work on their games, you may wish to circulate more examples of board games - student-made or otherwise - to provide them with inspiration. Many ESL/EFL textbooks include board game-style activies and these too can be used as a reference. If the time to play is approaching but students still don't appear to have enough questions, you can hand out a list of supplementary questions or write up a list on the blackboard for the students to use. More advanced students can write a set of rules to accompany their game.
Step 4
Students share their games and play them. In large classes there will be a constant supply of new games to play, and lots of of reinforcement of the material being reviewed. I usually rotate the games roughly every five minutes. Complaints about not having enough time to finish are soon forgotten as students wonder excitedly about what lies in store for them with the next game!
Option
In groups, students can decide which game was their favorite and think of three reasons why they like it. This can be done as a class discussion or as a short writing report to end the lesson on a quiet note.
Appendix
There are also two examples of board templates (these can be designed quickly or found with a Google search) on the following web page:
http://www.talljules.com/index.php?cID=67
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Pair-Dictation Activities for Teaching English to University Students
Pair-Dictation Activities for Teaching English to University Students
C. David Smith
Chuo University (Tokyo, Japan)
In this article, I describe a dictation activity that I have used in my lessons for more that twenty years. I have found this approach to be extremely effective not only for improving students’ language skills, but also to increase their enthusiasm for language study in general. In addition, this activity is quite versatile, and can be used in almost any learning situation with students of varying ability and interest; as a component of regular lesson content, or as a stand-alone warm up activity.
Overview
This is an activity that very effectively contributes to improvement in all skill areas—reading, writing, speaking and listening. It is particularly useful for practice with paragraph structure; grammatical accuracy and pronunciation. In addition, it can be successfully employed in any class setting with any type of student. Students arriving late for lessons can be integrated into the activity smoothly, with no interruption in class activities. It works especially well in multi-level classes, with students of varying interest and ability.
This dictation activity makes use of the fact that English spelling is anything but phonetic, and the ability to properly spell a word from its sound requires some familiarity with its meaning, and the context in which it occurs. This activity also exploits the general laziness of students as errors in transcription will require the reader to spell out the word, and the writer to slowly write it out; a time consuming and tedious burden. Thus, there is a definite premium in recognizing the words from their sounds, and properly transcribing them onto the page, especially since students generally want to finish up as quickly as possible.
Active, cooperative learning activities in general are the best approach to assure focus, attention and deep concentration. This assures that students are performing at or near their optimum capability. There is no doubt that retention is maximized under these circumstances.
Preparation of Materials
I generally start with a paragraph containing between 125 and 150 words; 8-12 sentences. I try to insure that around 10-14 words will be unfamiliar vocabulary. News stories usually work best, but it is useful to eliminate some specificity from the text; dates, names, and so on; to make it as generic as possible. Since preparing the materials requires some considerable investment of time and effort, this will permit the material to be relevant for some time to come. A news story that can be used to generate follow up discussion, debate, or a writing assignment is an added plus; themes such as moral issues, global topics, popular culture or problems related to cross-cultural communication work particularly well. A sample paragraph follows:
Capital Punishment
A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for murder. The 63-year-old unemployed factory worker was found guilty of killing his wife and two children. The sentence has reopened the debate over capital punishment in the country. Opponents of the death penalty believe it is wrong to execute criminals, and they want the government to abolish capital punishment. They also complain that most of the other developed nations have already eliminated the death penalty. Most people in Japan, however, believe the sentence was proper. Proponents of capital punishment say it is needed to prevent violent crimes, and they want the government to keep the present law. Lawyers for the convicted man have appealed to the Justice Minister to change the man's sentence to life imprisonment. Arguments about the death penalty will probably continue as long as it exists.
Once the paragraph is downloaded or input into a word processor, the next step is to create a cloze format. This can be done manually; by deleting selected words and phrases, and substituting an underline space that corresponds approximately to the length of each word. Once the desired cloze formatting is completed, both normal text and cloze version can be cut and pasted to create the dictation sheets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student A
A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for murder. The 63-year-old unemployed factory worker was found guilty of killing his wife and two children. The sentence has reopened the debate over capital punishment in the country. Opponents of the death penalty believe it is wrong to execute criminals, and they want the government to abolish capital punishment.
They that most eliminated the . Most in , however, was proper. of say it , and the present law. man appealed to man’s sentence . probably as it .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student B
A to death . The - -old unemployed was of killing and . The sentence capital punishment . of the death to the to punishment.
They also complain that most of the other developed nations have already eliminated the death penalty. Most people in Japan , however, believe the sentence was proper. Proponents of capital punishment say it is needed to prevent violent crimes, and they want the government to keep the present law. Lawyers for the convicted man have appealed to the Justice Minister to change the man's sentence to life imprisonment. Arguments about the death penalty will probably continue as long as it exists.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Classroom Procedure
The sheets can be distributed to students randomly, or in such a way as to maximize the efficacy of the activity. Pairing high and low level students; girls and boys, and creating different pairs each time the activity is done seems to produce the best results. I usually create random pairs by taking a count of the students, dividing this number in half, and assigning numbers to the students so that, for example, if there are 25 students present, I assign numbers one to twelve twice, and create one three-student group. As I count, I distribute the dictation sheets to the students. Thus, the students assigned the same number constitute a pair, and the creation of a three member group is only necessary if the total number of students is an odd number.
Next, I practice all the likely unfamiliar words by writing them on the blackboard, using choral repetition and eliciting the meanings from the students. The order these words are introduced can be either alphabetically, or chronologically; as they occur in the text—there is no particular advantage to either method. When the students are unable to define a particular word in either English or L1, I provide the meaning to them. A chronologically ordered vocabulary list corresponding to the sample paragraph follows:
court sentence murder unemployed guilty debate capital punishment opponent death penalty execute criminal abolish complain developed nations eliminate proper proponent prevent violent crime lawyer convict appeal Justice Minister life imprisonment argument
Once the students have completed the vocabulary practice, I then seat them in their pairs (and three-member groups, where there is an odd number of students in the class).
Student A, the one whose transcription sheet begins with the unaltered text, then begins to read, slowly and clearly. This student (reader) must monitor Student B (writer), who fills in the missing words in the cloze half of the sheet. Student A must not show the text to B, and if a writing error is detected, A must stop reading, and spell out the mistaken word. When the cloze is completed, B then starts reading the bottom half of the text, while A writes.
As students are busy with this, I circulate around the classroom, looking for spelling errors. If I notice any mistakes, I point these out to the students, and impress upon the reader that he/she is responsible for any errors the writer may make. As this gentle scolding slows down the pairs’ progress, they tend to avoid a repetition of this carelessness. In addition, if I detect any mispronunciation, I correct this immediately. This situation creates a substantial premium for greater concentration and involvement. The inability to properly recognize and accurately transcribe a word entails a tedious and time-consuming correction procedure. With comprehensive and careful policing of student performance by the instructor, students quickly realize that the easiest course of action is to assure proper transcription; and reader and writer collaborate to this end. The reader will make additional efforts to clearly enunciate each word in a recognizable manner as the writer endeavors to accurately transcribe the content. Needless to say, completing the activity as quickly as possible is the goal of all students—laggards fear particular embarrassment as the class waits for the slowest pair to complete the transcription. The pressure on students for speed and accuracy discourages mental translation of the content, and thus promotes thinking in English.
Should a student arrive late in class during the activity, I hand him/her the appropriate transcription sheet and seat him/her to create a three-member group. Needless to say, some pairs will finish the activity earlier than others. Surprisingly, these pairs will tend to review and try to understand; or translate the text; if not, random content questions posed by the instructor directly to these early finishers can help to keep them engaged.
Once all the pairs and groups have completed the transcription, I then read the whole text together with the class. A particularly effective way to do this is to call on individual students to read one sentence quickly, in succession, while I correct any mispronunciation. This compels all students to pay careful attention, as any member of the class may be asked to read the next sentence, and any student who loses his/her place in the text faces a penalty or embarrassment. This procedure can be repeated, and the text read several times so as to assure that every member of the class reads at least once.
I then follow this individual reading activity with comprehension questions, initially chronologically, through the text. For example: Who was sentenced to death? Who sentenced him to death? Why was he sentenced to death? How many people was he accused of killing? What did the sentence cause? Why do some people want to eliminate capital punishment? Why do others want to keep the death penalty? Do most developed countries have capital punishment? What do opponents of the death penalty want?
Related Activities
This activity can be extended to a discussion of the topic as well, by asking students related general knowledge questions, such as which countries use the death penalty, whether of not students support or oppose it and why, and what methods are used in executions. By writing the pros and cons on the blackboard, the issue can be used for debate and can also be extended to include a writing assignment.
For further practice of vocabulary, general fluency training, and a bit of fun, I often follow up with a crossword puzzle. I generally choose around twenty words from the text and load these into a crossword puzzle using free software available on the internet. The words chosen must be describable using one of the following formats: the meaning can easily be given in English, an antonym is available, or examples can be provided. By loading the words into the ‘create puzzle’ grid, both as ‘answer’ and ‘clue’, a numbered crossword puzzle grid with both ‘down’ and ‘across’ numbered clues (answers) is the result. The students themselves must create hints which describe the missing crossword answers. Of course, they must not show their crossword to their partner during the activity.
Student A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
ACROSS
1. COUNTRY
2. APPEAL
6. SENTENCE
8. PROPER
9. CRIME
10. CRIMINAL
12. NATION
14. MURDER
16. IMPRISONMENT
17. ELIMINATE
18. DEATHPENALTY
Student B
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
DOWN
1. CONVICT
3. PREVENT
4. LAWYER
5. OPPONENT
7. EXECUTE
11. ARGUMENT
13. PRESENT
15. VIOLENT
Both student A and student B receive the same empty numbered grid. Below student A’s grid is a list of the ‘across’ answers, and below student B’s grid are the ‘down’ answers. It is best to instruct the students to fill in their answers onto their grid before beginning this activity. On the blackboard, I write the forms the hints should take:
Q: What is across/down?
(hint #)
A: It means . The opposite is . For example .
If the intended answer is LAWYER, a student can say: He/She is a person who works in a court, an expert in law...
Or if the answer is CRIMINAL, a student may use: For example, robber, killer, thief, very bad person, someone in prison…
I often give the student pairs the option of using the completed transcription sheet, which, of course, makes this activity much easier, as all the answers can be located in the text. Higher level students, and those who exhibit more enthusiasm will usually choose not to view the text during this activity; to use a dictionary or view the text only when absolutely necessary. As I make my rounds around the classroom, I provide help to the slower pairs, and/or suggest that they make use of the transcription sheet. I generally forbid use of L1 during this procedure. To speed up this activity, pairs can be combined into groups of four, for example.
Conclusion
The pair-dictation activity I have described can be used in any classroom situation, with students of varying interest and ability; as an entire class lesson, warm up activity, or supplement to a textbook lesson. Although the preparation of materials for this pair-dictation activity entails some considerable time and effort, the materials can be reused for several years; as long as the topics chosen remain relevant. Careful elimination of specificity in the the stories allows for a longer life-span. These activities require intensive teacher participation, with the instructor constantly monitoring student performance. While this may be tiring for many, the results of this effort; students fully absorbed and actively engaged in learning, provides substantial satisfaction to all involved; and the results, in rapidly improving language skills, is a further reward. The almost universal positive student response is an added plus.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
C. David Smith
Chuo University (Tokyo, Japan)
In this article, I describe a dictation activity that I have used in my lessons for more that twenty years. I have found this approach to be extremely effective not only for improving students’ language skills, but also to increase their enthusiasm for language study in general. In addition, this activity is quite versatile, and can be used in almost any learning situation with students of varying ability and interest; as a component of regular lesson content, or as a stand-alone warm up activity.
Overview
This is an activity that very effectively contributes to improvement in all skill areas—reading, writing, speaking and listening. It is particularly useful for practice with paragraph structure; grammatical accuracy and pronunciation. In addition, it can be successfully employed in any class setting with any type of student. Students arriving late for lessons can be integrated into the activity smoothly, with no interruption in class activities. It works especially well in multi-level classes, with students of varying interest and ability.
This dictation activity makes use of the fact that English spelling is anything but phonetic, and the ability to properly spell a word from its sound requires some familiarity with its meaning, and the context in which it occurs. This activity also exploits the general laziness of students as errors in transcription will require the reader to spell out the word, and the writer to slowly write it out; a time consuming and tedious burden. Thus, there is a definite premium in recognizing the words from their sounds, and properly transcribing them onto the page, especially since students generally want to finish up as quickly as possible.
Active, cooperative learning activities in general are the best approach to assure focus, attention and deep concentration. This assures that students are performing at or near their optimum capability. There is no doubt that retention is maximized under these circumstances.
Preparation of Materials
I generally start with a paragraph containing between 125 and 150 words; 8-12 sentences. I try to insure that around 10-14 words will be unfamiliar vocabulary. News stories usually work best, but it is useful to eliminate some specificity from the text; dates, names, and so on; to make it as generic as possible. Since preparing the materials requires some considerable investment of time and effort, this will permit the material to be relevant for some time to come. A news story that can be used to generate follow up discussion, debate, or a writing assignment is an added plus; themes such as moral issues, global topics, popular culture or problems related to cross-cultural communication work particularly well. A sample paragraph follows:
Capital Punishment
A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for murder. The 63-year-old unemployed factory worker was found guilty of killing his wife and two children. The sentence has reopened the debate over capital punishment in the country. Opponents of the death penalty believe it is wrong to execute criminals, and they want the government to abolish capital punishment. They also complain that most of the other developed nations have already eliminated the death penalty. Most people in Japan, however, believe the sentence was proper. Proponents of capital punishment say it is needed to prevent violent crimes, and they want the government to keep the present law. Lawyers for the convicted man have appealed to the Justice Minister to change the man's sentence to life imprisonment. Arguments about the death penalty will probably continue as long as it exists.
Once the paragraph is downloaded or input into a word processor, the next step is to create a cloze format. This can be done manually; by deleting selected words and phrases, and substituting an underline space that corresponds approximately to the length of each word. Once the desired cloze formatting is completed, both normal text and cloze version can be cut and pasted to create the dictation sheets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student A
A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for murder. The 63-year-old unemployed factory worker was found guilty of killing his wife and two children. The sentence has reopened the debate over capital punishment in the country. Opponents of the death penalty believe it is wrong to execute criminals, and they want the government to abolish capital punishment.
They that most eliminated the . Most in , however, was proper. of say it , and the present law. man appealed to man’s sentence . probably as it .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student B
A to death . The - -old unemployed was of killing and . The sentence capital punishment . of the death to the to punishment.
They also complain that most of the other developed nations have already eliminated the death penalty. Most people in Japan , however, believe the sentence was proper. Proponents of capital punishment say it is needed to prevent violent crimes, and they want the government to keep the present law. Lawyers for the convicted man have appealed to the Justice Minister to change the man's sentence to life imprisonment. Arguments about the death penalty will probably continue as long as it exists.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Classroom Procedure
The sheets can be distributed to students randomly, or in such a way as to maximize the efficacy of the activity. Pairing high and low level students; girls and boys, and creating different pairs each time the activity is done seems to produce the best results. I usually create random pairs by taking a count of the students, dividing this number in half, and assigning numbers to the students so that, for example, if there are 25 students present, I assign numbers one to twelve twice, and create one three-student group. As I count, I distribute the dictation sheets to the students. Thus, the students assigned the same number constitute a pair, and the creation of a three member group is only necessary if the total number of students is an odd number.
Next, I practice all the likely unfamiliar words by writing them on the blackboard, using choral repetition and eliciting the meanings from the students. The order these words are introduced can be either alphabetically, or chronologically; as they occur in the text—there is no particular advantage to either method. When the students are unable to define a particular word in either English or L1, I provide the meaning to them. A chronologically ordered vocabulary list corresponding to the sample paragraph follows:
court sentence murder unemployed guilty debate capital punishment opponent death penalty execute criminal abolish complain developed nations eliminate proper proponent prevent violent crime lawyer convict appeal Justice Minister life imprisonment argument
Once the students have completed the vocabulary practice, I then seat them in their pairs (and three-member groups, where there is an odd number of students in the class).
Student A, the one whose transcription sheet begins with the unaltered text, then begins to read, slowly and clearly. This student (reader) must monitor Student B (writer), who fills in the missing words in the cloze half of the sheet. Student A must not show the text to B, and if a writing error is detected, A must stop reading, and spell out the mistaken word. When the cloze is completed, B then starts reading the bottom half of the text, while A writes.
As students are busy with this, I circulate around the classroom, looking for spelling errors. If I notice any mistakes, I point these out to the students, and impress upon the reader that he/she is responsible for any errors the writer may make. As this gentle scolding slows down the pairs’ progress, they tend to avoid a repetition of this carelessness. In addition, if I detect any mispronunciation, I correct this immediately. This situation creates a substantial premium for greater concentration and involvement. The inability to properly recognize and accurately transcribe a word entails a tedious and time-consuming correction procedure. With comprehensive and careful policing of student performance by the instructor, students quickly realize that the easiest course of action is to assure proper transcription; and reader and writer collaborate to this end. The reader will make additional efforts to clearly enunciate each word in a recognizable manner as the writer endeavors to accurately transcribe the content. Needless to say, completing the activity as quickly as possible is the goal of all students—laggards fear particular embarrassment as the class waits for the slowest pair to complete the transcription. The pressure on students for speed and accuracy discourages mental translation of the content, and thus promotes thinking in English.
Should a student arrive late in class during the activity, I hand him/her the appropriate transcription sheet and seat him/her to create a three-member group. Needless to say, some pairs will finish the activity earlier than others. Surprisingly, these pairs will tend to review and try to understand; or translate the text; if not, random content questions posed by the instructor directly to these early finishers can help to keep them engaged.
Once all the pairs and groups have completed the transcription, I then read the whole text together with the class. A particularly effective way to do this is to call on individual students to read one sentence quickly, in succession, while I correct any mispronunciation. This compels all students to pay careful attention, as any member of the class may be asked to read the next sentence, and any student who loses his/her place in the text faces a penalty or embarrassment. This procedure can be repeated, and the text read several times so as to assure that every member of the class reads at least once.
I then follow this individual reading activity with comprehension questions, initially chronologically, through the text. For example: Who was sentenced to death? Who sentenced him to death? Why was he sentenced to death? How many people was he accused of killing? What did the sentence cause? Why do some people want to eliminate capital punishment? Why do others want to keep the death penalty? Do most developed countries have capital punishment? What do opponents of the death penalty want?
Related Activities
This activity can be extended to a discussion of the topic as well, by asking students related general knowledge questions, such as which countries use the death penalty, whether of not students support or oppose it and why, and what methods are used in executions. By writing the pros and cons on the blackboard, the issue can be used for debate and can also be extended to include a writing assignment.
For further practice of vocabulary, general fluency training, and a bit of fun, I often follow up with a crossword puzzle. I generally choose around twenty words from the text and load these into a crossword puzzle using free software available on the internet. The words chosen must be describable using one of the following formats: the meaning can easily be given in English, an antonym is available, or examples can be provided. By loading the words into the ‘create puzzle’ grid, both as ‘answer’ and ‘clue’, a numbered crossword puzzle grid with both ‘down’ and ‘across’ numbered clues (answers) is the result. The students themselves must create hints which describe the missing crossword answers. Of course, they must not show their crossword to their partner during the activity.
Student A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
ACROSS
1. COUNTRY
2. APPEAL
6. SENTENCE
8. PROPER
9. CRIME
10. CRIMINAL
12. NATION
14. MURDER
16. IMPRISONMENT
17. ELIMINATE
18. DEATHPENALTY
Student B
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
DOWN
1. CONVICT
3. PREVENT
4. LAWYER
5. OPPONENT
7. EXECUTE
11. ARGUMENT
13. PRESENT
15. VIOLENT
Both student A and student B receive the same empty numbered grid. Below student A’s grid is a list of the ‘across’ answers, and below student B’s grid are the ‘down’ answers. It is best to instruct the students to fill in their answers onto their grid before beginning this activity. On the blackboard, I write the forms the hints should take:
Q: What is across/down?
(hint #)
A: It means . The opposite is . For example .
If the intended answer is LAWYER, a student can say: He/She is a person who works in a court, an expert in law...
Or if the answer is CRIMINAL, a student may use: For example, robber, killer, thief, very bad person, someone in prison…
I often give the student pairs the option of using the completed transcription sheet, which, of course, makes this activity much easier, as all the answers can be located in the text. Higher level students, and those who exhibit more enthusiasm will usually choose not to view the text during this activity; to use a dictionary or view the text only when absolutely necessary. As I make my rounds around the classroom, I provide help to the slower pairs, and/or suggest that they make use of the transcription sheet. I generally forbid use of L1 during this procedure. To speed up this activity, pairs can be combined into groups of four, for example.
Conclusion
The pair-dictation activity I have described can be used in any classroom situation, with students of varying interest and ability; as an entire class lesson, warm up activity, or supplement to a textbook lesson. Although the preparation of materials for this pair-dictation activity entails some considerable time and effort, the materials can be reused for several years; as long as the topics chosen remain relevant. Careful elimination of specificity in the the stories allows for a longer life-span. These activities require intensive teacher participation, with the instructor constantly monitoring student performance. While this may be tiring for many, the results of this effort; students fully absorbed and actively engaged in learning, provides substantial satisfaction to all involved; and the results, in rapidly improving language skills, is a further reward. The almost universal positive student response is an added plus.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February 2010
http://iteslj.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
GRACIAS, MESSI, EL ÚNICO
The following information is used for educational purposes only. https://youtu.be/Vo7htEsYT98?si=CXwieM1_6Rx2Q2yS ...
-
The following information is used for educational purposes only. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the next generation Alex Cu...
-
The following information is used for educational purposes only. We the Future | September 2018 Michael Green: The global goals we´ve ...
-
The following information is used for educational purposes only. Aprender un nuevo idioma es bueno para el cerebro Los investigadores desc...
