Reflection on Module 6

Chapter 5 Formulating Goals and Objectives

From my experience, addressing goals and objectives helps teachers to be aware of what they are heading for through the lesson they are doing and the least focus they should not miss in each class. In English classes for adults especially in informal sector, goals are addressed but often vague and not with objectives. Many private academy owners or directors seem to perefer to leave the classes to each teachers as long as students learn something to improve their English skills, which is the goal they address. Not to mention the vagueness of the goal, the missing of objectives may lead a chaotic result especially when there is an evaluation or assessment involved. "The objectives are the different ponts you pass through on the journey to the destination" (Graves, 2000). Since different points were covered by different teachers, who may also have understood the goal differenty, it is hard to decide what exactly should be assesed. Thus, the students are likely to cast a doubt not only on the reliability of the assessment but also on that of the class and the whole course. As a previous owner of an academy, I believe that goals and objectives should be addressed explicitly to maintain the unity and consistency of each class. They will also give both the teachers and the students "a sense of the syllabus of the course" (Graves, 2000) and "provide the basis for evaluation of the course (goals) and assessment of student learning (objectives)" (Graves, 2000), which ultimately defines the identity of the education that is to be realized.

EESL 614 - Module #5: Annotated Bibliography (1)

By Julien Sanghyo Park, Anica So Hee Kim, Christina Minjung Kim

Citation 1:

Collier, T. W. (2004, March). The effects of bilingual education programs on English

language learners. A national study of school effectiveness for language minority

student’s long-term academic achievement. 2(5).

Summary & Review:

Since bilingual education has been a nation-wide issue, the writer studies how effective bilingual education programs for improving the English reading skills and general content knowledge of English language learners.  The study examined the type of Spanish- speaking instruction English language learners received in five school districts over five years as well as the achievement of these students of English and Spanish tests of academic problem solving across the curriculum.  The finding is that students in bilingual programs continues to perform well on tests of Spanish achievement and scored higher on other core academic subjects.  Conclusively, the findings may only be valid in districts chosen for the research though, well-designed and carefully implemented bilingual education programs can have a significant positive effect on student achievement both in English literacy and in other academic core courses when compared to English immersion. 

Citation 2:

Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking. (1998). Fact Sheet #7: Bilingual Learners.

Retrieved: http://www.ncte.org/collections/secell

Summary & Review:

8 “false” assumptions that harm bilingual learners are dispelled along with whole language principles that help bilingual learners.  Note that this is work by CELT, a whole language supporting body; their principles seem dramatically plausible with contrasting assumptions, but whole language is not the only one that disproves those “false” assumptions.  The sheet itself does not directly provide detailed case studies, but just states what whole language researches have shown to contradict the assumptions.  According to their principles or the assumptions that they contradict, whole language education focuses on learning proceeding from whole to part, learner-centered programs, schoolwork focusing on now, group work, simultaneous development of oral and written language, faith in the learner, acquisition of English built and facilitated by first language.

Citation 3:

Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning teaching. Oxford, U.K.: Macmillan.

Summary & Review:

This is a practical, comprehensive guidebook to the practice of English language teaching in that it introduces all key language teaching topics in one volume of 431 pages.  Key techniques of teaching English, a wide range of practical ideas, examples of activities and photocopiable resources are provided.  Chapter 6 titled planning lessons and courses covers considerations for a lesson plan, lesson components, syllabus, and etc. however, other chapters also deals with options for teachers to make in the act of teaching.  Three toolkits chapters focus on actual practice in the classroom like classroom management, error-corrections, and tool uses while the other chapters are more like backups with rather fundamental principles such as phonology and language analysis.  Help index is designed to help teachers to decide which unit to refer to by showing relevant chapters and sections to particular questions in detail like ‘How can I use the board?” 

Citation 4:

Lewis, M, & Hill, J. (1993). Source book for teaching English as a

foreign language. Oxford, U.K.: Heinemann.

Summary & Review:

This is a simple package for newly started language teachers or teacher assistants. It deals with initial, immediate considerations for beginner teachers to have before going into the actual classrooms. However, the material collections classified by speaking practice, language games, topics, photocopiables, and tried-and-tested ideas are useful even for experienced teachers who need to refresh their ideas or repertoires or are looking for immediate resource to use to fill up some time in the class.  It provides key knowledge and ideas for ‘how to do lessons’ by step-by-step approach in three chapters.  Note the main problems for speakers of other language in Chapter 10: Speaking practice giving insights into various foreign accents we might face in an international context.

Citation 5:

Reilly, V. & Ward, S. M. (1997). Very young learners. Oxford, U.K.:

Oxford University Press.

Summary & Review:

Whether the students have had some exposure to English or they are in EFL or ESL surrounding does not really matter when it comes very young learners aged around 3 to 6 as  native speakers are not yet proficient in their own language and still have a lot to learn.  This book provides activities for children that have a language bias and that are based on sound pre-school practice and educational theory as well as advice and ideas for their teachers.  The introduction part deals with principles about young learners.  The sole use of English is the ultimate objective in the classroom, however there is some justification for using mother tongue, especially in the early stages. First, small children need some time to adjust to the new environment of English language. Secondly, they need their mother tongue for communication to build up the relationship with the teacher and for the feedback about their feeling. Finally, teachers may need to give instructions in English and then in the mother tongue to make things clear. Nevertheless, there are ways to avoid or minimize the use of mother tongue like gestures and using international English such as T-shirt.  Learner characteristics in terms of individual attention, attentions span, and the silent period are also covered.

Citation 6:

Swan, M. (1998, April). Seven bad reasons for teaching grammar…

and two good ones. English teaching professional, 1(7), 3-5.

Summary & Review:

Michael Swan points out people teach too much of grammar because it’s there.  However, it is important to choose grammar points relevant to students’ needs, rather than blindly going through the syllabus from left to right.  Secondly, grammar looks tidy and is relatively teachable.  Grammar is testable too while it is time consuming and difficult to design and administer tests which really measure overall progress and attainment.  Grammar can be reassuring and comforting; it gives students the feeling that they can understand and control what is going on.  However, this aspect can lead both students and teachers to concentrate on grammar to the detriment of other less codifiable but equally important aspects of the language.  The fifth reason is that grammar is what those foreign language teachers studied in their learning and it incorporated in their own teaching.  An illusion that grammar is the whole system is another reason.  We teach only selected subsystems, asking for each:

1.      How much of this do the students know already from their mother tongue?

2.      How much of the rest is important?

3.      How much have we got time for?

To try to teach ‘the whole system’ is to ignore all three of these questions.  Finally, grammar is where teachers have superiority over students.  Grammar is given too much priority.  Nevertheless, there are two good reasons for teaching carefully selected points of grammar.  The first reason is its comprehensibility. Knowing how to build and use certain structures makes it possible to communicate common types of meaning successfully.  The second reason is the acceptability.  Good level of grammatical correctness can help with examinations and employment.  In conclusion, the author says that we teachers should choose points of grammar to teach depending on the circumstances and the learners’ aims.  All in all, the ultimate objective is to teach English, not just to teach grammar.

Citation 7:

Maley, A. (1999, January). Surviving the 20th century. English

teaching professional, 1(10), 3-7.

Summary & Review:

In this article, the author, Alan Maley discusses the qualities that teachers need to succeed both personally and professionally in today’s world.  He says there are key factors which remove from us our power to act independently, pointing out consumerism, globalism, media saturation, trivialization, and the pace of change.  He examines the aspects of dehumanizing pressures which affect us as teachers.  There is a list of ten qualities of survivor teachers:

         Survivor teachers will be:

1.      competent in their profession, and hence also confident

2.      curious – intellectually, emotionally, in relationship

3.      choosy in their ability to handle and screen out large amounts of information

4.      concerned about their learners, about the state of the world

5.      centered – calm in turmoil, concentrated when surrounded by distractions

6.      concrete – able to find pragmatic solutions for complex real-world problems

7.      committed to the worth of what they are doing, to their students, to sanity

8.      courageous in the face of pressures, failure, feelings of helplessness

9.      critical – perpetually questioning, resistant to pressure

10.  capable of finding their own further ways of surviving

One interesting part regarding triviality is that we have gone along with the idea that accuracy or precision matters little as long as we can ‘communicate’, but this version of communication is a trivialization of what it really means to communicate significantly. It used to be said that under the traditional methodology students emerged who could not even order a cup of coffee in the foreign language. We are now in danger of producing students who can only order a cup of coffee! – Great point with typical Alan Maley humor!

Finally, he says, as teachers, we need to realize how much influence we have with our students.  By choosing themes, texts, the way we handle them, the tasks we set using them, we will be helping our students to develop their own critical faculties.  We can join others with similar concerns, taking strength from solidarity.  We can also share our concerns and our activities with others, through the Internet – or journals and magazines.

Citation 8:

Judy, L. (2008). Beyond Learning Styles: Brain-Based Research and English Language Learners. A journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas. 81(5) My/Je 211-222

Summary & Review:

In this article, the author discusses ways in which teachers can implement brain based research in teaching English language learners (ELLS).  Receptive and expressive language skills are developed through read-aloud, vocabulary explorations, reader’s theater, pair-shares, and use of kinesthetic activities and audiovisuals to stimulate discussion.  Students must feel they are in a welcoming, non-threatening environment when teaching new language skills.  ELL teachers can put second-language learners at ease by cooperative-learning activities like pair-share and jigsaw and by not interrupting fluency to correct students when they read aloud.  Using innovative, cutting-edge approaches helps teachers recognize that teaching and learning addresses the needs of diverse learners in second-language learning through a variety of strategies.

EESL 614 - Module #5: Annotated Bibliography (2)

Citation 9:

Cynthia, B. J., & Drew, D. J. (2000). Why teach vocabulary? Promoting Vocabulary

Development. Austin, TX: Texas Reading Initiative/ Texas Education Agency.

Summary & Review:

Cynthia Brantley Johnson and Drew, D. Johnson are working together as Anaxos Inc. The Johnsons have written numerous student books with a strong focus on vocabulary.  They authored the Worldly Wise 3000 test series for EPS.  These writers indicate that limited vocabularies prevent students from comprehending a text.  Good readers often acquire much of their vocabulary through wide independent reading, also known as incidental learning.  Direct vocabulary instruction is useful for students at all ability levels, but it is particularly useful for beginner students who have a limited exposure outside of school.  Experts agree that a combination of direct instruction of word meanings, discussions about words and word parts, and encouragement of wide reading is the best way to help students develop their vocabularies.  Studies have shown that the key to increasing vocabulary is exposure to new words – not an innate ability to learn from context.  These writers also suggest that some general strategies and specific techniques for teaching vocabulary: encouraging wide reading; emphasizing learning from context; using prefixes, suffixes, and roots; using graphic organizers; extending instruction through reading aloud; and discussion.

Citation 10:

Alemi, M., & Daftarifard, P. (2010). Implication of studies on bilingualism for SLA. Journal

of Language Teaching and Research, 1(5), 671-677.

Summary & Review:

This article describes and studies bilingualism from different perspectives of social, individual, cognitive, psychological and political issues. To this end, this article goes through the following stages: What is Bilingual and Bilingual Education and Cognitive Processing? There are several factors which indicate what kind of decision (selective or nonselective) might be made.  These include L2 proficiency, language intermixing, task demands, and instruction.  Language intermixing refers to whether an experiment contains exclusive items that belong to one language (block presentation) or items from two languages (mixed presentation).  Therefore, lexical codes from different languages are activated in parallel on the basis of an input string, selection of the lexical candidate that is identified appears to take place rather late in the recognition process, and several factors affect the ultimately arising result patterns, the most important of which are a participant's L2 proficiency level, the requirements of task, and the blocked or mixed presentation of items from different languages. The most striking similarity between comprehension and production in bilinguals is the overwhelming evidence for nonselective access to words in both languages, regardless of whether the task logically permits the language of processing to be selected in advance.  In both processes, the consequences of the lower L2 and L1 proficiency are in unbalanced bilinguals.

Citation 11

Urquhart, S., & Weir, C. (1999).  Reading in a second language: Process, product, and

practice. New York: Longman.

Summary & Review:

Much of the research referenced above will be included in the National Literacy Panel survey of research on how children learn to read and write in English as a second language.  This survey is a project of SRI International and the Center for Applied Linguistics and it seeks to address those learners who were not included in the National Reading Panel's study (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1988).  Diane August is the principal investigator of the study which will include only those learners whose L1 uses the Roman alphabet.  The publication from this study is expected in late 2003. For this bibliography, unless otherwise indicated, all of the studies included were conducted in the United States.  While no English as a Foreign Language (EFL) research is included, some research on English language learning conducted in other English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom) is included.  Some of the studies included in this bibliography are less than rigorously conducted.  We acknowledge, therefore, that all the studies are not rigorously conducted, but they are a true picture of what has been done.  More importantly, they point to research needs that exist in the field of adult ESL instruction.

EESL 614 - Module #5: Annotated Bibliography (3)

Citation12:

Bouthillier, L & Dilann. J (year: not mentioned). Video in Education, Real Networks Conference.  Retrieved from http://www.realnetworks.com/solutions/enterprise/education/index.html .

Summary & Review:

Larry Bouthillier from Harvard Business School and Jim Dilanni from Oracle Corp. presented at a Real-Networks conference under the title of "Developing an e-Learning strategy".  They showed many research-based references about controversial debate on effectiveness of using video for teaching and learning and add visual richness for many educators’ teaching style.  Combination of the visualized text and auditory mode in video enhances a communication channel and stimulates transfer information more effectively.  Learning through this kind of multi-channels supports visualized information to help processing and remembering in brain (Duchastel & Waller, 1979), which helps to recall and comprehend (Levie and Lentz, 1982). But Mayer & Anderson’s study (1991) criticized that overload of excessive senses through multiple- channel communication can reduce efficiency of learning.  Another critic, Nugent (1982) discovered the effect of combination of audio and images but not for audio and text.  One example of rich media integration suggested by the authors showed a representative model of live lecture presented through multi-channel of communication. It synchronizes images, voices and texts to realize spontaneous lectures for distance learning students, which effectively promotes processing information

Citation13:

Sara I.de Freitas (2006). Using games and simulations for supporting learning. Journal of Rouiters.

Summary & Review:

Recent growing interests in exploratory learning with computer managed methods accelerate to elicit issues about the efficacy of using games and simulations as supportive educational tools and seriously attempt to get evidences from experimental views or experience of users in practice.  To evaluate validity of the perceptions about using games and simulations in educational contexts, Sara I. de Freitas uses a qualitative method for data driven by surveys, semi-structured interviews and workshop activities.  Based on some of the findings from her surveys, validity of four perceptions were presented: (1) increased motivation levels for learners, (2) expanded learner’s completion rates through engagement and enjoyment, (3) potential for widening participation, and (4) efficacy of learning through experience. Through interviews of experts participated, she examined that motivation level plays as a catalyst in improving engagement of learning and encourages the disaffected young learners to re-involve in learning. And games or simulations for learning increase learners’ retention and completion rates. However, she stressed that not all learners may effectively use games for learning due to various reasons: from the lack of familiarity, historical knowledge background, preference and adaptive ages. Links between game or simulation contexts and real world advanced the learning from experience which develop meta-cognition mode to comprehend complex contents more effectively.  Furthermore, self-efficacy enhanced by virtual world experience proceeds with activities effectively by playing performance goal-driven actions and helps to complete process.

Citation 14:

Rowan, C. (2009, October 24). Technology overuse on child sensory development. otline, p.5-8.

Summary & Review:

Occupational therapists encourage Balanced Technology Management to improve child health and to enhance academic performance. They warned that the parent’s habit of overusing technologies deteriorates children’s development. Statistically children whose infancy was with little human touch are exposed to the risks of biological, psychological and physical impairment. Overuse of technology deprives people of human connection. Technology overuse makes negative impacts on children’s growth when it accompanies age-inappropriate contents such as violent, sexually-abusive materials. As little children are incapable of discerning detrimental contents in their indiscriminate media use, they often accept virtual experience as realities.  Besides, overuse of technology could bring imbalance of sensory system. It means that visual and auditory sensory systems are in overload while the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and attachment systems are under stimulated. Imbalance of the sensory system could create huge problems in overall neurological development. By the same token, the author stresses that children needs encouraging environment of human connection. Balancing the use of technology is the solution.

Reflection on Module 4 (3)

Chapter 9: Adapting a Textbook

Textbooks are like a two-edged sword for teachers to use. They are very convenient in that it provides a syllabus for the course, security for the students, a set of materials, a basis for assessing students’ learning, and consistency within a program. However, I have felt the teachers using textbooks are often regarded as lazy while working in the field. It may be true that textbooks make learning monotonous since the sequence is lockstep and they have limited selection of materials.

I confess that I did not like using a textbook in my classes when I started teaching English in Korea, which was over 14 years ago. I was usually assigned a textbook to use and did not have a choice. Being a novice teacher with some kind of conformist attitude, I followed the way the textbooks suggested, but never liked it. Anyway, as times went by I somehow came to learn to use the textbooks “my own way”. Once I earned some trust in my teaching, I began to try different activities rather than the ones in the textbooks or change the order of the activities, which is called adaptations at “the activity level” and “the unit level” according to Graves (2000). Soon after I realized that the students did not want me to cover everything in the textbook in the given order, I got totally out of it. Textbooks became more like references. I changed the syllabus according to my students’ level and learning needs; the adaptation at the syllabus level took place.

It is interesting that what I have done was adaptation because I thought it was kind of ignoring the textbooks. It may sound funny but I actually felt kind of guilty skipping some parts and adopting new, different ones. I’m glad that I actually did the right thing.  Thank Graves and Professor Bonev for giving me confidence.

Reflection on Module 4 (2)

Chapter 8: Developing Materials

I agree that “the process of materials development involves deciding how to put your teaching principles into practice” (Graves, 2000). We are living in the world of material wealth, and so are our teaching and classrooms. Making the most of the materials is one attribute of a good, professional teacher. However, just using them or using more does not make the case all the time. In this respect, those fifteen considerations in designing activities were worth looking at. Especially the first one is what I have felt really necessary for those teachers in Korea to be aware: Activities should draw on what students know (their experience, their current situation) and be relevant to them. Many adopt activities that are not relevant to their students or are beyond the students’ current knowledge of the world or skills. Imagine elementary schoolers discussing artificial insemination! This is an extreme example, but similar things actually do happen. Teacher’s making choice is very important in material development. Then how can teachers make good choice? Let me finish with Graves’ saying: “You can’t target everything and so you need make choices based on what you want your students to learn according to your goals and objectives and your syllabus focus” (2000).

Refelction on Module 4 (1)

Chpater 4: Conceptualizing Content

The most practical lesson to me in this chapter is to organize the ways or categories for conceptualizing content. The boundaries of the categories are permeable, and they connect with others, but it is critical for curriculum designers to know because they often make mistakes trying to put everything into one like I did before; there should be a center of gravity. Using these categories, I have identified the curricula I designed and common curricula in Korea. I have realized I looked for more of communicative functions, competencies, and interpersonal skills than others in the courses I designed and ran. If I had clearly decided on a syllabus with a basis of these, my job could have been much less stressful since as I stated above, I wanted to put everything I believed meaningful and necessary in learning English into one simple syllabus. Another finding was that many curricula in young learners’ programs are task-based or content bases. I agree with Nunan’s view on tasks as “a way to promote classroom learning that focused on the processes of using language rather than language products” (as cited in Graves, 2000), which should be focused in young learners’ learning.

Discussing grids, mind maps, and flow charts were also very practical. The syllabus you present to students or publish and the form of it you work on designing can be different. It is interesting to see how differently the elements in the same syllabus could be displayed depending on the form. All in all, they’re tools which you can use to your needs. The more tools you are equipped with, the more skillful you will be.

EESL 614 assignment: Teacher Curriculum Interview

* Interview Questions:

1. Do you participate in designing the curriculum?

2.  (Then) Who (else) designs the curriculum?

3.  Could you tell me about the curriculum of the course you designed or you’re involved in?
  - How long is the course?
  - Tell me about the target teaching level?
  - Could you please be more specific about the curriculum context and the structure and content of the curriculum?

4. Do you think the curriculum is effective in your school system? Is it working now?
    (If not, can you tell me why not?)

5.   What’s the strong point of the curriculum? Or what do you like most about the curriculum?

6.   What do you think is the weak point of the curriculum? How would you like to improve it?

7.   Were there any troubles or difficulties in designing the curriculum? If so, what were they

8.   What’s your philosophy about curriculum? Do you think it’s important?

9.   What do you think is the most important aspect in designing curriculum?

10. Finally, to make a curriculum work, what do you think is necessary?

* Profile of the Interviewees:

Professor Juyoung Park holds a master’s degree in TESOL from CELSE (Centre for English Language Studies in Education) at University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and is currently working on her Ph.D in TESOL from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She taught English at a couple of universities in Korea and is teaching at Sungshin Women’s University now.

Professor Hyojung Huh holds a doctor’s degree in TESOL from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and is currently teaching TESOL certificate program at Griggs University Seoul Campus.

* Summary of the Interview:

Professor Park designed the curriculum for general English course with her supervisor and two other coordinators two years ago. The target learners were freshmen of the university. They were divided into two groups according to the order of the classes they should attend in each semester of the year. The students were also divided into three groups according to their level: beginner, intermediate, advanced.

One of the features of the curriculum is that it provides practical English lessons for the students’ job hunt such as resume and cover letter writing at the end of the course. However, Park didn’t like to implement mock TOEIC test as a placement test for the course because it was not closely related to the course content. She would like to have adopted some other assessments which make more sense.

According to Park, designing curriculum itself was OK because they were provided all the necessary information, however they had difficulty finding the right textbook covering both academic and practical English at the same time.

What she thinks is most important in designing a curriculum is the final production. For example, at the end of a basic writing course, the student should be able to write at least one paragraph. The curricula she designed had very clear objectives for each program. It was a very practical tip for future curriculum designers.

She says curriculum designing is often more like persuading the administration because there are things you cannot decide alone such as how many students should be in one class. Curriculum is very important, however, the managers do not understand the concept of the curriculum. Since most of them are not TESOL majors, they often think using nice textbooks is all about the curriculum. So the agreement between the teachers and the administration is important. She hopes the administration should be trained in terms of curriculum.

Need Analysis is crucial in designing curriculum, she says. It’s the step one. In addition, assessing curriculum is also important. However, the curriculum was not assessed when she was working at the university. She believes the whole school should assess the curriculum.

Professor Huh was one of the staff designing TESOL certificate program at Griggs University. One unique feature of the curriculum is the flexibility. The program was a combination of online classes and offline lessons, and the students could control the pace of their learning. So the course length is not fixed. Because of this uniqueness in the program, the curriculum is very important, like bones in a body. The curriculum makes the program work.

According to Huh, one important consideration in designing curriculum is balancing of two approaches: topped on approach and bottom up approach. She believes these two approaches should be adopted equally in designing curriculum because otherwise the curriculum will be biased.

* Reflection:

Luckily I was able to interview two university professors who have actually designed curricula. So the interview was focused on their reflection on their experience. It was a meaningful experience for me to think about the reality in designing curriculum in Korea.

The interview with Professor Park reminded me of that “curriculum is very political in that state governments, locally elected school boards, and powerful business and publishing interests exercise enormous influence over teaching practices and curriculum policies” (Kristonis, http://blog.unsri.ac.id/userfiles/22683719-Politics-in-Education.doc) As she pointed out, many in administrative position in school do not have proper understanding of curriculum and are not aware of the importance of it. I agree that they should be trained and need more awareness in terms of TESOL.

Curriculum is eventually for students to achieve their learning. However, curriculum designers often have to meet the demand of the school or the institutes rather than realizing their ideals in education. Both professors emphasized that way that balancing and good negotiating skills are critical. I became aware of what qualification is required to be a good curriculum designer from this interview: curriculum designers should be analytical and have flexibility about how the content is organized. And to make it work, collaboration of administration and teachers are essential. A curriculum designer is a mediator that way.

* Audio Files are at http://juliensanghyopark.podomatic.com/