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.
No comments:
Post a Comment