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The twelve weeks of class (to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas)

A bit of Christmassy fun, loosely based on some of the things my level 3’s have done thus far during their course… Set to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas.

My challenge to you: choose another Christmas carol or song and do something similar: have fun changing the lyrics to make it about teaching. If you do, comment on this post with a link to it so I can have a look! 🙂

The 12 weeks of class

In the first week of classes, my teacher gave me to me

the goal of reading extensively.

In the second week of classes, my teacher gave to me

two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the third week of classes, my teacher gave to me

three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the fourth week of classes my teacher gave to me

Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the sixth week of classes my teacher gave to me

Five verbs plus -ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the sixth week of classes my teacher gave to me

six jumbled questions, five verbs plus-ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the seventh week of classes my teacher gave to me

Seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus-ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the eighth week of classes my teacher gave to me

Eight comparative adjectives, seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus -ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the ninth week of classes my teacher gave to me

Nine collocations, eight comparative adjectives, seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus -ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the tenth week of classes my teacher gave to me

Ten minutes spent reviewing, nine collocations, eight comparative adjectives, seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus -ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the eleventh week of classes my teacher gave to me

eleven quantifiers, ten minutes spent reviewing, nine collocations, eight comparative adjectives, seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus – ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

In the twelfth week of classes my teacher gave to me

twelve fun ways to use English , eleven quantifiers, ten minutes spent reviewing, nine collocations, eight topics for discussion, seven prepositions, six jumbled questions, five verbs plus – ing! Four phrasal verbs, three present simples, two Edmodo tasks and the goal of reading extensively.

(I’m now wondering about doing something along these lines with my advanced class as part of their last lesson this term: combining reflection on what they’ve learnt/done this term with a bit of fun and collaboration…If I do and it goes well, I’ll share the lesson plan here!)

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100th post: Looking backwards, looking forwards…

This post sees the neat coincidence of several things:

  • my 100th post on this blog (this one!)
  • my 100th follower of this blog (a few days ago)
  • my 40,000th view (earlier today)
  • the end of the year (very shortly)
  • the first ELT Blog Carnival of 2014 (for which submissions are open, with a topic of “New Year’s Resolutions)

It’s been quite a year! 🙂 In this post, in keeping with the Blog Carnival abstract, I am going to reflect on what I’ve achieved this year, as well as my projects, plans and goals for next year.

Looking back…

At the beginning of this year, I was in Leeds. I had completed the input sessions for the Delta portion of my course at the end of the previous year, but had all the external assessment (Module 2 LSA 4, Module 3 extended assignment, Module 1 exam) all looming over me. So I still very much count the Delta as part of this year – after all, I only received the qualification in August! (I was on holiday in Italy, up a mountain riding a horse, when the news of my distinctions arrived in the form of happy emails from two of my tutors…)

It’s interesting (to me) to think that at the beginning of this year, I was feeling quite demotivated and felt I hadn’t achieved anything despite working so very hard in the first semester of my course. I’d learnt a lot but nothing was finished (other than the Delta mock exam that provided the M.A. grade for that module, which I thought I’d done badly in – though it transpired that I hadn’t!). Goes to show, perhaps, that achievement shouldn’t necessarily only be associated with completed things…

Since that rather inauspicious beginning to the year, which followed a Christmas “holiday”, which I spent redrafting my Delta module 3 and preparing the M.A. module presentation based on it, loads of exciting things have happened:

  • my M.A. modules!

They were brilliant. What a wonderful, wonderful course. I learnt ever such a lot (for evidence of this look here) and had such a lot of fun in the process, thanks to lovely tutors and lovely course mates. The best thing is, I’ve been using my learning from the modules ever since: For example, from Multimedia and Independent Learning came my interest in learner autonomy and resultant projects that are currently in progress at work, and thanks to the Materials Development module, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed making several sets of materials, some of which you can find here.

  • my British Council Blog of the Month award

My 30 things… post, which came about as a direct result of all the learning in my time at Leeds Met, managed to win the June 2013 edition of this award – a great honour for little ol’ me and something that has brought with it opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise have had. For example, the British Council webinar I will be doing in February next year: my first ever webinar. I’m not at all scared….ahem. On the theme of blogging, my little blog has blossomed this year. I started blogging in May 2011 and between then and May this year, posted very little and was visited very little. Then I suddenly found I had things to say and share, resulting in a lot of content being added to this blog over the last 7 months. I also went from 4,000 odd views to now just over 40,000. Quite a big jump! But it’s not the numbers or quantity of content that is important, it’s the profound effect that having this reflective space has had on my professional life. It’s a wonderful thing, being able to share teaching-y things with teachers all over the world. And, of course, reading others’ blogs has remained a great source of inspiration to me.

  • my first conference presentations

I presented for the first time at the 16th Warwick International Postgraduate Conference in Applied Linguistics, which was on the 26th June 2013 at the University of Warwick. My presentation was based on the research project I did for the Research module of my M.A. and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was a gentle way in, being as all the other participants were also students and I had already presented my research as part of the assessment for the M.A. module. This first time was swiftly followed by the second time, less than a month later:  This was at the MATSDA/University of Liverpool 2 day conference, themed “Enjoying to learn: the best way to acquire a language?” on the 13th and 14th July 2013 at the University of Liverpool. If you haven’t been to a MATSDA conference before, I highly recommend it. It was a lot of fun and a very supportive atmosphere for a novice presenter. For details of my presentations, please see this link.

  • my dissertation

Bubbling away in the background, behind all the excitement of the presentations and blog award, was my dissertation. My constant companion for about 4 months, the D-beast definitely represents a large chunk of the time, energy, focus and dedication that has gone into this year. It was worth it in the end, as not only did I find it a very satisfying experience (though towards the end I was worried I would never finish in time!), but I also came out of it with a respectable 82%. This sealed my overall distinction for my M.A. in ELT, of which I am very proud: it represents a LOT of very hard, yet enjoyable, work. But not only hard work on my part: my tutor who supervised me for the dissertation gave up a lot of her time in order to meet with me and look at/feed back on what I’d produced at various points, as well as giving me lots of support and encouragement throughout the whole process: Thank you, HB!

  • my new job in Palermo

I am fortunate enough for teaching at IH Palermo to have become my first post-Delta job. It’s a great school to work in, with a very supportive and friendly atmosphere, as well as a lot of opportunity for continued development. Since I have been here, I have attended workshops on teaching young learners, teaching using Headway, teaching teens, dealing with parents and, last but not least, pronunciation. I have also been observed while teaching, and received a high quality of helpful, constructive feedback subsequently, as well as had the opportunity to observe my peers. And then, of course, I have embarked on the IHCYLT (IH Young Learner Cert) course – which deserves its own bullet point!

  • IHCYLT

This, I am still very embroiled in. In fact, I’m about half way through and hanging on by a very slender thread. Turns out starting a new job, working full-time, learning a new language AND doing a training course is quite the balancing act. Fortunately, the afore-mentioned supportive nature of the workplace and my DoS and YL coordinator have helped me keep going thus far. How it turns out remains to be seen – I suppose I shall either make it, just, or crash and burn spectacularly! I think it may possibly be course over-load for one year but at least it’s nearly Christmas and hopefully after a break I will have what it takes to push through what’s still to come. I’ve discovered that I’m not a huge fan of distance/online learning as vs. face-to-face study and am heartily glad/relieved that I did not attempt the Delta via distance learning, as I don’t think I would have made it through or done anywhere near as well as I did. Thankfully, as the YL course is blended, the observation (both being observed/the feedback and observing others) element has balanced out the online component. (NB: the online tutors are fantastic, so my lack of love for the online element is no fault of theirs…)

  • Italian

I’m also learning Italian, being as prior to moving to Palermo I had never learnt nor spoken any Italian in my life before. (Oh except learning the numbers, the word for England and good afternoon/please/thank you when I came on holiday here with my aunt’s family, aged 16 or so) I study every day before work and read extensively every evening and over the weekend. I also listen extensively. I think I’ve learnt a lot of language since I’ve been here (still just under three months though it seems like forever longer!) and it’s been fascinating being a language learner again. I did a few lessons at the school but stopped for a variety of reasons (including lack of time, the YL course starting, and just not getting on that well with the lessons). Learning independently has been a lot more successful and I’ve learnt a lot from how I learn – if that makes sense (it does to me…)!

So, I think that just about covers looking back…

Looking forward…

  • Christmas Holidays!!

Thank goodness. This time next week I will be on holiday. I intend to finish all the YL coursework I need to do *before* the holiday and have a complete rest (if you can call Christmas etc  a rest :-p) over the 2 weeks I’m off work. It will be the first real, proper holiday since August 2013. I am very, very, very in need of it!

  • British Council webinar

In February, I will be giving my very first webinar (as mentioned earlier in this post), on the topic of learner autonomy. I hope my audience will be gentle with me… 😉  I’ve been experimenting away with various tools and ideas for helping learners become more autonomous and am looking forward to sharing what I’ve learnt and to having peoples’ responses to what I say inform what I do with my projects in future, too.

  • A workshop at work

One of my goals for next year is to deliver a workshop at work. (Sometime *after* the YL course finishes, of course! 😉 ) I think it would be a very valuable experience.

  • Presenting at IATEFL

I’ve been accepted to present at IATEFL, which is very exciting. Still a few teething issues with regards to attending, but here’s hoping I’ll make it… 🙂 (Much as the thought of it also terrifies me…. 😉 )

  • Attending other conferences

There’s a MATSDA conference in June, when I shall be back in England (8-month contract), which I very much hope to attend. I love conferences: they are so inspirational.

  • Working at a university

One of my goals for next year is to work on a pre-sessional course at a University in the U.K. over the summer.

  • Continuing work on my projects

I am thoroughly enjoying working on my learner autonomy projects and helping my learners become more autonomous learners and this is something I want to continue working on next year. I want to read a lot more on learner autonomy theory and motivation theory (currently in the middle of a book on each subject).

  • Reading

As well as the afore-mentioned learner autonomy and motivation theory-related texts, I want to keep abreast of developments in the ELT world by continuing to read the journals and professional magazines that I have discovered through doing my Delta and M.A. I also want to reread and reprocess my notes from these courses, and keep the learning fresh as well as add to it.

  • Using my learning

I *really* want to experiment with what I’ve learnt through the Delta and M.A., experiment, reflect, evaluate, experiment some more, write about it… this is one of the reasons I am looking forward to the YL course finishing: at the moment I’m struggling for brain space. The YL course is ramming more and more learning into my poor little brain when all I really want to do is draw breath and work with what I’ve got. Nevertheless, when it does finish, I’ll work with that learning too, of course! 🙂

  • A PhD

Not next year! But sometime… to research something related to learner autonomy and motivation. (Of course that may change by the time I get round to doing one!)

  • Learning more Italian

I want to keep working on my Italian – I’m feeling enormously motivated – and for my speaking to catch up with my reading and listening….at least a little!!

  • A better work-life balance!!!!!

At the moment, my work-life balance is not awesome. (Thanks, YL course!) I’m very much looking forward to having my weekends back but, that aside, outside of frenetic times (of which there will be another in late January when a whole bunch of courses end) I want to try and spend less time at work and get more exercise during the week. If I keep going for toooo much longer at the current rate, I suspect I will burn out.

Plenty to be getting on with…!

Meanwhile, I’ve one more week left of term, which will see teaching practice observation no.3/4, parents consultations, a course ending (and attendant marking/reports/admin) and the usual load of YL tasks to be getting on with… no rest for the wicked!

2013 has been fairly phenomenal all in all: and I am eternally grateful to all who have helped to make it that way – my wonderful tutors, my course mates, my colleagues, my DoS, and, best of all, my lovely, lovely family and friends. Thank you all for your support, for putting up with me and not giving up on me. 🙂

Here’s wishing everybody a fantastic 2014 – live your dreams!

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2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival on Learner Autonomy! (A final reminder…)

Don’t forget, the deadline for the 2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival is Friday 20th December – that’s 6 days time! Have you read a good article about Learner Autonomy that you’d like to review and share with us?

Please look at the guidelines here for information about how to participate. (Remember, you don’t even need to have your own blog in order to join in the Carnival: I would be happy to host your review on this blog, as a guest post.)

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Happy reading and writing! 🙂

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2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival: A Review of “Emerging Technologies: Autonomous Language Learning” (Godwin-Jones, 2011)

For my contribution to the 2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival, whose theme is Learner Autonomy, I have chosen an article by Robert Godwin-Jones (2011): Emerging Technologies: Autonomous Language Learning in Language Learning & Technology vol. 15 number 3. October 2011. I have used Godwin-Jones’ own sub-headings to organise my review. Obviously this is only my interpretation of what Godwin-Jones has to say…

LEARNING TO LEARN

Godwin-Jones begins by highlighting the explosion of interest in learner autonomy that has taken place over the last ten years and the relationship between learner autonomy and developments in technology. He acknowledges, however, that learner autonomy, as a concept, substantially pre-dates the age of computing. Like the majority of articles, chapters and books published on the subject of learner autonomy, Godwin-Jones tips his hat to Holec’s work in the late 70’s and explains that learners plus “appropriate learning material” does not equal learner autonomy: necessary, too, are the skills, mindset and motivation that lead to successful independent study.

Godwin-Jones suggests that the development of effective strategies is insufficient without the willingness to reflect on and improve on these over time, as language learning progresses. He cites learner diaries as a traditional means of cultivating this type of metacognitive awareness and suggests that online writing tools such as blogs and electronic portfolios or online editors like Google Docs. He alludes also to the European Language Portfolio and LinguaFolio, and the role these could play in providing learners with “concrete evidence of achievement”.

THE TEACHER’S ROLE

In the second part of his article, Godwin-Jones moves on to consideration of the role of the teacher within learner autonomy. Within this section, he addresses the cultural aspect of learner autonomy, explaining that in a culture where learning is teacher-centred, both teachers and learners may find the role changes required unsettling. He also explores issues inherent in distance learning and learning management systems e.g. Moodle, in terms of learner autonomy, e.g. that the teacher is usually the sole decision-maker with regards to content presentation, organisation and expectation with regards to progress through a course.

A significant role for teachers as individuals, that he discusses, is that of enabler and motivator: teachers need to offer their learners advice regarding online tools and services. Teachers can also help by enabling learners to discover and evaluate tools themselves.

AUTONOMOUS, NOT ALONE

In the third part of his article, Godwin-Jones addresses the importance of a peer network in the development of learner autonomy. He dispels the myth of the autonomous learner as stuck alone in an ivory tower surrounded by materials and cites the prominence of the “social dimension” of learner autonomy within the literature. (Maintaining Control: Autonomy and Language Learning (2009) is offered as an example of this.). He quotes Edith Esch’s definition of autonomy, from her chapter in this volume, “autonomy as the capacity to exercise critical thinking about learning as a participant in a social milieu”.

He goes on to discuss computer mediated communication (CMC) tools such as Second life and tandem learning networks, explaining that teachers may provide initial guidance but ultimate success, in terms of utility, is dependent on the learners themselves. Allusion is also made to peer-scaffolding, in helping learners to become more confident and independent. Godwin-Jones also points out issues with CMC, such as exclusive focus on content at the expense of focus on language, while suggesting that a balance of focuses may be important in language development through CMC.

SELF-DIRECTED STUDY

In this section, Godwin-Jones moves on to consider CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and its role in promotion of learner autonomy, flagging up the issue of getting learners to take full advantage of what is available and the importance of metacognitive knowledge in enabling this. He also discusses tools that enable experimentation with concordancing and the potential effects of such tools on learning.

He also explores mobile devices e.g. tablets and the effect these have on language learning choices, wondering whether the development of these will mean a shift from favouring print materials to preferring multimedia options.

OUTLOOK

In this final section the idea of personal choice is discussed initially in relation to mobile devices and then in relation to examples of learner autonomy that hold a socio-political significance. Godwin-Jones also reminds us again of the effect of culture on learner autonomy, stressing that it will “look different in different cultures”, and the importance of adaptation to these differences by the teacher. He concludes by identifying further areas of potential interest for research (as he does throughout) and expressing “a hope that more emphasis on autonomous language learning results in empowering learners, not sacking teachers”.

References:

Esch, E. (2009). Crash or clash? Autonomy 10 years on. In Pemberton, R., Toogood, S. & Barfield, A., (Eds.). Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

NB: A particularly useful element of this article is the inclusion of hyperlinks to the various tools discussed as well as a list of resources as an appendix. 

My own reflections:

Immersed, as I currently am, in learner autonomy directed projects, both as a teacher and as a language learner (currently learning Italian) I have found it interesting to return to this article and re-read it, contrasting it with other articles and book chapters that I have read. He seems to present the influence of culture as a potential barrier to learner autonomy, though he does make up for this by identifying that learner autonomy “will look different in different cultures” and that teachers need to adapt to this, which is more in keeping with Smith (2003), who outlines a strong version of learner autonomy that doesn’t view learners as deficient, lacking certain behaviours associated with a ‘successful autonomous learner’ but rather focuses on helping them develop their own ways of being autonomous. I think this strong version of learner autonomy has a lot going for it.

Returning, to Godwin-Jones, I do appreciate the dedication of a section of the article to the teacher’s role within learner autonomy: I agree, based on my own (albeit limited) experience, that the teacher does play an important role in enabling autonomy. Learner autonomy does not only exist outside of the classroom: what happens in the classroom plays an important role in the promotion of it. Equally important, also discussed in this article, is the role of learners’ peers in development of autonomy.

Godwin-Jones makes a brief allusion to the importance of motivation in independent learning. In some ways it seems obvious that the two are linked. However, obvious though it may seem, it may still be very useful to consider theories of motivation (e.g. Dornyei, 2013) when considering how to scaffold the development of learner autonomy.

It was also interesting to read about the issues with distance learning, as I am currently doing a blended course so can empathise with the issues from a learner’s point of view.

All in all, it is a succinct article, freely available, offering a lot of ideas to experiment with.

References:

Smith, R. (2003) Pedgagogy for Autonomy as (Becoming) Appropriate Methodology in Learner Autonomy Across Cultures. Ed Palfreyman, D and Smith, R. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke.

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2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival on Learner Autonomy! (A reminder…)

Don’t forget, there’s just under two weeks to go before the deadline for the 2nd ELT Research Blog Carnival on Learner Autonomy, which I will be hosting on this blog. There’s such a lot of research out there dedicated to this topic, so let’s see what we can do with it!

For more information about how to participate, please see this post about it.

I look forward to reading your posts. 🙂

starling simple.wikipedia.org

Learner autonomy – helping learners find their wings? (“Starling” licensed for commercial reuse with modification)

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Post-observed lesson reflection: When it all goes wrong!

I was observed teaching today – TP 2/4 of my International House Young Learner course. I spent hours and hours preparing it (several on Saturday, several yesterday, several more today) – writing out the plan, tweaking the plan, thinking it through etc. I thought it was a good plan. Oh my goodness could a lesson have ever gone more wrong? Could I have ever been more wrong? I don’t think so…

Well, I have to do a reflection for it to submit to my observer, of course, so I thought I’d reflect on it here first. 

On the plus side, I can see where I went wrong:

In the planning stage:

  • One of my assumptions was that they would have met the present perfect at school. I didn’t expect them to be able to use it but I thought they would have come across it and be familiar with the form. A few had. Most hadn’t. 
  • The template I made for them, based on the poem that the book used to contextualise the language, was too long. I made it the same length as the poem in the book. I should have made it shorter. In the event, they didn’t get on to the freer practice activity where they were going to ask each other their questions, in a speaking ladder. And some of them had trouble coming up with enough ideas despite the brainstorming we did before they started writing. 

In the classroom:

  • I was tense, due to being observed, so instead of the usual relaxed, happy atmosphere, everything felt very awkward and stilted. 
  • The lesson plan was so detailed, pretty well scripted, but I couldn’t remember what was on it and that stressed me out even more. I don’t think detailed lesson plans and I go together. Not that amount of detail. I should have made a normal ‘me’ lesson plan as well, so that I could refer to that not the formal one. Something I could glance at and remind myself where I was and what was next. As it was, I forgot the order, forgot to talk about the meaning before moving to the form – the kids got me back on the right track by questioning the meaning, at least! A very stupid mistake. But I was flustered and it happened. On the plus side, they did eventually understand, after I used my timeline to explain it.
  • I couldn’t turn off the projector because the remote control had got lost under all my stuff. So it was noisy and there was the blue screen of death, and I knew that all too well, but I couldn’t do anything about it! Ridiculous.
  • My activity for eliciting the form (a projection of a summary of the form with parts blanked out for them to stick coloured words onto) was too complicated. It needed more scaffolding. This perhaps comes down to my incorrect assumption. I thought if I gave them more help, i.e. less gaps on the projection, it would be too easy. But also, it should have been a table, to make it clearer. 
  • I was supposed to ask the learners to memorise some past participles, it should have been half of those in the back of their book. I got that all muddled up and asked them to learn a ridiculously long list of verbs on a bookmark with the verbs on that I had given them as an aide. Poor little sods. They must have thought I was off my head. 
  • Then there was the pronunciation activity. By this point, I was really floundering and flustered and couldn’t remember what on earth I was supposed to do. So it all went a bit wrong. I was all the time trying to remember, “what did I say was going to say/do now? Arrgh!” Oh and also, the poem projected onto the whiteboard was too small – that created extra problems with managing the pron. activity which required them to look at it and produce the questions related to the statements. So I had to have them open their books, more faffery. And standing them up to generate more energy failed because of the book thing – they stood up without their books, sensibly enough, but needed them. Teacher management fail! 
  • Then came the writing, with the too-long template (see planning, above!). By this time, timing had gone thoroughly out of the window. And the too-long template took too long for the learners to complete in time to do the freer practice activity. Finally, I had to ask them to finish it for homework (those who hadn’t). 

But there was a positive side too (amazingly enough):

  • The beginning of the lesson (other than letting the routine get too faffy), was good – the learners matched words and pictures and put the cut-up lines of the context poem into the correct order and they were engaged by that. 
  • …erm. I’m struggling to think of any more! Maybe a very small positive side then… (I’m sure there were more…maybe…if so, I will add them later when I’ve had more time to think!)

I came out of the classroom envisaging a career change to data entry. For me, one of the worst things is, because I got a distinction for Delta module 2, I feel like my observers (for both this lesson and the last TP), who both know I did obviously, must watch me teach and wonder how on earth I managed to do that. *I* wonder how on earth I managed to do that. On the other hand, that was for adults. YL’s are a rather different kettle of fish. 

I do wonder if doing this course so soon after finishing my last courses was a good idea. But on the other hand, I clearly need a LOT of help with the whole young learner teaching malarkey! Even if I don’t manage to pass the course in the end, I will still have learnt a lot. I already have. Maybe that is the main thing.

So, next step: Write the reflection and then prepare for the next observation. What have I learnt from today’s experience: A lot. So hopefully my children will forgive me for today and I can use what I have learnt to make their next lessons better… 

My simple question to you today: What do you do when it all goes wrong? 

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Delta Tips 13: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the Assessment

This is the thirteenth in a series of blog posts I’m doing in response to the number of Delta-related searches that bring visitors to my blog. Each post in this Delta Tips series will deal with a different element of the Delta, based on my experience of doing it (and surviving to tell the tale! ) at Leeds Met.

 The module 3 extended specialism essay is a very special beast. If you thought Cambridge were demanding in their criteria for Module 2 LSA’s or perversely picky in how they want you to answer Module 1 exam questions – you’d be right! But, it’s nothing compared to what they demand you fit in to a measly 4500 words for Module 3…

  • (For an overview of what’s required and tips for starting out, look at Delta Tips 9; 
  • For information about writing the first section of the essay – the introduction – look at Delta Tips 10.
  • For help with the second section of the essay – the needs analysis – try Delta Tips 11.
  • To find out more about the third section of the essay – the course design – try Delta Tips 12. 

The focus of this post will be the fourth section – the assessment.)

Give yourself a pat on the back if you’ve got this far: you’ve finished designing your course and are ready to turn your mind to the issue of assessment. No small feat! Weighing in at 1000 words, +- 10%, the assessment section is nothing to sneeze at. If it’s any reassurance, it took me until I wrote the assessment section of my essay to actually get my head around a suitable writing style (and of course I had to then go back and redraft all the other sections with this eventually-acquired understanding!) – so don’t worry if it’s slow coming together, persevere and you will get there.

There are two main parts to the assessment section of the essay:

  • discussion of how you will use assessment to monitor learners’ progress and assess the learning outcomes proposed by your course.
  • discussion of how you will evaluate your course.

I’m sure at this stage if I say the words “principles” and “literature”, you will immediately understand the implication of this: Yup, as with the other sections, you need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of principles of assessment and evaluation, as outlined in the relevant literature.

(If you’ve got this far and not read Testing for Language Teachers by Andrew Hughes, now is the time to do so!)

However, as usual, it’s not enough to regurgitate principles: you need to apply your chosen principles to the assessment procedures you have selected to weave into your course: one way of doing this is to paraphrase and reference the principle, then link it to an aspect of your assessment procedures. (When I produced the first draft of my assessment section, I wrote about the principles and then wrote about my assessment, in two separate paragraphs, then following feedback, redrafted so that it interwove rather than being separate. It was much clearer and saved lots of words!)

Without any further ado, here are some tips for getting through the production of your assessment section:

  • Remember the Magic 3: Look at 1) the assessment procedures and materials you are considering using and make sure they are suited to 2) the learning outcomes you have decided on for your course and informed by 3) assessment principles from the literature. If you have designed a speaking and listening course, with various related outcomes, then giving learners nothing more than a gap-fill grammar test is probably not going to be massively valid. (Extreme example, but the point remains…)
  • Mollycoddle the examiner(s): Use the guiding questions on page 73 of your module handbook to create sub-headings within your essay section 4, so that it is abundantly clear that you have included all the required information. The examiner is not interested in picking over your essay with a magnifying glass in order to find what he/she is looking for.
  • Bear in mind that no course exists in an ideal world: Be realistic – with the best will in the world, there are going to be obstacles to overcome. That’s fine, but show awareness of those obstacles and demonstrate clearly that your intentions in terms of assessment are the best way of doing what needs to be done.
  • Remember your learners: You know, that little group of people you did the needs analysis on and designed the course for? Yeah, them. Are the assessment procedures you have in mind suited to them and their needs?
  • Don’t forget to mention evaluation as well as assessment: You know how I mentioned there are two parts to this essay section? Make sure you don’t get so over-excited by your amazing assessment set-up that you forget to think about and describe how you are going to evaluate your course and why that is the best way to evaluate it (referring, of course, to the literature…) Include examples of any questionnaires or other activities used to evaluate the course in your appendices and cross-reference to these.
  • F is for…..: Formative assessment. Don’t forget this bad boy – you need to show exactly how you are going to monitor your learners’ progress as the course unfolds, not only what happens at the end. (And what do we call the assessment that happens at the end? That’s right, boys and girls, summative assessment.) Remember also to think about how the results that are generated by your amazing formative assessment procedure can feed into possible change of course content or approach.
  • Are your assessment tools all clear, present and accounted for: You should include sample tests in your appendices. Don’t include tests in your assessment process for the sake of it – make sure each has a clear purpose and place within your overall assessment process. And then make doubly sure that this is abundantly clear to the examiner: You might like to include a table with your assessment plan in your appendices, clearly stating each test, as well as the type of assessment it constitutes and when/why it is to be used (with reference to the literature, of course!). You could then cross-reference to this in your course plan and in your assessment essay section.
  • C is for (clear) cross-referencing: Refer to your appendices (assessment plan, sample assessment tools, any other assessment or evaluation-related documents…) within your essay and within your course plan. This will make it clearer how everything fits together and that this is a well-oiled machine, rather than a random collection of stuff thrown together at the last minute.
  • Gratuitous tip for anybody who needs to create a speaking assessment tool for their course: Read Luoma (2004) and use the headings in her example test specification documents to help you make one of your own. It’s time-consuming to write but a useful process to go through, to get it clear in your head what your assessment tool needs to do, in what context, how, when and why. You can also include this document in your appendices as extra evidence that your assessment tool is closely mapped to your course proposal and group of learners. Final plug for Luoma (2004): Reading this book really helped me get my head around assessing speaking and designing assessment tools.
  • Why are your choices important? You’ll be making a lot of decisions regarding tools to use, tools NOT to use, when and how often to use various assessment types etc etc: remember to think about why the decisions you made were important for the fit of your assessment programme to your course design. Don’t just make choices, be prepared to rationalise them clearly, with reference to the literature, your learners, your course proposal and learning outcomes and so on.

And now for some recommended reading:

Black, P(2009)  Formative Assessment Issues Across the Curriculum: The Theory and the Practice. TESOL Quarterly. Vol. 43, Issue 3, 519-523.

Davison, C. & Leung, C. (2009) Current Issues in English Language Teacher-Based Assessment. TESOL Quarterly, Vol.43, Issue 3, 393-415.

Graves, K (2001) Designing an Assessment Plan in Designing Language Courses. Newbury House Teacher Development.

Harris, M. (1997) Self-assessment of language learning in formal settings in ELTJ vol. 51/1. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

Hedge, T. (2000)  Planning and Assessing Learning in Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom.

Hughes, A. (2003) Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Luoma, S.(2004) Assessing Speaking. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Richards, J.(2001) Planning goals and learning outcomes in Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Stoynoff, S (2012) Looking backward and forward at classroom-based language assessment in ELT Journal Volume 66/4 Special issue. 

Don’t give up – you’ve broken the back of the thing now. Hopefully the assessment section will help you bring it all together. 

You may (as I did) discover a desperate need for redrafting at this point, but don’t worry this is a good thing: it means that your understanding of your specialism and the literature is developing. Hurrah! And hopefully you have left enough time for that crucial redrafting phase… 😉

Coming soon: Tips for the Conclusion! Yes, even Delta Module 3 Extended Essay beasts do eventually come to a conclusion 🙂 (Update: tips for the conclusion can be found here.)

If you think I am wrong in anything I’ve said or that I’ve missed anything useful from this section, then please comment and I will add whatever is missing to this post!

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Countdown to Delta Module 1 exam – Good luck, candidates!

On the first Wednesday in December (if I’m not mistaken…), there will be knots of worried (or perhaps super-confident!) TEFLers gathering at Cambridge exam centres the world over, ready to try their luck at the beast that is the Module 1 exam. Are you one of them? If you are, are you ready? Here is a little checklist to help you out…

  • Have you practised writing at speed for 3hrs with only a half hour break in the middle? If not, I recommend that you do so this weekend! And, find a nice, comfortable pen, making sure you have spares in case it runs out.
  • Have you learnt the structure of the exam? Test yourself – get out a piece of paper and write down what you know about the requirements (points on offer, how you will/should package your answer, exactly what information is required in each answer) of each question of each paper. Check the outcome against my posts, for paper 1 and for paper 2  – how did you do? It’s worth doing this (I did it several times, minus checking against my posts – they were only a collection of notes at the time!) – knowing exactly what’s required is half the battle to being able to produce it under pressure. It might be worth making something like this chart if you brain responds well to colour…
  • Have you got your phonemes under control? If not, it’s not too late! Have a go at writing a short text in phonemic script. First with the chart to hand (if you need it), then without the chart, to force you to remember. Then try and write quickly in phonemic script. If you are shaky on your symbols, have a look at my “useful resources for module 1″ post  where you can find links to Adrian Underhill’s chart, presentation on youtube and app.
  • Have you got your terminology tightened up? Test yourself using all the flashcards that Delta hopefuls past and present have created on Quizlet (you can find a link to many of these in my useful resources post too). Or, if you prefer less new-fangled ways of learning, get your Thornbury A-Z of ELT and open it at random. Pick a term, define it and check your definition against his.
  • Do you know your reliability from your validity? Your proficiency test from your achievement test? Dig out past papers for any English exams that students can do e.g. KET, PET, FCE, CAE, the placement test used at your school, the last achievement test you gave your students and analyse them in relation to a specific student or group of students. (If you’re feeling really geeky, make some student profile cards and divide them up so that they are a reasonable fit with the exam type you are analysing. Pick an exam and a card from the appropriate pile and give yourself the Paper 2 question 1 time limit to analyse it.)
  • Can you look at a spread of course book material and infer all the activity aims and assumptions about learning of the course book writer? Grab the course book nearest you and check! Can you come up with the requisite number of points within the allocated time limit?
  • How is your language analysis? Pick a short text and analyse the hell out of it. If you’re not sure about any of it, time to open About Language by Scott Thornbury and make sure!! Remember, Cambridge examiners give points for the strangest things:  if you think it, you might as well write it down just in case – as long as you can write quickly!
  • Do you know all there is to know about authentic materials? Look at every piece of authentic text you see today, from your cereal packet to adverts in town to …you name it! Can you identify generic features? If not, flick through Beyond the Sentence by Thornbury or Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers by McCarthy and refresh your memory…
  • What do you see when you look at a piece of student writing? Can you analyse it for positives/negatives and things that most need working on, giving reasons for your choices? Can you package this information so that the Cambridge examiner can see it easily? Can you do this super-quickly? Test yourself and make sure you can! (You are more than welcome to use my progress test scripts that need marking this morning for practice!! 😉 )
  • Can you look at a course book speaking or writing activity and know what students (of a particular level) need? Pick an activity, any activity, of this sort, and see how quickly you can list what learners need (language, structural elements etc), along with appropriate examples.
  • How’s your knowledge of SLA theory? If you need a quick refresher, why not spend 45 minutes (or so) watching Chia Suan’s British Council Webinar on this topic? (You can find the link to this  in my “useful resources for module 1″ post  post.)
  • Have you done a mock exam (Paper 1 AND Paper 2, one after the other with only the allocated break time in between) yet? If not, get on it. If so, do another this weekend or on Monday/Tuesday – it won’t hurt to get yourself right in that zone again!

Don’t panic, you’ll be fine. Try and enjoy it (I know, I know…) – it’s an opportunity to show off everything you’ve learnt and it will be over before you know it! (Thank goodness…)

Good luck! 🙂

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Feedback forms and follow up

This post is inspired by the coincidence of happening across this post by Anthony  and it having recently been that time of term where I work – only, instead of it being end-of-course questionnaire evaluation forms, we’ve just done mid-course questionnaire evaluation forms. These were anonymous to the extent that the teacher is required to leave the room while the students complete these forms, so that they are able to discuss their responses together freely.

Anthony makes a good point about the issue of lack of context with such anonymous data: I suppose regardless of the number of learners in the class, with anonymity the data becomes quantitative rather than qualitative – i.e. x students think the course is satisfactory, while y students think it better than satisfactory and z think it is below standard. X students think there is too much grammar, y students think there is too little grammar and z students think the amount of grammar is just right. And so on. If, in the first instance, x represents the majority, and in the second instance, z represents the majority, then one is relieved.

figures

Which colour stands for satisfied? (Cuisenaire Rods – taken from wiki commons, labeled for commercial reuse with modification)

Would it be better to have feedback with names attached? Anthony describes the potential benefits of this. As I see it, the main one would be the potential for tailoring your response(s) to it and gaining more understanding of what’s behind it. As he mentioned, the cons are generally thought to be the issue of reliability – will a student give genuine feedback if they have to put their name to it? Thinking back to my time as student representative, while I was doing my courses at Leeds Met, there was definitely a strong preference for anonymous feedback as far as the students were concerned – I ended up with a system whereby another student collected and collated feedback and gave it to me to pass on to the tutors at the evaluation meeting –  but the tutors welcomed informal feedback at any time too, which was really nice. Why the preference for anonymity amongst students? As far as I can tell, the thinking goes something along the lines of, “If I complain, they will hate me, which will make things difficult henceforth and may mean I get a lower grade in the next assignment”. There may be a cultural aspect at play too. In some cultures, complaining just isn’t done. Britain would be one of those – everyone has seen that info-graphic regarding “what we say” and “what we really mean”! Stiff upper lip and all that, what! 😉 Perhaps anonymity makes the complaining less direct and therefore more acceptable/comfortable for people to undertake.

Perhaps the length of the course also influences things: If you have a group of students for a whole year, then possibly there is more potential for building a rapport with them and creating a situation whereby channels of communication are open and students are comfortable in using these and telling you when something isn’t working or, on the other hand, if something is particularly helpful. They may then feel more comfortable to put their names to a feedback form too, if you wanted that. Whereas, if you have a class for a couple of hours a week for 12 weeks, depending on the students and teacher involved, you may not reach that point, where they would want to put their name to a form, though you have a perfectly good rapport with them. (And of course, you can’t make it optional, though within any class you probably have some learners who would be happy to put their name on their form, because the “anonymous” ones would no longer be anonymous: we’d be back to pseudo-anonymity.)

So what of the anonymous feedback forms in all this? They are an evaluation tool. From the institutional point of view, you can get some statistics out of them. From the teacher’s point of view, you can identify trends – i.e. if within one class, the majority of students are ticking the “too little” box for writing, then you can address that. Then, of course, if the class is very small, probably you know who filled out each form anyway! So it becomes pseudo-anonymity. Either which way, as long as they aren’t the only tool used to evaluate, they serve a purpose. (Even if, as Anthony pointed out, the information is all somewhat decontextualised.) However, from the student’s point of view, having gone to the effort of filling out the form, they probably want some kind of response to it, some kind of acknowledgement…

My question is, how is the best way to do that effectively when the forms are anonymous or “anonymous”? Here, I’m wondering about the feedback directed at the teacher, rather than the institution (I don’t have a magic wand for making classes smaller or at a different time of the day etc!) What can we do other than, say, doing more writing, if that was the general consensus (as per one of the examples given above), to respond effectively? If you try and talk to the learners as a group about any issues within the feedback forms, then it threatens the anonymity, in that to get anything meaningful out of it, the students who had raised the issues would have to speak, thereby putting their name to it. Which they also may not want to do in front of the class. Getting them to come and speak to you, or to write to you, of their own volition, defies the point of anonymity too (or does it?)  Another issue, of course, is time – whatever method you do use to deal with this can’t be too time-consuming in terms of lesson time, because that is at a premium already, or in terms of out-of-class teacher preparation time, because there are only so many hours in a day and a teacher can only physically do so much.

Answers on a postcard! (Or comment below…) 🙂 (And apologies for the somewhat rambling nature of this post…you may complain using the comments box below – anonymously or not as you please 😉 )

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My first ever International House Journal column!

The International House Journal of Education and Development was founded in 1996, by Charles Lowe (director of IH London at the time) and Matthew Barnard. 17 years later (if my maths hasn’t deserted me, which it may well have…), in issue 35, Autumn 2013, I’ve found my way into it!

Click here to see the contents page and here to go straight to my column. (I have to say, I recommend the former though – there’s lots of interesting stuff to see! 🙂 )

My column is based on my “30 things…” blog post and in it I revisit my list and expand on the various items. This first one focuses on a combination of spoken grammar and storytelling.

I’m honoured to have been given the opportunity of writing a column for the journal and look forward to contributing to future editions.

Finally, apologies for the lack of posts recently – between full-time work and doing the IH teaching young learners course, I seem to have precious little time for much else! However, watch this space: there will be more posts, I promise…

Meanwhile, enjoy the journal! 🙂