By Keith Folse, University of Central Florida. Materials writer, National Geographic-Cengage. Submitted by Zita Bodonyi/scm/Virginia Delgado. For handout: Keith.folse@gmail.com
Useful take-away: give writing practice but don't mark every paper! You may be equally effective using other procedures, including group processes, which can be highly motivating for learners.
These days, some practiioners try to create a split between discrete skills vs integrated skills: but the difference is neither good nor bad. Teaching separately is fine. The problem with integrated skills teaching is that novice teachers in integrated tend to cover what
they are comfortable teaching. You shouldn’t be asking your supervisor what % of the class
should be sprnt reading versus writing. He has ten ideas that will help, and here are five. First: Learner needs drive everything. You need to ask yourself why the learner is in the class and what he/she needs to get out of it.Useful take-away: give writing practice but don't mark every paper! You may be equally effective using other procedures, including group processes, which can be highly motivating for learners.
Second, you need to know how to teach writing. all too often, we just get by, by doing what our writing teachers in HS and college did to us. (Usually, people mark, teachers mark everything up and return, overwhelming and discouraging the learner.) Learn the techniques: you can't just show up and be a native speaker!
Also, for the sake of your sanity: Please
stop marking every paper! Students should write a lot but not every paper
should be marked. The practice itself has value. Research has not proven the benefit of receiving feedback on every single piece of paper. You may be selective in which writings to grade and when, not guaranteeing any one practice to students. You may get your weekend back to yourself this way.
Fourth, balance individual writing and group/classroom writing.
The class is not called individual writing practice! You can have entire class write an essay.
Think progression – copy sentences, do cloze sentences, several steps. We do
step ten.(SEE: ELS training modules on writing!). Example from Building
Better Sentences: If sentences are very short and choppy, ask them to combine
and they only use “and” or “but.” We
want subordination. In a classroom of 21: each student is A, B ,C. Give them 7
markers. He’ll do a practice activity.
Example for class: Write on the board
The flag is Mexican.
The flag is red.
The flag is green.
The flag is white.
You say: make one sentence that makes sense but you cannot omit any concept. Students work in groups and create the best sentence that includes all the ideas presented in the simple sentences. Takes about 20 minutes. A designated group member puts the group result on the board. Don't evaluate until the very end. You may say “that’s certainly is a possibility.” When all sentences are on the board, ask the class: how many sentences are on the board? (If it doesn’t have caps/ final punctuation it’s not a sentence). Then: how many different sentences are on the board right now? Everyone is vested. Don’t decide “best.” Then: How are the sentences different from each other? Students can jointly decide if a sentence is ok or not.
The flag is Mexican.
The flag is red.
The flag is green.
The flag is white.
You say: make one sentence that makes sense but you cannot omit any concept. Students work in groups and create the best sentence that includes all the ideas presented in the simple sentences. Takes about 20 minutes. A designated group member puts the group result on the board. Don't evaluate until the very end. You may say “that’s certainly is a possibility.” When all sentences are on the board, ask the class: how many sentences are on the board? (If it doesn’t have caps/ final punctuation it’s not a sentence). Then: how many different sentences are on the board right now? Everyone is vested. Don’t decide “best.” Then: How are the sentences different from each other? Students can jointly decide if a sentence is ok or not.
Grouping: person with earliest birthday is “A”. They go to
the board and “show their work.” Ask: what is different between the sentences?
Now they are engaged because they are on a team. It gets them to notice the
differences in the different ways that you can construct a sentence. For
example they learn there is no adjective for United States.
Problem B sentences: Matt plays tennis very Monday. Matt plays at
night. Matt enjoys this. Laura also enjoys this. How should these sentences be combined? This activity requires students to naturally use "Laura enjoys.......". It shows students that they need
a gerund after enjoy. Load this activity with new vocab because it forces them
to reuse the vocabulary multiple times. (Research shows that the more exposures, the deeper the memory processes.)
Benefits of these activities: students suddenly care about a basic sentence.
Very dynamic. Using ABC, every student will go to the board. You can use any
topic, like history etc. Also: you need a writing assignment for each day. Come
in with something written for each day. Can be short. Some will be returned,
not all. You could sy turn in three out of five next week. He may mark three
assignments a semester. (Where’s my paper? You were not selected). Can hand
back paper and have them add something like an adjective. They learn. You stress much less!
Point five: To improve their writing, students need to write a lot. If you have 40 days in a course you could assign 39 journal-type assignments, many not marked. Collect only selected samples. Or, say you'll collect X times out of the week.
Point six: Teach the grammar they need most. Don't sweat the obscure points. Do some grammar errors matter more than others? Yes. They need to be able to do X, or to avoid doing Y. Doubtful: future perfect tense, past perfect. Teach simple present affirmative and negative. Not questions (for beginners) For writing they only need to be able to decode questions. Past modals, passive. Past progressive are needed, for example. (For points 6-10, see handout via smatson@els.edu)
Point seven: Students should double space all writing from the very beginning. this makes commenting easier.
Point eight: Do something with vocabulary in the writing class. (You could reinforce what is learned in SSP, for example). So--you could put a simple sentence on the board, have them open their SSP books to the current unit, and ask what vocabulary would be appropriate and helpful to add.
Point nine: Streamline your class: set up routine policies and procedures so that students can regularly perform without expecting a grade as a result.
Point ten: Focs on specific learner needs--for example, teach to the specific spelling needs that you encounter.
More ideas will be presented in his Foundations to Great Writing, out in August.
ESL WRITING IN A FLIPPED CLASSROOM
Point six: Teach the grammar they need most. Don't sweat the obscure points. Do some grammar errors matter more than others? Yes. They need to be able to do X, or to avoid doing Y. Doubtful: future perfect tense, past perfect. Teach simple present affirmative and negative. Not questions (for beginners) For writing they only need to be able to decode questions. Past modals, passive. Past progressive are needed, for example. (For points 6-10, see handout via smatson@els.edu)
Point seven: Students should double space all writing from the very beginning. this makes commenting easier.
Point eight: Do something with vocabulary in the writing class. (You could reinforce what is learned in SSP, for example). So--you could put a simple sentence on the board, have them open their SSP books to the current unit, and ask what vocabulary would be appropriate and helpful to add.
Point nine: Streamline your class: set up routine policies and procedures so that students can regularly perform without expecting a grade as a result.
Point ten: Focs on specific learner needs--for example, teach to the specific spelling needs that you encounter.
More ideas will be presented in his Foundations to Great Writing, out in August.
ESL WRITING IN A FLIPPED CLASSROOM
By John Grancey, Santa Fe College, FLA. Submitted by Tammy Cameron, Toronto. Useful takeaway: Stop talking about writing! Writing class is for WRITING.
The most important message: Students want to write, not listen to you talk about writing! Make an analogy of a drawing class: it's only by doing that students learn. (see smatson@els.edu for a handout that shows why homework is sometimes ineffective). The flipped classroom means that you can put your lecture on a video for students to read outside of class as homework. The advantage here is that students can keep rewinding until they fully understand your points (they can't do that in class!). Otherwise, only explain when they are at a real point of need - when they are struggling. More important information can be put on Google docs, or you can broadcast yourself on Youtube. Or: have students view already created videos on Youtube. Programs for making videos: Jing, Camtasia Studio, iPad screencasting, Explain Everything, ShowMe, and EduCreations.
In class: don't accept work until it is correct. You should minimize group work in the writing class, and if you do it, allow students to decide who to work with. In class, you can do worksheets, problem solving projects, and writing. At home they can read the textbook, watch videos, do internet research, look up grammar. References: Flippedclassroom.org; cybraryman.com/flipclass.html, etc.
Use of Video Feedback in
Writing Instruction, presented by: Sertac Ozkul,
Kadir Has University. Submitted by Jaime Haile.
The presenter shared his
experiences with video feedback to his writing class. He explained how he
creates a private U-tube account, creates a link and send the link to each of
his students. He can then view statistical data provided by U-tube. When asked
about the length of time each video took, Ozkul stated that it took between 2 –
15 minutes depending on the amount of correction. He claimed that this form of
feedback saved time and gave the student some sense of personal attention. Of
course, this cannot replace face-to-face feedback, but often times, that is not
realistic. The presenter also said this form of feedback could be used in peer
review activities. If you are interested in this
presentation, e-mail sertac.ozkul@khas.edu.tr
Being Explicit: Preparing Students for Academic Writing. Presented by: Danielle Bragw, Penn State; Angela Dornbusch, University of Oregon; Lydia shen, University of Oregon; Linda Wesley, Penn State University. Submitted by Virginia Delgado.
Some of our students come from high-context cultures and languages; others, from low-context cultures and languages. For example:
High context languages are very physical and internalized in a person.
Low context
cultures use very verbal messages.
Being Explicit: Preparing Students for Academic Writing. Presented by: Danielle Bragw, Penn State; Angela Dornbusch, University of Oregon; Lydia shen, University of Oregon; Linda Wesley, Penn State University. Submitted by Virginia Delgado.
Some of our students come from high-context cultures and languages; others, from low-context cultures and languages. For example:
High context languages are very physical and internalized in a person.
Very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of
the message.
High Context cultures only use as many words as needed to communicate.
“We share the same picture so why do I have to explain?”
High context -
Japan/Arab countries,/Latin and
Hispanic cultures
Low context cultures are explicit and detail-oriented.
“Let me tell you as much as I can about what I mean.”
Low context – English speaking cultures / Scandinavian
cutures/ Germanic cultures
How can you, as a teacher, help? By coming up with information, helping students choose relevant ideas, organizing the ideas, and explaining ideas. Some acronyms that are useful:
PIE: Point, Information, Examples
TEA: Topic, Explanation, Analysis
The Point, or the Topics, is the first sentence, main idea.
The Information or Explanation are the examples and support.
The Examples and Analysis include the elaboration, where the ideas become more clear.
Ask the student: Is something missing in your PIE? If so, build some new ideas to explain your point. don't leave your reader/listener to make the connection that you are making!
Ask the student to ask himself: What does the paragraph say? What does the paragraph do?
Grammar and Writing: It’s Easier Than You Think. Presented by: Randi Reppen, Northern Arizona University, Cambridge University Press. Submitted by Jaime Haile.
Though this was an exhibitor session, the presenter provided useful information on incorporating grammar and writing.
She first discussed the importance of having a plan. Reppen shared important steps as progressing from teaching 1. Words to 2. ‘chunks’ to 3. Sentences to texts. Teachers should teach frequent words and words from the real world. Also, teachers should inform students of common collocations and phrasal prepositions. For sentences, teachers should be aware of common mistakes across language groups and proficiency levels. Teachers should provide models from the beginning to advanced levels. Students should have an opportunity to interact with the models. Yet, teachers should be careful not to over-present the material. Lastly, Reppen states that teachers and students should know the end goal – Why are these students writing? What types of writing tasks do they need to know ( argumentative, compare/contrast, synthesis, cause/effect, or problem /solution)? The last item Reppen discussed was for teachers to be aware of discipline specific tasks such as use of past tense or past perfect and time clauses with a narrative writing. Another example used was the use of as…as and complex noun phrases with compare / contrast writing.
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| Monument area outside the Convention Center |
Testing:
Improving Teacher-made Assessments, by Cheryl Jones and Amber Young, ELS. (submitted by Amber Young)
Takeaway: Do you really know how to create fair quizzes? Test yourself!
Cheryl and Amber presented
tips for creating objective assessments that are Practical (able to
develop, administer and mark with the available time and with available
resources), Valid (test what you teach and how you teach it),
Transparent (clear and accurate information is given to the students about
the test), Reliable (consistency of test scores across classes), and Authentic
(tasks reflects real-world situations and contexts). The presentation covered
multiple choice, true / false and clozed question types. The advantages
to using these types of questions is that they eliminate teacher bias in
grading, help reduce anxiety among test takers, are easy to score, can cover a
broad range of content and are versatile at all levels. The disadvantages to
using these type of questions are that they measure only a low level of learning -
that is, facts,, knowledge, and general comprehension. Also, guessing plays a factor, it is difficult to create
successful questions and plausible distractors , cheating is easily facilitated
and there is a great burden on the students’ reading ability. The two presenters shared a
variety of ways to enhance the diagnostic value of each question type.
In order to enhance the assessment
reliability of Multiple Choice tests; the possible answers should be similar in
length and format. Each answer should fit logically into the stem. Writers should randomly
distribute the correct responses, when possible present answers in some logical
order, use the alternatives ‘none of the above’ and ‘all of the above’
sparingly, draw attention to the negative words, use classroom errors as the
distracters. A good stem has been created when the students who know the context
should be able to answer before reading the possible answers.
In order to enhance the questions
reliability of Multiple Choice tests; state the question and the answer as
simply as possible, design each question to measure a specific objective,
ensure that each question has only one correct choice, rigid adherence to
grammar rules may allow for 2 correct answers, and each distractor should have
an equal chance of being chosen.
In order to enhance the assessment
reliability of True/ False test; Questions should be written at a lower
level of language difficulty than the text. Questions should appear in the same
order as the answers appear in the text and answer patterns should be avoided.
Make sure you paraphrase questions in simple, clear language. Rephrase using
synonyms to avoid students scanning for verbatim matches. Make questions
require application of knowledge rather than ability to copy, and have students
circle (T, F or N) on the test paper or answer sheet.
In order to enhance the question
reliability of True/ False test, avoid using more than one idea in a True
or False question. Make your main point prominent. True statements
should be true under all circumstances. Avoid using may, seldom, possible,
often, and other qualifiers. Avoid extraneous clues to the answer. For
example, always, never, none, all, only, etc. Use positive statements to
avoid the confusion of a double negative. Opinion statements should be
attributed to some source. Instead of agreeing with the stated opinion, the
students should be aware of the opinions of the organization or individuals.
In order to enhance the assessment
reliability of Clozed / Matching test; include only short phrases or single
words in the answer key, arrange the answers in a systematic order, only have
one correct response for each stem, make sure each blank line is the same
length, and avoid breaking a set of items over two pages. When writing your
directions, explain whether or not a response can be used more than once and
indicate where to write the answer.
In order to enhance the question
reliability of Clozed / Matching test; use only
distractors that share the same foundation of information, ensure that the column of Stimuli on the left clearly sets the question, avoid grammatical and word form clues that give away the
correct response, and stay away from collocations that international students will not
be familar with.
They wrapped up their
presentation with a sample test. Participants were given examples of
poorly made questions as well as ways to fix the test question to make it
more appropriate.
Targeting and Assessing Spoken Accuracy in English, presented by Adrienne Stacy and Jennifer Grode, Monterey Institute of International Studies. Submitted by Jennifer Townsend.
For their project, the presenters had students watch and rewatch clips from popular movies, speeches or TED Talks. The students first worked on a cloze assignment filling in gaps in the transcription of the talk. Then they listened again to note the stress and intonation of words. With the next clip, they had to practice independent transcriptions with careful detail to stress and intonation, trying their best to mimic the speakers. In the next phase, students where asked to transcribe then mimic the banter between the main characters in a clip from Pixar's Up in pairwork. Each partner took turns performing both parts and rotated to other partners.
The next phase gave even more freedom. Strategically paired groups chose a short clip from a movie to transcribe, rehearse and reenact for their class. In the final phases of this project, students were asked to rewrite the scene they performed to fit a different context or to have an alternate ending.
These scaffolded activities were very engaging and student-centered. The presenters pointed out the dangers of boredom due to the repetition of scenes, but based on the recordings they had of their students working on these speaking exercises, it was a successful approach to learning. Their examples where thoughtfully chosen and entertaining for the educators as well. Stacy and Grode also talked about ways to modify the phases for time constraints. In one case, students were recording monologue reenactments on their computers and uploading to an e-mail so that instructors could provide individualized feedback. This was a very sensitive an tech-savvy way to help coax those shyer students out of their shells.
For their project, the presenters had students watch and rewatch clips from popular movies, speeches or TED Talks. The students first worked on a cloze assignment filling in gaps in the transcription of the talk. Then they listened again to note the stress and intonation of words. With the next clip, they had to practice independent transcriptions with careful detail to stress and intonation, trying their best to mimic the speakers. In the next phase, students where asked to transcribe then mimic the banter between the main characters in a clip from Pixar's Up in pairwork. Each partner took turns performing both parts and rotated to other partners.
The next phase gave even more freedom. Strategically paired groups chose a short clip from a movie to transcribe, rehearse and reenact for their class. In the final phases of this project, students were asked to rewrite the scene they performed to fit a different context or to have an alternate ending.
These scaffolded activities were very engaging and student-centered. The presenters pointed out the dangers of boredom due to the repetition of scenes, but based on the recordings they had of their students working on these speaking exercises, it was a successful approach to learning. Their examples where thoughtfully chosen and entertaining for the educators as well. Stacy and Grode also talked about ways to modify the phases for time constraints. In one case, students were recording monologue reenactments on their computers and uploading to an e-mail so that instructors could provide individualized feedback. This was a very sensitive an tech-savvy way to help coax those shyer students out of their shells.
