Diagnostic Assessment of Learners' Needs
Introduction and Class Profile
The diagnostic assessment was carried out in October 2007 with a group of five learners at South Tyneside College, who had all been initially assessed at upper pre-Entry level. The class was multi-lingual, comprising of a married North Korean couple, a Somalian and two Bangladeshis. All were literate in their respective first languages.
Mohammed is a 36-year-old Bangladeshi who has lived in Britain for fourteen years. Although he has very weak written skills, his job requires him to speak some English and he has already passed the Entry 1 Speaking and Listening Exam.
Abdus is 35 and also from Bangladesh. In common with Mohammed he has lived in Britain for over ten years, works in a restaurant and is required to communicate in English. He has previously studied at Entry 1 level but wants to improve his writing skills, which are significantly weaker than his speaking ability.
Min-jae and Young-suh are both 50 and from North Korea. They arrived in Britain six months ago unable to speak any English, although they have since participated in an intensive summer-long course.
Halima is a 46-year-old Somalian. She has lived in the UK for five years and has previously studied at pre-Entry level.
The Diagnostic Test
The first part of the assessment covered listening, reading and writing skills. Afterwards, the students’ speaking ability was assessed individually in short interviews with the teacher. The diagnostic test was adapted from one developed by Hackney Community College for use with Entry 1 students. As the students had been initially assessed at near Entry 1 level, and would be working towards Entry 1 targets, I chose the assessment to give an indication of their current abilities in relation to a number of core curriculum standards. I omitted the final part of the assessment (where students are given a page to write about themselves) as the learners’ ability to give personal information orally and on a basic form was already been assessed.
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Speaking and listening skills assessed: Lr/E1.2 listen for detail to extract specific information; Sc/E1.4 make statements of fact clearly; Lr/E1.4 listen and respond to requests for personal information.
Students are given seven questions, each with three or four pictures representing possible answers. The teacher reads a short narrative including one of the words, which the students must circle.
Students were given a short interview in which they were asked for details about themselves (What’s your address? When were you born? Where do you come from? When did you come to England?), their occupation, family members and reasons for learning English.
Reading: Rt/E1.1 follow a short narrative; Rw/E1.2 decode simple words; Rw/E1.3 recognise the letters of the alphabet in both lower and upper case.
Students read a short text giving personal information about a man and his family and write the answers to five comprehension questions, using full sentences if possible.
Students read two appointment slips for a doctor’s surgery and copy information about times, days and dates into a chart.
Writing: Ws/E1.1 construct a simple sentence; Ws/ E1.2 punctuate a simple sentence with a capital letter and full stop; Ww/E1.1 spell correctly some personal key words; Ww/E1.2 write the letters of the alphabet using upper and lower case.
Students copy information from the board onto the front page of the assessment and write their own names.
Students have to fill in a basic form asking for personal information.
Students look at a picture of a classroom and write down five of the objects they can see.
Students’ Strengths and Weaknesses
At the beginning of the assessment, Mohammed was able to recognise and use both upper and lower case letters when copying from the board. He had no problems with the listening test, correctly answering six out of seven questions (his one mistake was due to a lexical problem in discerning between a flat and a bungalow). In the reading and writing sections, he was able to recognise and copy the necessary details from the doctor’s slip and extract the main lexical information from the reading passage. However, in answering the questions he was unable to write in full sentences, or to use capital letters or full stops correctly. Similarly, while he completed the form asking for personal details appropriately, his use of upper and lower case letters was fairly random in all but nationality and post code.
Although he struggled with sentence formation and capitalisation, Mohammed’s spelling was one of his strengths, as evidenced by words such as mirror and carpet in the classroom objects section.
During the interview, Mohammed answered all the questions without the need for prompting or re-phrasing, and was able to give further information about his place of work and the names and educational background of his children.
Abdus’s reading and writing was markedly weaker than his speaking. In the interview he was able to give personal details, and extend answers to talk about feelings and opinions when asked about his family and occupation. In the listening, he extracted simple words relating to transport, numbers, days of the week and places of work, though not types of housing.
His use of capitalisation is random, as seen in the sentence I am WORK IN FACTORY HACKNEY. He also mixes upper and lower case letters when writing the personal pronoun I, commonly adds the verb am after I when talking about habits and regular actions (a tendency also evident in the interview), and was unable to punctuate sentences with full stops. He scored no marks in the reading, despite assistance.
Young-suh’s written work shows some knowledge of sentence structure and basic grammar (He is 28 years old), the use of upper and lower case letters (Korean), punctuation (I’ve) and the spelling of familiar words (South Shields; table). She is able to write legibly and makes attempts to use an ordinal number (21th) when writing her date of birth. In addition to being able to follow the narrative at the end of the assessment, she extracted all of the information from the doctor’s appointment slip. Her listening work showed some confusion between the numbers 14 and 40.
In the interview, she was able to understand and respond to all the questions, though she displayed several phonological problems related to her first language: lack of intonation, inserting vowel sounds after words ending in consonants (for instance yes /jesə/), and the substitution of /b/ for /v/ and /p/ for /f/.
With the exception of the question on house types (which none of the students answered correctly), Min-jae was able to hear and extract all of the key information in the listening assessment. His speaking ability was broadly similar to Young-suh’s, transferring the same phonological features from his first language. In the interview, he required no rephrasing or prompting but was often unable to give more than a few words in reply to questions. He did, however, display an awareness of short answer forms in responses such as Yes, I do and No, I can’t.
In the reading and writing sections, he made attempts at more difficult lexical items (bucket; watch; desk). His spelling was relatively weak. He was able to extract most of the information from the narrative, but unable to answer the questions in full sentences.
Halima struggled with the listening. Although she was able to answer questions on times, transport and days of the week, she couldn’t pick out the word stress in the number 14 or discern the phonological difference between the letters D and E. Her writing showed some basic spelling mistakes (tow children), although she was largely able to use upper and lower case letters appropriately. Her reading skills were slightly stronger than Abdus’s, extracting the day of the doctor’s appointment but not the time or date. She was able to capitalise, structure (spacing and capital letters in the post code) and spell her address with only minor problems.
In the interview, Halima was able to give basic answers to questions about herself and her family, but unable to extend answers to express feelings or opinions. She required some prompting and rephrasing on the questions relating to her place of birth and reasons for studying English.
Appropriate Language Learning Outcomes
Halima, Mohammed and Abdus have literacy needs relating particularly to their writing skills. Learning aims for all three would include spelling familiar words correctly (Ww/E1.1), writing letters in upper and lower case (Ww/E1.2), and constructing and punctuating a simple sentence (Ws/E1.1; Ws/E1.2; Ws/E1.3).
Writing targets for Young-suh and Min-jae would include spelling and the construction of simple sentences. A further aim would be to write a simple composition (Wt/E1.1) on a familiar topic such as a family member.
With regard to reading skills, reading and recognising simple sentences (Rs/E1.1) might be an appropriate precursor to written work for Abdus and Halima, who both struggled to recognise key words in the assessment. The students were all able to follow most of the short narrative (Rt/E1.1) in the diagnostic, but further practice is needed in word order and basic grammatical structures.
The students’ ability to ask questions was not assessed. Weaknesses identified in the interview were in asking for clarification (Sc/E1.3), using stress, intonation and the sounds of English to be understood in simple exchanges (Sc/E1.1) and expressing feelings and opinions (Sd/E1.1). The students’ ability to engage in discussions was appropriate for the level and they were all able to make simple statements of fact (Sc/E1.4). Differentiated targets for Mohammed and Abdus could include making requests (Sc/E1.2) and giving descriptions (Sc/E1.4) of their workplace and local area.
As the students were able to extract specific detail and respond to requests for personal information, appropriate learning targets could be taking part in social conversations and a limited number of formal exchanges (Lr/E1.5).
In a short follow-up interview given after the assessment the learners identified learning targets such as improving pronunciation, using basic grammar while speaking and being able to write in full sentences, using capital letters and full stops.
Evaluation of Diagnostic Assessment
Although the assessment gave a broad indication of the students’ abilities in all four skills it had a number of shortcomings, primarily the over emphasis on reading and writing. One major improvement would be for pairs of students to interview each other as a follow-up to the initial speaking assessment, testing their ability to ask questions to obtain information (Sc/E1.3) and to take part in social interaction (Lr/E1.5).
In the listening, the first question was clearly not appropriate for the level. A better test of their lexical knowledge would have been circle an item of furniture. One positive aspect of the assessment was the testing of the students’ ability to identify word stress to aid understanding (Lr/E1.2) and to discriminate between sounds.
In the reading and writing sections I felt the doctor’s appointment slip was an unnecessary duplication of the comprehension questions on the final page, both assessing the students’ abilities to extract information from written texts. In retrospect, I should have asked the students to write a short text about themselves, which would have assessed their ability to compose simple texts (Wt/E1.1) and also tested their use of basic verb forms without giving them scope to merely copy from an existing text. The remaining sections – classroom objects and filling in personal details on a basic form – were, I felt, appropriate for the level.
Finally, in addition to the suggested extension to the speaking assessment, the initial interview itself was too focused on the students’ ability to provide basic personal information. After some initial requests for personal details, the interview could be extended to check understanding of imperatives and simple instructions (Lr/E1.3) and to give descriptions (Sc/E1.4) rather than just state facts, for instance asking students to describe their house or how they travel to class.
Word Count: 1,959
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Assignment 7.2
Introduction
The language point chosen for this assignment was the use of the past simple, past continuous and past perfect in narrative tenses. In order to assess the students’ existing knowledge, I began the lesson with a dictogloss activity, following up with an inductive presentation of the target language based on the dictogloss text. This was the first time I had ever used a dictogloss in class.
Language Analysis
Meaning
Narrative tenses are used when talking about events, situations and experiences which occurred in the past. The three most common narrative tenses are the past simple, the past continuous and the past perfect simple.
The past simple is used to talk about (i) completed actions that occurred at a definite past time, (ii) events which take place consecutively or in chronological order, (iii) to express past habits, and for (iv) occurrences which interrupt longer actions in progress around a specific time in the past:
(i, ii) I woke up and I felt much better and I started to write….
(iii) They played in the Cavern Club before they were famous.
(iv) I was working at my office when he rang.
The past continuous is used to describe the background situation in which the events of the narrative occurred, for longer actions in progress at a point in time, and for repeated or temporary situations. In combination with the past simple, its use is commonly linked to interrupted or unfinished actions.
One night, when the Beatles were breaking up and I was feeling depressed…
I was living in Hamburg (= for a short time)
The past perfect simple is used to talk about something in the past which happened prior to another action or event, showing which of the two actions occurred first and emphasizing that one action finished before the second commenced. However, the past simple is more commonly used when the sequence of actions is already clear – when the second action follows as a result of the first, for instance, or when time conjunctions such as until, before and after illustrate the sequence without requiring the use of the past perfect. In such cases, the past perfect can be used to provide greater emphasis on the completion of the first action:
As soon as they saved up enough money they got married.
As soon as they had saved up enough money they got married.
There is a tendency for students to over-use the past perfect in situations where the past simple can be more naturally used with time conjunctions, or when the sequence of events is not in doubt. When teaching narrative tenses, it is therefore important that learners understand the past simple is by far the most common narrative tense, due to its range of uses and less complicated structure.
Form
1 Affirmative sentences in the past simple are formed using the subject + past tense verb. Regular past tense verbs are made by adding –ed to the infinitive.
When I woke up I felt much better and I started to write Let it Be.
Negative sentences are formed using didn’t + infinitive or wasn’t / weren’t + noun phrase / adjective.
Interrogatives are formed using (question word +) auxiliary + subject + infinitive for object questions:
Where did you go? Did you have fun?
In subject questions (when the subject is also the question word) word order is the same as in affirmative statements:
Who was the lead singer of the Beatles?
Short answers are formed by using yes / no + subject + auxiliary (Yes, I did)
2 Positive sentences in the past continuous are formed using subject + was / were +
present participle.
I was feeling depressed because the Beatles were breaking-up.
As with the past simple, the negative is formed using wasn’t / weren’t.
I wasn’t watching TV
Interrogatives are formed using (question word +) was / were + verb + ing:
What were you doing?
3 The past perfect simple is formed using subject + had + past participle:
I saw my mother, who had died when I was 14.
Negative sentences are formed using hadn’t + past participle.
Interrogatives are formed with (question word +) had + subject + past participle:
(Why) Had they left?
Phonological Features
The main phonological feature of the past perfect is the reduction of had to the weak form /d/. Similarly, in the past continuous were is reduced to /wə/ and was to /wəz/.
In the past simple, the regular –ed ending is pronounced as the syllable /ɪd/ when it follows /t/ and /d/ sounds (needed; wanted), /d/ after all other voiced sounds and /t/ after unvoiced sounds. One common error, particularly among speakers of phonetic languages, is to erroneously apply the first rule to verbs such as worked
( / wɜ:kɪd / rather than / wɜ:kt / ).
Stress may be applied to auxiliaries or main verbs in cases where they serve to emphasize statements or carry new information:
She wasn’t very happy. / w ɒ z /
I had seen her before. / hæd /
Class Profile
The lesson was taught to a Level 1 class at South Tyneside College which meets for three three-hour sessions each week. Of the twelve students present, approximately half were Iranian, with the remainder a mix of nationalities including Angolan, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Polish. With a few exceptions, the grammatical knowledge of the students is relatively weak given the level of the class. The regular teacher had been preparing for the Cambridge Speaking & Listening exam, in which the students’ oral use of narrative tenses will be assessed. The class had previously studied the use of the present perfect simple to talk about past experiences and the difference between the past simple and past continuous.
Using a Dictogloss
Dictogloss is an activity in which short pieces of language are read out at normal speed to students, who take down the key words and then attempt to reconstruct the passage using their short term memory, their general understanding of the text, and notes they take while listening. A dictogloss commonly uses the following procedure:
Preparation: introduce the topic and key vocabulary.
Dictation: Read the text aloud at normal or near-normal speed, allowing students to orally reconstruct in small groups afterwards. On the second reading, students note down key words.
Analysis: Students attempt to reconstruct the text in their own words, first in pairs and subsequently in larger groups. The students will be utilizing their existing grammatical and lexical knowledge, practising their ability to record and extract the main ideas in a text, working collaboratively to produce a legible written record, proof-reading and revising work, and as a by-product justifying their opinions and asking questions to check and clarify information.
Feedback / Correction / Evaluation The completed texts are checked for meaning and accuracy.
As befitting its origins as a grammar teaching methodology, one of the primary benefits of a dictogloss is to reveal gaps in the students’ prior-knowledge and inter-language – hence its popularity as a diagnostic tool. Increasingly, however, the technique is being used as a more learner-centred form of dictation, leading in to work on areas such as pronunciation, lexis, functional exponents and spelling. Unlike traditional dictation exercises, in a dictogloss the emphasis is on the students’ ability to communicate in order to re-convey the meaning of the text, as opposed to re-producing it word for word. Tasks can be graded by giving ‘skeleton texts’ (the key nouns, for example) to the students before the first reading, by variations in the reading speed, or by decreasing the length of the text to be reconstructed (with the caveat that all texts should be of sufficient length that the students are not able to store it word-for-word in their short-term memory).
Lesson Self-Evaluation
Despite some problems with the presentation stage, the aim of the lesson – to revise the use of narrative tenses when orally relaying past experiences – was achieved.
The warmer served its purpose in getting the students to talk about famous people, and the lead-in, though not as active as I had anticipated, successfully elicited the name of Paul McCartney and resulted in a brief student-led discussion of Let it Be and the assassination of John Lennon, activating schemata and stimulating interest in the dictogloss topic.
The dictogloss itself threw up several interesting language issues. Each of the eventual three groups was able to successfully recreate the essential meaning of the text, and all of the final drafts included examples of the past simple and past continuous (I was feeling depressed; The Beatles were breaking (up). However, in all three cases the past simple was substituted for the past perfect in the sentence ... I saw my mum, who (had) died when I was 14. This omission could be attributed either to a gap in knowledge or a misunderstanding about the chronology of events in the narrative: subsequent concept checking showed that, for the majority of the class, knowledge of the past perfect was confined to an awareness of form rather than usage.
The dictogloss activity worked well as a diagnostic tool, highlighting pronunciation errors in the past simple and the need to revise the use of the past perfect. The pacing was adequate and the groupings had a good mix of abilities, resulting in a fun and challenging activity which succeeded in motivating the students for the presentation stage. The analysis stage didn’t work quite as well, mainly because I didn’t spend sufficient time focusing on the completed texts before moving on to the presentation. As a result, the next stage felt repetitive. An alternative would have been to use the students’ texts as a basis for an inductive presentation, perhaps highlighting a few key sentences such as the use of the past perfect on the board.
The checking of form was good, with the structure displayed on the board and the meaning concept checked with reference back to the dictogloss. The drilling of weak forms in the past perfect and past continuous (the past simple had been covered during the dictogloss analysis) included both choral and individual drilling, although I could have made more use of stronger students to model the sounds after my initial demonstration and choral practice.
The guided practice activities successfully re-enforced the structure and meaning of the target language, but perhaps relied too heavily on the students’ reading skills, especially when combined with the dictogloss. I chose to switch the pairings after the first guided practice, which improved the dynamics of the later activities.
The less-guided activity worked well. The topic, modeled with a personal story, was one the students were able to speak at length about, and the grid helped them to structure their narratives using all three tenses.
The free-er practice exercises provided an enjoyable and active end to the lesson, enabling the students to personalize the target language and moving away from the earlier dependence on reading skills.
Conclusion
Narrative tenses are often a problematic language area to cover with students at Level 1. Potential difficulties include the pronunciation of weak forms, the structural organization of narratives, and confusion between the meaning and use of the three main tenses, in particular the past perfect to look backwards from a point in the past. The dictogloss provided a good initial summary of the students’ abilities, exposing a lack of knowledge about the past perfect and allowing them to revise the difference in meaning between the past simple and past continuous.
Set-up correctly, a dictogloss is a useful and enjoyable method of presenting new language, as well as checking existing knowledge. It allows students to practise their proof-reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, gives the teacher an opportunity to diagnose gaps in knowledge, and raises the students’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, aiding the process of reflective learning. It also utilizes many of Krashen’s theories on language acquisition, providing interest in the subject by means of a problem-solving activity, using language as the medium of instruction and exposing learners to language that is slightly beyond their current level of comprehension in a fun, low-stress manner. (Krashen, 1998)
Bibliography
Resource Books for Teachers: Grammar Dictation – Ruth Wajnryb (OUP, 1990)
How to Teach Grammar – Scott Thornbury (Longman, 1999)
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition – Stephen Krashen (Prentice Hall, 1987)
Word Count: 2,018
The language point chosen for this assignment was the use of the past simple, past continuous and past perfect in narrative tenses. In order to assess the students’ existing knowledge, I began the lesson with a dictogloss activity, following up with an inductive presentation of the target language based on the dictogloss text. This was the first time I had ever used a dictogloss in class.
Language Analysis
Meaning
Narrative tenses are used when talking about events, situations and experiences which occurred in the past. The three most common narrative tenses are the past simple, the past continuous and the past perfect simple.
The past simple is used to talk about (i) completed actions that occurred at a definite past time, (ii) events which take place consecutively or in chronological order, (iii) to express past habits, and for (iv) occurrences which interrupt longer actions in progress around a specific time in the past:
(i, ii) I woke up and I felt much better and I started to write….
(iii) They played in the Cavern Club before they were famous.
(iv) I was working at my office when he rang.
The past continuous is used to describe the background situation in which the events of the narrative occurred, for longer actions in progress at a point in time, and for repeated or temporary situations. In combination with the past simple, its use is commonly linked to interrupted or unfinished actions.
One night, when the Beatles were breaking up and I was feeling depressed…
I was living in Hamburg (= for a short time)
The past perfect simple is used to talk about something in the past which happened prior to another action or event, showing which of the two actions occurred first and emphasizing that one action finished before the second commenced. However, the past simple is more commonly used when the sequence of actions is already clear – when the second action follows as a result of the first, for instance, or when time conjunctions such as until, before and after illustrate the sequence without requiring the use of the past perfect. In such cases, the past perfect can be used to provide greater emphasis on the completion of the first action:
As soon as they saved up enough money they got married.
As soon as they had saved up enough money they got married.
There is a tendency for students to over-use the past perfect in situations where the past simple can be more naturally used with time conjunctions, or when the sequence of events is not in doubt. When teaching narrative tenses, it is therefore important that learners understand the past simple is by far the most common narrative tense, due to its range of uses and less complicated structure.
Form
1 Affirmative sentences in the past simple are formed using the subject + past tense verb. Regular past tense verbs are made by adding –ed to the infinitive.
When I woke up I felt much better and I started to write Let it Be.
Negative sentences are formed using didn’t + infinitive or wasn’t / weren’t + noun phrase / adjective.
Interrogatives are formed using (question word +) auxiliary + subject + infinitive for object questions:
Where did you go? Did you have fun?
In subject questions (when the subject is also the question word) word order is the same as in affirmative statements:
Who was the lead singer of the Beatles?
Short answers are formed by using yes / no + subject + auxiliary (Yes, I did)
2 Positive sentences in the past continuous are formed using subject + was / were +
present participle.
I was feeling depressed because the Beatles were breaking-up.
As with the past simple, the negative is formed using wasn’t / weren’t.
I wasn’t watching TV
Interrogatives are formed using (question word +) was / were + verb + ing:
What were you doing?
3 The past perfect simple is formed using subject + had + past participle:
I saw my mother, who had died when I was 14.
Negative sentences are formed using hadn’t + past participle.
Interrogatives are formed with (question word +) had + subject + past participle:
(Why) Had they left?
Phonological Features
The main phonological feature of the past perfect is the reduction of had to the weak form /d/. Similarly, in the past continuous were is reduced to /wə/ and was to /wəz/.
In the past simple, the regular –ed ending is pronounced as the syllable /ɪd/ when it follows /t/ and /d/ sounds (needed; wanted), /d/ after all other voiced sounds and /t/ after unvoiced sounds. One common error, particularly among speakers of phonetic languages, is to erroneously apply the first rule to verbs such as worked
( / wɜ:kɪd / rather than / wɜ:kt / ).
Stress may be applied to auxiliaries or main verbs in cases where they serve to emphasize statements or carry new information:
She wasn’t very happy. / w ɒ z /
I had seen her before. / hæd /
Class Profile
The lesson was taught to a Level 1 class at South Tyneside College which meets for three three-hour sessions each week. Of the twelve students present, approximately half were Iranian, with the remainder a mix of nationalities including Angolan, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Polish. With a few exceptions, the grammatical knowledge of the students is relatively weak given the level of the class. The regular teacher had been preparing for the Cambridge Speaking & Listening exam, in which the students’ oral use of narrative tenses will be assessed. The class had previously studied the use of the present perfect simple to talk about past experiences and the difference between the past simple and past continuous.
Using a Dictogloss
Dictogloss is an activity in which short pieces of language are read out at normal speed to students, who take down the key words and then attempt to reconstruct the passage using their short term memory, their general understanding of the text, and notes they take while listening. A dictogloss commonly uses the following procedure:
Preparation: introduce the topic and key vocabulary.
Dictation: Read the text aloud at normal or near-normal speed, allowing students to orally reconstruct in small groups afterwards. On the second reading, students note down key words.
Analysis: Students attempt to reconstruct the text in their own words, first in pairs and subsequently in larger groups. The students will be utilizing their existing grammatical and lexical knowledge, practising their ability to record and extract the main ideas in a text, working collaboratively to produce a legible written record, proof-reading and revising work, and as a by-product justifying their opinions and asking questions to check and clarify information.
Feedback / Correction / Evaluation The completed texts are checked for meaning and accuracy.
As befitting its origins as a grammar teaching methodology, one of the primary benefits of a dictogloss is to reveal gaps in the students’ prior-knowledge and inter-language – hence its popularity as a diagnostic tool. Increasingly, however, the technique is being used as a more learner-centred form of dictation, leading in to work on areas such as pronunciation, lexis, functional exponents and spelling. Unlike traditional dictation exercises, in a dictogloss the emphasis is on the students’ ability to communicate in order to re-convey the meaning of the text, as opposed to re-producing it word for word. Tasks can be graded by giving ‘skeleton texts’ (the key nouns, for example) to the students before the first reading, by variations in the reading speed, or by decreasing the length of the text to be reconstructed (with the caveat that all texts should be of sufficient length that the students are not able to store it word-for-word in their short-term memory).
Lesson Self-Evaluation
Despite some problems with the presentation stage, the aim of the lesson – to revise the use of narrative tenses when orally relaying past experiences – was achieved.
The warmer served its purpose in getting the students to talk about famous people, and the lead-in, though not as active as I had anticipated, successfully elicited the name of Paul McCartney and resulted in a brief student-led discussion of Let it Be and the assassination of John Lennon, activating schemata and stimulating interest in the dictogloss topic.
The dictogloss itself threw up several interesting language issues. Each of the eventual three groups was able to successfully recreate the essential meaning of the text, and all of the final drafts included examples of the past simple and past continuous (I was feeling depressed; The Beatles were breaking (up). However, in all three cases the past simple was substituted for the past perfect in the sentence ... I saw my mum, who (had) died when I was 14. This omission could be attributed either to a gap in knowledge or a misunderstanding about the chronology of events in the narrative: subsequent concept checking showed that, for the majority of the class, knowledge of the past perfect was confined to an awareness of form rather than usage.
The dictogloss activity worked well as a diagnostic tool, highlighting pronunciation errors in the past simple and the need to revise the use of the past perfect. The pacing was adequate and the groupings had a good mix of abilities, resulting in a fun and challenging activity which succeeded in motivating the students for the presentation stage. The analysis stage didn’t work quite as well, mainly because I didn’t spend sufficient time focusing on the completed texts before moving on to the presentation. As a result, the next stage felt repetitive. An alternative would have been to use the students’ texts as a basis for an inductive presentation, perhaps highlighting a few key sentences such as the use of the past perfect on the board.
The checking of form was good, with the structure displayed on the board and the meaning concept checked with reference back to the dictogloss. The drilling of weak forms in the past perfect and past continuous (the past simple had been covered during the dictogloss analysis) included both choral and individual drilling, although I could have made more use of stronger students to model the sounds after my initial demonstration and choral practice.
The guided practice activities successfully re-enforced the structure and meaning of the target language, but perhaps relied too heavily on the students’ reading skills, especially when combined with the dictogloss. I chose to switch the pairings after the first guided practice, which improved the dynamics of the later activities.
The less-guided activity worked well. The topic, modeled with a personal story, was one the students were able to speak at length about, and the grid helped them to structure their narratives using all three tenses.
The free-er practice exercises provided an enjoyable and active end to the lesson, enabling the students to personalize the target language and moving away from the earlier dependence on reading skills.
Conclusion
Narrative tenses are often a problematic language area to cover with students at Level 1. Potential difficulties include the pronunciation of weak forms, the structural organization of narratives, and confusion between the meaning and use of the three main tenses, in particular the past perfect to look backwards from a point in the past. The dictogloss provided a good initial summary of the students’ abilities, exposing a lack of knowledge about the past perfect and allowing them to revise the difference in meaning between the past simple and past continuous.
Set-up correctly, a dictogloss is a useful and enjoyable method of presenting new language, as well as checking existing knowledge. It allows students to practise their proof-reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, gives the teacher an opportunity to diagnose gaps in knowledge, and raises the students’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, aiding the process of reflective learning. It also utilizes many of Krashen’s theories on language acquisition, providing interest in the subject by means of a problem-solving activity, using language as the medium of instruction and exposing learners to language that is slightly beyond their current level of comprehension in a fun, low-stress manner. (Krashen, 1998)
Bibliography
Resource Books for Teachers: Grammar Dictation – Ruth Wajnryb (OUP, 1990)
How to Teach Grammar – Scott Thornbury (Longman, 1999)
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition – Stephen Krashen (Prentice Hall, 1987)
Word Count: 2,018
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Assignment 8.1
Developing Language Skills for Teachers and Learners
Selected Authentic Texts
Text 1: Tourist Information Leaflets (Entry 3 / Level 1)
Language Skills: Using organisational features to locate information (Rt/E3.5, Rt/L1.4); scan texts to find information (Rt/E3.7); obtain specific information through detailed reading (Rt/E3.8, Rt/L1.5); identify main points and specific detail (Rt/L1.3).
Pre-reading task: Elicit tourist attraction. Students discuss places they’ve visited in the local area.
1st Reading: Elicit questions people ask before they visit an attraction onto board. Students read leaflets and find as many answers as they are able to. Swap information in groups.
2nd Reading: Students read again to find one thing they like and don’t like about each attraction.
Post-reading: In groups, students compare the attractions and choose one place they’d like to visit.
Text 2: Article from GNER magazine – A Guided Walk around Newcastle (Level 1/ Level 2)
Language Skills: Identify the main points and specific detail, and infer meaning from images which is not explicit in the text (Rt/L1.3); use knowledge and experience to try out plausible meanings and check for sense (Rs/L1.1, Rs/L2.1); practise reading for detail (Rt/L2.3).
Lead-in Ask students if they’ve ever been to Newcastle. Do you like it? Tell your partner. Feedback and elicit things to do and places to visit in the city.
Pre-reading task Tell students they’re going to go on a guided walk around the city. Brainstorm common ways of giving directions. Hand out large maps from tourist office with route sketched in. In pairs, students orally direct themselves along the route.
Ist Reading Hand out jumbled-up description of walk. Using the directions from the pre-reading task to help, pairs put the stages of the walk in the correct order.
2nd Reading Hand out complete text. Students match definitions and synonyms to selected expressions (or match expressions to a jumbled-up glossary).
Post–reading: Students design a short guided walk around their hometown (or a place they know well).
Text 3: Bus Timetable (Entry 2)
Language Skills: Practise gist, skim and detailed reading skills (Rt/E2.1); identify common source of information (Rt/E2.3)
Pre-reading task Brainstorm kinds of public transport. Students talk about what kinds of transport they use and why. Feedback – ask students how they get to college.
Gist reading Elicit what time the lesson starts. Hand out bus timetable. Students read quickly and find out whether a student could take this bus to an ESOL lesson at college.
Detailed Reading A number of specific questions could be asked, either in true or false, multiple-choice or read and find the answer form. Students could be asked to find information about destinations, times of specific buses, prices, etc.
Post-reading task Students do a roleplay a practise planning a journey, asking about available buses, times, prices, etc. Students could also talk about a journey they take by public transport – where they get on and off, what number bus or what time metro they take, etc.
Text 4: Imagine (Level 1)
Language Skills: Practise listening for specific information (Lr/L1.1); follow and contribute to discussions (Lr/L1.6).
Pre-listening Students answer questions about music. Feedback and use as lead-in to The Beatles, John Lennon, etc.
Listening Hand out gapped text or change some lyrics. Students listen and change / correct.
Post-listening Students discuss whether they agree with Lennon’s idea of the perfect world. Groups decide on what they’d like to do to improve the world.
Lesson Evaluation (Tourist Information Leaflets)
The lesson was taught to a Level 1 class comprising 12 students from a mixture of nationalities (Iranian, Sri Lankan, Polish, Bangladeshi and Moroccan). The students were preparing for the Cambridge Speaking and Listening exam, in which candidates are often asked to discuss visitor attractions. The main focus of the lesson was to be able to understand and use a number of functional expressions for changing the subject, checking information and showing interest while listening. Subsidiary aims included giving gist and detailed reading practice while revising the subject of places to visit and planning days out.
The warmer and pre-reading tasks achieved the purpose of getting the students interested in the topic of travel plans, and leading-in to the introduction of the leaflets. The reading tasks were sufficiently challenging – the students were able to locate most of the answers to the questions I’d elicited on to the board.
In my opinion, the aim of the lesson was met: the students were all able to use at least some of the functional expressions in the practice activities, particularly when showing interest and changing the subject. The activities were varied and challenging, and allowed sufficient scope for the students to use a range of expressions. The listening itself – three native speakers discussing the attractions in the leaflets given to the students – was more difficult than I intended owing to the sound quality and the size of the room. However, giving the students the functional expressions prior to the listening, and encouraging peer-teaching, helped the students achieve the task. In the speaking activities, the tourist information was slightly rushed as I wanted to give the students free-er speaking practice. In future, I would give the students more time to prepare questions and locate information.
Despite the relative success of the lesson, in retrospect the listening and functional expressions might have been better used as a separate follow-up lesson to the tourist information leaflets. A reading lesson based on the leaflets could be expanded with each group given different leaflets and, after comparing information about their attractions, deciding on one place to visit, listing reasons and then attempting to persuade students from other groups. A subsequent activity could be to actually plan a visit to the attraction the students eventually decide on, perhaps using the internet.
Appendix
Authentic materials – written texts
A major advantage of ESOL teaching in the UK is the wide availability of authentic written materials at a teacher’s disposal. Printed materials include newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements (including residential property listings, lonely hearts and classified ads), public transport timetables, shop and mail order catalogues, tourist information leaflets, TV listings, maps, junk mail, tickets, posters, signs and notices, postcards, brochures, personal letters, official documents, short stories, novels, film and book reviews, cartoon strips and newspaper weather reports. In addition, the internet provides a wealth of authentic materials, including personal blogs, emails, online articles and the websites of newspapers, magazines and broadcasting companies such as the BBC.
Authentic materials – spoken language and listening texts
The internet also provides a large and ever-growing selection of authentic spoken language. Examples include song lyrics, podcasts, streamed broadcasts, audio and video news reports, and video footage from sites such as YouTube. A further important source of authentic spoken material is the radio, in the form of reportage, news broadcasts, phone-ins, weather forecasts, quiz shows, sports commentary and topical discussions – most of which can also be recorded from TV. Furthermore, advances in technology mean that language teachers can now record a wide sample of spoken discourse – from conversations to public address announcements – using voice recording devices, such as those built-into many Mp3 players.
Bibliography
Learning Teaching – Jim Scrivener (Heinemann, 1994)
Inside Teaching – Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks (Heinemann, 1994)
The Practice of English Language Teaching – Jeremy Harmer (Longman, 2001)
Selected Authentic Texts
Text 1: Tourist Information Leaflets (Entry 3 / Level 1)
Language Skills: Using organisational features to locate information (Rt/E3.5, Rt/L1.4); scan texts to find information (Rt/E3.7); obtain specific information through detailed reading (Rt/E3.8, Rt/L1.5); identify main points and specific detail (Rt/L1.3).
Pre-reading task: Elicit tourist attraction. Students discuss places they’ve visited in the local area.
1st Reading: Elicit questions people ask before they visit an attraction onto board. Students read leaflets and find as many answers as they are able to. Swap information in groups.
2nd Reading: Students read again to find one thing they like and don’t like about each attraction.
Post-reading: In groups, students compare the attractions and choose one place they’d like to visit.
Text 2: Article from GNER magazine – A Guided Walk around Newcastle (Level 1/ Level 2)
Language Skills: Identify the main points and specific detail, and infer meaning from images which is not explicit in the text (Rt/L1.3); use knowledge and experience to try out plausible meanings and check for sense (Rs/L1.1, Rs/L2.1); practise reading for detail (Rt/L2.3).
Lead-in Ask students if they’ve ever been to Newcastle. Do you like it? Tell your partner. Feedback and elicit things to do and places to visit in the city.
Pre-reading task Tell students they’re going to go on a guided walk around the city. Brainstorm common ways of giving directions. Hand out large maps from tourist office with route sketched in. In pairs, students orally direct themselves along the route.
Ist Reading Hand out jumbled-up description of walk. Using the directions from the pre-reading task to help, pairs put the stages of the walk in the correct order.
2nd Reading Hand out complete text. Students match definitions and synonyms to selected expressions (or match expressions to a jumbled-up glossary).
Post–reading: Students design a short guided walk around their hometown (or a place they know well).
Text 3: Bus Timetable (Entry 2)
Language Skills: Practise gist, skim and detailed reading skills (Rt/E2.1); identify common source of information (Rt/E2.3)
Pre-reading task Brainstorm kinds of public transport. Students talk about what kinds of transport they use and why. Feedback – ask students how they get to college.
Gist reading Elicit what time the lesson starts. Hand out bus timetable. Students read quickly and find out whether a student could take this bus to an ESOL lesson at college.
Detailed Reading A number of specific questions could be asked, either in true or false, multiple-choice or read and find the answer form. Students could be asked to find information about destinations, times of specific buses, prices, etc.
Post-reading task Students do a roleplay a practise planning a journey, asking about available buses, times, prices, etc. Students could also talk about a journey they take by public transport – where they get on and off, what number bus or what time metro they take, etc.
Text 4: Imagine (Level 1)
Language Skills: Practise listening for specific information (Lr/L1.1); follow and contribute to discussions (Lr/L1.6).
Pre-listening Students answer questions about music. Feedback and use as lead-in to The Beatles, John Lennon, etc.
Listening Hand out gapped text or change some lyrics. Students listen and change / correct.
Post-listening Students discuss whether they agree with Lennon’s idea of the perfect world. Groups decide on what they’d like to do to improve the world.
Lesson Evaluation (Tourist Information Leaflets)
The lesson was taught to a Level 1 class comprising 12 students from a mixture of nationalities (Iranian, Sri Lankan, Polish, Bangladeshi and Moroccan). The students were preparing for the Cambridge Speaking and Listening exam, in which candidates are often asked to discuss visitor attractions. The main focus of the lesson was to be able to understand and use a number of functional expressions for changing the subject, checking information and showing interest while listening. Subsidiary aims included giving gist and detailed reading practice while revising the subject of places to visit and planning days out.
The warmer and pre-reading tasks achieved the purpose of getting the students interested in the topic of travel plans, and leading-in to the introduction of the leaflets. The reading tasks were sufficiently challenging – the students were able to locate most of the answers to the questions I’d elicited on to the board.
In my opinion, the aim of the lesson was met: the students were all able to use at least some of the functional expressions in the practice activities, particularly when showing interest and changing the subject. The activities were varied and challenging, and allowed sufficient scope for the students to use a range of expressions. The listening itself – three native speakers discussing the attractions in the leaflets given to the students – was more difficult than I intended owing to the sound quality and the size of the room. However, giving the students the functional expressions prior to the listening, and encouraging peer-teaching, helped the students achieve the task. In the speaking activities, the tourist information was slightly rushed as I wanted to give the students free-er speaking practice. In future, I would give the students more time to prepare questions and locate information.
Despite the relative success of the lesson, in retrospect the listening and functional expressions might have been better used as a separate follow-up lesson to the tourist information leaflets. A reading lesson based on the leaflets could be expanded with each group given different leaflets and, after comparing information about their attractions, deciding on one place to visit, listing reasons and then attempting to persuade students from other groups. A subsequent activity could be to actually plan a visit to the attraction the students eventually decide on, perhaps using the internet.
Appendix
Authentic materials – written texts
A major advantage of ESOL teaching in the UK is the wide availability of authentic written materials at a teacher’s disposal. Printed materials include newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements (including residential property listings, lonely hearts and classified ads), public transport timetables, shop and mail order catalogues, tourist information leaflets, TV listings, maps, junk mail, tickets, posters, signs and notices, postcards, brochures, personal letters, official documents, short stories, novels, film and book reviews, cartoon strips and newspaper weather reports. In addition, the internet provides a wealth of authentic materials, including personal blogs, emails, online articles and the websites of newspapers, magazines and broadcasting companies such as the BBC.
Authentic materials – spoken language and listening texts
The internet also provides a large and ever-growing selection of authentic spoken language. Examples include song lyrics, podcasts, streamed broadcasts, audio and video news reports, and video footage from sites such as YouTube. A further important source of authentic spoken material is the radio, in the form of reportage, news broadcasts, phone-ins, weather forecasts, quiz shows, sports commentary and topical discussions – most of which can also be recorded from TV. Furthermore, advances in technology mean that language teachers can now record a wide sample of spoken discourse – from conversations to public address announcements – using voice recording devices, such as those built-into many Mp3 players.
Bibliography
Learning Teaching – Jim Scrivener (Heinemann, 1994)
Inside Teaching – Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks (Heinemann, 1994)
The Practice of English Language Teaching – Jeremy Harmer (Longman, 2001)
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Assignment 11.1
“Little Words, Big Grammar” – the natural way to teach grammar.
In the introduction to his book Natural Grammar, Scott Thornbury quotes Professor John Sinclair: “Learners would do well to learn the common words of the language very thoroughly, because they carry the main patterns of the language. “ As language teachers, we expend a great deal of classroom time drilling the difference between going to and will, the use of the first versus the second conditional, and the importance of verb backshift in reported speech. What we often overlook, however, is the vital importance of those couple of hundred little words that make up over fifty percent of all written and spoken language (and, by inference, the same amount of all written and spoken grammar).
“Words have grammar,” says Thornbury; it’s difficult to argue when the verb get, for example, connects to ten distinct patterns, from get + adverbial (What time did you get home?) for talking about arriving at places to get + noun phrase + noun phrase (Can you get me a coffee?), used to talk about giving and fetching things for other people. To take another example, will has four distinct patterns, including:
1 will / won’t + bare infinitive – used to make offers and promises, requests or orders, statements and predictions about future events and to talk about predictable behaviour, such as habits.
2 will + have + past participle – to predict something that will be finished at a certain time.
By teaching these patterns together, we will be equipping our students to use the most commonly occurring words in the English language and, as a bonus, teaching them grammar for free. For, as Thornbury and Sinclair have argued, whenever we use a word we are obliged to choose from the set selection of grammar patterns that accompanies it.
The traditional way of teaching grammar – often overly concerned with prescriptive rules and written language – can lead to confusion and the fossilization of errors: how many of us have come across an intermediate level student who still remembers being taught that going to and will are synonymous, or that we use going to for things we’re sure about and will for things we aren’t? Writing on One Stop English, Adrian Tennant concludes: “Instead of looking at grammar as a set of abstract rules and then examining how words fit into these patterns, we may well be better off starting from words and looking at the grammar they generate. By doing this we may well avoid the typical problem of only taking one meaning or use of a word and being guilty of oversimplification.”
When building a house, you start with the foundations. Learning a language is no different. As we have seen, grammar does not exist in isolation: in its most basic form – its foundations - it is no more or less than the patterns formed by the combination of words. We would do well to concentrate on these building blocks.
Word Count = 494 words.
Bibliography:
Adrian Tennent – Approaches to Grammar Teaching
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=144972
Scott Thornbury – Natural Grammar (Oxford University Press, 2004)
In the introduction to his book Natural Grammar, Scott Thornbury quotes Professor John Sinclair: “Learners would do well to learn the common words of the language very thoroughly, because they carry the main patterns of the language. “ As language teachers, we expend a great deal of classroom time drilling the difference between going to and will, the use of the first versus the second conditional, and the importance of verb backshift in reported speech. What we often overlook, however, is the vital importance of those couple of hundred little words that make up over fifty percent of all written and spoken language (and, by inference, the same amount of all written and spoken grammar).
“Words have grammar,” says Thornbury; it’s difficult to argue when the verb get, for example, connects to ten distinct patterns, from get + adverbial (What time did you get home?) for talking about arriving at places to get + noun phrase + noun phrase (Can you get me a coffee?), used to talk about giving and fetching things for other people. To take another example, will has four distinct patterns, including:
1 will / won’t + bare infinitive – used to make offers and promises, requests or orders, statements and predictions about future events and to talk about predictable behaviour, such as habits.
2 will + have + past participle – to predict something that will be finished at a certain time.
By teaching these patterns together, we will be equipping our students to use the most commonly occurring words in the English language and, as a bonus, teaching them grammar for free. For, as Thornbury and Sinclair have argued, whenever we use a word we are obliged to choose from the set selection of grammar patterns that accompanies it.
The traditional way of teaching grammar – often overly concerned with prescriptive rules and written language – can lead to confusion and the fossilization of errors: how many of us have come across an intermediate level student who still remembers being taught that going to and will are synonymous, or that we use going to for things we’re sure about and will for things we aren’t? Writing on One Stop English, Adrian Tennant concludes: “Instead of looking at grammar as a set of abstract rules and then examining how words fit into these patterns, we may well be better off starting from words and looking at the grammar they generate. By doing this we may well avoid the typical problem of only taking one meaning or use of a word and being guilty of oversimplification.”
When building a house, you start with the foundations. Learning a language is no different. As we have seen, grammar does not exist in isolation: in its most basic form – its foundations - it is no more or less than the patterns formed by the combination of words. We would do well to concentrate on these building blocks.
Word Count = 494 words.
Bibliography:
Adrian Tennent – Approaches to Grammar Teaching
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=144972
Scott Thornbury – Natural Grammar (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Assignment 6.1: Pass
Tutor Comments:
Concise, well-signposted with clear headings. Easy to read and comprehensive!
All assessment criteria has been met; however, you need to add a bibliography referencing your very relevant sources.
Oops!
Concise, well-signposted with clear headings. Easy to read and comprehensive!
All assessment criteria has been met; however, you need to add a bibliography referencing your very relevant sources.
Oops!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Assignment 6.1
The current national context of post-compulsory education and ESOL
The Moser Report (1999) identified approximately “one adult in five” as being “not functionally literate” and a far greater number (roughly 40%) as having basic numeracy problems. In his findings, Moser reported inconsistencies in Basic Skills teaching, which was described as being variable in both quality and quantity, and recommended a National Strategy be implemented to tackle identified shortcomings in ten key areas, including the adoption of national targets, a standardised curriculum, teacher training, improved inspections and planning of delivery and a new system of qualifications.
ESOL was of peripheral concern to Moser, who recommended that an ESOL-specific report be commissioned. This resulted in Breaking the Language Barriers (2000), which reported on the needs of learners for whom English was not a first language. This report made a further series of recommendations, among which were a request that FENTO “develop…initial training and qualifications framework for new entrants to ESOL teaching,” and a call for the production of support materials for ESOL tutors.
Many of the reports’ recommendations were implemented in the Skills for Life Strategy (2001), which set national standards for adult literacy, numeracy and language learning. The ESOL national curriculum was published in the same year, followed in 2002 by curriculum training and the Skills for Life materials. Further to this, Subject Specifications for Basic Skills and ESOL teachers were developed in 2003, and ESOL Skills for Life exams began the following year. The initial target of 750,000 adult learners to obtain an Entry 3 level qualification by 2004 was met, and a new national target was set of 1.5 million to achieve the same by 2007. The role of FE institutions in achieving these goals is crucial, both in terms of providing courses for learners and, as in the case of Newcastle College, training provision for teachers.
The local context: South Tyneside College
South Tyneside College is a relatively small ESOL provider, with a single class at each of the five levels of the National Qualifications Framework. As with all FE institutions, the college has adopted the standardised Skills for Life materials and exams, and teachers are expected to complete termly Individual Learning Plans and Schemes of Work mapped to the curriculum. In line with the Moser Report’s recommendations, community-based provision is offered at outreach and cultural centres, and the use of Information Technology is encouraged within lessons. The ESOL department follows the learning cycle set out by the Skills for Life initiative in compiling assessments, although no use is currently made of the national diagnostic and assessment tools provided by the DfES.
Key education policies currently influencing practice
Teacher Training
Effective from 2003, all new and existing ESOL teachers have been required to train for FENTO subject specialist qualifications. As recommended in Breaking the Language Barriers, these courses involve training in linguistics, pronunciation and intonation, grammar and practical teaching skills. Teachers also need to log at least 30 hours of continuous professional development training every year. In my opinion, these measures can only lead to an increase in the quality of teaching within the sector and, in particular, the awareness of teachers towards methodology, best practice and cultural sensitivity.
The Skills for Life Materials
The 2004 publication of a dedicated set of free teaching materials from Entry Level 1 up to Level 2 has undoubtedly helped to standardise the ESOL curriculum, and increased the scope and quality of materials available to tutors. However, the materials have been criticised for their over-emphasis on skills work at the expense of grammar, while their cultural relevance has dated badly due to demographic changes resulting from the large number of students arriving from EU accession countries. Having used the materials in class, I’ve found that I’m often required to very heavily supplement them. A major area of weakness is the lack of practice activities included compared to the many coursebooks developed for EFL teaching.
The Skills for Life Exams
Administered chiefly by Cambridge and Edexcel, Skills for Life Exams are available in reading, writing and speaking and listening modes from Entry Level 1 to Level 2. In addition to meeting Moser’s call for a new system of qualifications, the exams help to motivate learners and standardise lesson planning, providing goals for learners and their teachers to work towards. However, they retain some significant drawbacks: the qualifications are not widely recognised internationally or by domestic employers and, given the link between exam results and funding, there could be a tendency for teachers to coach their students in the specific language they need to pass an exam as opposed to topics of more immediate need.
The role and implementation of ILPs
From the Skills for Life Initiative to publications such as the FENTO-produced Including Language, Literacy and Numeracy Learning in All Post-16 Education (2004), ILPs are commonly seen as exemplifying good practice in ESOL teaching. Arrived at by mutual negotiation between the teacher and learner, and based on student needs and the results of initial and diagnostic assessments, ILP targets should be measurable and time-bound, aiding the teacher’s course planning and ensuring a focus on the needs of the individual. Additionally, the use of ILPs is seen as essential in enabling independent learning, building a student’s ability to plan, set targets, and both monitor and reflect on their performance.
ILPs therefore form of an integral part of the Skills for Life Initiative’s Learning Cycle, coming after the Diagnostic Assessment (which provides the basis for ILP targets), informing the subsequent choice of in-class learning materials, and being used as the yardstick for regular formative assessments to review the learner’s progress.
The usage, lay-out and scope of ILPs varies widely between institutions. South Tyneside College uses a booklet format with sections for tutor notes on any issues the students may have outside of class as well as end-of-course and tem reviews, termly learning goals and both long and short-term objectives. Carbon-paper is used to enable the teacher and learner to keep their own individual copies. To aid the process of drawing-up and reviewing ILPs individual tutorial time is set aside at the end of lessons.
My own experience of ILPs
Firstly, having started work in the ESOL sector in late-January 2007, I have limited personal experience of both the implementation of ILPs and their effect on my personal practice. However, as outlined above, I’ve found that the use of ILPs offers several potential advantages: they promote a focus on individual rather than just group needs, actively involve students in the learning process, enable teachers and students to record and review progress towards learning goals, and can help to draw attention to the ‘spiky profiles’ of learners within same-level classes.
Allowing for this, I have practical and pedagogical reservations about the current use of ILPs with ESOL learners. In particular, I believe their effectiveness with lower-level learners is open to question. Drawing-up ILPs with a Pre-Entry level class was a substantially teacher-led experience: my students were, in the main, unable to express let alone negotiate their targets. Students at all levels also often have very general goals (“I want to learn English to get a job,” “I want to practise my speaking”) which cannot be strictly measured. In these cases there is a danger of targets being imposed on learners, often to suit the requirements of inspectors.
The need for targets to be measurable and time-bound runs counter to many current theories of language acquisition, assuming a linear process of learning or, in the words of Lightbown and Spada (How Languages are Learned), “the gradual accumulation of one linguistic item after another”. In my own personal experience ‘soft’ targets are often much more appropriate to learners than SMART ones. These could be anything from understanding a neighbour to improving attendance or finding more opportunities to use English outside of class.
My other personal concerns are the time needed to draw-up ILPs - especially in large classes with limited classroom contact time – and the difficulty of integrating individual goals into what are often necessarily group based lesson plans and schemes of work. I have also noted that my students’ short-term needs can change rapidly, often based on knowledge gaps identified during lessons, and that too much emphasis is sometimes put on setting simplistic targets rather than recording actual progress.
Many of these concerns were noted by NIACE in a report entitled More than a Language (2006). The authors called for guidance on the implementation of ILPs “in the ESOL context, taking account of ESOL pedagogy and the needs and capabilities of English language learners,” and recommended that the appropriateness of ILPs for lower-level learners be reviewed.
Conclusion
The Moser Report, and the subsequent findings of reports such as Breaking the Language Barriers, has resulted in huge changes in ESOL, affecting both learners and teachers, and bringing standardised curricula and teacher training, new qualifications and innovations in the planning and quality of delivery.
Although ILPs are theoretically valuable, I believe research needs to be undertaken with regard to their appropriateness for lower-levels, and that much more advice should be issued to teachers on the preparation and review of ILP targets.
Bibliography
How Languages are Learned - Ligtbown and Spada (OUP, 1999)
Findings of the ILP Working Party - LLLU (South Bank University, 2002)
The ILP Debate - Reflect (NRDC, 2005)
More Than A Language - NIACE (2006)
The Moser Report - DFEE (1999)
The Moser Report (1999) identified approximately “one adult in five” as being “not functionally literate” and a far greater number (roughly 40%) as having basic numeracy problems. In his findings, Moser reported inconsistencies in Basic Skills teaching, which was described as being variable in both quality and quantity, and recommended a National Strategy be implemented to tackle identified shortcomings in ten key areas, including the adoption of national targets, a standardised curriculum, teacher training, improved inspections and planning of delivery and a new system of qualifications.
ESOL was of peripheral concern to Moser, who recommended that an ESOL-specific report be commissioned. This resulted in Breaking the Language Barriers (2000), which reported on the needs of learners for whom English was not a first language. This report made a further series of recommendations, among which were a request that FENTO “develop…initial training and qualifications framework for new entrants to ESOL teaching,” and a call for the production of support materials for ESOL tutors.
Many of the reports’ recommendations were implemented in the Skills for Life Strategy (2001), which set national standards for adult literacy, numeracy and language learning. The ESOL national curriculum was published in the same year, followed in 2002 by curriculum training and the Skills for Life materials. Further to this, Subject Specifications for Basic Skills and ESOL teachers were developed in 2003, and ESOL Skills for Life exams began the following year. The initial target of 750,000 adult learners to obtain an Entry 3 level qualification by 2004 was met, and a new national target was set of 1.5 million to achieve the same by 2007. The role of FE institutions in achieving these goals is crucial, both in terms of providing courses for learners and, as in the case of Newcastle College, training provision for teachers.
The local context: South Tyneside College
South Tyneside College is a relatively small ESOL provider, with a single class at each of the five levels of the National Qualifications Framework. As with all FE institutions, the college has adopted the standardised Skills for Life materials and exams, and teachers are expected to complete termly Individual Learning Plans and Schemes of Work mapped to the curriculum. In line with the Moser Report’s recommendations, community-based provision is offered at outreach and cultural centres, and the use of Information Technology is encouraged within lessons. The ESOL department follows the learning cycle set out by the Skills for Life initiative in compiling assessments, although no use is currently made of the national diagnostic and assessment tools provided by the DfES.
Key education policies currently influencing practice
Teacher Training
Effective from 2003, all new and existing ESOL teachers have been required to train for FENTO subject specialist qualifications. As recommended in Breaking the Language Barriers, these courses involve training in linguistics, pronunciation and intonation, grammar and practical teaching skills. Teachers also need to log at least 30 hours of continuous professional development training every year. In my opinion, these measures can only lead to an increase in the quality of teaching within the sector and, in particular, the awareness of teachers towards methodology, best practice and cultural sensitivity.
The Skills for Life Materials
The 2004 publication of a dedicated set of free teaching materials from Entry Level 1 up to Level 2 has undoubtedly helped to standardise the ESOL curriculum, and increased the scope and quality of materials available to tutors. However, the materials have been criticised for their over-emphasis on skills work at the expense of grammar, while their cultural relevance has dated badly due to demographic changes resulting from the large number of students arriving from EU accession countries. Having used the materials in class, I’ve found that I’m often required to very heavily supplement them. A major area of weakness is the lack of practice activities included compared to the many coursebooks developed for EFL teaching.
The Skills for Life Exams
Administered chiefly by Cambridge and Edexcel, Skills for Life Exams are available in reading, writing and speaking and listening modes from Entry Level 1 to Level 2. In addition to meeting Moser’s call for a new system of qualifications, the exams help to motivate learners and standardise lesson planning, providing goals for learners and their teachers to work towards. However, they retain some significant drawbacks: the qualifications are not widely recognised internationally or by domestic employers and, given the link between exam results and funding, there could be a tendency for teachers to coach their students in the specific language they need to pass an exam as opposed to topics of more immediate need.
The role and implementation of ILPs
From the Skills for Life Initiative to publications such as the FENTO-produced Including Language, Literacy and Numeracy Learning in All Post-16 Education (2004), ILPs are commonly seen as exemplifying good practice in ESOL teaching. Arrived at by mutual negotiation between the teacher and learner, and based on student needs and the results of initial and diagnostic assessments, ILP targets should be measurable and time-bound, aiding the teacher’s course planning and ensuring a focus on the needs of the individual. Additionally, the use of ILPs is seen as essential in enabling independent learning, building a student’s ability to plan, set targets, and both monitor and reflect on their performance.
ILPs therefore form of an integral part of the Skills for Life Initiative’s Learning Cycle, coming after the Diagnostic Assessment (which provides the basis for ILP targets), informing the subsequent choice of in-class learning materials, and being used as the yardstick for regular formative assessments to review the learner’s progress.
The usage, lay-out and scope of ILPs varies widely between institutions. South Tyneside College uses a booklet format with sections for tutor notes on any issues the students may have outside of class as well as end-of-course and tem reviews, termly learning goals and both long and short-term objectives. Carbon-paper is used to enable the teacher and learner to keep their own individual copies. To aid the process of drawing-up and reviewing ILPs individual tutorial time is set aside at the end of lessons.
My own experience of ILPs
Firstly, having started work in the ESOL sector in late-January 2007, I have limited personal experience of both the implementation of ILPs and their effect on my personal practice. However, as outlined above, I’ve found that the use of ILPs offers several potential advantages: they promote a focus on individual rather than just group needs, actively involve students in the learning process, enable teachers and students to record and review progress towards learning goals, and can help to draw attention to the ‘spiky profiles’ of learners within same-level classes.
Allowing for this, I have practical and pedagogical reservations about the current use of ILPs with ESOL learners. In particular, I believe their effectiveness with lower-level learners is open to question. Drawing-up ILPs with a Pre-Entry level class was a substantially teacher-led experience: my students were, in the main, unable to express let alone negotiate their targets. Students at all levels also often have very general goals (“I want to learn English to get a job,” “I want to practise my speaking”) which cannot be strictly measured. In these cases there is a danger of targets being imposed on learners, often to suit the requirements of inspectors.
The need for targets to be measurable and time-bound runs counter to many current theories of language acquisition, assuming a linear process of learning or, in the words of Lightbown and Spada (How Languages are Learned), “the gradual accumulation of one linguistic item after another”. In my own personal experience ‘soft’ targets are often much more appropriate to learners than SMART ones. These could be anything from understanding a neighbour to improving attendance or finding more opportunities to use English outside of class.
My other personal concerns are the time needed to draw-up ILPs - especially in large classes with limited classroom contact time – and the difficulty of integrating individual goals into what are often necessarily group based lesson plans and schemes of work. I have also noted that my students’ short-term needs can change rapidly, often based on knowledge gaps identified during lessons, and that too much emphasis is sometimes put on setting simplistic targets rather than recording actual progress.
Many of these concerns were noted by NIACE in a report entitled More than a Language (2006). The authors called for guidance on the implementation of ILPs “in the ESOL context, taking account of ESOL pedagogy and the needs and capabilities of English language learners,” and recommended that the appropriateness of ILPs for lower-level learners be reviewed.
Conclusion
The Moser Report, and the subsequent findings of reports such as Breaking the Language Barriers, has resulted in huge changes in ESOL, affecting both learners and teachers, and bringing standardised curricula and teacher training, new qualifications and innovations in the planning and quality of delivery.
Although ILPs are theoretically valuable, I believe research needs to be undertaken with regard to their appropriateness for lower-levels, and that much more advice should be issued to teachers on the preparation and review of ILP targets.
Bibliography
How Languages are Learned - Ligtbown and Spada (OUP, 1999)
Findings of the ILP Working Party - LLLU (South Bank University, 2002)
The ILP Debate - Reflect (NRDC, 2005)
More Than A Language - NIACE (2006)
The Moser Report - DFEE (1999)
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