LD4TsUnit2

Language Development for Teachers : Unit 2: 

Language Development for Teachers : Unit 2 From Needs Analysis to Diagnostic Testing

The story so far …: 

The story so far … Potential needs of Ts include … General language improvement to ensure their competence is higher than that of their learners EAP : improving their ability to read methodology texts, understand conference presentations, participate in seminars etc Classroom language

Needs Analysis: 

Needs Analysis Needs Analysis tools may include.. Questionnaire for teachers / other stakeholders Analysis of syllabus / teaching materials Corpus based discourse analysis (classroom discourse, methodology texts/presentations etc)

Questionnaires: 

Questionnaires Educational background and qualifications – especially teaching qualifications, methodology courses/conferences etc attended; methodology books read Teaching experience – general, language teaching, ELT View of teacher’s role and beliefs about teaching/learning; preferred methodology; coursebooks used, whether liked/disliked and why. Language competence : previous courses attended, exams taken etc; perceived areas of difficulty Priority areas for the course Own learning preferences

Analysis of syllabus and teaching materials: 

What language items do they need to be able to teach? What methodology / activity types do the course materials use? What language will be necessary to set up and run the activities? Analysis of syllabus and teaching materials

Corpus Based Discourse Analysis: 

Corpus Based Discourse Analysis Analysis of the type of language (discourse moves/acts and their linguistic realisation) necessary for the discourse type(s) prioritised for the course – eg conference presentations; classroom discourse. Creates the diagnostic test specification

The Structure of Classroom Discourse (Sinclair and Coulthard): 

The Structure of Classroom Discourse (Sinclair and Coulthard) EXCHANGES MOVES ACTS Direct INITIATION Nominate Elicit TEACHING EXCHANGE RESPONSE Reply Accept FOLLOW UP Comment Evaluate

An example…: 

An example… Follow up - accept / evaluate Accept – OK / Yes, that’s right / Yes (repetition of S utterance) …etc Evaluate – Good / Well done / Good answer / Excellent … etc

Criticisms of this teaching style…: 

Criticisms of this teaching style… Ss don’t get practice in doing anything but replying – eg never get to initiate or negotiate topic The T. never really communicates with the Ss See T Thornbury, S. "Training in Instructional Conversation" in Trappes Lomax, H. and Ferguson, G (2002) Language in Language Teacher Education , John Benjamins (pp 95ff) The language used by the T. not representative of “real communication” – eg the intonation of display and real questions

Teacher Talk: 

Teacher Talk T : Tony. Question number nine. What do you think is in the tent? Picture three. P2 : There is a radio. T : Okay. There is a radio in the tent. Good. P1 : His lover. T : His lover is in the tent. Yes. Okay. His lover is in the tent. Good imagination. Uhh…Sleeping bag, mosquito, flies, pillow, radio…uh…gun. Many answers, of course. T : Good. Uhh…Number ten…number ten. Jinny. How many times have you been camping? P3 : I’ve been camping many times. I…I love to climbing mountain. T : Okay. I’ve been camping many times. I love to climb mountains. Good answer. Yes. I’ve been many camping many times. From : White, The Application of Sinclair and Coulthard’s IRF Structure to a Classroom Lesson seen 18.08.2011 at http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/cels/essays/csdp/AWhite4.pdf

An alternative format…: 

An alternative format… Social/personal : talking to students Organisational : setting up activities (making requests and giving reasons, explaining a sequence of events, giving instructions etc) Instructional : eliciting, giving examples, checking understanding etc Willis, J. "The Training of Non-Native Speaker Teachers of English : A New Approach" in Marsh, G. (ed) Focus on the Teacher, British Council Downloadable Willis, J. (1981) Teaching English through English, Longman

An example…: 

An example… Organisational role – Making requests Requesting Can you / Could you / I’d like you to… etc … open your books at page 42 … put down your pens … get into pairs etc

Some alternative formats…: 

See : Allwright, D. and Bailey K.M. (1991) Focus on the Language Classroom , CUP – Appendices summarise a variety of approaches to analysing classroom discourse Some alternative formats…

What’s left to do…: 

What’s left to do… Once you have chosen the model of discourse analysis you wish to work with, and the categories of move/act or functions involved, you will need to … identify the linguistic exponents which can be used for each and decide if you wish to test them decide on the format and item types for your test

Corpus Analysis: 

Corpus Analysis The corpus material should be of classes with the same type of learners as those taught by the teachers in the group. Some ideas… - record your own classes or those of other proficient Ts - use recordings on YouTube or Teacher Tube of classes taught by teachers you consider proficient - use published transcripts – eg for primary teachers see Slattery, M. and Willis, J. (2001)  English for Primary Teachers, OUP

The Diagnostic Test : Item Types : 

Direct or Indirect Testing? The children have their books closed. The next activity is on page 42 and has a picture of a lion. You want the children to open their books, look at the picture and tell you what it is. What do you say? Choose the correct alternative : Can you open/to open your books to/at page 42 please. Look at the/a picture. What’s it/that in the picture? The Diagnostic Test : Item Types

Slide 17: 

In Unit Three : Approaches to Course Design This presentation is part of an on-line course run by Business Talk Milan for the Cambridge ESOL Delta Modules If you would like to find out more about our on-line and face-to-face training courses, please contact us via our website : www.business-talk.it