#Teacher Training: Pedagogy Beyond #ELT

When ELT professionals get involved in teacher training, they generally train soon-to-be English teachers, or more experienced English teaching looking to spice up their approach. They pass on their knowledge of methodology, their classroom tricks, and their passion for language and teaching.  I’ve often thought of training other teachers as a logical next step in my career, after having taught for a number of years.  Well, this year, I was given the opportunity to get my teacher trainer feet wet, so to speak.

The telecommunications sector is a fast-moving business and hence training is key. Keeping our staff highly skilled and up-to-date with the latest and greatest is a huge part of our strategy, it’s how we stay ahead of the competition.  As with most companies, a large part of our training program is done by specialized external training organizations. However, a number of areas of expertise and skills are best shared and passed on in-house. The only problem is that sometimes the person with the knowledge or skill that needs to be passed on knows very little about how to teach.

That’s why I was asked to devise and deploy a ‘train the trainers’ course aimed at staff members who train other staff, new recruits or suppliers on a particular subject of expertise.

Basically, my mission was to teach the art of teaching.

Working on this project, I’ve had to ask myself some pretty tough questions. What are the best practices of pedagogy? How do I help people become better pedagogues in a 12-hour course? What tips should all teachers know before going into a classroom? In a series of upcoming posts, I’d like to share some of my answers to these questions. Stay tuned!

Getting Goofy with Presentation Skills in #ELT: Take It from Steve Ballmer

I’ve been teaching my students presentation skills basically since I’ve been teaching Business English. If one of my students or groups identify ‘giving better presentations’ as an objective, then there are a number of  presentation ‘basics’ that I always start with.

The ‘basics’ that I think are essential for every Business English student are: introductions, signposting and conclusions.

For introductions, we go over a pretty traditional 5-part introduction framework:

1. Greet your audience

2. Tell them who you are

3. Tell them the main topic of your presentation

4. Tell them the main sections of your presentation

5. Tell them about the logistics: how long it’s going to last, if they can ask questions as you go along, etc.

For signposting, I teach them how to ‘close’ one topic and  ‘open’ the next one, with simple phrases like “So that was…., now let’s look at…”.

For conclusions, we look at how to:

1. signal that you’ve come to end of your presentation

2. to summarize the main points

3. to give them a take-home message

4. to thank them and open it up for questions

We go over a number of different ways to do these things, both formal and informal.  I generally like to drill some key expressions, watch other learners and native speakers do presentations, and get them to do a few short presentations in class about business related topics.

It generally works. By the time we’ve spent a few classes doing all these things, students are generally left feeling more confident and are producing much better-structured presentation.

Generally.

Recently, one of my students, we’ll call her Florence, who is in a small group class of about 5, was having real trouble doing ‘formal’ presentations. It wasn’t a problem of proficiency (she’s about a B2+) or fluency; Florence can go on talking very passionately and clearly about almost any professional or personal topic. During ‘formal’ presentations in class she would freeze up. All the fluency and passion (and even accuracy) would disappear. However, if I would ask her to talk about the same topic in a more informal discussion, all her English skills came rushing back and the passion, fluency and clarity were all there again.

I didn’t really now what to do. I kept working on presentations every so often (it was really an important goal for them), reviewing ‘the basics’ every time to make sure those that were still having trouble with it could catch up. But it just wasn’t working for Florence.

I knew I had to come at this thing from a different angle. But how?

Then I had an idea. Instead of making presentations these ‘high stakes’ situations which was obviously stressing Florence out, why not make them fun? Why not goof around and see if it helps Florence loosen up, learn the key presenting expressions and present with the same passion she has when she’s just having a chat with someone? Why not take the Steve Ballmer approach? Get fired up, get crazy, and just act plain nuts!

So I asked the students to prepare a short presentation for the next lesson, as I had done many times before.  However, at the beginning of the lesson, I put up a few adjectives up on the board:

Shy, angry, overexcited, sad, insincere, proud, overconfident, happy, insane

Then I asked each student to pick an adjective and, in pairs, do just the introduction of their presentation as if they were feeling sad, angry, overconfident, or what have you.

Once they had finished, I asked them to pick a new adjective and do the next section of their presentation, as so on and so on until they were finished.

Then I played the Steve Ballmer video, just to remind them not to go overboard.

It worked! We all had fun with it and it has seemed to help Florence find her prensentation sea legs.

I’ve also added a few things to the mix since then. Ive had them present while clapping out the key words, while walking around the room, with a funny foreign accent. The options are endless! You just have to get goofy!

I is for Input

Great post by Scott Thornbury. In my experience, the key is to find the right balance (based on the learning style and needs of the each group or learner) between ‘proactive’ and ‘reactive’ language focus. Now check out Scott’s post!

An A-Z of ELT

Question: where does the input come from in an approach like task-based learning, or Dogme, where there is no syllabus of forms as such, and in which any focus on form is incidental?

This is the gist of the question sent to me a short while back by Anthony Elloway:

My concern about Dogme … is this – is the input rich enough?… My intuition is that, though there are advantages to working with student output, bringing more language into the class seems to be very valuable. And a coursebook – if given life by a teacher – might just do this job… Having an external syllabus/ coursebook does seem to provide a great deal of (organised) input for learners, perhaps more than the learners could produce themselves.

Good question. One possible answer is that the input comes – not just from the learners’ output – but from the texts

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Learning Strategies and Learner Training in #ELT: Can Students be Taught to be Better Learners?

We have all noticed that certain learners seem to be particularly good at learning English. They pick things up more quickly than others students and are able to use new words almost immediately. There are, of course, a lot of reasons for this and, surely, some learners just have a natural talent for languages. However, it has been shown that students can learn to be better language learners and that teachers can help students to do so through a ‘Learner Training’ program.

Below is a bit of background on Learner Training (LT):

Learners are Active Decision Makers and use Learning Strategies

Learner Training (LT) theory essentially argues that less successful learners can improve their learning capabilities if they are trained to use learning strategies employed by successful language learners (O.Malley, 1987). At the center of this argument is the belief that L2 learners are active decision makers in their learning.

Krashen’s comprehensible input hypothesis (based in behaviorist theory) argues that structures can be acquired automatically if students are exposed to language input that is one step above their current level (Nunan, 1999). O.Malley and Chamot (1990, p.x) point out that, this ‘natural’ approach reduces the teacher’s role to that of ‘input provider’ and the students’ to that of ‘input receiver’.

While recognizing that some learning can take place through exposure to input alone, cognitive learning theorists put more emphasis on how the learners process this input. O.Malley and Chamot (ibid, p.x) argue that in addition to ‘input receivers’, learners are mindful actors in their learning and make “many conscious decisions at both a cognitive and metacognitive level” called learning strategies (LSs).

Simply stated, LSs are “the mental and communication processes that learners deploy to learn a second language” (Nunan, 1999). Research strongly suggests that LSs influence L2 learning and vary from learner to learner (O.Malley, 1987). LSs differ from other variables such as learning styles in that learning styles are more unchanging and are particular to the individual, whereas LSs can more easily be adopted or dropped by learners (Brown,1987; 2001). Moreover, LSs are diverse and include all “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990: 8). Indeed, LSs range from those used for a specific grammar activity, to those used for planning and motivation. LSs also include production (or ‘use’) strategies, which learners use to retrieve and employ parts of the language (Anderson, 2005; Cohen, 1996).

Two Basic Types of Learning Strategies

A number of different categories have been proposed for classifying learning strategies and despite some confusion about terminology, these categories can help to clarify how learners use LSs (Cohen, 1996). Based on four commonly-cited LS taxonomies it is possible to group LSs into two main categories.

–       The first category is comprised of those strategies employed to solve specific learning tasks. Examples of these are strategies used to store and retrieve language (memory strategies), those used to process the language (cognitive strategies) and those used to communicate in the language despite imperfect knowledge of the needed structures (compensation strategies) (Oxford, 1990). These strategies can be referred to as direct strategies.

–       The second group, sometimes referred to as metacognitive, includes those strategies employed to manage the process of L2 learning. These strategies “allow learners to..coordinate their learning process” and include planning, evaluating, self-monitoring and emotional (affective) strategies used to help motivation and confidence (Oxford, 1990, p.135). This group can be called indirect strategies.

Good Language Learners and Learner Training

Naiman et al. (1978) and Rubin (1975) continued research on LSs by analyzing the strategies used by “good language learners” (GLLs). The research suggests that GLLs are those learners who, rather than simply having ‘a knack’ for languages, consciously employ LSs (O.Malley and Chamot,1990). Neil Anderson (2005, p.757) points out that not only do GLLs manipulate strategies and learning style, they also draw on a “wider repertoire of strategies”. Unsuccessful learners, on the other hand, tend to continue using inefficient or ineffective strategies without realizing that those strategies are not producing acquisition (Anderson, 2005).

Thus, the main variables that separate a GLL from an unsuccessful learner are the number of strategies known and the skill in using them (Chamot, 2004). However, as I mentioned above, we must not forget that many things, besides LSs, influence language learning success, including personality, culture, and learning style. Therefore, any conclusions taken from GLL research regarding LSs must take into account the complexity of the learner and the learning process.

Why Integrate Learner Training into your Curriculum?

Overall, LT is based on the idea that in addition to being a ‘natural’ process produced by exposure to comprehensible input, learning is also an active, conscious process for which learners use a series of strategies. The research on GLLs and LSs has led some researchers to conclude that L2 learners can be taught, or trained how to learn better (O.Malley and Chamot, 1990). As O.Malley and Chamot (Ibid: p.x) summarize, “teachers can encourage and assist students in using effective strategies for learning”.

In my experience, encouraging learners and raising their awareness of both direct and indirect learning strategies has increased learner motivation and enjoyment and has most certainly improved learning rates.

Over to you!

What has been your experience with Good Language Learners? What Learning Strategies do you teach your students? Does your curriculum include a Learner Training program of either direct or indirect strategies? Leave your comments!

References

Anderson, N. (2005) .L2 Learning Strategies.. In Hinkel, Eli(Ed.). Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Mahwah, NJ, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Incorporated. pp. 757-772.

Brown, H.D. (1987, 2nd Edition). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

Brown, H.D. (2001, 2nd Edition) Teaching by Principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. White Plains: Prentice Hall.

Chamot, A.U (2004). Issues in Language Learning Strategy Research and Teaching. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching [Online]  1/1, pp. 14-26. Available from:  http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v1n12004/chamot.htm.

Cohen, A.D.(1996) Second language Learning and Use Strategies: Clarifying the Issues [Online]. http://www.carla.umn.edu/about/profiles/CohenPapers/SBIclarify.pdf

Nunan, D. (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning. Boston: Heinle & Heinle

O.Malley, J.M. (1987) .The Effects of Training in the use of Learning Strategies on Learning English as a Second Language.. In Wenden, Learner Strategies for Language Learning. New York: Prentice Hall. pp 133-144.

O’ Malley, J.M., & Chamot, A.U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Pachler, Norbert (1999). Teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Advanced Level. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge.

Wenden, A.L. (1991). Learner strategies for learner autonomy. London: Prentice-Hall International.

#ELT Humor in the Classroom : Geoff Tranter’s Special Edition of the Testing Times

I thought I’d share a wonderfully funny Christmas message/article that Geoff Tranter shared with me and the TESOL France team. He also kindly gave me permission to share with friends and colleagues. So here it is!

Testing_Times_Xmas_2011_Edition

If you like it, you should all check out Geoff’s new book entitled Using Humour in the English Classroom: Teaching ideas and activities

 

 

Two Truths and a Lie: Simple, Fun, and a Great Way to Work on Question Forms #Dogme, #ELT

I have both Norwegian and United States citizenship. I have run 2 marathons , both in 4 hours. I have lived and worked in 5 countries.

One of these sentences is not true. Which one do you think it is?

Does this game sound familiar? Many of you have probably played Two Truths and a Lie before, but how many have played it with your students?

Last week, after 5 consecutive lessons of working hard on BE topics with one group of students, I decided that everyone needed to have a little fun.  So, instead of opening the lesson with a speaking framework about their jobs or a video about the latest mobile phone, I decided that we should play Two Truths and a Lie. It worked like a charm and my students (full -grown adults!) didn’t want to stop playing.  After we finally finished the game and started to move on to the next exercise, my students kept talking about why it was such a fun game:

“It is so hard to know which sentence is a lie!”

“You can see who is a good liar and who isn’t.  Philippe, wow, you’re a good liar!”

“It’s a great way learn about our passions. I never knew that Alain collects antique pens.”

“I’m going to play it with my colleagues during our coffee break this afternoon!”

It was a real success and after we finished playing, using questions from the game, I was able to transition smoothly into a form-focus activity.  I wrote questions like “Alain, for how many time do you collect pens?”  and “In what country did you born?” on the board and got the Ss to correct them. Then I got students to do an exercise from Macmillan’s Business Grammar Builder on the placement of ‘verb + preposition’ combinations in questions.

So, how can you use this game in your lessons? Most readers are surely familiar with the game, but there are a lot of different ways to play it.  Here’s the procedure that I used:

1. Explain the title of the game to the Ss and that it will be a fun way to learn more about each other.
2. Give students 5 minutes to write down their 2 truths and 1 lie. The T should also write down 3 sentences.
3.  The T puts his/her 3 sentences up on the board. The Ss then ask the T questions about the 3 sentences, trying to throw the teacher off and find out which one of them is lie.
4.  The Ss cannot just guess, they have to ask as many questions as they can. If they think they know, they have to try to explain to the other students why they think one of the sentences is a lie.
5. Once the Ss have decided which sentence they think is a lie, the T can reveal the answer.
6. If the class is small enough (fewer than 6 students) you can continue working as a whole group and move on to the first student. If you’ve got a larger group, it’s best to split them up into groups of 3 or 4.
7. The Ss repeat the question/answer process until the all students have revealed their lies. During the exchanges, the teacher should circulate and write down the questions students ask, listening carefully for recurrent mistakes.
8. Based on the mistakes and language gaps heard during the exchanges, the T should then do a 15-30 min form-focus activity and possible assign homework to address the problem areas that came up.

So, that’s how you can adapt this game to the classroom. Now, which of my sentences do you think is a lie?

T is for text-based curriculum

On his blog, Scott Thornbury recently wrote about a very interesting approach to language teaching, “text-based curriculums”: curriculums based around one book, one magazine or series of books. In my experience, this approach is especially appropriate for ESP courses.

In fact, in my English for Telecommunications course I take a similar approach. Every class my students and I watch part of a webinar from Telecoms.com about an important trend or topic in the telecom business. While it is not a ‘text’ per se, it is similar to a text-based’ curriculum in that we are focusing one form of communication (i.e.powerpoint presentations) about one field (i.e. telecommunications).

We only spend about 30mins a week doing this, but it allows us to study key telecom language while also learning language for presentations.
So, while text-based learning should be used in good measure and only when context permits, it can be great way to enhance an ESP curriculum.

An A-Z of ELT

Nigel Davies, who runs a school in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona, wrote to me last week:

I’m doing an experimental kind of class here at the school, which, if you have time I would like to hear your thoughts on.

It’s a post CAE class mixed bag of wannabe one day proficiencies and other advanced students. I didn’t want to do an exam-based course, and couldn’t find a suitable high level general texbook, so someone suggested doing some Engl Lit, maybe one of the classics, which was a possibility, but not for a whole course, so I settled on one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Do you know his work? I chose ‘Outliers’ a study of how people become successful, as it has lots of stories of different people in different situations to back up his central thesis, and there was lots of extra material on internet, both spoken…

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#ELT and #Teaching Techniques: Spice up your Lessons using Post-it Notes!

I'm not the only one who loves these things

Ok, let’s try a short activity. I’d like you to make a list of classroom equipment and materials that are essential parts of your lessons. Ok, take 1 minute and make a list. Ready? Go.

So, what did you include? A flipchart? A whiteboard? A laptop, maybe? Photocopies of your favorite exercises? An ipod? A smartphone?  All of these were on my list. But another ‘must-have’ has recently made it almost to the top of that list: Post-It notes. I don’t mean just one pack; I mean multiple packs, different color packs, all shapes and sizes.

About 6 months ago, I read “The Business English Teacher” (Delta Publishing) by Debbie Barton, Jennifer Burkart and Caireen Sever. Post-It notes are a central part in a number of the lesson frameworks they suggest. This inspired me to start using Post-Its more frequently in my lessons. Then,  seeing how much my students were enjoying them, I started using them more and more until they had earned their permanent place in my briefcase, right next to my white board markers, and grammar book.

Not a lesson goes by where I don’t use them for something.  They  have now replaced sheets of paper in almost every exercise I do. There is just so much more you can do with them; you can move them around, stick them on the wall (or your forehead), mix them up, organize them by color, make them into paper airplanes.  They can jazz up dictations, dialogue writing, storytelling, vocabulary drilling, translation exercises and even just warm-up discussion activities.

Below I’d like to share a few exercises that have been a hit with my small groups of Business English students and hopefully will infect you with the Post-It note fever and get you thinking about how you can shake up your teaching with these sticky little sheets of awesomeness.

The Post-It Dictation

Aim: Form-focus. Listening for details. Spelling.

Material:

– Any text or dialogue with key language that you’d like your students to remember

– Post-It notes – preferably a different color for each student

Procedure:

1)      Proceed as you normally would for a dictation, except instead of having the students write on sheets of paper, have them write on Post-Its.  Every complete phrases or sentences of 5 to 10 words students should start a new Post-It. For example:

1. Post-It 1: Have you looked at the minutes from last meeting?
2. Post-It 2: No, not yet. I’ll get on it right away.

Continue until the end of the dictation (I would recommend 5 to 10 post-it’s worth).

2)      Then once everyone has finished the dictation, ask one student to put their Post-Its up on one of the classroom walls, in a vertical line, in the order they were written. Then have the other students put their post-its up next to the first student’s, following the same order.  The students should remain standing near their post-its.

3)      Correct the dictation. I do this by having the students walk along the wall and take down any post-its they think are incorrect. I then go through and make the ‘final cut’, handing any incorrect post-its back to the students and asking them to correct them.

Variation:

–          If the sentences you used for the dictation are functional phrases that can be used in discussions, meeting or telephone situations, have them keep their post-its and allow them to use the Post-Its like playing cards during the next role play. When they feel that a certain expression would be appropriate in the role play, they place their ‘phrase card’ on the table and use the expression.

Post-It Ranking Activity

Aim:  Getting to know each other. Discussion. Fluency practice. Pushing students’ vocabulary and speaking ability. Superlatives. Professional  vocabulary.

Material:  Post-It notes. Two different colors. Let’s say yellow and pink.

Procedure:

1)      Divide the class in 2 groups. They don’t have to get up or sit in a group, necessarily. Distribute 5 yellow Post-Its to each student in one half of the class and 5 pink Post-Its to the other half.

2)      Ask the students to put one task that they have to do as part of their job in a typical week on each Post-It. For example,  if they work in IT, one Post-It could be “keep track of traffic on intranet and report to  manager”  and another could be “go to meetings with suppliers” and another something simple like “check and respond to email”.

3)      Once they’ve written down 5 things they do in a typical week, have the Ss with yellow Post-Its rank them from most to least important, and the Ss with the pink Post-Its from most to least time consuming.

4)      Pair them up with someone who has a different color Post-It  and have them explain their ranking.  Make sure to specify that the student that is listening, should be actively listening,  asking questions, reacting, etc. The teacher should circulate and help with vocabulary and note down any mistakes or interesting words/expressions that the whole class might find useful.

5)      Optional: Depending on the number of students you have you can have one, two or all of the students then explain their ranking to the whole class.

6)      During the activity a lot of interesting vocabulary and errors should have come up organically in the conversation. Go over these language points on the board.

 

The Post-It Note Silent Dialogue

Aim : Reviewing key business phrases  in telephone or one-to-one meeting situations or as a creative writing activity.

Materials: Post-It notes

Procedure:

1)      Put the students into pairs.

2)      Choose a role play situation that you think is important for your students write the details of the situation on the board or on slips of paper.  Try to make it as close to their reality as possible. For example:

1. Your supplier sent the wrong number of ‘thing-a-ma-jigs’ (you pick the product depending on context).  Call them, explain the problem and decide on how the problem will be rectified.

You can either choose one situation for all the pairs, or you can give a different situation to each pair. It is important that the information be detailed enough so that it seems realistic, but vague enough that they don’t know necessarily what the other person is going to say. Allow their imaginations to fill in the details. For example, if you added, “The supplier says that they are low on that particular product and will ship the remainder of the order next week”, that is too much detail. If there is too much detail then there is no point to writing the dialogue because they already basically know the outcome.

3)      The Ss then have a ‘silent dialogue’ on the post-it notes. Every line of the dialogue should be on a new Post-It. For example,

Post-It 1: Hello, PTS Office Supplies

Post-it 2: Yes, hello. This is Eric Halvorsen calling from TESOL FRANCE. Could I speak to John Smith?

4)      As the students are writing their dialogues, the T should be circulating with a pack of different color Post-Its. If the teacher notices that there is some sort of unnatural transition in the conversation , the T simply places a Post-It between the two Post-Its that are unnatural, signaling to the student that they need to add something here. The T can also place a Post-It next to a S’s Post-It if when they notice a major mistake. This signals to the student that they need to re-write that particular part of the dialogue.

5)      Once the Ss have finished  and the T has provided feedback through the different colored Post-Its, the Ss can then divide up the Post-Its, each S taking their own and perform their dialogue for the class using the Post-Its to help them remember their lines.

Conclustion

In all of these activities the Post-Its allow the Ss to play with the language and their ideas in a way

that wouldn’t be possible on a blank sheet of paper.  It also allows the T to provide feedback in different ways, by putting the Post-Its on the wall or by using different colors.  The possibilities are endless! If you have any other ideas for how Post-Its can be used in the classroom I love to hear from you.

#Reflective Practice and #ELT: Beliefs, Attitudes and Teaching Behavior

Try answering the following questions:

–       What are your beliefs about teaching?

–       What are your attitudes towards teaching?

–       How do these beliefs and attitudes influence your classroom behavior?

Not easy, huh?

One of the assignments that I completed for my MA TEFL was to answer the above questions: analyze my teaching beliefs and attitudes and how these affect my teaching behavior. I remember finding this essay topic particularly interesting at the time and thoroughly enjoying the reflection process it involved. I have since tried to continue to reflect on my beliefs, attitudes and teaching behavior (BATB) in a similar way from time to time. As a teacher, it’s a healthy thing to do.  Below, I’d like to share some of the main points from my essay and hopefully get your own reflective juices flowing!

What are Beliefs, Attitudes and Teaching Behavior ?

Beliefs are the base of a teacher’s conceptual framework and include the teacher’s theories about language, language learning, and education in general. Beliefs are what Richards and Rogers (1996) might call the approach of a teacher’s personal methodology. They are complex and as Richards and Lockhart (1996) underline, they originate from a number of sources and experiences. For example, a teacher’s personality, past learning and teaching experiences, culture, education and training are all sources of beliefs. Richards and Lockhart identify five main categories of beliefs:

1) beliefs about English

2) beliefs about teaching

3) beliefs about learning

4) beliefs about the program and the curriculum

5) beliefs about teaching as a profession.

Beliefs are important because they directly influence a teacher’s attitudes towards teaching and learning activities in the classroom (Basturkmen, et al., 2004). These attitudes, then in turn, often influence teaching behavior: they are where teaching behavior and beliefs meet. However, the transformation from attitude to teaching behavior does not always come to fruition. Indeed, different beliefs and attitudes may contradict each other or contextual constraints might call for certain teaching behaviors that go against the teacher’s beliefs and attitudes.

In sum, beliefs can be defined as what one thinks about learning and teaching, attitudes as what one thinks about certain practices in relation to those beliefs, and teaching behavior as what one actually does in the classroom.

How have my beliefs, attitudes and Teaching behavior changed since I began my teaching career?

In my essay I focused only on three categories where the changes in my BATB have been most profound: beliefs about learning, teaching and the curriculum.

Changes in my beliefs and attitudes about learning and  resulting  changes  in Teaching Behavior

Over the past years, the way I view the process of language learning has evolved considerably. When I began teaching, my belief was that language learning was essentially a question of breaking a language down into its individual parts, and studying each part, piece by piece in an orderly fashion. One simply needed to accumulate the various entities of a language in a building block fashion (Rutherford, 1987 cited in Willis, D. 1997: 84). My belief was that if broken down into language structures that were simple enough, and if taught the right way, a learner could internalize and begin using a target structure by the end of a lesson. To this end, I believed grammar structures should be taught in the following order: a clear presentation, controlled oral exercises, semi-controlled exercises and finally a communicative activity that would incite the students to use the target structure. My attitude was that, when done in a relaxed and interesting classroom atmosphere and paired with periods of conversation, this approach, known as the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) approach (Willis, J. and Dave Willis, 1996), was the best way to learn a language. Not only did I believe in this approach, I also put it into practice in almost all of my grammar classes

Today, the activities used in my lessons are more diverse. One of the central reasons for this is a change in my beliefs about how languages are learned. From seeing language learning as an exercise in breaking language down and building it all back up again inside the mind, I now believe that this approach should also be mixed with consciousness-raising (CR) and Task-Based (TB) activities. This change in my fundamental beliefs about language learning was sparked by my readings of the material in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) course of my MA. The debate in this module about the advantages and disadvantages of the PPP approach not only made me call my practice into question, it incited deeper reflection on how languages are really learned. I came to believe that if learning a language is like building a house brick by brick, then in addition to teachers presenting language bricks, students must also learn to dig around in the clay and see if they can make a brick for themselves. Furthermore, just as bricks need time to dry in the sun, language structures need time to solidify in the mind. Learners should not be made to feel that they must be able to use a structure right away.

In terms of teaching behavior, this change in beliefs has induced me use more diverse types of activities when focusing on forms. I have not abandoned PPP-inspired exercises altogether, because I believe it has a number of merits in my context; I simply no longer see this approach as the only valid way to teach. For example, one of the principal ways I help students to learn language forms or vocabulary is through CR and TB activities. I either make these activities myself based on authentic materials, or I use business English coursebooks that propose these types of activities. However, for the moment I only use a few styles of CR and TB activities and I would like to improve on this by expanding my repertoire in this area.

Another way that my beliefs about learning have changed is that meaning has become absolutely central to my approach. My old practices were based on behaviorist theories that focused on repetition from a model. My belief was that if students are coaxed into using a structure often enough, they will eventually learn it and be able to use it spontaneously. While I still believe that this is part of learning to communicate in a language, I also believe that struggling to produce and understand meaningful language is necessary in order to reach full communicative competence. This change stemmed from reflection on the work of authors such as Dave and Jane Willis (1996), and Jim Scrivener (1996) and the material from the SLA module. In the past, what was said took a back seat to how it was being said. Now, it is the opposite. Communicating a real message that comes from the student, must come before simply displaying use of a target structure. A well structured sentence that is absent of all meaning to the student who utters it is not communicating anything. It is parroting, or what Dave Willis (1996) calls conformity..

The consequence on my teaching behavior has been that, while I still use repetition and drilling in some cases, I now focus primarily on meaningful exchanges about topics which are important to them, supported by written feedback and correction. Although I used to have similar exchanges in the past, I only considered them a relaxing aside for the student, a break. Indeed, when I did it too much, I felt like I was not teaching and quickly came back to more ‘structured’ exercises. Meaningful exchange that was not focused on practicing a language form simply did not fit into my beliefs about learning, so I avoided it, even though it felt natural to me and the students liked it. Additionally, I also use speaking tasks and meaning-focused (rather than structure-focused) information gap activities.

The final change in this category has been the addition of learner autonomy as a central tenant of my beliefs about learning. Whereas before I thought students could simply follow the steps put forth by the teacher, I now consider that students must also autonomously seek out learning opportunities. All of the course material from my MA about learner training, the good language learners, and learning strategies helped me realize what my classroom experience had already been hinting at: promoting learning autonomy promotes learning. Work from authors such as G. Ellis and B. Sinclair (1989), N. Anderson (2005), H.D. Brown (2001) and O.Malley and Chamot (1990) were also central to this change. As a result, I now try to encourage learner autonomy in the classroom in three ways. First I give students a list of materials that they can use for self study, including a list of places to find podcasts, videos and articles. Second, I have created a new needs analysis, entitled the learner/teacher contract. which involves the learner in setting goals, choosing material and topics for the class.

Finally, I give the students assignments and do in-class activities that help them discover new ways of learning English. However, as mentioned above, one is not always able to translate one’s beliefs into actual classroom behavior. Learner autonomy is one area where this is particularly true because my students are all extremely busy.

Changes  in  my  beliefs  and  attitudes about teaching and resulting changes in teaching behavior

Larsen-Freeman (2001) once stated that a good metaphor for teaching can sustain a teacher throughout their career. Since the beginning of my career, I have seen my self role in the classroom as a guide and/or coach. Although actual metaphor I have used has not changed, my understanding of my role has evolved in two ways. First, while I have always felt that students needed specific language learning goals, I now feel that to be successful, part of the responsibility for the achievement of these goals must lie with the student as well as the teacher. They must be empowered and encouraged not only to be led, but to lead. As a guide or a coach, a teacher must encourage students show the way as much as they are shown the way. In practice, this has led me to actively promote learner autonomy through the specific practices mentioned above.

Second, I feel that coaches must be able to adapt their coaching methods to individual trainees. I have therefore abandoned ideology and made an effort to diversify my methods. Now, I believe that above all, teachers must listen to their students and focus on their learning, rather than on getting though a method. In other words, rather than being able to apply one method perfectly, a good teacher must be knowledgeable in a number of methods and be able to use the right combination of methods according to the goals, needs, interests and linguistic weaknesses of each student.  All methods had something to offer.

In practice, this means that I now rely on a much more diversified repertoire of teaching activities.

Changes in my beliefs and attitudes about the curriculum and resulting changes in teaching behavior

Probably the most salient difference between the courses I teach now and those that I taught in the beginning of my career is the depth and frequency of consultation with the student. I used believe that the teacher should be alone at the helm of the course. I now believe that the curriculum must be a product of teacher student consultation. Although I did do needs analyses in the past, they provided minimal information about student goals. Rather, I focused mainly on when the student uses the language, for what and with whom, as well as how the student perceived strengths and weaknesses in English. I then devised objectives for the course on my own.

I now believe this needs analysis leaves out extremely important information for a truly learner-centered course. As mentioned above, I now discuss the direction of the class through a ‘learner/teacher contract.’  This new document guides the student and the teacher through a discussion of the student’s goals (short-term and long-term), the choice of materials including work-related materials the student can bring, and types of in-class and out-of-class activities. This new needs analysis helps to prepare the learner to share responsibility for the direction the course takes. This consultative atmosphere is encouraged throughout the class, both through frequent discussion about the direction of the class and questionnaires.

So, ready to give it a shot? I’d be very interested to hear how your BATBs have changed over your career. Leave a comment!

References:

Basturkmen, H. et al (2004) Teacher’s Stated Beliefs about Incidental Focus
on Form and Their Classroom Practices Applied Linguistics 25/2: 243-272

Larsen-Freeman, D. 2001. The joy of watching others learn. An interview with Diane Larsen- Freeman by William P. Ancker. [Online].English TeachingForum online. F:\ELT Management\Module 5 Essay\Internet Sources Assignment 5\English Teaching Forum Online  Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.mht (Acessed on 7 December 2008)

Richards, J. and CharlesLockhart (1996) Reflective Teaching in Second Language
Classrooms. Cambridge University Press

Richards, J.C. and Theodore S. Rogers (2001, 2nd Edition) Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Willis, D. (1997) Second Language Acquisition Centre for English Language Studies.
University of Birmingham

Willis, J. and Dave Willis, Eds. Challenge and Change in Language Teaching.
Macmillan Heinemann.

 

#Dogme: Covering Core Business English Using an ‘Unplugged’ Approach

One of the criticisms of heavily student-centered approaches such as dogme is that it is hard to ensure that ‘core language’ is covered. A lot of teachers think that if they don’t have a good Business English coursebook telling them what words to teach or if they don’t present students with a list of business vocabulary at the beginning of the course then they run the risk of not covering these key items at all.

Now, I am a firm believer that students should learn certain ‘core’ language (i.e. the most commonly used vocabulary, expression and grammar tenses). But I also believe that it is preferable to learn these words primarily through genuine communication and meaning-focused exchanges. There is no better way help students learn and be able to use core language items than by actually getting them to talk about their company, their jobs, their projects and their every day responsibilities.

Of course, I don’t have any long-term scientific research to support this claim, but I do have my experience. Below is  a list language items that were covered in a recent 20-hour BE course that I taught. The students were a B2-level. These items all emerged naturally in discussions, role-plays and other speaking activities. As the students communicated with each other and with me about topics that are important to them, I provided feedback, correction, and langauge support to help them get their message across. Students kept detailed notes of all of these items (and others) on their own, and at the end of the course, I provided the students with a final list of the most important language we covered in the course, or a sort of retrospective syllabus.

Below is the some of the language that came up:

Phrasal  verbs

• To catch up on s.th
• To break  s.th. down into segments, categories, etc.
• To lay s.o. off
• To branch out
• To come up (i.e. “Something has come up”)
• To bring forward (a meeting, an event)
• To account for
• To run out of s.th.
• To run into a problem
• To back s.o. up
• To factor s.th. in
• To fill s.o. in on s.th.
• To find out

Vocabulary items

• A trade fair
• A venue
• To hire s.o.
• A former co-worker
• To resume
• To summarize
• An accurate forecast
• To miss a deadline
• To meet a deadline
• To lack s.th.
• A policy
• To go over budget
• To stay within budget
• To attend s.th. (an event, a meeting, etc).
• To set s.th. (an agenda, a timeline, etc.)
• To draft a proposal, an offer
• To get out of university, engineering school, etc.
• To keep track of s.th.
• Early-September, mid-September, late-September.
• To go out for dinner, lunch, coffee etc.
• To have s.o. over for dinner, lunch, coffee, etc.
• To prevent s.o. from doing something vs. to warn s.o. about doing s.th.
• Attendees

Common mistakes corrected

• “I succeeded my objectives” > I reached my objectives
• “A global picture of our customers” > an overall picture
• “Ernst and Young is the 1^st consultancy group…” > Is the number one consultancy group in terms of…
• “The good person” > the right person
• “I’m not at all agree” > I don’t agree at all.
• “Could you confirm me the date?” > Could you confirm the date?
• “The juridic department” > the legal department

Verb tenses

• Present simple and the present continuous
• Present perfect simple, present perfect continuous
• The future with: ‘will’, ‘going to’, present continuous, plan to, hope to, to be likely to, etc.
• Transitive and intransitive verbs

Expressions, phrases and language chunks

• We’re on the right track
• Actually, no thanks.
• So if I’ve understood you correctly, ….
• So what you’re saying is…
• What I mean is…
• Good point.
• I see you’re point, but…
• I see what you’re saying…/ I see what you mean.
• We’re (a bit, 2 days, 2 weeks) behind schedule
• If my memory serves me well/ If I remember correctly …
• Ok, change of plans, ….
• We’re getting off track
• Time is up.
• I’m keeping an eye on the situation.
• I have to get the go-ahead/the green light, from management
• Do you want to grab a coffee?
• Do you mind if I take this (call)?

Looking back at this list (and other lists) of language covered in my lessons I am reassured that the speaking activities in my classes are so much more than just conversational fluency practice. Rather, they are real communicative exchanges with Business professionals about their jobs that allow them to practice their speaking skills while at the same time covering important business vocabulary, expressions and grammar.