DELTA MODULE 3 - Teaching EAP Reading and writing

DELTA Module 3 Extended Assignment Teaching EAP – Reading & Writing Suad Othman Mohamed Centre number - 10239 Candidate 245 Word count - 4497 Table of Contents Part 1 4 Introduction 4 1.2 EAP 4 1.3 ESAP VS EGAP 4 1.4. Critical thinking 4 1.4.2 Motivation 4 1.4.3 Academic style and Register 5 1.4.4 Reading Speed and fluency 5 1.4.5 Genres and Organisation 6 1.4.6 Collocations 6 Part 2 - Needs analysis 6 2.1 Learner profile and preferred learning styles 6 2.1.1 My group 6 2.2 Needs analysis 7 2.3 perceived needs and results 7 2.4 Main Findings - Needs Analysis - Questionnaires and individual interviews 7 2.5 Diagnostic testing 8 2.6 Diagnostic test results: 8 Part 3 - Course Proposal 10 3.1 Aims and Objectives 10 3.2 Syllabus 10 3.3 Course Content and Materials constraints 11 3.4 Methodology and principles 11 3.5 Timetable 12 Part 4 12 4.1 Assessment 12 4.2 Formative Assessment 13 4.3 Summative assessment 13 4.4. Evaluation 14 Part 5 – Conclusion 14 References: 16 References: 16 Appendix 3 – Main findings Needs Analysis – questionnaires and individual interviews 19 Appendix 5 – Perceived areas of strengths and weaknesses in English 20 Appendix 6 – Types of Reading and Writing needed 21 Appendix 7 – Preferred Topics 22 Appendix 9 – Main finding of diagnostic testing 23 Appendix 10 - Course plan 24 Part 1 Introduction I have chosen EAP as my specialism because of my involvement in teaching a monolingual group for the last two years in Saudi Arabia. I have chosen reading and writing skills to be the focus of this assignment as it is an area that requires most development amongst students. ‘There is no doubt that writing and reading are the most difficult skills for L2 learners’ (Richards and Renanadya 2002) 1.2 EAP Hyland and Hamps-Lyons (2002) propose that EAP is directly related to instructions that focuses on the communicative needs and practices that learners are expected to accomplish in a given academic context. It involves syllabus design, needs analysis, and material development (Bruce 2005) 1.3 ESAP VS EGAP EAP branches to EGAP and ESAP (Jordan 1997). EGAP deals with language practices paying particular attention to the study skills where as ESAP is subject specific, for example, English for medical students. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) have concluded that ESAP tackles tasks that the students have to carry out while EGAP is more concerned with general contexts 1.4. Critical thinking Critical thinking is important for the success of students from any background. ‘Students need to question what they read, look for assumptions and weaknesses, make connections, respond and evaluate’ (Louis Rogers, 2013) In second language setting, critical thinking is even more difficult to apply as students are ‘expected to decode individual words, put them back together into a proposition that makes sense and then see how these relate to other ideas and propositions within a text while at the same time engaging on a critical level’ (Louis Rogers, 2013) EAP teachers need to provide learners with different opportunities to develop critical thinking skills by encouraging learners to be more creative. We need to allow learners ‘to make guesses, draw on their knowledge and personal experience and use their imagination’ (Nunan, 2004) 1.4.2 Motivation Motivation is an important factor in learning a foreign language and has been investigated thoroughly by many researchers (e.g. Warden & Lin, 2000; Yamshiro & McLaughlin, 2001). It is a very significant component of literacy because of its connection with action (Putman & Walker, 2010). The lack and weakness of the input in the learners’ previous academic teaching context has a lot to do with the learner’s personal motivation to academic English. Another reason for demotivation amongst learners is that their text books are not interesting enough, or that they cannot relate to them on a personal level. (Assor et al, 2002.) As a teacher of EAP students, I try to overcome the problem of lack of motivation, by providing ownership to the student’s learning capacity and pace. For example facilitating a writing activity where students are responsible for peer to peer correction. This gives them a feeling of control which increases their motivation and sense of achievement. Also as pointed out by Humenick (2004), providing learners with a selection of well written texts, will influence their motivation. 1.4.3 Academic style and Register Style and register is an important aspect of writing at university level. Academic writing has a level of formality that is sometimes difficult for non-natives to notice especially the difference between register and style of the language. For students to understand it, they should have a ‘well-developed schemata for academic discourse and clear and stable views of what is appropriate’’ (Silva, 1990 cited in Jordan 1997). Within the Saudi Arabian high school education system, students are not usually expected to write long academic texts and are limited to write simple sentences for example, describing their daily routine. However at university, students are thrown into the deep end and are expected to write academically. For learners to write with suitable knowledge of style and register, the EAP teacher needs to provide a variety of texts and contexts (for written and spoken) in order to enhance the learner’s ability to identify different features of register and style. 1.4.4 Reading Speed and fluency Speed and Fluency is to “read text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with little attention to the mechanics of reading such as decoding” (Meyer, 1999, p.284) For a learner to acquire different reading techniques they need to be proficient in the reading skill itself, for example, reading for gist and details. Reading fluency and speed depends on the ability of the reader to read without any hindrances. I believe that second language (L2) learners do not spend much time in improving fluency and speed, as they would have done in L1. They have difficulty because they are used to reading in a graded manner, reading for features of grammar and vocabulary. This gradually builds a habit of reading slowly using reading as way to find information going against what Jones and Davies highlighted, that text is a ‘‘vehicle of information’’ not a ‘‘linguistic object’’ (Johns and Davis.1983 cited in Jordan, 1997). My experience has shown that Arab students have not been exposed to extensive reading tasks and more importantly did not have the opportunity to develop various reading strategies to read for any given occasion where they are ‘‘drawing on as much of the surrounding text as possible, being prepared to tolerate uncertainty, using a wide range of textual cues in predicting what comes next, being flexible in their response to texts’’ (Wallace, C 1992, p 59). 1.4.5 Genres and Organisation EAP students are expected to read and write different types of genres including; reports, essays, research results and case studies. EAP students find it difficult to distinguish different types of written genres. It is important for the teacher to expose EAP students to different material which will help the students identify with different genres and text types. When students are familiarised with different types of genres, they will be able to identify ‘specific problems that are ever present in writing: who the reader is, what the writer’s relationship with the reader is, what the purpose of the text is, and what textual form is appropriate’ (McCarthy 1991). EAP students also struggle with organising their written text. They struggle with dividing their writing into paragraphs, failing to organise their writing into an introduction, main body and conclusion. The EAP teacher will have to highlight the importance of academic writing, and to emphasize the basics of organising a written text. It is important that learners understand how to logically present their writing with clear ideas so that their writing is cohesive and coherent. 1.4.6 Collocations Collocation competence is an important part of academic writing. EAP students need to demonstrate effective use of common collocation and word combinations so that a piece of writing sounds natural. EAP students have a tendency of forming unusual combination of words due to L1 interference. This is where the teacher needs to demonstrate the importance of collocation and the accurate use of it, especially in academic writing. The teacher has to expose EAP students to a variety of text containing examples of academic collocation and encouraging students to notice it and use it so that they are able to use it and produce language that is ‘fluent, accurate and stylistically appropriate’ (Lewis 2000). Part 2 - Needs analysis 2.1 Learner profile and preferred learning styles 2.1.1 My group I have chosen a group of 20 students aged 18 – 20 years. It is a monolingual class of intermediate level (equivalent to an IETLS 5) studying the Preparatory year at King Saud University. The class is for 15 hours a week for 3 hours a day. The syllabus is divided between me and my co teacher. I teach reading and writing for 1.5 hours and my co teacher is responsible for 1.5 hours of speaking and listening. 2.2 Needs analysis Jordan (1997) points out that a needs analysis is a starting point for any EAP course or syllabus. A needs analysis ‘is a systematic and ongoing’ (Graves 2000) tool used to collect information about the needs, wants, and expectations of learners. A needs analysis includes: questionnaires, surveys, and interviews to gather information about the students’ needs and preferences. (David Nunan 1988). According to Nunan (1988) ‘there are 2 types of needs analysis used by language syllabus designers; learner analysis and task analysis. I have chosen the learner analysis as it collects data about learners which serves the EAP students purpose for learning the language. In order to create an effective course plan for my EAP students I have used various tools to collect data. I started with preferred learning styles questionnaire followed by a needs analysis questionnaire adopted from Nunan (1988) (Appendix 1- 2). I have chosen questionnaire, because it allows me to collect factual and objective information about the learners. (Nunan, 1988 and Graves, 2000). It is designed to gain information about their social and physical context ‘context’ (Graves 2000) The needs analysis is also aimed at gathering information regarding learners’ preferred learning styles as well as their ‘interpersonal skills’ (Graves 2000). Later on I followed up with structured interviews to administer in person and clarify the information on the questionnaires (Appendix3 -10). This was then followed by a diagnostic testing. 2.3 perceived needs and results As noted by Jordan 1997, self-assessment is important because it makes learners aware of language abilities and skills. The questionnaires I designed (Appendix 1 -2) gave the students the chance to rate their own language abilities and skills by identifying what they have already learnt and what they need to learn. 2.4 Main Findings - Needs Analysis - Questionnaires and individual interviews Results Reasons 90% - Previous negative experience Teacher dominated 74% - No writing programme No lessons given 85% - Improve academic writing To pass exams 100% - Would attend PY programme regardless of mandatory rule Improvement of English 80% - Prefer teacher led classes Culture led 100% - Prefer games & competitions Challenging 50% - Prefer peer correction Not used to it (Appendix 3) 2.5 Diagnostic testing Alexander et al, (2008), Knoch, and Brindly (2001) highlighted that a diagnostic test identifies learner’s strengths and weaknesses. A diagnostic test can be carried out in two ways; as formative assessments (Brindley, 2001) and as summative assessment, this will further be discussed in part four. Based on the needs analysis findings (2.4) I designed the diagnostic test. Reading and writing are very important skills for EAP students. To diagnose what is needed and assess my students ‘Linguistic lacks’ (Hutchinson and waters, 1987) I have set my students a timed reading and writing diagnostic tests. I have asked the students to read a text from Headway Academic skills Reading and Writing book. The test was set for 30 minutes where students would predict the words in the box from the text, then skim and scan (Appendix 6). Students were then asked to write a 120 words essay in 30 minutes titled ‘Why Education is Important’. I have chosen these tests as it would highlight what learners’ capabilities are and areas of weaknesses. The tests are taken from the university level books as it helps to measure their level of study at the university. The criteria for marking the writing test is based on the university rubric (Appendix 19) 2.6 Diagnostic test results: Reading Strengths The majority of the learners were able read the text without understanding the meaning behind the sub skills. Reading Weakness Most students were unable to guess meaning of vocabulary within the given text The majority of the students were unable to read long academic texts and skim for main ideas to find the meaning of the vocabulary. Students misunderstood skimming for scanning and end up scanning the entire text The majority of the students failed to answer the questions correctly as they spent more time reading word for word or asking the person next to them, instead of reading in chunks, expressions or phrases. (Appendix 8.3) Writing Strengths Some students’ demonstrated adequate use of vocabulary, for example; Safety life, Improve, Space Satellite invention (Appendices 8, 8.1 & 8.2). Most students had clear ideas Writing Weaknesses Majority showed a great weakness in their organisation, missing out paragraphs, introduction and conclusion ( Appendices 8, 8.1 & 8.2) Majority of students lacked style and register as they were unable to write in an academic and a formal style Most of the writing was coherent but students did not use linking words to make their writing cohesive (Appendices 8, 8.1 & 8.2) Lack of formal academic vocabulary/expressions/collocations Although it did not affect my understanding, some grammatical errors were made such as tenses, verb/subject agreement. Spelling was poor for most of the learners (Dudley – Evans & St. John 1998). Areas to work on for preparation of the course plan: Predicted of content from a given academic reading texts The skills of reading by skimming for overall ideas before scanning Writing paragraphs coherently and cohesively Write appropriate Style/register paragraphs so that each paragraph has a main idea with related sentences contributing to the overall writing. To be able to use academic vocabulary collocation in written text and recognise them in a reading text. Example, do experiments, brainstorm ideas, draw up a plan. Part 3 - Course Proposal The process of proposing a course is basically ‘conceptualising content’ (Graves 2000). Richards called it ‘the what, the why and the how’ which define ‘the beliefs, values and the goals that underline the course. (Richards 2001). 3.1 Aims and Objectives Aims and objectives are the ‘framework’ for a curriculum. Graves (2000) describes goals or aims as the final destination and objectives as the road or signposts of how to get to the destination. The goals used for my course are of direct results that have developed from needs analysis and the diagnostics tests carried out previously in part 2. In light of the information gathered the students’ need to read academic texts with specific purpose such as reading for skimming and scanning. The students also need to write academic texts that are organized and coherent. To achieve the learner’s aims, they need to achieve certain objectives. ‘Through objectives, a goal is broken down into learnable and teachable units’ (Graves, 2000) By the end of the course the students will be able to: Objective 1 - Students will be better at Predicting/exploiting clues to help with understanding the text Objective 2- Use the methods of top-down process to improve reading; students will have a better understanding of reading skills by skimming for overall ideas before scanning Objective – 3 – Students will be able to write sentences and paragraphs that are coherent and cohesive. The written style will include paragraphs which will have an appropriate introduction, main body and conclusion Objective 4 – Students will be able to use academic vocabulary and collocation in written text and recognize them in a reading text. For example, do experiments, brainstorm ideas, draw up a plan. 3.2 Syllabus Currently the University follows a skills based syllabus and I have selected a pairing of process-orientated and product-orientated syllabi for the course to compliment the syllabus and meet the course objectives. The product-orientated syllabus has been selected because it concentrates on what students will have learnt by the end of the course. Nunan states that the syllabus focuses on ‘the knowledge and skills which learners should gain as a result of instruction’ (Nunan 1988). It will put emphasis on the students reading and writing skills during the duration of the course. The second syllabus supports the first. Process-orientated concentrates more on ‘the how.’ The activities and the tasks that are utilised throughout the course support effective written skills that allow the learner to comprehend and write academic texts to the required standards. Jordan (1997) qualified that the process-orientated syllabus was required as it ‘focused on the means to an end’ to achieve the course objectives. It allows the learners to take ownership of their own development. The process is centred on making the students aware of the course objectives and giving them an understanding of how their success will be measured. This gives the learner a sense of accountability and engages them in a motivational way to surpass what would be otherwise be standards set externally. 3.3 Course Content and Materials constraints Currently the University use Headway Academic Skills Level 3 Reading and Writing which follows a topic-based sequencing (Philpot, S.2011). The students’ book provides the course content and is primarily used to develop four main areas: Academic vocabulary, collocations and word combinations, predicting content, skimming and scanning. Writing skills are developed through writing introductions, topic sentences, paragraphs and conclusions cohesively and coherently. The reason for choosing the book is because the students indicated a strong preference for it. During the course students will practice these skills to ‘activate the organic learning principle’ and become more confident (Nunan, 2004). The limitations of the course materials is due to the fact that the university has a set syllabi that needs to be followed, in order to prepare students for the midterm and final exams which will enable them to progress to their degrees. 3.4 Methodology and principles 3.4.1 Conscious-raising tasks It is important to support the language and this can be done through making it meaningful. Utilising conscious-raising tasks develops the learners cognitively. The students will have access to a number of written academic texts for them to pick up on academic style and language. The objective is for each learner to reflect on how they feel about the academic writing and what their understanding of the particular style. (Hyland, 2006) 3.4.2 Scaffolding A number of EAP students struggle with reading and writing academic text. Hyland said that for them to be competent in this field and create academic texts they needed to use scaffolding techniques in order to build their understanding of texts and their linguistic competence. (Hyland, 2006). Nunan (2004) argued that for students to produce language they needed to be introduced to it either implicitly or explicitly. It is important that when using scaffolding it is done in a structured way that the students can understand. They begin with writing coherent sentences before making cohesive paragraphs 3.4.3 Learner Autonomy and Inductive Learning Students will be given tasks to complete in pairs and groups which will facilitate promotion of learner autonomy and shift the focus from teaching style to learning style. It will be the teacher’s role to keep the learners focused on the learning objective and give the opportunities for the students to develop themselves rather than being given tasks that require solely memorisation of answers given by the teacher. (Appendix 10) 3.4.4 Collocations Lewis commented that the lack of collocational competence was the reason why students would make so many grammatical errors. (Lewis, 2000) With that in mind, the learners will have this highlighted to them in order to minimise this. The course will expose the students to learning words in combinations rather than singular word vocabulary memorisation. The lessons will be structured so the students understand the importance of academic vocabulary and collocations in order for them to understand lexis and enable them to process thoughts and communicate their ideas more fluently. (Appendix 10) 3.5 Timetable The class is scheduled for 15 hours in a week shared between me and my co-teacher, each teaching 7.5 hours a week. This is broken down in 75 minute sessions for each one. Session one is speaking and listening and taught by my co-teacher. I support the second class which incorporates reading and writing skills. Part 4 4.1 Assessment There are different types of assessment but they all have one thing in common which is the improvement of both teaching and the learning. Hyland (2006) categorized it as having both a teaching and testing function (Hyland 2006). Formative assessment are used to provide feedback and information during the course, while learning is taking place whereas summative testing is used to assess ‘‘what the students have achieved with respect to what they have been learning in the course’’(Graves 2000). It helps me as a teacher to decide whether my students have achieved the aims I set in the course. This will also help me evaluate how effective the course is. 4.2 Formative Assessment Formative assessment is used to make sure that the course content is meeting the needs of the learners. It is used to provide feedback and give guidance on how to deliver instructions and generally takes place as the course is in progress. (Graves 2000) I will perform ongoing informal assessments by observing and monitoring while the learners conduct a number of activities such as; (Objective 1) predicting content, skimming and scanning a text, (Objective 2) forming common collocations and learning new academic vocabulary (Objective 4 ) and writing coherent and cohesive paragraphs (objective3). Students will be performing these tasks in pairs or groups. There will be a weekly meeting to receive students’ feedback on their language use and skills to determine ‘how well the course is meeting their needs’ (Graves, 2000) and make appropriate adjustments to the objective settings if needed. Students are given reading and writing checklists, alongside error correction symbols (Appendix 14, 15 & 16), which will be used, for peer and self-correction. This assessment tool is used to ‘encourage them to reflect upon their own learning’ (Harmer, p103) and reflect on their own performance on a task. In addition to the checklists, a discreet-point progress test will be carried out to test students’ knowledge of collocations (17); ‘to measure students’ knowledge and ability (Hamer, 2007) 4.3 Summative assessment Summative assessments is the test that takes place after the course has been completed. It is used to ‘provide information about the students’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the course’. (Graves 2000). The tests will provide a feedback which will help measure the success in achieving aims and objectives for both the teacher and the students. The test at the end of the course will be a reading and a writing test. The tests will evaluate the development of the students and assess how much they have learnt. The developmental reading and writing skills assessed will be their ability to complete the following: Write style-appropriate coherent paragraphs (objective 3) Predicting (Objective 1) Skimming and scanning a text (objective 2) Use common collocations ( Objective 4) The learners will be assessed through reading and writing tests. There will be a test in which the students will be required to write in an academic style and the reading test which will evaluate their ability to guess the meaning of vocabulary, read to skim and scan to answer comprehension checking questions which are the objectives driven from needs analysis and diagnostic testing in part 2. This is what Jordan (1977) describes as having a clearly stated criteria and measuring a learner’s performance Learners will also be tested on word combination and common collocation, which they have been taught in their perspective course. The check list and rubric are criterion referenced test which are directly relevant to the learning outcomes. The test is to ‘obtain a description of the specific knowledge and skills each learner can demonstrate’. Linn and Gronlund (2000) The reading and writing tests directly assess their ability to read and write asking the learner ‘to perform the communicative skill which is being tested’ (Harmer, 2007) and resembles similar testing in previous years so it has the ‘face validity’. It has the ‘content validity’ as it is only work which has been completed throughout the course that is on the assessment. The test is integrative because ‘communication ability is a combination of various skills and types of knowledge’. (Thornbury, 2006) Finally it has ‘construct validity’ as it is testing what needs to be tested in which is writing and reading skills. The reading tests are objective and therefore a reliable means of testing. Although writing tests are subjective, but the clear and simple rubric provided makes it reliable (Appendix 19). The students will be introduced to the university’s writing rubric (Appendix 19) at the start of the course to get them used to what will be expected of them at the end of the course. The reading will be marked according to the correct answers. 4.4. Evaluation ‘EAP course evaluation should be to measure the effectiveness of the course and perhaps to make suggestions for change’ (Flowerdew and Peacock 2001). A course evaluation can be carried out at any point of the course (Hutchinson and Water, 1987). The course evaluation will be done through feedback sessions to review learner’s progress (Appendix 12 &13). One 2 one interviews (Appendix 12&13) will be held for the duration of the course to provide individual support, complimented with some end of course student questionnaire in order to analyse any areas of growth for future courses. (Appendix 20) Evaluation will also take place through self/peer error correction carried out after each writing session, where learners are able to evaluate their own and other’s learning. The review periods during the lessons could also be used to identify the areas of the course that require adjustment. (Appendix 12 and 13) Part 5 – Conclusion The students place a lot of importance on the EAP course, not just for their English but also for their study skills as competition for them to further their academic career and prepare for their main degree at King Saud University. The university is very conservative and limitations/constraints have been placed on materials and what is permissible to be taught. It means that a lot of emphasis is placed on the course book. A more balanced approach with a variety of topics would have enabled a more immersive approach for the learners to absorb. Also there may not be enough time to cover everything that they need to learn. The students may not want to adapt to the idea of peer/self-correction preventing learner autonomy preferring their traditional way of teacher-centred approach. The course content is designed to address the above mentioned constraints making the students the main focus of the course and meet the needs that were identified during the needs analysis and diagnostic testing specifically academic reading and writing skills. By the end of the lesson I will expose the student to a variety of academic reading and writing texts along with common collocations. Their previous methods of learning have been very teacher focused and a challenge will be to teach them the benefits of becoming autonomous. Through the course I will be involving students in the development of decision-making process, by getting them to correct their own work, use a check list to decide the logical order of their work. They will then take ownership of their own development and start to independently use critical analysis in their own work (Appendix 11 – week 2 Thursday). Students will also evaluate their peer’s work using the checklist and give feedback. For example analysing their peer’s work and providing a constructive and critical feedback (Appendix 11 week 3 Sunday of course plan). I will also involve the learners in discussions, deciding on how they would like to be assessed/taught and what types of activities they would prefer.  References: References: Alexander, O. Argent, S. and Spencer, J. (2008). EAP Essentials: A teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Reading: Garnet Brindley, G. (2001). Assessment. In R Carter & D. Nunan, (Eds). Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Ch. 20. Bruce, I. (2005). Syllabus design for general EAP writing courses: A cognitive approach. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4, 239-256 Dudley-Evans, T., & ST. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for Specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge, Cambridge University press. Graves, K. (2000) Designing Language Courses. Heinle, Cengage Learning. Hamp-Lyons, L. (2001). English for academic purposes. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages (pp. 126-130). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching, Fourth Edition Hutchinson, T., and Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A Learning-centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hyland, K. (2006). English for Academic Purposes: An advanced resource book. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: a guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lewis, M. (2000) Teaching Collocation: Further Development in the Lexical Approach, Hove: Language Teaching Publication Linn, R. L., & Gronlund, N. E. (2000). Measurement and assessment in teaching (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. McCarthy, M. (1991) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (2004) Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D (1988) Syllabus Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Peacock, M. Flowerdew, J. (2001) Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge Applied Linguistics. Richards, J.C (2001). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J.C. & W.A. Renanadya (eds.) (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Thornbury, S. (2006) An A- Z of ELT. Macmillan Publishers Limited. Wallace, C (1992) Reading. Oxford, O.U.P Course Books/ Material Cambridge University Press (2006). Cambridge IELTS 5 paper 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Philpot, S. & Curnick, L., (2011) Headway Academic Skills. Reading, Writing, and Study Skills. Level 3. Oxford . Oxford University Press Website Based Material Knoch, U. (2007). Diagnostic Writing Assessment: The Development and Validation of a Rating Scale (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http:// researchspace.auckland.ac.nc Articles Assor, A., Kaplan, H, & Roth, G (2002). Choice is good but relevance is excellent: Autononmy affecting teacher behaviors that predict students’ engagement in Learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 261-278 Guthrie, J.T.,& Hummenick, N.M. (2004). Motivating students to read :Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation and achievement. In .P. McCardle & V. Chhabra (Eds.), the voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 329-354). Baltimore: Brooke Meyer, M. S., & Felton, R. H. (1999). Repeated reading to enhance fluency: Old approaches and new directions. Annals of Dyslexia, 283-284. Rogers, L (2013). Oxford Critical thinking in EAP. Oxford Press ELT Putman, Michael & Walker, Carolyn. (2010). Motivating children to read and write: Using informal learning environment as contexts for literacy instruction. Journal of Research in Childhood, 24(2): 140-151 Ramanathan, V. and Kaplan, R. (1996b). ‘Some problematic "channels" in the teaching of critical thinking in current LI composition textbooks: Implications for L2 student-writers’. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 7: 225-249. Warden, C. A., & Lin, H.J (2000). Existence of integrative motivation in an Asian EFL setting. Foreign Language Annals, 33(5), 535-547 Yamashiro, A.D., & McLaughlin, J. (2001). Relationships among attitudes, motivation, anxiety, and English Language Proficiency in Japanese college students. In: Robinson, M. Sawyer & S. Ross (Eds.), Second language acquisition research in Japan: JALT Applied Materials Series, Vol. 4 (pp. 19-33). Tokyo: Japan Association of Language Teachers Press Appendix 3 – Main findings Needs Analysis – questionnaires and individual interviews About 90% of the students had a negative previous experience of learning English. The students indicated that most of their lessons were teacher dominated and most of the lessons were explained in Arabic and they had very little language activities or practice. They studied English for over 6 years for 5 hours a week. From the interviews it was clear that reading and writing were the overall weakest about 74%. This is because they did not have any kind of writing program before in English. They only wrote simple individual sentences to discover grammar rules. Reading was almost nonexistent as they only read the sentences they wrote or the cover of the book. They PYP year is compulsory year and all the students have to attend it. On the questionnaire 10% said that they would still attend the English classes even if it was optional. They believe that this year would improve their reading and writing skills. Most of the students are also hoping to travel abroad to complete their studies and that this year would help equip them to learn all subjects in English for the future. Types of reading and writing – about 85% wanted to become confident in reading anything from the list. They said that they wanted to be able to read and understand most of the list (questionnaire) as it would make them more confident individuals and be more prepared for their majors. As for writing it was a bit confusing. On the questionnaire about 80% said that they want to improve their academic writing. In the interviews they were more worried about the final writing exam and what sort of academic writing they need to produce. Learning styles and preferred interactions - overall students were visual and auditory learners who preferred to work in small groups instead of in pairs. They believe that more ideas would come out of groups. 80% Most of the students prefers the teacher lead the class followed by practice task, although when it was discussed it was clear that they can lead tasks but doubted their ability because of their level and because of the pervious learning culture they came from. 100% prefer games and competition as this would challenge them. Attitude to correction- this was a 50/50 preference. When discussed they said that they are warming up to the peer correction but find it a bit strange as they are not used to it and feel that the teacher knows best. In my experience this is due to the cultural sensitivity of not wanting to show their weakness to their class mates. They were all clear about the topics they wanted to read about; traveling, shopping and entrainment. Appendix 5 – Perceived areas of strengths and weaknesses in English Appendix 6 – Types of Reading and Writing needed Appendix 7 – Preferred Topics  Appendix 9 – Main finding of diagnostic testing Reading Writing 15/20 students are unable to predict meaning of words from a given context 17/20 students are not able to skim within a set time, as they spent the time reading the text for details 15/20 students are not used to read in chunks which hindered their scanning skills and spent time reading the text word for word and wasted time reading slowly   15/20 students have poor organisation skills, writing the whole text in one long paragraph without introduction, main body and conclusion 12/20 although it did not hinder my understand students are unable to write cohesive paragraphs with very little or no usage of connecting words 9/20 made grammar mistakes such as tense also spelling mistakes, but it did not hinder my understanding 17/20 students are unable to write in a particular style and able to differentiate between formal and informal styles 10/10 are unable to use word combinations/collocation to produce an academic essay  Appendix 10 - Course plan Objectives Objective 1 - Students will be better at Predicting/exploiting clues to help with understanding the text Objective 2- Use the methods of top-down process to improve reading; students will have a better understanding of reading skills by skimming for overall ideas before scanning Objective – 3 – Students will be able to write sentences and paragraphs that are coherent and cohesive. The written style will include paragraphs which will have an appropriate introduction, main body and conclusion Objective 4 – Students will be able to use academic vocabulary and collocation in written text and recognize them in a reading text. For example, do experiments, brainstorm ideas, draw up a plan. Week/ Day Aims and Objectives Activity Aims Lesson Stage /Outline Materials Week 1 Sunday To introduce the students to course aims and objectives For students to understand what is expected of them and discuss how to take responsibility for own/individual learning Discuss the importance of the course and how to achieve the aims and objectives Students will discuss how the skills learnt will help them outside the class room and in their future studies and careers Smart Board Presentation Reading skills Outline skills for becoming effective readers How to become responsible for own reading and develop learner autonomy. In groups students will discuss the skills needed for effective reading. Mingle activity Day 2 Discuss as a class and put down the most important points of becoming an effective reader Smart Board Presentation A3 paper so groups can write their own aims and objectives and how to achieve them Week 1 Monday Reading Skills Practice the stages of reading skills: using pictures and the title to predict the passage. Guess meaning from text and part of speech To read for skimming and scanning a passage. To activate schemata for previous knowledge. Giving the students a breakdown of the reading stages and the benefit of predicting the content and how it helps with understanding the overall text. Also the importance of reading sub skills: skimming and scanning a text without reading every word. The importance of figuring out meaning and part of speech. T will provide the topic ‘Music used as a healing therapy and pictures for students to predict the content T will provide a smart board activity about prediction where students will be asked to choose the right bubble to win a point for their group T will asks students to discuss how to predict by drawing students to the study skills and answer the questions for task 2 Using the title students are given 4 question words to make questions about the topic? T will ask students to scan the text to answer their questions T will 6 questions, students skim to answer the questions Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 12/13 Week 1 Tuesday Reading skills: predict the topic from the video academic vocabulary development writing skills: organising phrases into paragraphs To activate schemata Discuss the importance of prediction and how it makes reading easy to follow. Students will guess meaning of vocabulary form a given context Highlight the importance of organising phrases into meaningful paragraphs T will show a video about cancer and its cures Students will discuss the video and predict what todays lesson will be about from the video. T will provide a list of highlighted vocabulary in sentences and ask students to guess the meaning of the words within the given context T will provide an article in phrases and ask students to organise it into 4 meaningful paragraphs Once finished T will ask students to stick the completed article on the wall. T will ask students to go around and read other group’s articles and discuss the organisation and structure of the article T will ask students to choose the best completed article and reason for the choice T will ask students to open the book and check if they were right Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Page 14 video Week1 Wednesday Reading skills: Review vocabulary Skimming and scanning Developing vocabulary skills- Look up academic vocabulary and collocations in the text to learn new words To activate schemata Highlight the importance of reading sub skills: skimming and scanning To encourage students to use academic vocabulary and collocations to better their use of the English language Vocabulary activity – T gives students gap fill activity where they have to fill in the blank with the vocabulary words they learnt yesterday. T asks students to create 5 questions about the topic for another group. The other group has to skim the article for the answers and vice versa. T will ask students to scan the article and check if the statements are true or false T will ask students to find academic vocabulary and word combinations that will be used for writing lesson tom. Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Page 14 Task 12 Week1 Thursday Writing skills: Review the structure of a coherent and cohesive paragraph To have an opportunity to write coherently and cohesively To activate schemata Write an academic paragraph to practice organising the text in to an introduction, main body and conclusion Use new collocations and vocabulary words to write a concluding paragraph T puts sentences with the wrong paragraph structure on the SB Students will discuss and drag and drop to rearrange in the order they think the paragraph should be structured. Introduction, main body and conclusion T gives students an academic paragraph from the teacher’s book and ask the students to write a conclusion using appropriate academic vocabulary they have learnt along with collocations. Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Teacher’s book Page 68 Week 2 Sunday Reading skills Developing Reading for details Writing skills Developing a paragraph using topic sentences Practice organising and re organising a paragraph Practice writing a cohesive paragraph The importance using of linking words The importance of self-correction To generate interest The importance of cohesive devices ( linking words) for the structure and organisation of paragraphs and how it makes a text coherent How linking words help with coherency and The importance of using topic sentences Developing organised academic paragraphs using topic sentences Encourage learners autonomy by asking learners to self-correct and give a constructive feedback about their classmate’s work T will ask students to discuss what is the structure of a well-developed academic paragraph T will display a list of common linking words and ask students to place it in the spaces Students will discuss how the linking words transformed the writing and the importance of linking words T will hand out a paper with 3 headings; topic sentence, body sentence, a final sentence. Ask students to write under each heading Students will compare with groups and add to their notes T will display study skill on SB for students to check T will ask students to scan the paragraphs on task 2 and write the topic sentences In pairs students will have 2 topic sentences with separate sentences to make 2 academic paragraphs. In pairs students will check other pairs paragraphs and feedback T will ask students to scan paragraphs and match final sentences with paragraphs A-C task 5 T will ask students to scan the paragraphs task 6 and write the final sentence for each paragraph Students will peer check and analyse their work making sure that it is according to the check list Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 16 and 17 Tasks 2,3,5 and 6 Week 2 Monday Reading skills: Practise skimming for main ideas Writing skills: Practice writing topic sentences Provide a context for formal and informal style Teach and review academic vocabulary collocations Highlighting the importance of topic sentences and how it develops a paragraph, hence making reading and written work more organised and coherent T will give the students paragraphs and 3 topic sentences T will ask students to skim match the topic sentences with paragraphs T ask students reasons for choosing the topic sentences and the importance of them T will display formal and informal headings on the SB and ask students to discuss the difference and write down some of the features for each style T will ask students to look at the paragraphs and write and discuss the style features of the writing Once students have finished T will ask students to check if the features they listed match the features from the paragraph T will ask students to underline academic vocabulary, collocations and word combination Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Page 19 Tasks 2 Week 2 Tuesday Reading skills: Further opportunity to develop prediction skills from context. Skim and scan a text. Practice guessing meaning from context Develop sub skills of Skimming and scanning to understand long academic texts T will provide pictures of Urban planning with some key words and ask students to predict the title of today’s lesson Pictionary - In group of 4 T will give each student 2 words and ask students to draw on the board and group will guess the words and discuss the meaning Once students have finished the above activity and guessed the meaning T will give them the meanings to match the given words T will ask students to skim the text and answer questions 1-4 Running dictation – 1 Students will collect 1 question at a time, go back to the group answer together by scanning the text, when they get the answer they will tell the answer to the teacher and if it’s correct they will move on but with a different student from the same group. Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Page 20 /21 Task 3 Task 4 Week 2 Wednesday Reading skills: Predict meaning from context Skim and scan a text Understand academic Writing skills: writing and the structure and organisation of a paragraph Write an academic essay Self/peer correction Develop the sub skills of prediction, skimming and scanning Highlight learners autonomy by encouraging students to discuss the arrangement and re arrangement of paragraph T will show a video of how Saudi Arabia has developed in the past 20 years. Students will predict what the lesson will be about today. T will give an article that is divided into 6 paragraphs and ask students to skim the paragraphs and rearrange the article to make it coherent and cohesive Once they have rearranged students will underline the topic sentences, linking words/academic vocabulary/word combination T will give 6 questions with errors Students will scan and correct the errors T will ask students to write academic essay about Urban planning in Saudi Arabia T will ask students to use the linking words and word combinations they have used in the text Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 22 Tasks 10 and 11 Week 2 Thursday Writing skills: Paragraph structure Write a persuasive essay Self/peer correction Develop learner autonomy and critical analysis Activate schemata The importance of writing a paragraph coherently and cohesively The importance of feedback from others Learning to analyse own work Encourage learner autonomy by asking learners to correct their own work using a check list and give a critical feedback of other’s work T will put pictures and ask students to talk about what is happening in the pictures T will provide pics and a sentence to promote cycling for health and fitness, students will match the picture with the right sentence in their groups To check if they are right students will go to the smart board and match sentences with a moving picture, if it’s wrong, the picture will disappear and the group will lose a point T will ask students to work in groups and ask students to create a check list criteria for a good academic writing T will display the check list she has made for the students and ask them to compare and discuss T will give a table with few sentences about cycling in large cities and ask students to organise the information into categories T will ask students to write a persuasive essay ‘the benefit of cycling in the city’ T will ask students to plan the essay and decide the organisation Once written T will ask students to check their work against the check list T will ask students to peer correct each other’s work and give constructive and critical feedback Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Teacher’s book Page 67 Video Week 3 Sunday To expand students academic vocabulary collocation Writing skills Practice organising paragraphs To practice writing coherently and a cohesively provide an opportunity to self/peer correct To draw students attention to the importance of collocation Organise the structure of the paragraphs in a cohesive and coherent manner To ensure students understand the importance of logically organised paragraphs Further opportunity to develop learner autonomy by correct and noticing errors T will give 6 sentences and ask the learners to underline vocabulary and collocations T will ask students to write the form of the vocabulary/collocations for example, are they adjective/noun – noun/noun etc. Once finished T gives students 6 more sentences and 6 collocations to go with those sentences and ask students to match the sentences with the correct collocations T gives students jumbled up sentences with collocations and ask them to put it in the correct order T gives students 5 jumbled up paragraphs from a previously studied topic about Urban planning, and asks them to put it in the correct order Once finished students will underline the topic sentences and main ideas T asks students to underline any academic vocabulary or collocation they can use in writing T ask students to add collocations from the same unit to the list T gives students a topic ‘A national cultural events’ and ask students to write academic essay Students will use the check list to self-correct. T will ask to swap in pairs and check that related collocations to the topic is used. The style is formal ad the text is organised in a coherent and a cohesive manner. Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 26 Tasks 1-3 Page 27 Week 3 Monday Reading Skills: Practice Predication from a given context skim and scan To practice predicting content Practice reading for gist before reading for details T gives 8 words with sentences and ask students to predict/guess/ use clues the words from the context T will ask students to come up to the smart board students match the words with the meaning to see if they were right T gives students 2 articles per group and asks them to skim and put them in the order they think it makes the article more cohesive and coherent. Students will stick the paragraphs on the wall and go around to check T will provide the correct model and students will correct their own work T gives 10 question, students will scan and find the answer Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 28/29 Tasks 4 Week 3 Tuesday Reading skills: Generate interest Review Predicting from a given context Skim to understand the structure of a written work Scan for details Activate schemata The importance of organising text into paragraphs so that its easier for the reader to follow Further practice in skimming T will display a picture and ask students to predict the topic for today T gives students a list of words and sentences and asks to match them and find the part of speech T gives students an article in 4/5 paragraphs with a picture. T asks student to skim the paragraphs and put them in the order they thinks it appears in the picture. Once finished T asks students to stick their re-arranged paragraphs on the wall. T asks students to go around and check each others paragraphs and choose the one that matches the picture closely. Running dictation: T gives students 4 questions and asks them to scan and find the right answer from the article stuck on the wall. Students take turns and run to get the answer for each question. Headway Academic skills Reading, Writing and study skills Level 3 Sarah Philpot Pages 30 Tasks 12  27 | Page – Suad Mohamed - Teaching EAP – Reading and writing Skills 29 | Page – Suad Mohamed - Teaching EAP – Reading and Writing skills