BUILDING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN EFL STUDENTS

TEACHING PROJECT REPORT Universidad Alberto Hurtado Pedagogía para Profesionales Curso: Didáctica II 2012 Segundo semestre. Luis Emilio Flores Leiva. Profesor: Fernando Murillo. p 2 Teaching Project Report Index Pages I .- Abstract ………………………………………………… 4 II.- Introduction …………………………………………….. 6 III.- Research problem ……………………………………... 8 IV.- Research questions…………………………………….. 9 V.- Unit objectives & assessments………………………… 10 VI.- Problem statement and purpose……………………...... 11 VII.- The school …………………………………………….. 12 VIII.-Diagnosis …………………………………………..… 15 IX.- My teaching paradigm………………………………… 20 X.- Theoretical framework………………………………… 31 XI.- My class ……………………………………………… 45 XII.- The unit ………………..………………….………… 51 XIII.- Assessments …………………….………………… 58 XIV.- Unit improvement & self evaluation ……………… 61 XV.- Bibliography …………………………………………. 63 XVI.- Appendixes …………………………………………… 70 2 p 3 Teaching Project Report Appendix 1.1 Solemn test rubric Appendix 1.2 Oral Presentation rubric Appendix 1.3 Cuestionario Appendix 1.4 Rubric for/against Essay Appendix 1.5 Video Project rubric Appendix 1.6 Vocabulary group work Appendix 1.7 Module 6 -Time out -vocabulary exercise Appendix 1.8 HOW MUCH FILMING CAN WE DO? Appendix 1.9 Future continuous- jumbled sentences Appendix 2.0 Energy Conservation Quiz Appendix 2.1 Unit plan module 6 II medio Appendix 2.2 Some observations from the Reflective journal 3 p 4 Teaching Project Report Abstract The aim of this work is to reflect on the teaching practice itself from the applying of a unit in English as Foreign Language class and to set up a pedagogical proposal that allows us to improve and optimize classroom practices. For this purpose, a 10th grade class was intervened. The primary sources of the data were obtained from a questionaire administered to the same 10th grade students at the beginning of the unit, the teaching-learning activities throughout the unit and two assessments, although delivered at the end of the unit, were planned, designed and developed by the students during class. Knowing the particular curiosity of this class to find out more about environmental issues, a particular unit from their coursebook was selected not only to motivate them but also keep the students interested throughout the unit. Since language (Byk, 2009) is essentially a communicative and societal function, it becomes mandatory to look for ways of emphasizing these characteristics by involving students in meaningful projects that force them to interact with and to explore the world around them using English helps to internalize vocabulary and meaning. There were two ‘authentic assessments’ administered at the end of the unit: a ‘for’/ ‘against’ essay and a video interview. 4 p 5 Teaching Project Report On one hand, they responded, to the own students’ concern on developing their productive skills both oral and written, and on the other hand, they promoted their pragmatic use of language through output practice opportunities which contribute to turn students into competent speaker of English as a Foreign Language. The video interview also showed the effectiveness of integrating ICT and promoted, as well, the personalization of language. The level and quality of the students’ products seem to show the importance of providing relevant input practice opportunity in order to trigger quality output products in students. Keywords Authentic assesment, competent speaker, communicative competence, ESL (English as a Second Language), EFL (English as a Foreign Language), ICT (Information and Communication Technology), input practice opportunities, output practice opportunities, pragmatic use of language, SLA (Second language Acquisition) 5 p 6 Teaching Project Report Introduction For any English teacher in a Latin American country, it is mandatory to acknowledge the big challenge of our task, that is, English, unlike many of the cases depicted in the vast literature available, is taught as a foreign language. This explanation is valid to remind us that we teach EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and not ESL (English as a Second Language). It is not the language used by the inhabitants for communication and students do not have an immediate access to it outside the classroom context (Brown, 2007). Or as noted by Byk (2009) unless students are living and immersed in an English-speaking environment, actual exposure to and use of the target language might be minimal. Therefore students have a need for challenging, effective output practice opportunities among students along with their different level of performance in L2. One of my biggest concerns has been how to effectively deal with the fact of making students active users of English particularly because, unlike ESL students, EFL students are not forced by their environment to use English a means of communication on their daily routines and therefore some of them may even feel reluctant to use it and are therefore easily distracted. How to motivate them all, call their curiosity and keep them interested, make them feel they are actually learning, find both interesting and challenging ways to practice and assess; that is my never-ending quest. With this in mind, we will be able to identify in our own teaching practices those that not only allow meeting general objectives but also that would allow students to develop the competences in EFL both oral and written communication along with the ‘pragmatic elements’. 6 p 7 Teaching Project Report It is through quality input and ouput practice opportunities that students will be exposed and explore language with the goal of becoming a competent speaker of English as a Foreign Language. Students must be not only fluent in writing and speaking but also in today’s world the use of English (Echeverria, 2009) requires ‘pragmatic competence’. In my first years of teaching, I learnt that using only the course book for every lesson was not the most effective way to promote language acquisition in my students. Furthermore, I remember waiting until the end of a unit, for administering a multiplechoice written test to my students as the only valid method to assess my students. Diverse students demand diverse methods of teaching and assessing their attainments. Furthermore, I can acknowledge that the above teacher-centered practices rather hindered their learning by showing English as a one-way street deprived from cultural references and situational context and implying that there was only way to evaluate students that was written and not continuous but at the end. Through experience, I learned the value the continuous assessment as a way to both determine what students have or have not learned and guide your teaching. Likewise, constructive feedback proves to be an effective way of not only letting students know how they are doing but also show them alternative ways of approaching their own learning and make them think. 7 p 8 Teaching Project Report Research problem Given the need of developing a ‘culturally competent’ speaker in L2 from classroom practices, these classroom practices should acknowledge the fact that students need to have a number of diverse output practice opportunities that aim at fostering both writing and speaking skills. These opportunities for using their productive skills must be, on one hand, varied and attractive and, on the other hand they must encourage the effective use grammatical and discursive structures and the contextualized use of lexical elements of the unit. Finally, learners must be able use, develop, create and communicate information using technological tools to enhance their own learning. 8 p 9 Teaching Project Report Research questions 1. What individual activities can promote and develop writing skills and give evidence of higher levels of understanding like critical, creative and analytic thinking but without neglecting grammatical and discursive structures and a contextualized use of lexical elements of the unit? 2. How can a group work produce output that builds a bridge between giving evidence of the learners’ contextualized use of lexical elements of the unit featuring grammatical discursive structures and contributing to reach communicative competence? 3. How does the use of ICT by the students, help them in the developing of skills and communicative competences in L2? 9 p 10 Teaching Project Report Unit objectives At the end of the unit students will be able to:  Write texts in L2 showing higher levels of understanding like critical, creative and analytic thinking.     Display a pragmatic use of the language in both oral and written forms. Use in context lexical elements of the unit. Use effectively grammatical and discursive structures. Use ICT in L2 to enhance their own learning. Assessments  Students will be able to write a short ‘for’ / ‘against’ essay in English where the following sections are easily identified: introduction, advantages, disadvantages and a conclusion.  Students in group will work and film a video in the format of an interview or that at least properly connected with topic of environmental issues where they will apply the lexical of the unit along with the grammatical structures. 10 p 11 Teaching Project Report Problem statement and purpose As for writing in L2 MINEDUC (Programa de estudio inglés 2do Medio, 2011, p. 28) notes that: “Deben comprender y producir (creando o reproduciendo, según corresponda) textos narrativos o poemas breves, noticias, textos publicitarios, cartas o correos electrónicos y relatos de experiencias, entre otros”. There are elements of ethnography that provide relevant information for a ‘competent’ L2 speaker. According to Hymes (1962 cited in Goddard & Wierzbicka 2001) to obtain ‘communicative competence’ a speaker must know how to speak in a culturally appropriate way along with the language structures. So they can tell the difference from informal gossiping to a formal job interview which also tallies with Vygotsky’s ideas of the role of language as a social tool for communication. Planes y Programas from MINEDUC for Segundo Medio (2011, p. 25) state the following: “El propósito formativo de este sector es desarrollar habilidades de comunicación en el idioma inglés. Por medio de ellas, se busca dotar a los estudiantes de las herramientas que les permitan acceder a información y participar en situaciones comunicativas en esta lengua, tanto a través de conversaciones como de la lectura y la escritura.” This statement acknowledges the fact that English is an essential tool in different communicational settings. The unit from the book that I taught gave them that chance through the assessment to do both. As a token of their learning students wrote a short essay which helped them to 11 p 12 Teaching Project Report develop their written output skill and the video which helped them to develop their spoken output skill. The school Colegio Buin is located in the southern comuna (county), of the same name, in the Metropolitan area of Chile. It is a private school that has been educating for more than 24 years. The first graduation of a 12th grade class was in 2003. The school has only one class per level. Every class has a maximum of 30 students where 20 is the average. It has been ranked 40th in the national ranking for its SIMCE score (math and language) and 1st in the Maipo province for the last five years or so. According to PSUs scores, Colegio Buin is ranked 70th among all schools in the Metropolitan region and 121st among all schools in Chile. As for the SIMCE for English the school is among the group of three highest scores in the Maipo area (52% of the students got a certificate) along with other two schools both private and religious schools with much higher income groups, more resources and hours of English. 12 p 13 Teaching Project Report Colegio Buin, unlike many other schools, does not have someone particularly in charge of discipline, which means that everyone is, at one point, accountable for it. In this regard, teachers are assigned according to a schedule to watch the students in the playground during class recess that usually is very quiet unless a student from lower grades trips and falls or something like that. According to the same criterium, teachers also watch them during lunch breaks and they are at the entrance doors delivering students to parents or whoever is responsible to take them back home at the end of the school day. The school has had a solemn test 1(prueba solemne) in Language (Lenguaje) for four years. The English department adopted the format and topics. In 2011, it was the first solemn test in English. The topics of ‘Prueba Solemne’ are picked by the students from a list previously prepared by the English and Language departments but also contributions from other departments are welcomed. Students have several months to work with their teammates on it and two whole class sessions are assigned for questions. Then they present their solemnes in front of a jury of up to five members from the school staff. Judges use a rubric that students have previously seen and discussed months before to evaluate them. As for the subject of English, there are only four hours a week from 9th to 12th grade. The English Department is formed by two teachers. My other colleague teaches from kinder to 6th grade and I do 7th to 12th grade. 1 A solemne test is an oral presentation in groups up to four members. See Appendix 1.1 for its rubric. 13 p 14 Teaching Project Report However, generally speaking, it is a very peaceful school and as teachers, you have many instances to talk to both your students and those you do not teach yet. The school has never shown any interest in taking students to school trips like “The Performers”2 or purchasing any ESL /EFL supplementary material such as: board games, activity books, etc. In 2010, under the pressure of English SIMCE, the school bought a TOEIC BRIDGE PRACTICE pack. Therefore, at the English department, we try to find, borrow, photocopy, and download anything that crosses our sight. On an average, our students after graduating will use English for academic purposes, i.e. give presentations and search information on the internet. They will have to be able to write notes and give presentations in front of an audience. This is what the MINEDUC suggests as objectives. They will be able to write messages and get their message through. About the usefulness of presentations, MINEDUC (programa de estudio inglés 2do Medio, 2011, p. 14) clearly states that it is necessary to encourage “la capacidad de exponer ante otras personas” and it notes the usefulness of supporting material for presentations:“[…] al evaluar una expresión oral con material de apoyo como power point o afiches”. 2 The Performers Educational Plays is an international theatre company producing plays in English. 14 p 15 Teaching Project Report Diagnosis The Module 6: “Save the planet” actually began with their presentations at the end of the previous unit. I took their results as a diagnosis test which gave me essential information on how the students do research, prepare and deliver their presentations. That individual work on speaking skills needed to become a group work that will provide with opportunity to produce oral ouput. About oral communication, MINEDUC (Programa de inglés 2011, p.14) describies it as: “la capacidad de exponer ante otras personas, la expresión de ideas y conocimientos de manera organizada”. The previous unit offered a great opportunity for output practice: in that case, it was a task of presenting a talk about endangered species where they first searched for information on internet. About the use of ICT, MINEDUC (Programa de inglés segundo medio, p.14) states that students should be able to: “buscar, acceder y recolectar información en páginas web u otras fuentes, y seleccionar esta información, examinando críticamente su relevancia y calidad”. 15 p 16 Teaching Project Report Additionally, from reviewing their previous writing assignments it was clear that in order to evaluate their competence to that respect. Writing a short ‘for’ / ‘agaisnt’ essay on topics that are meaningful to the students seemed to be the answer to the question of individual activities can promote and develop writing skills and give evidence of higher levels of understanding and that likewise features the use of grammatical and discursive structures and a contextualized use of lexical elements of the unit. Furthermore, students could use a video to conduct their interviews. Using ICT not only can enhace their production but also make good use of the students’ ICT’s capability applied to other subjects and moreover contribute in the developing of skills and communicative competences in L2 for the students. All the tasks and assesments in this unit aimed at developing a ‘culturally competent’ speaker in L2. All the above was done in search for ‘authentic assessments’. We understand by ‘authentic assessment’ those that present students with real-world challenges that require them to apply their relevant skills and knowledge. Speaking, reading, listening, writing skills were present at different points of the unit. As previously mentioned the previous unit included a presentation with a power point which gave student an oppportunity for individual work. Now it was necessary to introduce a group work that promotes a more pragmatic use of the language related to the speaking skills. 16 p 17 Teaching Project Report The rubric for oral presentation (found in Appendix 1.2) had a total of 44 points and it was evaluated considering 65% = 4,0 (minimun passing grade). Chart 1.1, below, gives details in numbers of the diagnostic test that was taken by the 10th graders Chart 1.1 Total students Grades between Grades between Grades below in 10th grade 7,0 and 6,5 6,4 and 6,0 6,0 17 10 5 2 Students Students Students Students They also answered a questionaire anonymously (see Appendix 1.3) at the start of the unit. This questionaire was tailored to aid in making explicit attitudes, experiences, needs and wants from different students. The questions below were selected for the emphasis on the ouput production involved which agrees with the EFL class aim of promoting it continuously. 17 p 18 Teaching Project Report Chart 1.2 Question Most repeated answer 2nd most repeated answer # 4.- Skill you have most developed Listening Reading 5.- Skill you need to develop Writing Speaking 7.- The most difficult about English Grammar learning 16.- Type of evaluation you prefer Presentations Fluency Make videos with interviews From the questionaire I got very relevant information: from their answers, one can identify their main concerns the chart below shows some selected answers to questions number 4, 5, 7 and 16. There is an open need of developing both writing and speaking competence in L2. It was clear from these findings that the students were ready to take an evaluation that involved speaking skills as long as they could make a video interview and since unit proposed it and there was only to develop the rubric. One of the items of the rubric was meant to avoid students from relaxing too much about the activity, for experience tells you that some activities give space for lazy behavior since they feel they can work outside the classroom with their team mates at their own pace and still submit their projects on due time just like the one who work hard in class. 18 p 19 Teaching Project Report As for my interest in providing students with authentic context and purpopse to practice and improve their written communicative ouput, every unit had a project: a writing practice which has ranged from writing an e-mail to complain about a defective product to write about unusual celebrations in faraway countries. It is worthnoting that each project is part of their year portfolio. After analyzing of their works, I knew I could push the envelope a little further and the unit gave us this chance by introducing a new task: a short essay which will give the opportunity not only of increasing the quantity but also the complexity of their written ouput. I constantly talk to their Language teacher; incidentally, we both have organized the ‘Solemn test’ since it became part of the syllabus, so I was well-aware of what competences they had acquired in L1, for it would have been a little too ambitious to ask them for an essay, if they had not known how to do it in L1 in the first place. However, I acknowledge the fact that writing an essay in L2 calls for higher levels of competence that will require constant, constructive and positive feedback. The new unit also provided with an opportunity for oral output practice in the form of an interview. Students were invited to modify the assignment a bit as long as they meet the requirements of using key expression for interviews, the topic of environmental issues and the future continuous. 19 p 20 Teaching Project Report My teaching paradigm Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand. ― Benjamin Franklin.American scientist, inventor, statesman, printer, and philosopher. According to specialized literature (Breen & Littlejohn 2000; Irujo in Breen & Littlejohn 2000; Hymes 1971 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000; Vygostky 1978) - we can come to the following conclusion: an effective classroom work creates motivating learning opportunitites that consequentely develop communicative capacities through social interaction and it is by this social interaction and the mediation of the teacher that a learner becomes a ‘cultural competent’ speaker. It sounds like an equation and it is, naturally, a much summarized way to look at the teaching-learning process, so why don’t we go into more details instead? I understand learning as learner´s construction (Ausubel 1963 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000). To this regard, Poplin (cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p. 220) states that: “No knowledge becomes truly our own until it is filtered through our own prior knowledge”. To the same regard, von Glasersfield (1995 cited in Schcolnik 2006, p. 12) claims that: “Concepts cannot simply be transferred from teachers to student- they have to be conceived”. Students (Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p. 14) must be regarded as “active communicating participants rather than quiet spectators in schooling”. Even when we are explaining things to them, they must be part of the process, give room to their own experiences and not been mere listeners of a lecture. For it is from involving students in everything that takes place within the classroom setting, that they will get a better grasp of L2. 20 p 21 Teaching Project Report As stated by Schcolnik (2006, p. 12) “knowledge is a construct to be perceived together through an active process of involvement and interaction with the environment”. Knowles (1975 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000 p. 57) states that “active learners taking initiative learn more things and learn better than do people who sit at the feet of their teachers’ Teaching is a process that demands the integration of thinking and practice. Giroux (1988) goes on to say that we have a sense of mission in providing students what they need to become ‘critical citizens’. Thus we work to create the conditions that give students the opportunity to become active citizens. Education (Breen & Littlejohn, 2000, p. 272) has a role in “fostering the development of democratic citizenship and a view of human psychology that emphasizes the socially constructed nature of learning and the learner as an active participant, not a mere recipient of transmitted knowledge”. Classroom work (Irujo in Breen & Littlejohn, 2000) aims to develop the communicative capacities of learner. Every day counts, that is why the use of Portfolio was first introduced last year with excellent results where students kept and checked the corrections made to their works and could rewrite their assigments and present the collection of them at the end of the year for an extra grade. This is a clear attempt for including authentic assessment in foreign language evaluation which both teachers and students can benefit from. Having a collection of learners’ work provides opportunity for encouraging language skills and attitudes and critical self-consciouness of their own role as active agents of their own learning process. (Kohonen in Arnold 1999) 21 p 22 Teaching Project Report As for teachers (Shulman, 1987) not only have to teach but also have to justify why they teach what they teach. Their decision must be supported by a reason. Shulman (1987) goes on to state that teaching knowledge is a mixture of contents and pedagogy by which those of us who teach are able to make decisions. In other words, it is only the teacher himself who is able to understand what should be learned and how to it should be taught. For example, since true learning (Irujo in Breen & Littlejohn, 2000) only happens when one wants to learn; a teacher should be aware of the topics that the students like and find the way to incorporate them in the classroom with a pedagogical use. Both my interpretation of the syllabus and my classroom decisions are affected by my students’ learning needs and interests. Does humor belong in classroom? Humor makes total sense with dominant contemporary communicative classroom in particular (Askildson, 2005). It is always been said we teachers are a bit of an actor, a storyteller, a psychologist, a therapist, a musician, a general doctor, etc. so why not taking advantage of humor? Deneire (1995, cited in Askidson 2005) discusses the foreign/second language classroom presents uniquely high levels of tension/anxiety for the student. Sense of humor helps to reduce this classroom anxiety and facilitates making contact with relunctant and/or shy students. 22 p 23 Teaching Project Report Humor is a key element in teaching. As claimed by Welker (1977, as cited in Askildson 2005, p. 48) “humor serves as an ‘attention-getter’and tension reducer, as well as a means for dealing with student and teacher errors in a humane and compassionate manner—remarking, “to err is human, but also, to err is humorous” The use of humor in the classroom can make learning be presented in a way that is authentic, not contrived, not forced an efficient in search of a learning-friendly classroom. As noted by Gorham and Christophel’s (1990 as cited in Askildson 2005) the use of humor can reduce tension, disarm aggression, alleviate boredom, and stimulate interest. Most textbooks these days have incorporated riddles, jokes, comic strips, and other forms of humor as pedagogical tool. It does not mean that every class is all laughs and the teacher becomes a circus clown in a funny suit or that students can make fun of the teacher; far from that. We should not confuse having a sense of humor shared with students with disrespect from students and/or harassment from the teacher to students. It is noteworthy the findings by Terry and Woods, Downs et al. (1988, as cited in Askildson, 2005) who claim that too much humor or self-disclosure is inappropriate [producing negative effect] and moderate amounts are preferred. As rightly stated by Askildson (2005) great value lies in the use of humor as a specific pedagogical tool to illustrate and teach both formal linguistic features as well as the cultural and pragmatic components of language so necessary for ´communicative competence’. 23 p 24 Teaching Project Report There many forms to use humor in the classroom, for instance, sometimes, I will use a cartoon/comic strip, tell funny stories with some facts mixed with funny untrue facts for punch lines, or puns (play on words). All elements of humor can be used with a pedagogical sense. Deneire (1995, cited in Askidson 2005) notes that explicit use of anecdotal/narrative humor can implicitly teach the pragmatic norms of a language’s associated society and culture. Krashen’s (1982, as cited in Askidson) Affective Filter Hypothesis addresses the importance of maintaining a low affective filter (a more relaxed learning environment) in the language classroom so that students will be more receptive to the input to which they are being exposed. As Arnold & Douglas (in Arnold 2000, p. 1) rightly state “affective side of learning is not in opposition to the cognitive side”. They go on to say that “when both are used together, the learning process can be constructed on a firmer foundation”. Practice what you preach I never waste any opportunity to expose all students to English. Every time I run into a student in the schoolyard, cafeteria, and hall or even in town, I will always greet and speak to them in English. Actually, they always expect me too. This I know because, fellow teachers have told me so. A language teacher should always serve as a model for his/her students. As noted by Ur (1996, p. 17) “it helps to use dry-run for actual demonstration of an activity” 24 p 25 Teaching Project Report De Andrés (in Arnold 1999, p. 106) rightly notes that: “In neo-Vygotskian theory one of the principal means of providing […] assistance to learners is modelling, defined as ‘process of offering behavior for imitation’. (Tharp and Gallimore, 1988 cited by De Andrés in Arnold 1999) Language and culture You cannot learn a language if you do not relate it to the cultural background of the people who speak it as natives. That is the way you can facilitate your students to actually think in English. Or as pointed out by Kramsch (1993) it is truism to say that teaching language is teaching culture. I also lived in the flesh the usefulness of understanding culture with language, during an internship in The USA. I enrolled in the prestigious AMITY Program. So from January to July 2000, during the third and fourth quarters of that academic year, I was a language assistant to Spanish as foreign language teachers, first in Wisconsin and then in Minnesota. I lived for six months with families in an English-speaking country and I was lucky enough to have an active social life during my stay which was not free from minor misunderstanding not because of misusage of language but due to the crosscultural differences. After that trip, I was even more eager to not only teach language but also to share some cultural elements essential, to my understanding, for an effective foreign language acquisition. 25 p 26 Teaching Project Report As a consequence of my personal experiences as a learner and user of English in The U.S., I came to develop an understanding of how to teach English with the addition of pragmatics in order to benefit my students with it. There are variable that L2 students must know such as; settings, ends, registers, genre, among others that also convey meaning. Deneire (1995, cited in Askidson 2005, p. 51) “strongly emphasizes the importance of humor in the teaching of culture alongside language. Specifically, he points to using anecdotal humor of cultural ‘faux pas’ as one effective means of indicating the unseen cultural boundaries of a new language”. He goes on to say that “the humor caused by the clash of cultures serves as an excellent teaching device” Therefore, there are elements of ethnography that provide relevant information for a competent L2 speaker. According to Hymes to develop ‘communicative competence’ a speaker must know how to speak in a culturally appropriate way along with the language structures. Thus it is crucial the students’ knowledge of appropriate use of language in social situations so they can tell the difference between gossiping and a job interview which also tallies with Vygotsky’s ideas of the role of language as a social tool for communication. For all the above, language learning (Canale & Swain 1980 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000) it is seen now as the development of a range of competencies for use, in addition to linguistic knowledge. 26 p 27 Teaching Project Report From mere instructing to teaching Before becoming teacher, I got a degree as translator and interpreter in English from EATRI in 1996. The following year, I was offered a position as an English instructor at Language institute and I haven’t stopped working ever since. I worked at ChilenoNorteamericano (The binational center) for eleven years. My first encounter with a school was in 2007 at Colegio Buin. Prior to that, I had never worked in a school other than being an assistant in the USA. There is a big difference between teaching English at a language institute like Instituto Chile-Norteamericano de Cultura where you mostly teach adults and they are allocated by their level and teaching at a school. When you teach at school, you learn yourself a lesson that is, you are not only teaching, in my case, English which can at one point become a mere coincidence, you also teach them self-respect, respect to others, democracy and many other things that sometimes their parents will never teach them. We are not mere instructors but as Giroux claims we are ‘transformative intellectuals’. As Arnold & Douglas Brown (in Arnold 1999) clearly point out as we teach the language, we can also educate learners to live more satisfying lives and to be responsible members of society. A professional learns from his/her experience and it is from Shulman (1987) and Ur (1996) that I learned the importance of keeping a journal. It is from these notes that our experience can be analyzed and errors can be detected, problems solved and share this knowledge with other fellow teachers for development and ultimately to make teaching a more respected profession. In the same regards, Kramsch (1993) claims that the 27 p 28 Teaching Project Report language teacher is to be an ethnographer of his or her own classroom, then keeping a logbook is the sine qua non of good teaching. Which way to go I believe that all of us practicing pedagogy walk through different teaching approaches from time to time. I find it hard to believe with the number of diverse classes we teach everyday, someone could teach from the same approach every single class to people with different learning needs. Underhill (in Arnold 1999) notes that we are called, at different points, to be a lecturer, a teacher and a facilitator. This will depend on our students needs. Our task is to reduce (not eliminate) the need for the first two and guide our class in such a way that we spend more time facilitating which is highly connected with the development of learner autonomy. There are a number of EFL teaching methods and approaches but when it comes to teaching my students, no effort should be spared; therefore I feel reluctant to ascribe to a specific approach and I’d rather take freely whatever can be useful to the learning outcomes. At the end of the day, you do not want to have an overemphasis on methodology at the expense of pedagogic content. Each class is like a new world even in the same school. However, I am one of those EFL teachers with attitude, those who live English and American culture. I am not what I say but what I do, a hidden curriculum but intended. Class after class I try to find the way to make students think in English which makes me often think of the aims of the 28 p 29 Teaching Project Report ‘liberationist’ approach coined Fenstermacher and Soltis (1998). However, keeping all this in mind, the teacher (Smith in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p. 58) still is “the authorative voice in the classroom”. It is a crucial element of any learning process to establish and maintain rapport with pupils, for the benefit of both students and teacher. As noted by Dörnyei (2008) motivating students should be seen as central in L2 teaching effectiveness. I have seen the benefits in using realia in the classroom such as; bus tickets, concert ticket stubs, job application forms, photos from my visit to the USA, etc. Linder (in Breen & Littlejohn 2000) suggests that a key element in negotiation in an EFL program is that it can assist in attending to different learning styles, levels and needs within the single classroom. Affective filter hypothesis (Krashen, 1981) suggests that classroom teaching helps when it provides the necessary comprehensible input to those students who are not at a level yet which allows them to receive comprehensible input from ‘the real world’ or who do not have access to ‘real world’ language speakers. In other words, the more comprehensible input one receives in low-stress situations, the more language competence that one will have. As a teacher, I like to endorse to Perrenoud’s thought when he states (Perrenoud, 2001) that a teacher must be credible person and intercultural mediator. Now the role of 29 p 30 Teaching Project Report education in Vygotsky’s words: it is to ensure the child’s development by the provision of tools, internal techniques and intellectual operations. As for the use ICT, knowing the great pedagocial tools they can be, I often make my classes watch videos with authentic material related to the unit topic (i.e. interviews, documentaries, TV ads, news, etc), there are also ESL videos focussed on key expressions, or grammar structure that I download both from Youtube and other ESL sites. We also visit the computer room once every unit and students go into ESL web pages such as the companion web sites of the course book and some other like BBC, British council among others. Kramsch (1993) rightly states that the computer offers an exploratory, learn-driven type of learning that differs from traditional schooling in many ways; it is no-linear, context-bound, recursive and constructivist. 30 p 31 Teaching Project Report Theoretical framework English as a Foreign Language is a compulsory subject in Chilean schools with only a four-hour workweek which it is believed to be very little time if any importance is to be given to EFL as a tool for academic and life success. It truly opens doors for communication across cultures and for professional future, a fact acknowledged by most students. However, not many (Serrano-Sampedro in Breen & Littlejohn, 2000) are willing to invest time and the necessary effort to contribute to this process but rather a teacher must be wise enough to arouse interest. I am absolutely aware of what an important tool is learning English as a foreign language for English is, beyond any reasonable doubt, the new lingua franca. In this regard, Programa de estudio Segundo Medio (MINEDUC 2011, p. 25) notes: “El propósito formativo de este sector es desarrollar habilidades de comunicación en el idioma inglés. Por medio de ellas, se busca dotar a los estudiantes de las herramientas que les permitan acceder a información y participar en situaciones comunicativas en esta lengua, tanto a través de conversaciones como de la lectura y la escritura.” First of all, I like to clarify that language is not knowledge, but a set of skills. Therefore teaching English differs greatly from the teaching of a ‘content’ subject like science. (Pit Corder in Byrne, 1966). 31 p 32 Teaching Project Report Most national programs, if not all, aim at developing students as communicators in written and spoken language as well as personal growth. Chilean curriculum is not an exemption. Although speaking plays undoubtedly an important role in a language class, one should keep in mind what Morris (1956 in Byrne 1969, p. 71) clearly points out “A school course cannot aim at speech mastery, through limitation of possible experience, but it can deal successfully with basic stages of the skill, thus leaving the pupil in a favourable condition to profit from subsequent opportunities of development”. However the above, we can certainly enhance fluency through practice and activities should be designed in order to provide L2 learners output practice opportunities that feature speaking and writing. I like the idea that we, teachers, must be critical and reflexive and intellectual (Perrenoud, 2001) or the words of Giroux (2000) ‘formative intellectuals’. Thus the module unit 6: ‘Save the planet’ presents the topic of environmental issues that gave space for showing well-thought opinions. It is important to acknowledge the crucial role that interest plays. Palmer (1921 on Byrne 1969, p. 60) correctly points out that “few people learn anything well unless they are interested in what they are learning”. That certainly makes a lot of sense especially with teenagers. 32 p 33 Teaching Project Report Poplin (cited in Breen & Littlejohn, 2000) provides clear support for the claim that true learning only occurs when one wants to learn; nobody can be forced to learn what somebody else wants them to learn. But it is not only about bringing to class what they like or the way the like it but also, as a good pedagogist, find the way to open their eyes to new interests, music, cultures, even worlds they do not normally have access to. English to that respect has no limits any topic can be covered. Palmer (1921 in Byrne 1969 p. 61) goes on to suggest six factors that would produce interest: “1) The elimination of bewilderment, 2) The sense of progress achieved, 3) Competition 4) game-like exercises, 5) The right relation between teacher and student, 6) Variety”. I simply could not agree more; interest will undoubtedly keep your students coming back for more. As stated by Linder (in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p. 98) “the Ministry of Education’s curriculum specifies contents and skills objectives but does not prescribe the routes one must take nor the classroom organization and procedures one must follow to achieve the specified final objectives”. Which gives you space to take suggestions given by the MINEDUC but at the same time, find other ways and make your own decisions that can be more effective in a particular class setting. There are many theories about whether to use a textbook, however, I agree with Chapman (1958 on Byrne 1969, p. 63) when he believes that “there must be a textbook and it must be studied, but the lesson can still be often lifted from the passive book level 33 p 34 Teaching Project Report to a more active level of living use”. In other words, you can walk from book to real life and back again. In the same respect, Billows (1961 in Byrne 1969, p. 85) suggests that “both teacher and pupil, realizing that language-learning process does not begin and end in the textbook, may yet base their work on it”. Or as stated by Lightbown & Spada (2008) language acquisition is not an event that occurs in an instant or as a result of exposure to a language exposure to a language form, a language lesson, or corrective feedback. It is an evolving and dynamic phenomenon. The more words you know, the more clearly and powerfully you will think...and the more ideas you will invite into your mind. ― Wilfred Funk, American writer. Vocabulary is a key component in language acquisition. Besides being of great help for the receptive skills (i.e. listening and reading), it is especially important for developing fluency in the productive skills both in writing and speaking. And it is also supported by MINEDUC (2011, p. 29): “De acuerdo a las investigaciones sobre el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera, aprender el vocabulario es central para comprender mensajes y expresarse”. As rightly concluded by Ur (1996) if students are to talk about a topic, they need to know the words related to it. In the case of my students, the main source of vocabulary does not only come from the reading of texts in the book units but also from the complementary reading they do in both semesters. 34 p 35 Teaching Project Report I believe that the only way you can teach an EFL is in English. I have never advocated for the use of L1 (Spanish) in the L2 classroom. Students need to take advantage of any language input opportunity. Even when a student does not understand a word or concept, I will use circumlocution instead of translation, to the regret of a few students. There are a number of reasons for doing so; one of them is given by the Ministery of Education which states clearly in the Programa de Inglés (2011, p 28): “Idealmente, la clase entera debe ser en inglés. La interacción constante a través de este idioma ayuda a que los alumnos se acostumbren a los sonidos nuevos desde el inicio”. You live and learn. Given the fact that my classes are always taught in English and there is a plenty of opportunity for social talk at the beginning, during the class and even after the bell rings for recess, every class can be a speech lesson. Morris (1956 in Byrne 1969, p. 70) reports that: “the employment of oral language as medium of instruction would provide the pupils with incidental but extremely valuable training in the oral language: they would learn how the vocabulary is pronounced, they would note the implication of tone and stress and they would grow accustomed to following running discourse”. Ur (1996, p. 15) claims that teachers can “exploit a specific real-time event to teach a language function”. Given the increased necessity not only to develop communicative but also cultural competence, it has been necessary to reassess the notion of authentic text and communicative authenticity. (Kramsch 1993) 35 p 36 Teaching Project Report I constantly use authentic material both audio texts and videos (interviews, documentaries, etc). About the use of different inputs MINEDUC (2011, p. 28) points out that: “Se debe promover estas habilidades, en primer lugar, a través de la exposición de modelos de textos escritos y orales; deben ser reproducidos y servir de referente para las expresiones que formulen los estudiantes”. The videos they watched included interviews, documentaries and advertisements. About the latter, Deneire (1995, cited in Askidson, p. 52) notes that “they convey a great deal of cultural and pragmatic knowledge about a language within a very small space” or short period of time—making for an, “interesting way to teach language and culture to students at all levels of instruction” . About the importance of input, Billows (1961 in Byrne 1969, p. 67) notes that “to speak a language with confidence learners must have the opportunity of hearing it spoken correctly and fluently, so that their minds can move rapidly in the language without reflection on the individual words or their position in the sentence”. To correct an Englishman's pronunciation is to imply that he is not quite a gentleman . - George Bernard Shaw, Irish Playwright. As for the teaching of pronunciation, undoubltedly, having a consistent pronunciation will promote communicative competence. The use of tongue twisters or little poems not only carries humor but also pronunciation practice. 36 p 37 Teaching Project Report We can find evidence in the literature that supports the teaching of pronunciation in the classroom: “It is not possible, for practical purposes, to teach a foreign language […] without giving some attention to pronunciation” (Abercrombie on Byrne 1969, p.45). As clearly noted by Ur (2006) “pronunciation does not only features sound of the language or phonology, it also refers to stress and rhythm and intonation. By the way, this unit presents ‘word stress’ for pronunciation practice. As for the construction of knowledge and competences, among other elements, I take Perroud suggestion about being a “learning situation creator”. Students can benefit equally from an anecdote to a simple realia as long as teachers use them with a pedagogical intention. Vygostky’s concepts of scaffolding and mediation (cited by Turuk, 2008) have a crucial role in L2 contexts. They imply that explicit instruction in L2 learning is still needed. Teachers and learners are given opportunities to mediate and assist each other in the creation of zones of proximal development in which each party learns and develops (Donato, 2000) all of which naturally comes from Vygostky’s theory. For the above mentioned, many activities require of collaboration work, group work and full-class interaction. 37 p 38 Teaching Project Report To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet and dramatist. Reading is also included in this unit, it is exercised in class through basically two short texts in the course book and as Gurrey (1955 in Byrne 1969, p. 100) points out “[…] in countries where most or all of the wider reading in many subjects has to be done in a foreign language, the acquiring of this skill is essential”. This obviously relates to our students’ great need to read in English all sort of texts i.e. scientific papers, manuals, etc. as soon as they start their higher education. Hence it is our duty as EFL teachers to prepare our students to meet such challenges succesfully. To grammar or not to grammar The question should never be whether to teach or not grammar but rather how to do it effectively so students can apply it well. This unit presents the use of ‘future continuous’ with two purposes. ‘Integrating’ grammar into the classroom keeps it from overshadowing the main goal, which is “to produce writing that meets the rhetorical and syntactic demands of specific contexts” (Frodesen & Holten, 2003, p. 18). I understand that we can teach grammar in context with explicit grammar and also ask students to guess meaning from context. In other words, use both deductive and inductive methods. Students should be encouraged to interact with each other, talk through grammatical problems, personalize grammar and practice meaningful assignments knowing that the ultimate aim is to turn it into productive grammar. 38 p 39 Teaching Project Report The fact that, even though, much time is spent on teaching grammar, texts produced by L2 students are ungrammatical, is acknowledged by many (Zamel 1985; Brown & Miller, 1996) including L2 learners, it would be a mistake for people to think that these learners will acquire the language the way children acquire their L1. Second language learners need coaching and explicit instruction in order to appropriate the fundamental skills of L2. Lack of such skills, as Leki and Carson (1997) claim, can hinder their progress and improvement as competent readers, writers and language users. As MINEDUC (2011, p.25) states that: “los estudiantes dominen progresivamente el vocabulario en el idioma inglés y que conozcan y manejen las estructuras gramaticales básicas de esta lengua”. About grammar teaching, Fraser and Hodson (1978) reminded teachers, it should certainly never replace writing. Rather, grammar should draw from and feed into the writing, reading, listening, and speaking programs. A research conducted by Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2000) concluded that explicit types of instruction are more effective than implicit types and focus on Form (exclusive focus on meaning and content) and focus on Forms (attention to forms in meaning-focused lessons) approaches produced similar outcomes. Jessner (2006) proposes that some of the most important effects of metalinguistic awareness are divergent and creative thinking, interactional and/or pragmatic competence communicative sensitivity and flexibility. Claire Kramsch (1993) presents a strong argument in favor of developing metalinguistic awareness of the type that leads second language learners to become critical thinkers as they go about analyzing L2 data. 39 p 40 Teaching Project Report About inductive learning Decoo (1996) claims that exposure to instances of language use, from which learners gather patterns of use, goes from the specific to the general, namely first the real language use, from which will 'emerge' patterns and generalizations. When it comes to teaching approaches, it is important to acknowledge that all methods must unconsciously, select, grade and present their material, otherwise it will be impossible to teach with any of them; there is a trace of truth in all of them. However, I usually feel more related to the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach but since the need for diverse methods to teach different contents, I will also apply other approaches that put emphasis on communication3. De Bot (cited in Dekeyser, 2007) argues that output practice plays an important role in attaining the goal of any teacher that is to turn declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge. In this regard, Anderson (cited in Dekeyser, 2007) explains that the reason why is highly difficult for the majority of L2 learners to use target in spontaneous online communication is due to the transition from declarative to automatized knowledge takes a very long time and requires a lot of practice. As pointed out by Muranoi (in Dekeyser, 2007) “it can be concluded that instructional treatments eliciting learner output in contextualized practice can develop L2 learners’ productive proficiency. This is, presumably, because output promotes major cognitive 3 Other recognized communicative approaches such as: Task-Based Language teaching, Content-Based Instruction, Cooperative Language Learning, Functional-Notional Approach and the Natural Approach. 40 p 41 Teaching Project Report processes in SLA4, including noticing, hypothesis formulation and testing, conscious reflection, and automatization”. Students have to work in groups; Vygotsky (1978 cited in Wertsch 1985) claims that the secret of effective learning lies in the nature of the social interaction between two or more people with different levels of skills and knowledge. In a moment in English teaching with overemphasis of speaking practice, as the only valid and necessary skill to develop; a very reductionist view of English teaching, writing has been greatly overlooked. Writing is not simply transcribing, or even translating, inner speech onto paper with a few adjustments to make it more accessible to readers (Zebroski, in Roy, 1986) How can I know what I think until I see what I write? E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel Writing in a foreign language is typically a difficult task that specifically calls for positive feedback but it is an extraordinary tool for integrating critical thinking in the classroom. But first what do we really understand by writing? Writing, as concluded by Ur (1996) can be used as “an end” in an exercise like an essay; means and end, in examples such as: reading/writing activities, vocabulary activities which also require brief creative 4 SLA: Second Language Acquisition. 41 p 42 Teaching Project Report writing; used as a means, for instance: a reading comprehension, where practice in writing is essentially used for copying and in a grammar exercise. As for writing in L2 MINEDUC (2011, p.28) notes that: “[los estudiantes] deben comprender y producir (creando o reproduciendo, según corresponda) textos narrativos o poemas breves, noticias, textos publicitarios, cartas o correos electrónicos y relatos de experiencias, entre otros”. Billows (1961 in Bynre 1969, p. 65) concludes that “Writing, which demands thought and improvisation, which may need careful rewriting and revision, should be done under the eye of the teacher, so that serious mistakes and hold-ups may be noticed quickly and dealt with” In Mind in Society, Vygotsky (1978) addressed the importance of culturally significant learning in the writing classroom. Therefore, teachers should provide students with opportunities to utilize their ‘cultural capital’ by asking them to engage only in meaningful assignments. Students should be taught what Horrowtiz (1986 cited in Turuk, 2008) terms as ‘systematic thinking skills’. As a result, planning, setting goals, drafting and generating ideas became part of teaching strategies in L2 classroom, particularly in the field of writing. Now writing assignments should feature topics that invite students to write about. For Vygotsky, if writing activities are not meaningful, the students will get bored and reject any possible opportunities for learning. Therefore, we should encourage students to 42 p 43 Teaching Project Report write about issues they value, and within those pieces, ask them to integrate specific vocabulary and grammatical structures. Proposing writing an essay in the unit objectives was reason enough to jump out through the window. It sounded too overwhelming. An essay and what is more, in English. Undoubtedly, this type of composition helps to develop higher levels of understanding like critical, creative and analytic thinking, along summarizing skills. Until the last unit, they had a project involving writing they were shorter and basically expositive like: a week tour in Europe or a short article about a holiday or a festival. It is important to point out that the use of methodology, activities and assessments are not isolated but continuous, that is, a pedagogical methodology rooted in the ‘Subsector’. Higher mental functions (Vygotsky, 1962) are attained with mediation social environment. Culture-social interaction makes language acquisition possible. The teaching process itself is as akin to the socio-cultural interaction that Vygotsky constantly refers to. The assessment through the video project in group suggests the group work as a way to promote what Donato (1994) advocates that in an L2 classroom, collaborative work among language learners provides the same opportunity for scaffolded help as in expert- 43 p 44 Teaching Project Report novice relationships in the everyday setting. This task is also related to Cooperative Language Learning where individual accountability is encouraged through assignment of specific roles or tasks, and individuals are held accountable for the success of each of the other members. (Crandall in Arnold 1999) Group assignments with these characteristics also provide supportive and expanded opportunities for learners to use language. It also increases self-confidence and selfesteem, raises student motivation and reduces anxiety; the latter a constant threat to interaction in the language classroom. (Long and Porter, 1985 cited by Crandall in Arnold, 1999). As noted by Allwright (Linder in Breen & Littlejohn, 2000) effective learning depends on what happens in and between people in the classroom. When it comes to L2 teaching, some expert believe is not either or but all together. Seedhouse (2004 cited in Turuk, 2008) stated the importance of meaning construction and fluency in L2 classrooms when he suggested simultaneous dual focus on form-andaccuracy together with meaning- and-fluency in L2 classroom as the best way of enhancing L2 students’ level of proficiency. Teachers can benefit from the central focus of task-based approach, (Turuk, 2008) which is on the role of interaction and collaboration among peers and how learners scaffold each other through interaction, a point that is essential in Vygotsky’s concept of learning. Nunan (1988 cited by Seedhouse, 1999) assumes that task-based contexts stimulate learners to mobilise all their linguistic resources and push their linguistic knowledge to the limit”. 44 p 45 Teaching Project Report Muranoi (in DeKeyser, 2007) states that skill acquisition theory claims that linguistic knowledge, including lexical, grammatical, and phonological knowledge, must be processed automatically as procedural knowledge for spontaneous communication. A clear application of sociocultural theory principles in L2 classroom is obvious in the task-based approach. This approach (Turuk, 2008) emphasizes the importance of social and collaborative aspects of learning. Ellis (2000, cited in Turuk, 2008) claims that sociocultural theory focuses on how the learner accomplishes a task and how the interaction between learners can scaffold and assist in the L2 acquisition process. My class The class that I chose for this project is the tenth grade. They were 18 until the end of the first semester when a girl left and enrolled in a school in Downtown Santiago. Out of these 17 students 10 are boys and 7 girls. Their ages range from 15 to 16. According to Erickson’s psychosocial stages of development, 10 graders belong to the Stage 5: ‘Identity vs. Role Confusion’, which refers to ages 13 to 19, relate to concepts like: Fidelity Identity Diffusion or Fanaticism (Erikson, 1950). The same Stage that according to Piaget’s theory is called ‘formal operational’ and in Vygotsky’s view is named ‘Peer’. Due to several features such as; location, south of Santiago, semi-rural area, small school, only one class per level, fewer than 30 students, these tenth graders tend to show 45 p 46 Teaching Project Report no aggressive or rebellious attitude that you might find in most kids their age elsewhere. In fact, they are very respectful and are always willing to lend a hand. It is worth mentioning at this point, that these students get a lot of support and constant congratulations from every teacher for their efforts and achievements class to class. About learning disabilities, there is a case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) associated with a severe low self-esteem present in the class who is being treated and medicated and receives support from his parents and teachers. Their weekly schedule features four hours of English which are spread on 2-hour sessions on Tuesday at 3:15 P.M. (last period of the day) and Friday at 11.45 AM. (Third period before lunch). They have been my students since they were seventh graders so we have known each other for a while. They are a good class to teach. They show genuine interest for those elements of language learning that only pragmatics (how to use language in a social setting) can answer. They are very curious about American culture and in general. They know I lived in the United States some years ago so they keep me busy answering questions about daily life in the U.S. for they see me as an ‘unofficial cultural ambassador’ of the USA which honors me. Some of them show a genuine interest for learning English. One of them is Pablo who is enrolled in an exchange program in the U.K. and will be leaving next January. By the way, I was asked to give reference and write a letter of recommendation for him for this 46 p 47 Teaching Project Report program which I was glad to do. Students wanted to become familiar with the format of letters of recommendation, so a briefly explained and showed them two examples. Recently, Fernanda and José, both students of this class, traveled around Europe with their family for winter break. When they came back, they both were very thankful of how our English lessons and particularly these informal conversations had helped them to make their communication with locals very successful during their visit. Another student who experienced this need of testing his English skills was Miguel went to Easter Europe last September. He also acknowledged the fact he felt at ease when speaking in English. Students have learned throughout these years how to use a dictionary effectively from finding a word to make use of the phonetic transcription. English classes are always conducted in English and the use of Spanish in my class is regarded as ‘blasphemy’ or a ‘sacrilegious act’; tongue-in-cheek, of course. The class will usually begin with informal conversations about current news, today in history or even a dream I had the night before but whatever the case, an active participation is the norm. Many will make comments or connect it directly to their experiences and interesting class conversation will begin. Sometimes, I use this ‘chitchat’ or anecdotes to introduce the new unit or a lesson. It is always a great beginning. You capture their attention, especially when you say things like: “you know what happened to me yesterday…” In fact, this is a head fake or 47 p 48 Teaching Project Report indirect learning that they are only come to understand it when they face a ‘communicative situation’ outside the classroom like those experiences by the students before mentioned. Students are rarely assigned homework but they have to bring a dictionary with phonetic transcription to class along with their textbooks both are checked and registered every class as part of their class participation. If they accumulate three classes in a row without one of them, I will register that in their personal page on the class book. Before implementing that, some students kept forgetting one or both of them but with this simple measure I have reduced this problem to the zero. A few students have problems to understand and follow the all the instructions since both are given in English. In the past, this situation sometimes led to a lack of interest and a sense of frustration which has also minimized by sitting these lower achieving students with classmates who not only do better but are willing to lend a hand. We are usually behind the schedule with the units compared to other classes but it is simply because we talk about many topics: news, music. I do not mind being late as long as we invest that time in speaking English. Even though all the conditions mentioned above, the class has some difficulties mainly due to the fact that is not separated per level of performance in English and you can find different levels of performance. 48 p 49 Teaching Project Report Some of the activities planned for this class include: videos with interviews, advertisements and speeches downloaded from internet are a great source of authentic material that are always used. Elements of Lexical approach were also implemented by the use of chunks and set expressions presented by the textbook. Tongue twisters have and will be used to model and practice difficult sounds especially those which do not exist in L1 and also to show a lighter side of learning L2. I am convinced that extensive reading is another effective way to facilitate EFL acquisition. As noted by Richard-Amato (1996 cited in Elyildirim & Ashton p.12) “students get involved because the interesting, dramatic content of literature provides many opportunities to develop higher thinking skills”. He goes on to say that “literature is full challenging dialogues and gives optimal input fort language acquisition and the stories expose students to awide variety if cultures and subcultures within a given society”. That is why reading has not been neglected from the course syllabus along with the short texts presented in the book units; students must read one book per semester. The first semester was Through the looking glass and the second semester was The secret garden. Both books are adapted texts for their specific level from the Dominoes series by Oxford University Press. 49 p 50 Teaching Project Report The teaching of literature (Turuk, 2008) is believed to enrich students’ vocabularies and support the development of their critical thinking, thus moving them away from the parrot-like types of learning, instead focusing on language structure into abstract thinking, whereby students can have personal appreciation of the language, consequently developing a self-motivated attitude to learning the language. In this regard, Ur (1996) concludes that reading literature fosters reading skills; it involves emotions as well as intellect, which adds to motivation and contributes to personal development. She goes on to say that it encourages empathetic, critical and creative thinking and most importantly, it contributes to world knowledge. MINEDUC (2011b, p. 3) also suggests the use of short stories as a way to ensure new vocabulary acquisition. Bases curriculares note that: “Considerando la importancia de desarrollar la comprensión lectora en el aprendizaje de un idioma extranjero, se ha querido complementar y enriquecer el aprendizaje de los estudiantes incorporando la lectura de textos literarios, ya que estos aportan ejemplos de diferentes usos originales del lenguaje y variedad de vocabulario”. 50 p 51 Teaching Project Report The unit I was lucky enough to participate in the process ‘evaluación de textos 2013’ (course book assessment) for MINEDUC. Both the training sessions with staff from the ‘Inglés abre puerta’ and ‘Unidad Curricular’ from MINEDUC along with using their rubrics and reading their booklets helped me to feel more confident about my classroom decisions on the what and what for. The Module 6: “Save the planet”, from Challenges 4, a course book from PearsonLongman, is divided into 5 lessons. (see Appendix 2.1).This is textbook is labeled B1 level according to CEFR (Common European Framework). Some of the contents of this unit include: vocabulary related to the environment, the use of get with the passive and some collocations with get and take, key expressions for interviews, the grammar structure is the future continuous with two purposes: future plans and as introductions for polite requests and offers, sub-skills of reading like: telling the difference between facts and opinions, writing features a for/against essay, sub-skills such as: organization, linking review, purpose: so that, in order to, etc. the use of role plays and info gap for speaking practice and pronunciation features shifting word stress. The OAT (Objetivos de Aprendizaje Transversales) of this unit is: “la persona y su entorno”. 51 p 52 Teaching Project Report The reason why we worked with this unit about the environment is simply because this class shows a genuine interest for current events and specifically, environmental issues. Some years ago, they participated actively in a recycling pilot program the school had. As stated to Dewey (1933; 1938 in Breen & Littlejohn 2000) educational process should encourage open-mindedness, whole-hearted involvement and, significantly, a sense of responsibility to oneself and the wider community. MINEDUC in the Bases curriculares 2012 notes that according to the Communicative approach the topics covered in a unit must be meaningful and interesting for the students. Objectives, activities, materials and ways of working. The unit objectives were:  Students will be able to use in context vocabulary related to environment and green issues in general.  Students can recognize and use effectively grammatical and discursive structures.  Students will develop a pragmatic use of the language in both oral and written forms.  Students will be able to write a short essay in English with the following sections are easily identified: introduction, advantages, disadvantages and a conclusion.  Students in group will work and film a video where they will apply the lexical of the unit along with the grammatical structures 52 p 53 Teaching Project Report The unit was first introduced with a brainstorming on the word environment and a spidergram after that ppt on energy conservation quiz (see Appendix 2.0) was presented for full-class interaction; the questions were taken from National Geographic webpage. In general, vocabulary and grammatical structures were presented by the use of brainstorming accompanied with spidergrams and PPTs, texts and videos, later on reviewed with activities like jumbled words games and word searches. The teacher’s resource book included a vocabulary practice designed for group competitions named “Environment vocabulary. Have you got ... ?” (see Appendix 1.6) where each group was given a set of words including only the first part of compound nouns from this and the previous units; groups had to decide what the missing part was were and ask the rival team: Have you got ‘warming’? If they had for instance the card ‘Global’. The course book features a section called “time-out”, which is intended for fast finishers; I used the activities 16 and 17 (see Appendix 1.7) of that section with the whole class for expanding vocabulary on ‘green issues’. A group work for Future continuous practice named “How much filming can we do?” (see Appendix 1.8) was provided by The teacher’s resource book. In groups of four, every student was given a card with a role (cameraman, actor, actress or director) and a his/her schedule which were particularly busy and aims was to find a spot in everyone’s schedule to shoot a movie. 53 p 54 Teaching Project Report Another example of grammar practice but this time for full-class interaction was a jumbled sentence exercise (see Appendix 1.9) on a ppt was used to review use of future continuous. As noted by Ur (1996) interest can be derived from a game-like ‘fun’ task which appeal to learners’ feelings or can represent a challenge to their intellect. The course book a word quiz to promote awareness on the collocations with ‘get’ and ‘take’ and other activity to trigger awareness on preposition + ing with sentences from the text and get + past participle when ‘get’ takes the place of other verbs. In this unit, students watched videos from different sources such as: a video on wind energy by NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), a speech of President Obama in Iowa talking about the use of wind energy, a video on hybrid cars from ehow.com, a video advertisement on greenhouse effect called “what you do counts” from National Geographic, hybrid cars from Fast Focus TV, government advertising campaign called “this bulb” on the use of energy-saving bulbs, and a video on solar power from howstuffworks.com. All of which gave opportunity to practice listening comprehension, discuss and give personal opinions. Also there was a more structured video on ‘Future continuous tense’, time expressions, and future activities from Side by side TV seeking to trigger language awareness. The books also provided a listening task, students first made guesses about weather forecast for Europe in 2080 and then they listened and checked their guesses. The unit includes two texts followed by a reading comprehension exercise which align with MINEDUC’s suggestions on the use of short stories as a way to ensure new 54 p 55 Teaching Project Report vocabulary acquisition. In the MINEDUC’s Objetivos Fundamentales de II medio (2011, p. 99), it can be found the following: “Leer y discriminar información explícita y deducir la o las ideas principales en textos simples relacionados con los temas del nivel”. And as a Contenido Mínimo Obligatorio from MINEDUC (2011, p.12) states: “El desarrollo de la comprensión lectora se lleva a cabo mediante la lectura clase a clase de textos de variada extensión del tipo informativo, descriptivo y narrativo. Estos textos tienen las siguientes características: son adaptados simples, son auténticos simples que presentan un uso auténtico del lenguaje…” Writing skills give space not only to exercise the mere written manifestation of the language but the whole process that lies behind it such as; brainstorming, drafting, correction, and feedback until the final product. MINEDUC (2011) states that the use written English offers for output practice opportunity to express meaningful messages in a communicative and contextualized form without neglecting the proper use of grammar and lexical. A key element, in both writing and speaking, is: register. Students learned through a number of inputs such as; listening tasks, written texts and videos, the specific variety of language that is used in a specific social setting. Pronunciation was based on word stress (change in the stress pattern) i.e. Subject /’sʌbdʒɪkt/ as a noun; subject /səb’dʒekt/ as a verb. 55 p 56 Teaching Project Report The grammatical structure presented was the use of ‘Future continuous’ for plans and for polite introductions for requests and offers. There were different grammar practice activities from the course book, for instance: types of grammar practice that Ur (1996) called structured-based composition. There were Type 2 controlled drills, structuredbased free writing where students were given a situational cue and they were invited to write possible polite introductions for offers or requests. There was an activity from the teacher’s resource book that for its nature can be classified as a guided, meaningful practice. There was also a video from “Side by side TV” on the use of this structure use in context, and a ppt game for full-class interaction that tried to follow Fraser and Hodson (1978) also asserted that grammar instruction should be in a socialized learning environment, where students can interact with each other, providing an opportunity for the strategies to have a more memorable impact. The other way to present grammar was through a video above mentioned. The key of all this is that these competences, in order to be of any use, must be moveable (Perrenoud, 2001). From draft to finished work, students worked on pre-writing activities in the classroom and the process was monitored by the teacher. The unit offered speaking practice through different exercises. For example: after reading an article, students had to discuss three questions from the text. Students had to 56 p 57 Teaching Project Report read about and exchange information about environment-friendly products. Students used key expressions for interview to write and role play an interview with a local hero. Finally, the video interview provided students with a great output practice opportunity where they created their settings, dialogues sprinkled with lexical and grammar structures of the unit. MINEDUC (2011, p. 30) concludes: “[los estudiantes deberán] expresarse oralmente a través de monólogos y diálogos (de 12 intercambios) breves y simples, incorporando las funciones comunicativas para referirse a experiencias personales y expresión de preferencias: utilizando frases hechas, expresiones idiomáticas y oraciones breves y simples conectadas entre sí, aplicando el vocabulario temático de la unidad” Students (Echeverria, 2009) need to develop the ability to make the right choices among a variety of pragmatic elements when using the target language. The unit was enhanced by the use of ICT in L2. Students visited the computer room. Numerous researches highlight the benefits of using computers and the internet for the EFL instruction. (Jonassen 2000; Kitao, 1995; Pino-silva 2006) 57 p 58 Teaching Project Report Assessments Smith (in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p.60) notes that “Assessment is one of the most difficult tasks the teacher has to carry out, and it is often the cause of anger and negative feelings from the students’ side” However, as Perrenoud (2001) claims that we do not build competences without evaluating them and not only that but also this evaluation must be consistent with the learning outcomes. He goes on to say that the evaluation includes contextualized tasks; the assessment must contribute to develop students’ competences to a greater degree. Blanche and Merino (1989 in cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p. 57) point out “Students need to know what their abilities are, how much progress they are making, and what they can (or cannot yet) do with the skills they have acquired. Without such knowledge it would not be easy for them to learn efficiently”. Given the attention to diversity and promotion of learnings, MINEDUC in Programa de estudio Segundo año medio (2011, p.15) suggests “evaluar de distintas maneras a los alumnos y dar tareas con múltiples opciones” Ellis (2002, 2004) notes the importance of using multiple measurements that tap different types of knowledge. 58 p 59 Teaching Project Report Although throughout the unit there were a number of continuous formative assessments through activities and presentations, monitoring every exercise, checking answers on the board when needed and checking pronunciation. In fact, every exercise and every piece of activity performed by the students provided relevant information. For this unit particularly, an essay and an interview about environmental issues were given as forms of assess students’ writing and oral competence at the end of the unit. For both tasks rubrics were given (see Appendix 1.4 and Appendix 1.5). These assignments were related to Content-based language learning and provided opportunities for what Kohonen (in Arnold 1999) called ‘authentic assessments’. In spite of the fact that a rubric is a way to let students know what is required from them, the rubric does not work by itself, students and teacher must discuss what the task involves at the beginning and during the process. Continuous Feedback is also essential for students need to know how well they are doing it and what could be improved. After the first two classes of the unit, we read the rubric together and make comments on how every criterium could be measured. We agreed on the criteria considered and its descriptors. Once students knew they were to prepare an interview in pairs groups, negotiation started on how to present it and what could be modified to match both their interest and the need to meet the requirements and objectives that talked about making explicit their oral practice. Suggestions ranged from preparing an audio CD of the interview simulating a radio show to a talk show video. 59 p 60 Teaching Project Report About writing, among ‘Consideraciones generales para implementar el programa’ MINEDUC (2011, p. 13) points out the following: “la escritura de textos de diversa extensión y complejidad (por ejemplo, reportes, ensayos, descripciones, respuestas breves) […] la presentación de las ideas de una manera coherente, el uso apropiado del vocabulario en los textos escritos y clara el uso correcto de la gramática y de la ortografía” The for /against essay writing task coincides with the MINEDUC’s OFT (2011, p. 86): “[el estudiante] usa las habilidades comunicativas para exponer ideas, opiniones, sentimientos y experiencias de manera coherente y fundamentada. Expresa argumentos a favor y en contra […]” At the end of the process, involvement could be easily seen in the quality of the products in both essays and videos. Not only because most of contents and video editing were remarkable but also show syntactic accuracy, text organization and scripts and scenes were higher than any previous activity. However, a common problem was observed in those students who had lower grades, they failed to include supporting arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’; they simply chose to include one of them, when the rubric asked for both. The essay and the interview, had positive impact in terms of increased use of target language, generally more satisfactory assignments submitted; these were higher in both quality and quantity 60 p 61 Teaching Project Report Unit improvement & self evaluation I am fully aware that the conclusion of this project is not the end of my teaching learning experience but exactly the opposite. Many of the elements that as a teacher I am lacking will eventually come around through the “accumulation of experience knowledge” and from sharing experiences with fellow teachers. I am willing to refine and improve my work and develop better instruments with which their efforts can be evaluated. Although both assignments, the essay and the interview, had positive impact in terms of increased use of target language, generally more satisfactory assignments submitted; these were higher in both quality and quantity. I believe that a self-evaluation instance should have been included that would have given students the opportunity for critical self-reflection in relation to their own learning. “Learners should be critically reflective of their own learning situation in order to be ‘in charge’ of their cognitive processes” Rowe (1988 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p.57) To the same regard Dickinson (1987 cited in Breen & Littlejohn 2000, p.57) concludes the following: “Another important aspect of self-assessment is that it improves teacherlearner realtionships. By understanding each other’s problems, the empathy between the two parties grows”. This will promote, consequentely, the ultimate goal of education, to reach learner autonomy by means of independent thinking. 61 p 62 Teaching Project Report In regards to self-assessment, Smith (in Breen & Littlejohn 2000) states that a difficulty on negotiated assessment is that not all learners are willing to take on responsibility. Another form to both get them interested and emphasize the pragmatic use of language would be using drama in the classroom. I have a growing interest in using Drama in a Foreign Language classroom. I believe plays not only offer lengthy opportunity for output practice but also because, they try to resemble real life, they involve such elements as different genres, settings, registers, psychological characters, help to expand and practice of structures and vocabulary and promote effective pronunciation, encourage group work, among many other things. That is motivational and contextualized. 62 p 63 Teaching Project Report Bibliography Course book Mugglestone, Patricia (2007) “Challenges 4”, Pearson Education Ltd. Supplementary material Kral, Thomas (ed) (1994) “The Lighter side of TEFL”. The English Teaching Forum. Washington D.C. Pedagogical literature (References) Abercrombie, D (1956) “Phonetics”. In Byrne, Donn. (Ed) “English teaching Extracts” (1969) (p.45-47) Longmans, London. Arnold, Jane. (Ed) (1999) “Affect in language learning”. Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Arnold, Jane & Douglas Brown, H. (1999)“A map of the terrain”. In Arnold, Jane. (Ed) (1999) “Affect in language learning”. (p.1-27) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Askildson, Lance. (2005)“Effects of humor in the language classroom: Humor as a pedagocical tool in theory and practice”. University of Arizona, Arizona. Working Papers in SLAT – Vol. 12. Retrieved from: http://slat.arizona.edu/sites/slat/files/page/awp12askildson.pdf Billows, F. L. (1961) “Practice of correct language”, “The Basis of Speech in Listening”, “The need for a textbook”. In Byrne, Donn. (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p.67-66, 67-68, 85-86) Longmans, London. 63 p 64 Teaching Project Report Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (2000) “The significance of negotiation” In Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (Ed) (2000) “Classroom Decisionmaking negotiation and process syllabuses in practice”. (p. 5-43) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Brown, H. D. (2007). “Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy”. New York: Pearson Education, Inc. Brown, E. Keith, and Miller, Jim (Ed.). (1996) “Concise encyclopedia of syntactic theories”. Oxford; New York: Pergamon. Byk, John (2009) “Teaching Strategies for ESL”, Retrieved from: http://suite101.com/article/teaching-strategies-for-esl-a148511#ixzz2Iofcqg00 Byrne, Donn. (1969) “English teaching Extracts” Longmans, London. Carson, J. & Leki, I. (1997) “Completely different worlds: EAP and the writing experiences of ESL students in university courses”, TESOL Quarterly 31 (1), 39- 69. Chapman, L.R.H. (1958) “Activity in the English lesson”. In Byrne, Donn. (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p. 63-64) Longmans, London. Chile. Ministerio de Educación. (2011a): “Programa de Estudio para Segundo Año Medio”, Unidad de Currículum y Evaluación: Inglés. Retrieved from: http://www.mineduc.cl/index5_int.php?id_portal=47&id_contenido=17116&id_seccio n=3264&c=346 Chile. Ministerio de Educación. (2011b): “Bases curriculares 2012: Idioma extranjero inglés”. Retrieved from: http://www.educarchile.cl/UserFiles/P0001/File/curriculum_al_dia/bases_ingles_2 012.pdf Corder, Pit S. (1966) “The learning of language”. In Byrne, Donn. (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p. 12-13) Longmans, London. Crandall, JoAnn (1999) “Cooperative language learning and affective factors”. In Arnold, Jane. (Ed) (1999) “Affect in language learning”. (p. 226-245) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. 64 p 65 Teaching Project Report Decoo, W. (1996). “The induction-deduction opposition: complexities of the didactic reality”. IRAL, 34, 95-118. Ambiguities and Deiter, Ron. “The use of humor as a teaching tool in the college classroom”. Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, I, 50011. Retrieved from: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/deiter/HumorArticle.pdf DeKeyser, Robert M. (Ed) (2007): “Practice in a Second Language, Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology”. Cambridge. New York, NY. Cambridge University press. Dörnyei, Z. (1998) “Motivation in Second and Foreign Language Learning”. CILT: CUP. Ellis, N. C. (2002). “Frequency effects in language acquisition: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 143-188. Ellis, R. (2004). “The definition and measurement of explicit knowledge”. Language Learning, 54, 227-275. Ellis, R. (2008) “Principles of Instructed Second Language Acquisition”, CAL Digest, Center for Applied Linguistics, December 2008, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digest_pdfs/Instructed2ndLangFinalWeb.pdf Erikson E.H. (1950, 1963) “Children & Society”. New York: Norton. Echeverria Castillo, Roberto Eduardo, (2009) "The Role of Pragmatics in Second Language Teaching" AYMAT Individual Thesis/SMAT IPP Collection. Paper 479. Elyildirim Selma & Ashton Sally (2006) “Creating Positive Attitudes towards English as a Foreign Language”. The English Teaching Forum, Volume 44 Number 4 2006. Fenstermacher, Gary y Soltis Jonas. (1998) “Enfoques de la Enseñanza”. Amorrortu Editores. Tercera edición. Buenos Aires. Retrieved from: http://glosarioeducativo.wikispaces.com/file/view/Fenstermacher.pdf Fraser, I.S. & Hodson (1978). “Twenty-one kicks at the grammar horse: Close-up: grammar and composition”. English Journal, 67 (9), 49-54. Retrieved from Jstor database. Frodesen, Jan and Holten, Christine (2003) “Grammar in the ESL Writing Class”. In Barbara Kroll (Ed)., “Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing” (pp. 141-161). New York: Cambridge University Press. 65 p 66 Teaching Project Report Goddard, C y Wierzbicka, A. (2001) “Discurso y Cultura”, in Van Dijk, T (comp) 2001. “El Discurso como Interacción Social”. Barcelona: Gedisa. Giroux, H. (1988) “Teachers as intellectuals: Towards a critical pedagogy of learning”. Massachussets: Berlin and Garvey Publishers. Gurrey, P. (1955) “The importance of silent reading”. In Byrne, Donn. (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p. 100-101) Longmans, London. Hymes, D. (1971) “Competence and performance in linguistic theory”. In R. Huxley and E. Ingram (eds.), “Language acquisition models and methods”. New York: Academic Press. Hymes, D. (1974) “Foundations in Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach”. The University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Cinnaminson, NJ. Retrieved from http://www1.appstate.edu/~mcgowant/hymes.htm Irujo, Suzanne (2000) “A process syllabus in a methodology course: experiences, beliefs, challenges”. In Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (2000) “Classroom Decision-making negotiation and process syllabuses in practice”. (p.209- 222) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Ivic, Ivan (1994) “LEV S. VYGOTSKY”, Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, p. 471–485. ©UNESO: Oficina Internacional de Educación, 1999. Retrieved from: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/ThinkersPdf/vy gotskys.PDF Jessner, U. (2008) “A DST Model of Multilingualism and the Role of Metalinguistic Awareness”. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 270-283. Jonassen, D.H. (2000) “Computers as mindtools for schools”. New Jersey. Prentice Hall. Khatib, Mohammad (2011) “Contributions of Vygotsky's Theory to Second Language Acquisition”, European Journal of Scientific Research, ISSN 1450-216X Vol.58 No.1 (2011), pp.44-55. Retrieved from: http://www.eurojournals.com/EJSR_58_1_06.pdf Kitao, Kenji and Kitao, S. Kathleen (1995) “English teaching: Theory, research, and practice” Tokyo. Eichosha. 66 p 67 Teaching Project Report Kohonen, Viljo (1999) “Authentic assessment in affective foreign language education” In Arnold, Jane. (Ed) (1999) “Affect in language learning”. (p. 279-294) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Kramsch, Claire (1993) “Context and Culture in Language Teaching”. Oxford University Press. Krashen, Stephen D. (1981) “Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition”. English Language Teaching series. London: Prentice-Hall International (UK) Ltd. Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. (2008). “How languages are learned” (3rd ed.). NY: Oxford University Press. Linder, Pnina (2000) “Is a negotiated syllabus feasible within a national curriculum?” In Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (2000) “Classroom Decision-making negotiation and process syllabuses in practice” (p. 94-107). Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Morris, I. (1956) “Speech as a basic consideration”. In Byrne, Donn (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p. 69-71) Longmans, London. Muranoi, Hitoshi (2007) “Output practice in L2 classroom”. In DeKeyser, Robert M. (Ed) (2007): “Practice in a Second Language, Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology”. (p. 51-83). Cambridge. New York, NY. Cambridge University press. Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2000) “Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis”. Language Learning, 50, 417-528. Palmer, H. E. (1921) “Habit-forming and habit-adapting”, “Interest”. In Byrne, Donn (1969) “English teaching Extracts” (p. 36-38, 60-61) Longmans, London. Perrenoud, Philippe (2001) “La formación de los docentes en el siglo XXI”. In Revista de Tecnología Educativa. Santiago, Chile, 2001, XIV n°3, pp. 503-523 Retrieved from: http://www.unige.ch/fapse/SSE/teachers/perrenoud/php_main/php_2001/2001_36.html Pino-Silva, Juan (2006) “Extensive Reading through the Internet: Is it worth the while?”, The Reading Matrix, Vol. 6, No. 1, April 2006 Retrieved from: http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/silva/article.pdf 67 p 68 Teaching Project Report Roy, Alice M. (1989) “Developing Second Language Literacy: A Vygostkyan Perspective”. Journal of Teaching Writing. Vol 8, No 1 (1989): Spring/Summer 1989. Retrieved from: http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/teachingwriting/article/viewFile/1004/968 Schcolnik, Miriam; Kol, Sara & Abarbanel, Joan (2006) “Constructivism in Theory”. The English Teaching Forum, Volume 44 Number 4 2006 (p. 2-11) Seedhouse, Paul. (1999) “Task-based interaction”. Oxford University Press. Serrano-Sampedro, Isabel (2000) “Refining negotiated classroom work in a Spanish secondary school”. In Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (2000) “Classroom Decision-making negotiation and process syllabuses in practice” (p. 108132). Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Shulman, Lee S. (1987)“Knowledge and Teaching. Foundations of the New Reform”, Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 57, N° 1, primavera 1987 (Copyright © 1987 by the President and Fellows of Harvard University). Retrieved from: www.cepchile.cl/dms/archivo_1573_554/rev83_shulman.pdf Smith, Kari (2000) “ Negotiating assessment with secondary-school pupils”. In Breen, Michael P. and Littlejohn, Andrew (2000) “Classroom Decision-making negotiation and process syllabuses in practice” (p.55-62) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Turuk, Mamour Choul (2008) “The Relevance and Implications of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory in the Second Landguage Classroom”, ARECLS, 2008, Vol.5, 244-262. Retrieved from: http://research.ncl.ac.uk/ARECLS/volume_5/turuk_vol5.pdf Underhill, Adrian (1999) “Facilitation in language teaching”. In Arnold, Jane. (Ed) (1999) “Affect in language learning”. (p. 125-141) Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Ur, Penny (1996) “A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory”, Cambridge University Press. 68 p 69 Teaching Project Report Vygotsky, L. (1962) “Thought and Language”. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press. Vygotsky, L. (1978) “Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes”. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Zamel, V. (1985) “Responding to student writing”. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-101 I take no responsibility for the content and availability of the resources listed above, all of which were active as of January, 2013. 69 p 70 Teaching Project Report Appendixes 70