Assignment 3 2020

Language/Skills related tasks

Name: Nelda Jade Apostol

1st sub 2nd sub
Assessment Criteria
1. Identifying receptive/productive skills that could be practised in relation to Please see
my
the text comments

2. Correctly using terminology that relates to language skills and sub-skills Please see
my
comments

3. Designing tasks in relation to the text with a rationale Please see

my
comments

4. Finding, selecting and showing evidence of background reading in the topic OK

area i.e. at least one sourced quote in the body of the assignment.

5. Using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task OK

Yes / No Date 1st marker 2nd marker

Pass

Resubmission Needed Yes 9/12/2021 KP

Pass On Resubmission

Fail On Resubmission
Overall Comment
Jade, this is a good start with some relevant information about the text and the tasks - but please see
my comments and include more to fully meet the criteria. Please do not change anything in this
document, make a copy and add all your resubmissions in the copy.

This is my own work. Signed Nelda Jade Apostol

CE assessment criteria – Candidates can demonstrate their learning by:
a. correctly using terminology that relates to language skills and subskills
b. relating task design to language skills development
c. finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate
to the task
Aim
For this assignment, you are expected to demonstrate and develop your ability to help learners
improve their receptive and productive skills.

Task
Preparation
● The chosen texts are taken from B1 level reading skills books. Please see page 5 for a
description of the level and the class and page 6 and 7 for the texts.
● You will choose ONE of the texts which you think would be more useful for this
group of learners and design tasks to be used with that text. Either one of the texts
can be used, but the choice needs to be justified in the rationale parts.

Writing the assignment

While-reading tasks
● Decide on two receptive sub-skills (e.g. reading for gist and reading for specific
information) that could be developed in relation to the text you have chosen.
● Design tasks to give your learners practice in each of the sub-skills you’ve previously
identified using the chosen text.
● For each task, give a brief description of what the task involves and how you will
manage it in class
Rationale
● Say which sub-skill the task is intended to develop and give a rationale of why you
have designed the task.
● NB: The tasks themselves should be included as appendices!

Post-reading tasks
● Decide on a follow-up productive skills activity (speaking or writing) that you could
do with your learners after the reading work above.
● Design a task related to the chosen text to give your learners practice in the
productive skill above.
● For this task, give a brief description of what the task involves and how you will
manage it in class
Rationale
● Explain how the task is appropriate for the text
● Explain which skill the task is intended to develop and how it accomplishes this.
● NB (1): This should be a skills-based activity, not grammar/vocabulary work.

Bibliography
● Any sources need to be referenced here.

Appendix
● Include any materials/tasks/answer keys etc.

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Requirements (to be read carefully!)
In this assignment:

✔ Use the terms ‘receptive’ and ‘productive’ to show you understand what they mean
(Criteria 1)
✔ Design tasks and / or find supporting material which should be included in an appendix.
(Criteria 3)
✔ Give the rationale for your tasks with reference to your class profile. State the sub-skills
(eg. gist reading) which could be developed. Use the relevant terminology. (Criteria 2 & 3)
✔ Include evidence of background reading in this section – include at least one or more
quotations. (Criteria 4)
✔ You should proof-read your assignment carefully. (Criteria 5)

Potential pitfalls (to be avoided!)

● Not proof-reading your work.
● Focusing on skills which are inappropriate to the chosen text.
● Designing tasks that don’t really develop your chosen skills.
● Designing a language task as a follow-up, instead of a speaking or writing task.
● Forgetting your appendices.
● Not grading the tasks to suit the level of the learners.
● Not including the answers you would expect students to give to your reading tasks.
● Including questions in your second reading task that have already been covered in your
first reading task.
● Productive skills tasks that don’t relate sufficiently to the content of the selected reading
text.
● Not grading the productive skills tasks to suit the level of the learners.
● A lack of procedural detail when focussing on the productive skills tasks.
● Not mentioning your background reading in the assignment and failing to provide a
bibliography.

Organising your assignment

● The assignment must be written in continuous prose.
● Use the template on the next page to organise your assignment.

The assignment must be written in continuous prose. Please use the following template to write
your assignment.
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 First submission
Rationale for choosing the text: Text 2
Given that this group of SS has just studied the future tenses,
learners are going to be able to make sense of the grammar they
have just learned. This could be related to the text-based approach of
teaching grammar in which SS need to be able to understand and
produce more than isolated sentences in the target grammar. [1]
Moreover, the teacher can design a follow up grammar activity to
revise the future tenses. Nevertheless, SS can use the future tense in
the post-reading activity.

Resubmission
Rationale for choosing the text:
This class has students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. As
a result, text 2 is neutral, avoiding any references to a specific culture
that would affect or block students' understanding; rather, the text
topic is about changes in human life in the future in general. In
addition, the text's content is interesting in a way that inspires pupils
to learn more. Reading relevant content can also help students
develop their language skills, such as vocabulary and grammar. This
could be linked to the text-based approach to grammar teaching, in
which SS must be able to comprehend and write more than isolated
phrases in the target grammar [1]. As a result, text 2 is suitable for
students who have just learned the future tense and will benefit from
the opportunity to study and practice it in a setting that is
appropriate for them.

First submission
While-reading task 1 Reading for gist / skimming for main ideas /
matching headings.

In this task SS will be asked to match headings to paragraphs.

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The teacher provides a handout of the reading passage with the five
main paragraphs numbered as (A , B , C , D and E). The handout
includes also 5 headings in which SS have to match with the
paragraphs.

After providing the handout, the teacher sets for the exercises by
giving clear instructions to SS that they have to work in pairs and try
to match headings to paragraphs within 3 minutes. Then the teacher
sends SS to BR.

After 2 minutes, SS come back to the main room and have an OC/FB
to check their answers.

Resubmission
While-reading task 1 skimming for main ideas / matching headings.

In this task SS will be asked to match headings to paragraphs.

The teacher provides a handout (appendix 1) of the reading passage
with the five main paragraphs numbered as (A , B , C , D and E). The
handout also includes 5 headings in which SS have to match with the
paragraphs.

After providing the handout, the teacher sets for the exercises by
giving clear instructions to SS that they try to match headings to
paragraphs within 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes, the teacher gives some time for the students to
check their answers in pairs, then have an OC/FB to check their
answers.

First submission
Rationale for while-reading task 1:
Goodman (1975) views reading as a “guessing game” in which the “reader
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reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a
writer.” [2] As Scott Thornbury argues in his excellent debate on the subject,
reading for gist is not an end in itself. Rather, it's a stage in the process, a
threshold. This is not to minimize its significance. In reality, this first phase is
extremely useful since it determines whether a certain section of a passage is
worthy of our attention. [3] For this particular group of SS, I have designed the
exercise particularly to train them on skimming for main ideas , as an important
reading strategy, and challenge their reading ability by setting the time on only
3 minutes. There are 10 SS in the group, that’s why I divided the passage into 5
paragraphs to allow them to work in pairs.

Resubmission
Rationale for while-reading task 1:
For this particular group of students, some students are used to read passages
word by word and try to translate difficult words. In this task, they will be
trained on skimming, in which they read the paragraphs very fast (in only 2
minutes) to get keywords and try to match headings to paragraphs. It is
important that learners understand that there is no need to read every word
when skimming, so often teachers set this as a timed task to encourage speed
[2].

First submission
While-reading task 2
Again the teacher divides SS to work in pairs. The Teacher provides each pair
with one paragraph and 5 true/false questions.

The teacher asks SS to read the paragraph they have and try to answer the
true/false questions. If the answer is not stated in the paragraph, SS write “Not
given” (each group has the answer for only one True/false question). Teacher
sets the time to be one minute. (see Appendix 2).

After 2 minutes, SS come back and have a whole class discussion on the topic of
the paragraphs they have just read and which question they could answer.
Once SS have exchanges the summaries of the paragraphs they have read , the
Teachers shows the whole passage on the screen and give SS 3 minutes to read
the paragraphs.

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 Resubmission
While-reading task 2 reading for specific ideas / reading for details

The Teacher provides students with 5 true/false questions (see Appendix 2).

The teacher asks SS to read the text and try to answer the true/false questions
and set the time to 3 minutes. SS have to answer the T/F questions and write
the paragraph number they get the information from.

After 3 minutes, the teacher gives some time for the students to check
their answers in pairs, then have an OC/FB to check their answers.

First submission
Rationale for while-reading task 2:

This is a kind of jigsaw activity, an approach to reading that involves the

students in speaking and summarising skills. It is very useful when working with
short texts [4].

Resubmission
Rationale for while-reading task 2:
Scanning is used when looking for a specific piece of information in a given text.
When a student scans, he looks over the selection quickly to locate the
particular piece of information he needs and reads only that information, but
carefully. Once he finds this information, he stops reading. Scanning is a fast
form of reading that does not pay attention to every detail given in the text [3].
Again, some students in this class have a habit of going over the text and
translate words into their first language. That is why I chose this task to
demonstrate to them that even if they did not understand or have every single
meaning of word there, they can still get the meaning. And this is one of the
most important abilities for learners to have while reading in a second
language.

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 First submission
Post-reading (productive skills): Discussion Questions / Speaking
The teacher sets for a class discussion by providing some questions (see
appendix 3) divide SS into 2 groups and send them to BR for 4 minutes for
discussion. Then have a whole class discussion in the main room where SS
share their ideas.

Resubmission
Post-reading (productive skills):
The teacher sets for the activity by showing some picture of what the world
might look like in the future (see appendix). The teacher encourages the
students to consider what changes might occur in the future. The students will
then be divided into two groups (5-5) and given five minutes to answer the
discussion questions. Then, in front of the class, a speaker from each group
reports and shares the group's thoughts. Throughout the work, the teacher
monitors and notice the mistakes and then gives delayed feedback. Some of
the comments may be written on the whiteboard by the teacher, who may
correct errors and emphasize key language.

First submission
Rationale for the post reading activity:
SS are supposed to get a good glimpse of the reading passage topic “What does
the future look like?”. They have already studied the future tenses, they got to
know a great deal of vocabulary related to the topic and also they have read
some ideas about it. At this stage SS are ready to accomplish a speaking activity
that will reinforce the language they learned.

Resubmission
Rationale for the post reading activity:

Word count (750-1000 words): 723 words.

Bibliography:
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[1] Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar (Vol. 3). Harlow: Longman.
[2] https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/skimming
[3] https://busyteacher.org/4669-3-most-essential-reading-skills-your-students.html
[4] https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/jigsaw-reading

Appendix

● Appendix 1 – Level and Class Profile

● Appendix 2 –Text A
● Appendix 2 –Text B

Task 1 handout

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 Answer key task 1 :
Paragraph 1 : climate change and Passive Houses
Paragraph 2 : Adaptable Houses
Paragraph 3 : Self- Sufficient Houses
Paragraph 4 : Water-recycled Houses
Paragraph 5 : Robotic Houses

Task 2 Handout
Decide whether these statements are true or false: T/F Paragraph No.
1. In the future, you will be able to change the size of your bedroom
easily
2. Robots in the future will have different shapes and functions
3. In the future, you will rely on the resources inside your house for food
and energy
4. In the future will not need water to wash clothes or dishes
5. There will be a need to improve the heating systems inside houses in
the future

Key answer task 2 :

1. true Paragraph 4
2. false Paragraph 2
3.false Paragraph 3
4. true Paragraph 1
5.true Paragraph 5

Post-reading Task questions

1- What do you think houses in the future will look like?
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 2- How will transportation look like in the future?
3- Do you think life in the future will be easier? how?

Appendix 1 - Level and Class Profile

B1 level
⮚ Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language
is spoken.
⮚ Can produce simple connected texts on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.
⮚ Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give
reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Council of Europe as cited in:
Thornbury, S. and Watkins, P. (2007) The CELTA Book, CUP

Class profile
⮚ The class consists of 10 learners – 4 men and 6 women.
⮚ It is a multi-lingual class with students from Greece, Poland, China and Colombia.
⮚ They have been together for 6 months and are in contact through a WhatsApp group and
socialize outside of classroom hours.
⮚ They have recently learnt the future tenses.
⮚ They are interested in a range of topics and have recently studied a unit about culture.
⮚ Most of them plan to live abroad after they finish studying.
⮚ Some of the learners find reading boring while some of the others want to know the
meaning of every single word. Some of them tend to translate words into their own
language and are dependent on their phones and apps to help them find the meanings.
⮚ They all enjoy discussion and are fairly autonomous.

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Appendix 2 –Text A (Cunningham, S. 2005:69, Longman)

CE assessment criteria – Candidates can demonstrate their learning by:

a. correctly using terminology that relates to language skills and subskills
b. relating task design to language skills development
c. finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task
Appendix 3 –Text B (Roberts, R. 2011:42, Pearson)

CE assessment criteria – Candidates can demonstrate their learning by:

a. correctly using terminology that relates to language skills and subskills
b. relating task design to language skills development
c. finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task
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