Assignment Sample on Theory and Practice of TESOL
Introduction
TESOL refers to the field of teaching for “Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages” including both certifications of TESL and TEFL respectively. Furthermore, the current report highlights three different sections assessing the practises and theories associated with TESOL. In addition to that, issues related to teaching students shall also be highlighted with references to readings along with a brief discussion on the professional development practises and rationale behind the same.
Section 1
The current section highlights the extract of a lesson plan in teaching English towards the students from other languages. The current extract highlighted majorly five stages of planning that are namely, “Engagement activity”, “Presentation”, Study, Practice and Warm down. Furthermore, the essential benefits associated with planning a particular teaching lesson are found to be beneficial for both parties of teachers and students. According to the words of Farrell and Kennedy (2019), planning lessons are found to be associated with allowing additional time for teachers for gathering individual components and gaining a logical progression of the plan with a range of different activities. Furthermore, the stage of planning is essential for the teachers to further focus on the studies being incorporated within the students.
Engagement Activity
Focusing on the extract, it has emerged the first activity is associated with engaging the students to read a short text on the description of past habits of people. Therefore, the first step of the five stage plan can be associated with the engagement activity amongst students who are found to have active participation within the different activities leading to experienced learning qualities (Stewart et al. 2019). In addition to that, the stage also helps in making the students understand the perceived activity of being meaningful in relevant ways. However, the current stage is pretty similar to teaching grammar from my own context as I believe every teaching plan should be associated with engagement activities for warming up the students.
Presentation
The next stage is focused on asking the students regarding underlying particular phrases from the extract to refer towards the past experiences. Thus, the current step of learning can be associated with presentation of language learning that is a new way of teaching languages through delivering controlled practice activities for the students. Moreover, the current stage helps the students to engage across different activities based on the topic or subject being introduced to them in the primary stage. The current stage is not associated with the teaching of grammar subjects in my own teaching context as it would be essential in introducing a particular theme to the class and further leading the same into a particular lesson.
Study
The third stage is found to ask the learners in forming small groups for discussion and identify the patterns being developed from the short text and understand the meanings being conveyed. This is the third stage of learning activity known as “study” which is also essential for the students to analyse the combination of reading and discussing about their past engagement activity. According to the words of Farrell and Kennedy (2020), study aspects in planning of TESOL are associated with analysis of the topic through activities like, speaking, reading, writing or listening or through incorporating a combination of the same. The current extract has also highlighted the studying phase as developing a particular skill set among the students for helping them to understand the series of tasks for further analysis.
Practice
Furthermore, the current section could have been alternatively focused for the development of languages while using the language to pre-teach the students before the occurrence of current study. Moreover, the lesson could have involved the students in further involvement of reading the passage and answering questions within a set environment for judging their level of “studying” the concept of English language. However, in the current scenario, the teacher was found to form groups of students for discussing and understanding the following questions for development of a conceptual idea for further analysis of underlying meanings from the text provided to the same.
Therefore, from the above analysis, it has emerged that study phase is an essential factor for the development of cognitive skills among the students for further analysis. Furthermore, the incorporation of “controlled” exercises in pre teaching the new language and letting students attempt set questions at a controlled environment reduces the chances of accuracy which has been widened through incorporating small discussion groups among the students.
The fourth stage has emerged to report back the patterns understood by the students from the analysis in the previous stage to the teachers for further summarisation at the board. Furthermore, the current stage is termed as “practice” that is found to provide students with additional freedom for discussing and understanding the different practises in relevance to the contexts. Moreover, the current stage is associated with the incorporation of major open tasks rather than the prevalence of controlled tasks like the previous stage. The summarisation of the concepts learnt by the teacher shall further help the students in conceptualisation of a constructive theory for using the targeted language. As per the words of Baecher (2012), the importance of the practice phase is essential for targeting the usage of language through controlled exercises along with providing opportunity to explore the language within a classroom or controlled environment. The different practises can be further provided towards the students for analysing their developed concepts regarding the particular language of English.
Furthermore, the main stages associated with the lesson are presentation, study and practice that works well while incorporating a structured language to work with (Appleby, 2013). The model of “Presentation, Practice and Production” shall be essential in understanding the current phase of the study. Moreover, the concerned model is found to help in imparting knowledge within the lower ability groups, and upon gaining further confidence among the students, it can be adjusted with the order of different phases respectively. In addition to that, the stage can be associated with no further alternative approaches as it would be similar to an analysis of grammar, sentence constructions and learning vocabulary through the usage of board work by the teacher and students together.
Warm down
Finally the last stage of “warm down” is found to be the most neglected section of the process by teachers, while students are required to take a breath and reassess their level of understanding the particular language. Moreover, it has also highlighted from the extract as students focus on talking in groups regarding their own childhood. The warm down stage of learning is associated with great opportunity to facilitate further corrections through a critical review of the target language with providence of proper feedback and increased motivation levels among the students (Iteslj.org, 2010). The current stage is also associated with assigning homeworks for the TESOL learners which shall be further revised by the candidates for improving a better grasp over the subject.
Section 2
The current section has highlighted a case scenario on the perspective of a junior colleague failing to motivate their learners with an increased feedback of reduced engagement levels and lack of enjoyment within her class. However, the case study has also highlighted her promptness in having sound theoretical knowledge in understanding a range of teaching procedures. Thus, the major issue being highlighted from the scenario is lack of motivation among the learners. According to the words of Gopalan et al. (2017), motivation is found to be essential for the learning process of a particular language and language teachers are also required to effectively understand the relationship between a particular language and its acquisition power. Furthermore, the development of motivation within learners can be found through the relationship between an individual’s desires or goals. Therefore, it can be recommended towards the junior teacher to focus on understanding the learner’s passion and connect the same with compensating for any weaknesses and utilising the strengths.
Focusing on the perspective of learners, it is essential for the maintenance of quality instruction, interaction levels and further opportunities to focus on a meaningful output for increasing motivation levels and also make progress in learning a new language (Brooks et al. 2014). The teachers should also focus on understanding the perspective of learners’ immediate needs other than passing their respective examinations through the development of motivational strategies. Therefore, to mitigate the challenges faced by the teachers to increase external motivation levels among learners are as follows,
Creation of friendly atmosphere in learning space
Students and learners are found to be essentially valued and recognised within a friendly climate along with proper acknowledgement of the module teachers for creation of a safe and comfortable environment. As stated by Thompson (2017), new learners are often found to take additional time in adjusting to a new setting and improve their motivation levels within a friendly environment. The classroom can be redecorated with colourful posters and images providing an image of easy language for completely foreign students. The junior teacher is further recommended to provide adequate scope towards the students for learning through the classroom environment and allowing them with proper recognition from their peers.
Moreover, during their introduction round, ice-breaking activity of writing down their own nicknames can significantly help the learners to know about their batchmates allowing them to introduce each other and aim at creation of a flexible classroom scenario.
Encourage learners for personalisation of classroom environment
Language acquisition and improvement of motivation levels can be further facilitated through a low anxiety, learner centric classroom for the new language learners (Naser Oteir and Nijr Al-Otaibi, 2019). Furthermore, personalisation of the classroom environment shall help in the development of a friendly atmosphere automatically increasing their desire to develop and learn the concerned language skills. According to the words of Nama et al. (2017), learners and students feeling comfortable and safe in a learning environment shall tend to focus better with additional motivation levels and read or write in foreign languages without any fear of getting criticised. Thus, providing the learners with the liberty to personalise their classroom as per their means shall reduce their fear of learning and also initiate a comfortable and homely environment facilitating better outcomes.
Incorporate group activities for developing learners’ confidence
The previous studies have highlighted that the involvement, enthusiasm and willingness to participate are solely dependent upon the quality of class discussions for learning a particular subject or foreign language. Moreover, small group activities involving classmates are found to boost self confidence levels as they are excellent sources of motivation (Anwar, 2016). In addition to that, group activities shall further initiate a sense of cooperation from the introverted learners and incorporate their ideas and feelings on a particular topic. Therefore, rather than making students speak up in front of the whole class, it is recommended for the junior colleague to sub-divide them into small groups and listen to their valuable feedback and ideas regarding the topic.
Encourage learners towards setting individual short-term goals
Foreign language learners should be able to understand their own expectations regarding achieving success in setting goals or targets for a short period of time. The learners should be clear to themselves regarding their purpose and importance of completing the current language needs. Having a set of objectives or goals are found to increase motivation through higher language competency levels among the language teachers who shall also encourage students to have a specific set of objectives in learning a particular language. The short-term goals can be associated with reading English books for improving vocabulary, listening to recitations for language delivery and communicating with English speakers for fluency in the language.
Facilitate situations for learners in a sense of accomplishment
Instilling a sense of accomplishment within language learners are found to facilitate the motivation levels among the same. Providing regular positive feedback after the completion of tasks or examinations can effectively increase positive self-evaluation levels. As per the words of Wenzel and Reinhard (2021), both negative and positive evaluations of learning experiences within language classes are found to be an effective influence towards further motivation. Moreover, the studies have also highlighted increased levels of praise and positive feedback are found to increase self-confidence, self-esteem and competency levels.
Section 3
Outline of practice
Professional development in teaching is associated with improving and expanding the skills and techniques as educators and teachers within the educational institutions. Furthermore, focusing on the increasing cases of Covid-19 pandemic disrupting the education system has further guided me to develop an experimental teaching practice with my fellow colleagues in incorporating a “QR code in Enhanced learning experiences” for the students. QR codes are easier to create and help in easily distinguishing individuals and educational works due to their complete uniqueness of the codes generated. They are a perfect example of incorporating technological advancements within classrooms due to their ease and flexibility to operate across any digital platforms (Abdul Rabu et al. 2019). Furthermore, the QR codes are efficient in delivering information towards the students through scanning a code with their digital devices making it widely available for checking answers, extending information in textbooks or voting anonymously for answers in classroom discussions.
Rationale for practice
The major motivation to implement the current experimental teaching practice is due to the prevalence of increasing contamination in Covid-19 pandemic along with their variants of the virus threatening the traditional ways of teaching in educational institutions. Therefore, it shall help in maintenance of social distancing norms within classrooms through scanning respective documents for information and avoiding physical touch for reducing the chances of contamination. Moreover, I personally believe that implementing the current experiment for personal development shall help me to improve and develop a new teaching experience as well as provide my students with a unique learning method.
Explanation for the experiment
Furthermore, there are certain reasons and importance for conducting the current experiment due to their following advantages,
Easier for students to find links
QR codes are found to be easily available and accessible through a touch of smartphones or tablets. Moreover, the shift towards online teaching has resulted in having a smartphone or electronic devices to attend online classes for the majority of the students. Therefore, incorporation of digital content via QR codes shall help in improvement of interaction levels with students scanning the same or for viewing particular websites without typing down the URL (Saha and Deb, 2020). Moreover, it shall also be beneficial for the disabled candidates with lesser frustration levels and increased seamlessness of learning.
Flexibility in QR codes improves time efficiency
QR codes are found to save time for various educational activities like sharing media like photos or videos along with important documents like PDFs or sound files among the students. According to the words of Rabu (2019), designing and implementation of “student attendance tracking system” can be significantly incorporated within educational institutions through QR code cards printed at the entrance of classrooms. Furthermore, this shall help in reduction of valuable teaching time for the lectures. However, implementing the same within my own class shall further help me in reducing time taken for attendance and also record the engagement levels of students at the end of each module.
Enhancement in classroom teaching
QR codes can also implement a unique learning experience within classrooms through improving the level of interaction with the students to the study materials being provided by the customers. Incorporating the same technology in my English grammar quizzes, each QR code can be uniquely placed for answering by the students in a creative way for accessing the relative tasks. The students can further scan the different QR codes placed strategically across different parts of the classroom maintaining the Covid-19 regulations and thereby understanding their respective tasks allocated.
Customisable as per requirements
The QR codes are easily customisable according to the needs and preferences of the users. Moreover, various sizes and shapes of QR codes shall not be less than 2cm x 2cm or 0.8in x 0.8in as they are unreadable after further reduction by the scanners or digital devices. Further modifications can be provided through styling the codes with colouring its edges along with introduction of custom frames (Asare and Asare, 2015). However, customisation of QR codes shall attract students on scanning the document or paper to understand the hidden information behind it. Therefore, it shall also help in the improvement of engagement levels within the students.
Evaluation of successful experiment
The above analysis has hereby highlighted the major importance for conducting the experiment that shall be successful in my context. As stated by Moubayed et al. (2020), student engagement levels refers to the process of assessing degree of curiosity, attention, optimism, passion or interest for the teachings or learnings gained for further extending their motivation levels. Furthermore, to evaluate the success levels of the experiment, I shall further focus on the improvement in the engagement levels among the students through analysing their daily reports. According to the words of Durmaz et al. (2020), self report surveys are found to assess the quality of involvement by the students for their educational institutions. Therefore, I shall also incorporate the accessibility of self report surveys through QR codes for providing and sharing a monthly report for all students.
In addition to that, I would personally focus on implementing a “Teacher rating scale” for analysing the measurement of student behaviour on the scale of being normal to problematic. Furthermore, TRS is found to include a validity scale which is associated with the “F” index for nullifying any negative or personal response from the teacher’s perspective. Therefore, it shall be a completely logical way to determine the development of the students for implementation of the QR code learning experimental method.
Conclusion
The current study has incorporated the practises and models related to TESOL with reference to the extract provided. Critical analysis has been provided on five stages of planning namely “Engagement activity”, “Presentation”, “Study”, “Practice” and “Warm down” in the context of the extract. Furthermore, the issues related to lack of motivation in students has been recommended with encouraging learners to modify their learning environment to improve their engagement levels with educational institutions. In the last section, experimental learning procedure to incorporate QR code based enhanced learning processes.
Reference List
Abdul Rabu, S.N., Hussin, H. and Bervell, B., 2019. QR code utilization in a large classroom: Higher education students’ initial perceptions. Education and Information Technologies, 24(1), pp.359-384.
Anwar, K., 2016. Panel Discussion and the Development of Students’ Self Confidence. English Language Teaching, 9(4), pp.224-229.
Appleby, R., 2013. Desire in translation: White masculinity and TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 47(1), pp.122-147.
Asare, I.T. and Asare, D., 2015. The effective use of quick response (QR) code as a marketing tool. International Journal of Education and Social Science, 2(12), pp.67-73.
Baecher, L., 2012. Integrating clinical experiences in a TESOL teacher education program: Curriculum mapping as process. TESOL Journal, 3(4), pp.537-551.
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http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Farmer-WarmDowns.html Warm Downs: Effectively Ending ESL/EFL Lessons
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Nama, N., MacPherson, P., Sampson, M. and McMillan, H.J., 2017. Medical students’ perception of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) discrimination in their learning environment and their self-reported comfort level for caring for LGBT patients: a survey study. Medical education online, 22(1), p.1368850.
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