Comparative study MEL - MyEnglishLab · 2012-07-09 · Rob Dean A Comparative study of two classes – One with a MyEnglishLab component; One without. Rob Dean Contents: 1. Background

Rob Dean www.pearsonELT.com

A Comparative study of two classes – One with a MyEnglishLab component; One without.

Rob Dean

Contents:

1. Background and Rationale

2. Class Scenario

3. Class Profile

4. A week in the life of the Class Without MyEnglishLab

5. A week in the life of the ClassWith MyEnglishLab

6. Conclusions

Background,rationale and structure of this document.

The comparison looks at a week (three lessons) in the life of a class of students and the teacher,

looking at the lesson itself, as well as the assignment of homework and associated follow up work.

The week in question is early in the school year, with the students working around material from

Unit 1 of the coursebook. The document takes the form of two plans – each describing the week in

question. The first plan details the class as run without MyEnglishLab; the second plan with. The

aim is to highlight the benefits that the use of MyEnglishLab can bring to the overall running and

management of the classroom as a whole, and not only focusses on the area of homework. The

document refers to a hypothetical but typical class of its kind, as described below.It should also be

noted that the lesson plans are not meant to be definitive, but that this is just one way in which the

courses could be structured.

Scenario:

Type of institution: Private Language School

Number of Students in class: 15

Age of students: 19-25

Level: Intermediate

Course: Speak Out Intermediate

Number of classes per week: 3 x 1 hour

Class profile:

The group are mixed in terms of age and background; some are still studying; others are in full

time employment. Most and motivated and keen, although attendance in some cases is sporadic,

and homework is not always completed on time – if at all. All the class have internet access - if not


at home, then in their place of work or study. As with all classes, levels of proficiency vary;

grammar and writing being generally weaker than speaking, reading and listening.

Part 1: The Class without MyEnglishLab

Lesson 1

Time in minutes

(Cumulative time below)

Activity

Comments

15 (15)

Homework check Teacher elicits answers to exercises given the previous lesson (‘question forms’ from unit 1 of the workbook); students mark their own. Teacher collects marks and adds them to the register.

- Four students were absent last lesson and have therefore not done the homework. They have nothing to do for the first 15 minutes of the lesson. - Two students who were present last time are absent today – therefore other arrangements must be made to mark their homework and collect their grades. - Marks were added to the register, but it was difficult to ascertain exactly which parts of the homework had presented problems and which not.

10 (25)

Page 11, coursebook – speaking / reading exercise 1.

10 (35)

Page 11, coursebook – grammar (verb tenses)

20 (55)

Page 11, coursebook – A (practice gapfill) B (personalised practice)

Time was tight for this, some students did not finish. Teacher did not have time to focus on any errors made by the students during the activity.

5 (60)

Homework assignment - writing. Assignment topic – an e-mail of introduction (120-150 words) To be completed and handed in by next lesson. You are going on an adventure trip for students of English. You will join ten other students from all over the world on a one-month tour of India. The tour will include cultural visits and two hours of English lessons every day. Write an email of introduction to the other students.

Teacher asks class members to pass on this information to absentees – if they see them.


Lesson 2

Time in minutes


Activity

Comments

5 (5)

Collect homework

Only one of the absentees from last week had got the message and done the assignment. Two students who were present last lesson were absent today and therefore could not submit theirs. The teacher had hoped to mark the homework all at once after the lesson.

20 (25)

Page 12, coursebook – listening and speaking – Exercises 4 and 5

Some of those who had missed the class last week struggled with this, as they had missed out on some of the necessary grammar and vocabulary to complete the tasks.

15 (50)

Page 12, coursebook – vocabulary Exercise 6

10 (60)

Page 12, coursebook – Speaking

Again, time for error feedback was too tight, so kept over to the beginning of the next lesson.

Homework assignment –Quick Check Test 1 from workbook.

Again, teacher asks class members to pass on this information to absentees – if they see them.

Later that evening at home:

Time in minutes

Activity Comments

90

30

Marking written homework assignments.

As usual with student writing, some of the handwriting was difficult to decipher, and whilst some had done the work on the computer and printed it out, they had not left much space for marks and comments. (despite constant reminders…) The teacher often wonders about the efficacy of such marking – will the students follow up on the comments? Gather together common errors (and examples of good language) to focus on at the start of next lesson. It takes time to do this as it means going back through reams of paper with red ink everywhere… (See next page for a typical example of hand marked student work)



Lesson 3

Time in minutes


Activity

Comments

10 (10)

Feedback on homework (written assignment) – common errors and good language used. Also focus on some common errors from class speaking activity at the end of last lesson. Collect homework from last lesson – Quick Check Test

The same issue applied here regarding those who had not done the assignment or handed it in on time or who were absent from the last lesson – they had nothing to do at this stage of the lesson. As this is a test, the teacher wants some first-hand detailed information regarding proficiency and progress, so decides to mark it at home that evening.

20 (25)

Page 13, coursebook – Vocabulary exercise 8 and 9

Would have been nice to give at least some of this for homework – but then it would mean marking it sometime, somehow, and that takes time…

20 (55)

Page 13, coursebook – Speaking exercise 10

Plenty of time here to fit in post speaking some error-focus work.

5 (60)

Homework assignment Various workbook exercises – an attempt to give further practice to remedy the issues from the written homework. Some of the exercises will be more relevant to some members of the class than others though.

General comment here – don’t seem to have covered a lot of the book material over the last three lessons…


Time in minutes

Activity Comments

90

30

Marking tests

A rather repetitive and tedious activity… but then the teacher does need detailed information on proficiency and progress. If the students were to mark this themselves, that information would not be guaranteed to get through – and it takes class time. We’re already behind on where we want to be in the coursebook…. Teacher then goes through the tests and collates information on areas of difficulty. This is time consuming but important if we are going to help the students to overcome their problems and make progress.


Part 2: The Class with MyEnglishLab

Lesson 1

Time in minutes


Activity

Comments

10 minutes Before the

lesson

Review homework completed by the class on MEL–Unit 1.1 question forms, exercises 2-4

- Four students were absent but this presented no problems as they accessed the assigned work online. - Two students would be absent next lesson, but again, this would not be an issue for the same reason, and besides, the work would be automatically marked, making the marking session at the beginning of the lesson redundant. - The gradebook meant that the teacher had all the info they needed on strengths and weaknesses in the class, so no need to transfer it all to the register - The common error report meant that: The teacher could easily decide to spend just 5 minutes remedial time on an area of difficulty experienced by the majority of the class. Other areas of difficulty were dealt with by setting further exercises from MEL according to need.

5 (5)

Remedial work on area of question forms as shown in common error report.

10 (15)

Page 11, coursebook – speaking / reading exercise 1.

10 (25)

Page 11, coursebook – grammar (verb tenses)

25 (50)

Page 11, coursebook – A (practice gapfill) B (personalised practice) Post fluency error focus

Plenty of time for this to work successfully.

10 (60)

Page 12, coursebook Listening - 4A and 4B. (Preparation for main part of listening activity next lesson.)

Fitting this in here will save time next lesson

Tell students to check into MEL for homework assignment - writing.

5 minutes after the lesson

Set homework assignments on MEL. Send message to all class (including absentees) to remind them to do assignment and submit on time! (example below)

Assignment topic – an e-mail of introduction (120-150 words) To be completed and submitted by date of next lesson. MEL Exercise 6 Unit 1.1 Writing. You are going on an adventure trip for students of English. You will join ten other students from all over the world on a one-month tour of India. The tour will include cultural visits and two hours of English lessons every day. Write an email of introduction to the other students. Also ask students to complete 1.2 Vocabulary Plus exercise 6


The homework assignments:


The message to the class:


Lesson 2

Time in minutes


Activity

Comments

No homework to be collected because it’s been submitted online. Marking of vocabulary activity not necessary as it’s been done automatically.

Only two students have not yet submitted the homework. Teacher will send them another polite message / reminder through MEL communication tools after the lesson…it’s more discreet that way.

15 (15)

Page 12, coursebook – listening and speaking – Exercises 4 C,D and 5

Good to have already made a start on this last lesson, so didn’t take very long to finish the exercise.

15 (30)

Page 12, coursebook – vocabulary Exercise 6

15 (45)

Page 12, coursebook – Speaking; post fluency error focus

Completed the activity comfortably and had time for a post-fluency error focus

15 (60)

Page 13, coursebook – vocabulary.

This was achieved very quickly as most of the students had already prepared for this by doing the ‘Vocabulary Plus’ activity on MEL.

Class told to log onto MEL for homework – Quick Check Test 1

After the lesson:

Homework assignment – Quick Check Test 1 from workbook.

Test assigned online and reminder sent to the class through messaging system.


Time in minutes

Activity Comments

80

20

Marking written homework assignments.

Whilst the marking is far from automatic, online marking is much easier and possibly quicker than marking by hand. Legibility of the students’ (and teacher’s) writing is not an issue here, and it’s good to be able to highlight different aspects of the students’ script using the colour coding system. The comments boxes allow flexibility in the way the teacher chooses to mark – perhaps sometimes by giving the correct forms, sometimes by asking questions or giving hints / tips to guide students to self-correction. The whole effect is much neater, more legible and clearer to follow – and less threatening to the student than a sea of red ink! Gathering common errors was made much easier here by using the colour coding – it was easy to see which areas of writing (spelling / vocab / grammar, etc) was giving the most trouble. (See next page for a typical example of online marked student work)


Quick Test – (homework)


Online marking / grading of written work by the teacher


Lesson 3

Time in minutes


Activity

Comments

Before the lesson

Teachers checks MEL to see who has done their homework

As this is a test, the teacher wants some first-hand detailed information regarding proficiency and progress, - but there’s no need to mark it at home, as the system has marked it automatically. The grades are already sitting in the gradebook, and the common error report is ready for perusal. The teacher sends a discreet reminder via the communication tools to those who have not submitted it yet.

10 (10)

Feedback on homework (written assignment) – common errors and good language used.

The teacher can send a message to absentees should s/he choose, updating them on any pertinent points on content from the written assignment.

10 (20)

Page 14, coursebook – Speaking Exercise 1

10 (30)

Page 14, coursebook – Vocabulary exercise 2

30 (60)

Page 14, coursebook – Functions exercise 3,4,5

Tell students to log onto MEL for homework – a variety of grammar and vocab exercises according to needs determined from written homework. Send messages to students directing them to the recommended exercises

Good to be able to set different exercises for different members of the group according to need.

General comment here – doing quite well and making reasonable progress through the coursebook material (at least a page-worth of material further on than the class without MEL)

After the lesson

Time in minutes

Activity Comments

20

Teacher browses Common Error Report from Quick Progress Test

Teacher looks through MEL for possible remedial exercises for the different problem areas from the test


Time in minutes

Activity Comments

? Relaxing

No tests to mark – MEL has done it automatically


Conclusions

From this brief example, it is clear to see that the class with MyEnglishLab has a number of pertinent

benefits from both the learner and teachers’ perspectives compared to the one without.

- The use of MEL saves time and automatically provides vital information to the teacher.

Automatic marking removes the need for classroom marking – (or the teacher marking exercises at

home).

The gradebook and common error report are automatically generated, saving the teacher the time and

effort of having to work this information out for themselves.

- The use of MEL frees up class time for more communicative activities.

Removing marking and certain aspects of remedial work from the classroom allows the teacher more

time to concentrate on more new language and more communicative activities.

- The use of MEL allows a higher rate of progress through the classroom course material

This can be clearly seen in the second scenario. MEL removes from the classroom aspects that can be

done just as effectively online (e.g. setting up homework assignments, marking, certain remedial work,

etc)

- The use of MEL allows flexibility

Setting different activities for different students according to need is much easier with MEL than with a

workbook.

Communication is possible through MEL allowing contact with learners who have to miss classes.

- The Use of MEL allows higher quality feedback to the student and a higher degree of clarity

over handwritten marking.

The written assignment grading makes systematic marking easier for the teacher (colour coding, notes

boxes) and easier for the students to follow and benefit from.

Documents

Comparative study MEL - MyEnglishLab · 2012-07-09 · Rob Dean A Comparative study of two classes – One with a MyEnglishLab component; One without. Rob Dean Contents: 1. Background