Materials Design and Development

Week 11

Reviewing GrelletReceptive Skills Framework

Homework for Next Week

• Start thinking about the kind of lesson you want to do: Reading or Listening and begin searching for the appropriate text

Reflection on Homework

Discuss in small groups or with a partner, your answers to the homework. Add details and examples.

Processing Questions

• Is teacher translation of the text an effective and efficient way to have Ss demonstrate their understanding? Why or why not?

• How does this quote relate to the above question: “ Give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”

Background Knowledge

• Choosing a text that Ss already knows something about helps Ss learn English faster

• Helps learners understand new and unfamiliar grammar

• Allows Ss to comprehend more of the text at a faster rate

In Receptive Skill Lessons Which Is More Important?

• Vocabulary is more important than grammar in receptive skill lessons

• Grammar helps us use language, vocabulary helps us understand language

Grammar Vocabulary

Task Sequencing in Receptive Skill Lessons

• General Specific

• Easy Difficult

• Concrete Abstract

The PDP Framework

• Is it for productive or receptive skills?

• What skills can we teach using the PDP framework?

• What framework do we use to teach productive skills?

PRE

DURING

POST

What happens in each stage?

Pre-Stage

• When does it happen in the lesson?

• What happens in this stage?

• Why?

Schema Theory & Schema Activation

What needs to be activated and assessed prior to reading or listening?

• General world knowledge about social relationships and casual structures

• Specific knowledge about topic of the text• Knowledge about the text’s organization (genre)

Good readers and listener use prior knowledge to:

• make predictions• visualize• ask questions to monitor comprehension• draw inferences• confirm hypothesis… that’s what I expected• determine what is important in the text• demonstrate to others that they have understood

what they have read

During Stage

• When in the lesson does it happen?• What happens in this stage of the lesson?• When are the tasks given to Ss? Why are the

task given at that time?• What is the purpose of a reading lesson? If we

give tasks after the Ss watch, listen or read, what are we assessing; memory or comprehension?

• How does it happen; i.e., how are the activities sequenced?

Sequencing of Tasks

• Task are given before learners read or listen

• Tasks are sequenced from:– General to specific– Easy to Difficult– Concrete to abstract

During Stage

• What happens first: Skimming activities or scanning activities? Why?

• What are some example of skimming activities?• What are some example of some scanning

activities?• Where in the PDP lesson is the SLO achieved?• What kind of activity do we need to assess Ss

comprehension of the listen/reading text?• Can you give me some example of these kinds

of activities?

Skimming Activities• ordering/numbering items of main ideas• making a list of main or significant events• reading or listening for the mood, feeling or tone of the text or

passage• outline the main or fill in an outline where the details are provided

but not the main ideas• ranking the importance of the main ideas or significant events• checking off relevant information from a text or picture• select the correct response such as

what’s the best title for this passage• label pictures, graph, or graphic

organizer• matching picture with description• matching two general pieces of information• writing summary statements

Scanning Activities

• checking off relevant information from a text or picture• ordering/numbering items• label pictures or parts of pictures• matching two pieces of information• select the correct response fill in graph, or graphic

organizer• fill in the blanks• ranking• true/false• multiple choice• writing short answers

A list of Comprehensive Assessment Activities

• Summary• Retelling• Sequencing a summary• Sequencing pictures• Using pictures to retell the text• Synthesis such as

– making inferences (reading/listening between the lines)– drawing conclusion

• Application of new knowledge; e.g. using what they have learned to identify the technique being used

• Discussion• Debate

During Stage

• A cloze activity checks Ss comprehension at the word/sentence level. Is this a good final assessment activity of a listening or reading text? Why or why not?

• Why do we need to check Ss comprehension at the text/discourse level?

• Is the whole meaning of a text stated directly? When we listen or read something and understand more than was said or written what are we doing? Is this an easier or harder task?

• Where in the reading lesson should Ss be reading/listening between lines, making inferences and drawing conclusions? Why?

Building SchemataBuilding Connections

• Text to Self– choose texts with characters the same age as the

students, or had similar problems and experiences– let learners share connections from past experiences

? ? ? ? ?

?

Building SchemataBuilding Connections

• Text to Text– compare characters, their personalities, and actions– compare story events and plot lines– compare lessons, themes, or messages in stories– find common themes, writing style, or perspectives in

the work of a single author– compare treatment of common themes by different

authors– compare different versions of familiar stories

Building SchemataBuilding Connections

• Text to World– create posters and ads– write in a reading or listening response

journals– complete projects about the topic or theme– perform role plays or skits

Post Stage

• When does it happen in the lesson?

• What happens at this stage of the lesson?

• Why?

• If the POST stage is “extra icing on the cake” why do I believe it is essential to include in any reading or listening lesson?

• How does the POST stage relate to Tomlinson’s aspects of good materials?

PRE

DURING

POST

Why the diamond?

Look at these two SLOs.How are they different?

• By the end of the lesson SWBAT ask and answer questions using frequency adverbs (always, usually, sometimes, seldom, never) in the dialog (A: How often do you ___? B: I _____ _____.) BY doing a classroom survey.

• By the end of the lesson SWBAT demonstrate their comprehension of the text, “That’s Her Problem” BY retelling the story with picture support.

Receptive Skills SLO Formula

By the end of the lesson, SWBAT demonstrate their understanding/ comprehension of the ______________ (text/passage/story/dialog/conversation/article/etc.),_____________ (title of text) BY ________________(doing something).

Example

By the end of the lesson, SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of the conversations, “Problems at the Airport” BY describing the inferred conclusions about what each speaker will do.

You Try

• Write and SLO for the following:1. fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper”

2. debate “Should We Build the New Library”

3. public service announcement “What to Do in Case of a Fire”

Compare Yours to Mine

• By the end of the lesson, SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of the fairytale, “The Ant and the Grasshopper” BY inferring the moral that we can learn form the story.

• By the end of the lesson, SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of the public service announcement, “Should We Build the New Library” BY summarizing the debate using a graphic organizer.

• By the end of the lesson, SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of the debate, “What to Do in Case of a Fire” BY drawing a diagram or making a poster that shows the sequence described in the announcement.

Put these tasks in order using PDP1) Give task a series of T/F statements, let Ss read statements, then Ss listen

to text. Ss check answers together, T elicits correct answers from group2) Give Task: “Why is the older lady worried?” “What suggestion will the clerk

make.” Ss read Qs. Ss listen to text. Ss check answers together, T elicits correct answers from group

3) Give Ss a bus schedule and a map of the US. Ask Ss to plan a trip to some place in the US. Ss will describe what bus/buses they will take. How long it will take and the cost of the travel.

4) Show picture of bus station. Elicit background knowledge by using guiding Qs: “Where do you think this is? What’s happening? Etc…”

5) Give task: “How many people are speaking? Where are they?” Let Ss read Qs. Ss listen to the text. Ss check answers together, T elicits correct answers from group

6) Introduce topic: “Long distance travel by bus.” Ask Ss if they have every gone a long distance by bus? Ask if they’ve traveled by bus in an English speaking country?

7) Give task: Each Ss gets a bus ticket with a destination. Ss must listen and find their bus number. Different Destination for each Ss. When Ss hear their bus number they should stand up. T play tape several time until most/all Ss can stand up when their bus number is called.

What order did you come up with?

• Pre– 4: Assess Ss prior knowledge– 6: Intros topic and allows Ss to share past experience to create

interest and relevance• During

– 5: It a general listening task– 1: It a easy specific listening task.– 7: It’s a more difficult specific listening task– 2: It’s the most difficult listening task because it requires Ss to

use inference and draw conclusion which assess Ss knowledge at the text/discourse level

• Post– 3: Ss do a task that moves beyond the text that allows

personalization of topic/theme and gives them a chance to connect topic theme to their own lives

Role of Grammar vs. Role of Vocabulary in the Language Classroom

• Let’s start by looking at some statements.• Give me a thumbs up if you agree• Give me a thumbs down if you disagree

• “That vocabulary is more important than grammar is not true. If you know a bunch of words and don’t know how to put them together, there are very few chances for you to be understood.”

• “You don’t really need to teach grammar explicitly, saying things like, ‘this is the past perfect tense and you form it like this’. That’s unnecessary. I think it’s better to teach learners to communicate, to practice as much English as possible in class with real language. Grammar will look after itself.”

• “I get really annoyed when I teach a grammar point and then a few minutes later they make a mistake with it.”

• “For students to use grammar correctly it should be presented in a context, its meaning and use should be clarified, and then they should practice using it.”

• “Without grammar, little can be said; without vocabulary, nothing can be said.”

• “If you give students plenty of examples in different situations where the structure is used, they should be able to work out the rules for themselves.”

How many words?

• 500,000 to 1,000,000 words in English

• Educated native English adult knows about 20,000

• We learn about 1,000 a year• We use about 1,800 in everyday

conversation

Threshold Levels

• Everyday conversation learners need 1800 to 2000 words for 80% comprehension.

• For non-academic reading texts learners need about 5000 words for 90% comprehension.

• For academic texts, the number of words needed for 80% comprehension varies dramatically by genre.

Three Lessons to be Learned

• Identify what the most frequent 2,000 to 5,000 vocabulary items

• Help learners learn how to learn vocabulary on their own

• Don’t begin reading instruction with low level learners until they have a threshold vocabulary level of at 1200 words.