Overview of the Pedagogical Guidelines

Mate Day,

Agadir, June 7th, 2005.

Outline

Theoretical framework Teaching practices: Language components

and skills Classroom management Project work Assessment Bibliography

I. Standards

Definition:

« specify what students should know and be able to do (content), what they might be asked to do to give evidence of standards (performance), and how well they must perform (proficiency). “

Standards

Rationale:

- »as rigorous goals for teaching and learning »

- «ensure that our schools offer students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success.”

Standards vs Curriculum?

Standards define « broad perspectives »

Curriculum: lessons, materials, techniques; i.e. « details of the day-to-day schooling »

Applications of standardsthrough the curriculum

Ability to think

Skill in communication

Production of quality work

Connections with the community

Standards: Background

Research in ESL: « Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century” (general outline)

Moroccan educators (performance standards to support each content standard)

Standards: Key notions

Communication

Cultures

Connections

Comparisons

Communities

Standards: samples

Interpersonal:Conversation

-Content Standard: Students will understand and interpret a language other than their own in its written and spoken form on a variety of topics.

-Rationale: Students should develop strong listening and reading skills to interpret the concepts, ideas, and opinions expressed by members of other cultures through their media and their literatures. This standard focuses on increasing the level of understanding as students listen to, read, or view materials in a new language

Standards: samples (2)

Culture practices: -Content Standard:Students will demonstrate an

understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied.

-Rationale: To fully understand another culture, students need to develop an awareness of another people’s way of life, of the patterns of behaviour that order their world, and of the traditional ideas, attitudes, and perspectives that guide their behaviours.

Syllabus for Level 2

Listening Speaking Reading Writing Themes and topics Functions Structural content

II. Skills: a. Reading

Rationale:

as a ‘skill in its own right’; as life requirement; in relation to writing; as exam requirement

Reading: Competencies

Macro-competencies (global):determining the organization of a text, recognizing the function of a text, undertaking project work related to the theme of a text, . . .

Micro-competencies (sub-competencies):

scanning, skimming, inferencing, evaluating information, . . .

Teaching reading: steps

Pre-reading: previewing title, semantic mapping, picture stimulus, . . .

While-reading: identifying text organization/ function, ‘word-attack’ skills, . . .

Post-reading: oral/written follow-up, summary, debate, project work, . . .

II. Skills: b. listening

The teaching context

Interrelated with speaking

Aims and competencies: communicative, cultural, strategic, methodological

Teaching listening

As a complex skill

Types of activities

Outcomes

Requirements

Methodology: suggested procedure

1. Preparation

2. Presentation

3. Listening

4. Checking

5. Re-listening

6. Follow-up

II. Skills: c. speaking

Rationale:

”Success (in language learning ) is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language “

Nunan 1991 .

Types of tasks

Prononciation exercises; Dialogues : dialogue completion, jumbled

exchanges, dialogue recital / rehearsal, Responding to teacher questions /

comprehension q. Role-plays : situational cues, functional

cues, free role play; role cards, Songs / poems recital, . . .

Procedure

1. Prepare

2. Present

3. Practice

4. Evaluate

5. Expand

II. Skills: d. writing

Rationale: producing pieces of written discourse

Competencies: generating , organizing ideas; planning; exploring materials (magazines, . . .) ; . . .

Discourse forms: Journals, e-mails, letters, anecdotes, . . .

Main Stages

Pre-writing

Writing

Follow-up

Grammar

Rationale: descriptive vs generative grammar; usage vs use,

Objectives: generate instances of correct usage, manifest knowledge of the language system, . . .

Approach

Combination of inductive and deductive

Competency-based approach (ref. charter)

Competency-based approach

Definition:

« In ESL a competency is a task-oriented goal written in terms of behavioural objectives… It is not what the students know about language, but what they do with the language.”

(Nunan 1988 : 34)

Bissonnette and Richard’s model

Level one: skill/’what to do’ level: enables the learner to reproduce and explain the content (e.g a grammatical rule) in his own words.

Level two: capability/’when and how level’: the learner should be able to determine when why or how to use the material.

Level three: : Competency/ “mastery” level. This level is characterized by the successful, frequent

and automatic use of the material, be it a structure or whatever.

Steps

Specify objectives in behavioral terms Skill level: presentation/comprehension

check Capability level: practice/production Competency level: use/application Evaluation: checkist criteria: automaticity,

authenticity, contextualization, skills integration

Functions

Rationale: CBI ‘learners should be able to use the target language in their actual and foreseeable social, vocational and academic situations’

Types: greeting, asking for permission, expressing ability, possibility, . . .

Methodology

1. Preparation

2. Presentation

3. Receptive practice

4. Productive practice

5. Recycling

Classroom management

Definition: ‘Classroom management refers to the ways in which student behaviour, movement, and interaction during a lesson are organized by the teacher to enable teaching to take place more effectively. Classroom management covers a wide range of areas including managing pair and group work, handling transitions, giving instructions, and dealing with disruptive behaviour.’

Classroom Management

Managing pair work

Managing group work

Teacher and learner roles

Project work

Definition

Major benefits

Projects presentation

Project work topics

Continuous Assessment

Aims

Rationale

Test specifications

Bibliography

Testing

Learning theory

Language teaching methods