CHAPTER SIX

The Purpose and Processes of Evaluation

When I listen the word evaluation the first thing that comes to my mind is the word grades or scores that we give to our students. In fact, a major concern of teaching English language for teachers has been assessing and evaluating students' progress during their courses of study as well as their classroom achievements at the end of it.

Within the study of this chapter we checked the definition of evaluation it is used to generate grades and to promote learning. However, today faculty, almost entirely and exclusively, evaluate student work. In the learner-centered teaching still evaluate and grade student work, but evaluation activities that involve students are included in the process in that way students learn how to assess their own work and participate in the evaluation of work done by their peers which let learners develop skills that independent, self-regulating learners need.

Let’s point out another important aspect from this chapter and it is Elements of Evaluation Experiences That Promote Learning. First of all, as future teachers we need to know that motivation drives students to get grades it means that if a student feel motivated to learn the language they are going to be more interested to improve their grades. Second of all, we should work to maximize the encounters with content that occur as a consequence of evaluation activities that they result in rich, transformative learning experiences.

As a conclusion, teachers have the big responsibility to find ways to evaluate students that let them know the students’ strengths or weakness in order to help them in their learning process.

References:

Ncrel.org,. (2015). Process Evaluation. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/css

Dfpni.gov.uk,. (2015). Evaluation: The Basic Process | Evaluation in the Northern Ireland Civil Service: A Guide for Departments | Welcome to the Northern Ireland Guide to Expenditure Appraisal and Evaluation (NIGEAE) | Finance | D F P (N I). Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/evaluation__the_basic_pr

CHAPTER THREE

THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER

Teachers play a crucial and vital role in the molding of students, they guide students to attain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the world. In fact, the main goal of this chapter is to describe what it means to be a facilitator of learning.

Let´s tackle some aspects about this chapter such as in the learner-centered classroom, being a facilitator of learning is more a requirement and less an option since teachers provide the knowledge to students but it is them who master the material and develop learning skills.

However, facilitative teachers have also been compared to guides and according to Hill (1980, p.48) he mentions that teachers and students climb together since the guide rope links mountain climbers together so that they may assist one another in the ascent. It means that teachers and students are responsible of having a meaningful learning.

Moreover, Barr and Tagg (1995, p.24) they assign another role for teachers and it is “coach” by focusing on “A coach not only instructs football players but also designs football practices and the game plan” in others words the teacher participate in the learning process by taking into consideration (making decisions) to help students in their learning.

In addition to be a teacher is really hard and challenging since we need to assume many roles to guide our students which let them learn and develop their skills in a successful and practical way.

References:

B., S., & B., S. (2015). The 7 Roles of a Teacher in the 21st Century. Etoninstitute.com. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.etoninstitute.com/blog/item/26-the-7-roles-of-a-teacher-in-the-21st-century/26-the-7-roles-of-a-teacher-in-the-21st-century

Work - Chron.com,. (2015). What Is the Role of Teachers in Education?. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://work.chron.com/role-teachers-education-8807.html

Videos:

YouTube,. (2015). The role of the classroom foreign language teacher. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKSjPyxm8-c

YouTube,. (2015). What is the Teacher's Role in the Classroom?. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhA0yIgEDVU

UNIT 8

SPEAKING

Speaking is the productive skill which learners find the most complicated and difficult since it involves using speech to communicate meanings to other people. In fact the main purpose of this unit is to point out how we do this.

When we speak we need to consider some speaking subskills for example; making use of grammar which involves vocabulary and functions (the reason of communicating) as well as use the appropriate register (formal or informal it depends on to whom we are speaking), use features of connected speech it is also really important since it refers to the pronunciation of a word will change depending on the words around it. Another relevant subkill is to use interactive strategies which help us to of keep people interested and involved in what we are saying. For example; we can use body language to help learners to infer in what we are trying to say it includes gestures, eye contact, facial expressions and movements.

As all teachers know that the students sometimes have fear to speak since they feel ashamed of pronouncing a word incorrectly can cause misunderstandings or laughs. However, I as teacher I will use controlled practice activities that help students to use the language that they have been taught by making some drills, repetition and saying things learnt by heart (things that are memorised) these activities focus on accuracy in speaking like use grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation correctly. In addition, teachers have to know what activities let student practice and improve their pronunciation.

References:

Nclrc.org,. (2015). Teaching Speaking. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from 

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/spinde

Es.slideshare.net,. (2015). the principles of teaching speaking. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://es.slideshare.net/apamipale/the-principles-of-teaching-speaking

Videos:

YouTube,. (2015). Teaching Speaking with Task-Based Learning. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QirhNeIwQ0w

YouTube,. (2015). Teaching Speaking Fluency & Conversational English - Intenrnational TEFL Academy TEFL class. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wJgt2kurMs

UNIT 7

LISTENING 

Listening is the language skill which learners usually find the most difficult. This often is because listening is a receptive skill, as it engages responding to language rather than producing it. 

Moreover, this skill involves some subskills like:  listening for gist (the global understanding)  from the audio, listening for specific information by taking into account details or infer attitude(listening to see what attitude a speaker is expressing)

On the other hand listening also has two types like; intensive it focuses the students’ attention on language form in others words the aim of intensive listening is to  raise the learners’ awareness of how differences in sound, structure and lexical choice can affect meaning. While, extensive listening focuses on meaning rather than form its purpose is to provide students with as much target language input.

To sum up, we can say that listening can cause frustration on students since it is really hard to develop however there are some tips that can give a hand to students with it for example; I can give to my students the chance to listen many sources of spoken language e.g. visitors, CDs, DVDs, other learners this exposes learners to a range of accents, speeds of delivery. Another way of helping students is give them authentic material which contain all the features of real spoken language.

References: 

Quick and Dirty Tips,. (2015). How to Improve Listening Skills. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/how-to-improve-listening-skills

Alessandra.com,. (2015). Improve Your Listening Skills - by Tony Alessandra, Ph.D.. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from http://www.alessandra.com/platinum_members/lis

LBCC - IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS

Videos:

YouTube,. (2015). LBCC - IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9LBUf1NzU0

YouTube,. (2015). The wrong way to improve your English listening skills. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_PQvy9xKNw

UNIT 6

WRITING

Writing is a productive skill it means that it involves producing language rather than receiving it that’s why it is really complex for students to develop it in a successful way but there are some strategies or techniques that help us to get better at writing.

Regarding to different degrees of formality it engages which type of register we are going to use in our writing it depends on to whom we are writing e.g. if we write a letter for a close friend we use a informal language that involves the different level of complexity of grammar, or we can also use idioms or vocabulary.

On the other hand, writing also involves using writing subskills. Some of these are related to accuracy it refers to use the correct forms of language such as spelling, forming letters correctly, joining letters together, punctuation, using correct layouts (different ways of ordering information), choosing the proper vocabulary, and using grammar properly. In addition, if we use those subskills we have to take into account the proper style and register, and organizing ideas.

In order to start writing something in a helpful way we need to know the stages of writing. First, we have to work out what we want to say by collecting ideas then we work out the order in which we want to say it by planning or organizing ideas. Second, we start writing our first draft which can be changed. Third, we have to edit it by correcting the content of the text. Fourth we look for mistakes in accuracy and correcting this is called proofreading and finally we have the re-drafting it refers to the second final version of our piece of writing. Those stages let learners write in a correct way any text type which contain the two main components chorenece and cohesion and I as teacher I will ask my students to follow the stages to ease the development of this skill.

References:

Teflbootcamp.com,. (2015). Teaching EFL Writing | TEFL Educator | TEFL Boot Camp. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://teflbootcamp.com/teaching-skills/teaching-efl-writing/

Time4Writing.com,. (2015). Online Writing Courses for Kids in Elementary, Middle & High School from Time4Writing.com. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://www.time4writing.com/teaching-writing/

Videos: 

YouTube,. (2015). Writing Lessons : How to Teach Writing Skills to ESL Students. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXNoMbNBgrI

YouTube,. (2015). TEFL Class Instruction: How to Teach Writing Skills in the ESL Classroom.. Retrieved 1 May 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbZUKAamXDU

UNIT 5

READING

Reading is one of the most important skills that a learner should develop in an effective way but it becomes really hard to do it since we do not have the custom or habit to read something.However, in the study of this unit we checked some relevant aspects that this skill involves and which can help us to improve it.

First, when we read we need to take into account some reading skills like; reading for specific information (scanning), reading for gist (skimming) it refers to the global understanding of the reading, reading for detail and finally, deducing meaning from context  I think that those skills are really helpful in order to become a better reader.

Second, I as future teacher I need to know that there are two types of reading which can help my students to improve or encourage them to read. For instance, intensive reading according to Brown he explains that it "calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like. While, extensive reading involves reading for pleasure long pieces of text such as; a story or article this type of reading can help to encourge our students to read somtehing that they are interested on.

As a conclusion, if I want to help students with this skill I should follow some tips that this book mentions like: check which reading subskills their learners are good at, then practicing the subskills they are not using well or help them by pre-teaching vocabulary(teaching vocabulary from the text before the learners  read the text).

References:

I Can Teach My Child!,. (2012). 10 Steps to Teaching Your Child to Read - I Can Teach My Child!. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from http://www.icanteachmychild.com/10-steps-to-teaching-your-child-to-read/

Teflbootcamp.com,. (2015). Teaching Reading in EFL | Reading Skills in EFL | How to Teach Reading | 

TEFL Educator | TEFL Boot Camp. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from http://teflbootcamp.com/teaching-skills/teaching-efl-reading/

Video:

YouTube,. (2015). Powerful Method for Teaching Reading to Classroom of Students. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPsAuf1ihMk

UNIT 4

FUNCTION 

To my mind the revision of this unit was really relevant since it involves “functions” they are the reasons why we communicate in fact everything that we say has a purpose or function for instance we have apologizing, greeting clarifying, inviting advising, etc.

Let’s tackle some aspects from this unit, the language we use to express a function is called an exponent for example; Context= a receptionist doesn’t understand a phone call message from a guest, Exponent = sorry, could you repeat again? Function= asking for clarification as we notice the ing forms of verbs to name functions.

Moreover, we have to take into account the levels of formality which are divided into two formal  we use it in situations that are serious or that involve people we don´t know well while informal language is more common when we speak with our friends.In addition, the language that reflects the situation in which it is used is often referred to as register.

As a conclusion, I as teacher really need to know why I should teach functions in the classrooms and the answer could vary because they can lead to an emphasis on communication and learning language in chunks.  As well as, combining functions and grammar helps to give grammar meaning and context. 

References:

Es.scribd.com,. (2015). Language Functions in English. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from https://es.scribd.com/doc/16389593/Language-Functions-in-English

Educ.ualberta.ca,. (2015). Functions of Language. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%

Videos:

YouTube,. (2015). Teaching Function: Finding an Apartment - ESL, EFL, TEFL. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_BSyFo3IFs

YouTube,. (2015). language-functions. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7gOSuU3ExM