Including Assessment Results in Teaching

As an English teacher, you will be most frequently measuring your students’ progress by giving such different kinds of assessments as homework, assignments, quizzes and tests on a regular basis. Likewise, you will be involved in marking those assessment tasks. Whether you mark your students’ work subjectively (depending on your overall impression of the work as in assessing a composition or a role-play) or objectively (where there is usually one correct answer as in gap-fills and MCQs), you will notice common errors students have made. It is best to include those errors in upcoming teaching sessions and use them as an opportunity for learning. After all, the purpose of assessment is not to check what students can’t do, but to check what progress they have made and what they still need to work on.

Keep a record of the most frequent errors that occurred in the previous form of assessment. You might collect grammar, vocabulary, structure mistakes from discrete-point tests (testing individual language points such as word or sentence transformation task) and/or integrative tests (ie one question such as a role-play testing a number of items or skills). These common errors should be included in remedial sessions after tests. Here are five activities you can perform after each assessment. 

1. Paper skirt: Minh Mai (2015) outlines a creative, competitive activity involving sentence correction. Prepare a piece of paper with sentences containing mistakes that the students have made. Put one sentence on each line and space them so that the paper can be cut into strips which remain joined at the top, to form a skirt. Put the students in small groups and give each group a ‘skirt’. The students take turns to tear a strip away, correct the sentence and present it to the teacher. Monitor and be around the groups for confirmation. The team that finishes first wins.

2. If the school system allows sharing tests questions with students after the test, you could simply hand a blank copy of the test to each pair of students. Alternatively, display the test questions on the smart board or project them onto the board or wall. Have the students discuss each task in pairs. Elicit/give the answers the questions and explain any confusion and difficulties for the students to avoid in the future.

3. If the common mistakes are just a few, an economical technique to apply is to write the mistakes on the board in example sentences or as they have been occurred in the test and ask the students to work in pairs to correct them. Elicit the correct form and use of each target item. It is better to include some correct sentences, so the students are challenged to find the wrong ones among all the sentences and correct them. Don’t forget to praise them for the correct language use as well.

4. In terms of writing exams, you could choose one composition that includes some common mistakes that you want to pinpoint to the students. Give a copy of that composition with the name removed in order not to offend the person who has made the mistakes. Alternatively, you could display that piece of writing on the screen. Allocate a time limit (depending on the length of the writing) to students to read the text and find any vocabulary mistakes, grammar errors, misuse of linkers, incorrect punctuation, etc. 

Have students compare their findings and comment on the text in pairs before soliciting open-class feedback. Remember to focus on the good use of language in the text. It is better to start with praising the correct use of grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, before shedding light on the misuse of language. 

You would also choose to comment on task completion and form. Ask the students such questions as: “Do all the supporting sentences relate to the controlling idea?” Which sentences should we omit from the paragraph and why?” At the end, give a score to the composition and discuss your decision with students according to some writing criteria. That would help them understand how assessment is being conducted. 

5. As for speaking exams, you could record your students’ production and select one audio anonymously and play it back later for students so as to find any misuse of language or any communication breakdowns. Hold an open-class discussion about the speaking test by playing and pausing the listening track; praise any good use of the language and highlight common mistakes; have students correct the errors. Discuss your score with the students and finish the activity by giving advice for upcoming speaking exams.  

These errors provide an insight into the students’ linguistic difficulties, and they should be taking into consideration when you prepare forthcoming classes. Conducting assessment tasks and then throwing them away would not help students to avoid repeating the same mistakes. By dedicating a session for common errors made in tests in our teaching schedule, students will have the chance to learn from their and others’ mistakes and try to improve their test results.

Do you include students’ errors in your teaching? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions to be added to the list above?

References

Mai, T., M. (2015). One more time. English teaching professional. (101) 22-23.

Global Problems

Global problems such as poverty, corruption, and racism are constantly on the rise. We always hear about them among others in every kind of media and it seems as there are no practical solutions to those human dilemmas in the near future. Thus, I considered preparing an integrated skills lesson about three common world problems for my intermediate and upper-intermediate classes. 

I didn't follow the conventional procedure of a reading lesson plan, where students read a text for the first time to get the general idea of the topic (skimming). Then they scan (read more thoroughly) it to find specific information. 

I have designed a "reverse reading" lesson as it is called by Prentis (2014). In this lesson, I started with an engaging lead-in followed by general speaking questions about the topic before reading the text. The reading text is divided into three paragraphs. Students are put in threes; each one reads a paragraph and reports to the group. I integrated speaking with reading skills in this lesson to make it more communicative and learner-centered. Finally, students conduct some vocabulary work before they reflect on the reading and discuss three more questions in groups. 

Feel free to use the lesson and let me know how it goes. Click here to download the lesson plan. 

Ref. 

Prentis, N. (2014) Reverse reading conversation lessons. Modern English teacher (23), 3, 68-69.

The Great Wall of China

I have noticed recently that my students are interested in talking and reading about tourist attractions and historical sites. For this reason, I have chosen an authentic article about the Great Wall of China. As the text is authentic, it gives the students more confidence for learning English and encourages them to read about other sites and other topics of interest. The language and length of the article are appropriate for intermediate level. The text is interesting and engaging; it provides students with facts about the Great Wall of China. I have designed achievable tasks to enable them to practice their reading skills before the lesson ends with a follow-up speaking activity about the most popular tourist attraction students have visited. 

Feel free to download and use the lesson plan with your classes. Click here to get the lesson. 

Grammar-Translation Method

“It has been said that the Grammar-Translation Method teaches students about the target language, but not how to use it” (Larsen-Freeman, 2008).

The Grammar-translation Method was popular in the 18^th century towards the first half of the 20^th century as the main method for teaching classical languages such as Roman and Latin and later for teaching other foreign languages. However, many techniques of this method are still widely practiced around the world until our day. The main aim of this method is to enable students to translate literary texts from the target language into their mother tongue and vice versa. For this reason, learners are taught the grammar explicitly and given lists of bilingual vocabulary items to memorize. The teacher focuses mainly on teaching reading and writing skills and gives little emphasis on listening and speaking. The language of instruction is the students’ native language as communication in the target language isn’t the goal of this method.

The teacher is the authority and source of all information in class; meanwhile, students are being told what to do and have little to contribute. The most dominant tasks are reading and translating texts word for word into the students’ first language followed by answering comprehension questions. The most prominent interaction pattern is teacher-students. Neither pair nor group work is encouraged. Students often work individually on controlled practice activities such as gap-fills, matching, sentence completion, and translation. As accuracy is given great importance, errors are perceived negatively; the teacher makes sure that the learners’ answers are accurate and correct all the time.

Why is the Grammar-Translation Method still popular today?

Since the advent of the communicative approach in the 1970s, several published textbooks attempted to place more emphasis on listening, speaking, and pronunciation. Communication in the target language is the aim of many English-learning coursebooks which include communicative exercises that advocated pair and group work. Nevertheless, many teachers still practice the Grammar-Translation Method even the coursebook they are using encourages communicative language teaching and learning. 

I have observed many colleagues teach different levels where they translated reading, listening, grammar, and vocabulary exercises word for word. Their main concern was that if students didn’t understand every word, they would not be able to learn English. Similarly, many students, especially adults taught previously in this way, feel insecure if they don’t get every word translated. I observed many of those students study mainly English grammar and vocabulary for years but not being able to communicate well. They are usually weak on using the target language in real-life language use. What a pity!

Understanding how the language works doesn’t guarantee successful use of it out of class. I believe that students must use the language to learn it. Learning how to communicate in English is like any skill that you need to practice over and over to master it. You don’t need to know how the car functions to be able to drive. All you need to know is how to drive and that happens by practice.

When can teachers use the Grammar-Translation Method?

The grammar-Translation Method could be used when the target language is spoken out of class, where learners have the chance to practice it in the target community. I don’t mind learning and being taught Turkish this way as long as I live in Turkey where I need Turkish everywhere for shopping, banking, transportation, and so on. Another reason for using this method is teaching for an upcoming exam. The students’ level is below the contents and grammar of the syllabus and they are going to be assessed soon. The teacher has no time but to help students prepare for the exam by explaining the grammar explicitly and translating the important exercises that might be similar to the ones on the exam. The third reason for using this method is when students desire to learn Latin or Roman!

How not to use the Grammar-Translation Method?

Read more about the other language teaching approaches and apply the techniques that best suit your students. Avoid using the students’ L1 as much as you can and negotiate the importance of using the target language more in class. Encourage pair and group work more; reduce your teacher talking time in favor for more student talking time. Aim for accuracy and fluency and tolerate students’ errors unless they cause communication breakdowns. Facilitate more free production activities which resemble real-life language use and support peer-correction. Give your students some of your authority by asking them to provide the correct answers on the white board and involving them in preparing certain activities. Let them decide what homework tasks to do and to what extent you should correct them when they participate.  

My experience with the Grammar-Translation Method

I took German classes at university for three semesters and scored 98, 100, and 99 on three exams, which indicated the fact that I worked hard to obtain those scores; yet I don’t remember being able to communicate or even perform basic tasks in the target language. The main reason was the method the teacher used in class. He translated every word in the syllabus. Little emphasis was given to speaking and listening exercises and very little or no emphasis on pronunciation. For those gloomy reasons, I make sure to place more emphasis on communication skills in my general English courses. On the other hand, in English for Specific or Academic Purposes courses, emphasis is placed on students’ needs and demands.

I am not against using the students’ mother tongue in teaching English. We can’t ignore the advantages of sharing one language with our students. There are times when translating a word, chunk, or grammar point could save time for more practice later in the class. However, overusing the mother tongue deprives students of maximum exposure to the target language and doesn’t motivate them to use it themselves.

For those who are still not convinced that the Grammar-translation Method is outdated, inefficient method, consider the following quotation:

“The Grammar-Translation Method is still widely practiced, it has no advocates. It is a method for which there is no theory. There is no literature that offers a rationale or justification for it or that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology, or educational theory” (Richards & Rodgers, 1999).

           

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2008). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J., C. & Rodgers, T., S. (1999).  Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Guidelines for Teaching Vocabulary

A large number of words, phrases, and chunks are acquired incidentally via reading and/or listening to stories, articles, and news items out of class. Similarly, many words are learned from textbooks, teachers, and classmates. In this post, I will shed light on how vocabulary is usually presented and taught in class. 

Presentation

Commercial textbooks usually use different techniques to present new vocabulary. Context-based vocabulary lessons are the most common method for presenting vocabulary. Materials writers most often integrate teaching receptive skills with teaching vocabulary.  You can notice that most reading and listening texts contain subskills exercises such as gist and comprehension questions followed by grammar or vocabulary work. The reason is that presenting vocabulary through a reading or listening text is more engaging and logical for learners to grasp the new items.

Another common way of presenting vocabulary is through lexical-theme lists. Some coursebooks include a vocabulary reference at the end of the book with many vocabulary items along with their pictures (similar to a picture dictionary). The downside of this approach is that learners get overwhelmed by learning too many words out of context within a short time and little practice. 

A third way of presenting vocabulary is called “situational presentation”. In this method, the teacher uses a picture to build a story around, feeding in the vocabulary she intends to teach. It is sometimes time-consuming, but the effect it has on students is worthwhile, especially if the teacher has personalized the story or dialogue.  You can narrate a story about your last holiday to teach words and collocations such as package holiday, sunbathe, go sightseeing, four-star hotel, make a reservation, etc. Tell your story to the learners twice, let them ask some questions, and then give them the script and ask them to underline the words and phrases (hyponyms) related to the superordinate word “holiday”. Put students in pairs and ask them to work out the new vocabulary items from context. 

Clarification

The presentation stage of any kind must be followed by clarification and practice stages to enable learners to learn, remember, and prepare for using the new vocabulary productively and correctly. Teachers should choose seven to eight key items from the text to clarify their meaning, form, word class, and pronunciation. They are also advised to teach these words in context. But there are times when they need to write these words in isolation to highlight a certain linguistic feature such as stress. In reading texts, students see the form of a new word before they get the meaning, and that allows them to make guesses about it from the co-text and context, which is an important sub-skill they always need in real life. 

On the other hand, students are introduced to the sounds of the new items in listening texts before meaning. In this case, they need to use their general knowledge about the subject (schemata) and their bottom-up (linguistic) knowledge as well to get the meaning. In any case, meaning must be established and clarified as soon as possible for learners wouldn’t be able to connect the new lexis with other words they know and store them in their memory unless they get their meanings. the teacher could use a variety of modes for conveying the meaning of a vocabulary item, such as giving a definition, using a gesture, cline, example sentence, picture, synonym or antonym, etc. Using one or a combination of these techniques depends on the word at hand. For instance, an effective way to explain the word “mild” is to write a sentence example and put it on a cline: It’s mild today; let’s have a walk (boiling -hot - mild - cold -  freezing). Having conveyed the meaning, the teacher is advised to use concept checking questions (CCQs) to check if the learners have got the correct meaning. 

When pinpointing the form of a lexeme, a teacher should consider the word class (whether the word is a noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and spelling, especially if it is at odds with its pronunciation. Teaching other words within the same word family would be appropriate at this stage. For instance, it is easy for a student to learn the word “anger” if he has learned ‘angry”. Pronunciation comes next; the teacher drills the lexis chorally and individually indicating the correct place of stress. For more details on what aspects of a word a teacher should teach, and examples for using CCQs and anticipated problems, click here.

Practice

So far there is no guarantee that learns are able to use the words at hand productively. In other words, they are still passive. We need to put the word to work. The mainly teacher-centered clarification stage must be followed by student-centered production activities. New vocabulary items should occur in different exercises which cognitively engage the learners. Learners need to do some controlled practice such as identifying, matching, gap-fills, sentence completion, grouping words in categories. The practice such exercises provide helps students get the new items round their minds. The more students make decisions about words the more they remember them (Thornbury, 2002).

Production

Having done some of the above controlled-practice exercises, students should be ready for freer production activities, in which they use the target language in speaking or writing activities. If learners have learned shopping words and phrases such as get a refund, exchange, on sale, etc., the teacher can set a role-play where student A is the shop assistant and student B is a customer. If students have practiced holiday vocabulary such as sunbathe, go sightseeing, take photos, they can practice these items in speaking or writing about their last holiday. 

Production activities should be guided by the teacher with simple instructions and/or demonstration so as students know exactly what is required from them. A good production exercise is the one that asks learners to personalize the target language to talk about themselves or someone they know. Production exercises should be similar to real-life discourse when learners use the language to communicate with others. The class is a great place to prepare students for real-world communication. Hence, the time allocated for controlled practice and freer production tasks must be much longer than the time allotted to the presentation stage. 

While students are conducting the production activities, the teacher is recommended to take notes of good language use and common errors from the students' practice for a delayed error correction stage. After the learners have finished the speaking or writing activity, she writes the notes on the board and has the students mark the sentences correct and incorrect. Then she praises them for the correct use of the new items and gives them a time limit to correct the mistakes in the wrong sentences. 

Even students have done enough practice in one session, they are still prone to forget the new items in a short time if they haven’t encountered/revised the vocabulary again. Recycling activities must be taken into great consideration for they enable students to store the items in long-term memory. You could start or end your lesson with a short recycling activity. And make sure you distribute the vocabulary over a number of recycling activities in different sessions (Thornbury, 2002). Click here for a list of my top five recycling activities. 

If you have any interesting ideas on teaching vocabulary, please share them with us in the comment box below.  

Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. England: Pearson Education Limited

Posters in Speaking Class

Last week, I had a speaking class with my pre-intermediate students about environmental problems. In their speaking book, there are three pictures about different environmental problems which they have to identify and discuss the causes of each. Having done this, I asked them to choose one problem from the pictures and prepare a poster about it (I owe this idea to Emma and Gary Pathare) including a title and main points. To make it more challenging, I asked them to include a drawing and solutions to the problem in the poster. 

In fact, I was reluctant to have my students prepare the poster; I was wondering if it would ever appeal to my adult students. However, I gave it a shot; and to my surprise, they were quite interested and worked in pairs enthusiastically. While working on the posters, I monitored them and threw out some suggestions and corrections to keep them on track. With a time limit of 15 minutes, they produced interesting, unique posters with meaningful drawings. 

Now the posters were ready, I allocated five minutes to the students to prepare a short informal presentation about their posters. One representative from each pair came to the front and talked about the problem, causes, and solutions and most importantly explained the drawing. The whole class listened attentively and gave feedback on the posters. Finally, the class voted for the best poster which included a title, clear key points, and a beautiful, meaningful picture. 

The task was a success as it deviated the students from the coursebook for a while and involved them in planning, discussing, drawing, and presenting. I was blissfully happy to see them use the target language in a creatively productive way. 

Using posters in class is easy and involving. Other topics you can use the poster activity with are: holidays, hobbies, dream house, etc. which are high frequent topics in many coursebooks. As a follow-up activity, you would ask your learners to prepare a poster about their dream house, for example, using related lexis and structure from their main lesson.   

Try the poster activity in your class and let us know how it goes. 

Using Anagrams for Recycling Vocabulary

An effective and easy recycling activity that involves cognitive work is anagrams. It is a game-like activity, in which students form words from randomly written letters. Choose 10 to 12 vocabulary items from previous lessons and write them on the board with their letters in the wrong order (such as utelerc, nrasmei – for lecture, seminar). Get students work in pairs to unscramble the anagrams. The first pairs who finishes wins, and they are asked to come up to the board to write the words for the others to check the correct spelling. 

Reviewing words in isolation is of little effect on communication. It is better to connect the target words with other words to form phrases or chunks which are more easily stored in the memory and more important for communicating fluently. So, if the list of words is about sports, ask students to write the verb that occurs with each sport. Or if the list is about shopping items, ask students to write an appropriate adjective/verb/ article adjacent to each word. Allocate 3-4 minutes for this task. Students can complete this task individually or in pairs. Next, they compare their lists with new partners/pairs before you nominate different individuals to come to the board and write their lists. Other students can add different collocations too. 

An addition task to exploit the words and to engage the students in a production task is to have them write a short story or dialogue which includes at least seven words/phrases from the list. This production activity offers a great practicing opportunity of the target language. Set a time limit of 10-12 minutes to conduct this task. Students work individually or in pairs while you circulate and monitor. Once students have finished, they exchange their papers, read and edit their partner’s work. Finally, nominate a few students to read aloud their stories to the class.

An alternative activity to the story task is to ask students to write five sentences, each of which contains a word or phrase from the list. Alternatively, they can write five questions using a phrase in each to ask their partners.

Any of the above recycling activities can be executed individually according to the time available for recycling exercises.