1、Classroom Observation: Learning,Xinjiang Normal University Spring 2014 Ms. Michelle Bruton, MA TESOL April 7-11, 2014,Homework Completed:,Observation Form 1: Ethnographic Narrative Observation Form 3: Classroom Interaction,Your Discoveries,Ethnographic Narratives: What was the class about? What was
2、the teacher teaching? Did the teacher have any challenges? What surprised you? Anything that stood out?,Your Discoveries,Form 3: Interaction patterns?Do weaker or stronger students tend to disappear? Did the teacher focus on the students on one side of the room more than the other?What attending str
3、ategies did the teacher use the most? The least?,Seating Arrangements,Attending Strategies: Name (N) Nod () Smile Eye Contact Reprimanding Look Touch (T),Teaching Philosophy,Language,What is the purpose of language? Why are there different languages? How do you feel about Chinese? Uyghur? English? O
4、ther languages you have studied?,The Teachers Meta-Language,Teacher talk The language a teacher uses to allow the various classroom processes to happen= The language of organizing the classroom,The Teachers Meta-Language Includes:,The teachers explanations Response to questions Instructions Giving o
5、f praise Correction Collection of homework And more.,Meta-Language:,Important source of learning because it is genuinely communicative For example: Praising a student or asking one to be quiet, or other task = a potentially rich source of input,Common Abbreviations Used,TTT: Teacher Talk Time STT: S
6、tudent Talk Time,What Does the Teacher Say?,“Look at the map. Can you see the bank?”What is the communicative purpose?,What Does the Teacher Say?,What is the communicative purpose? Giving Directions Checking Comprehension,The Language of Questions,Different purposes Socializing Scene setting Checkin
7、g vocabulary Checking learning Seeking opinion,Six Question Types,1. Yes/no questions e.g. Here is a picture of a woman. Have you seen her face before? 2. Short answer/retrieval-style questions e.g. What did she say about the film?,Question Types,3. Open-ended questions e.g. Whom could he have telep
8、honed? 4. Display questions (questions requesting information already known to the questioner) e.g. What color is this pen?,Question Types,5. Referential questions (questions requesting new information) e.g. What did you study at university?,Question Types,6. Non-retrieval, imaginative questions (qu
9、estions that do not require the learner to retrieve given information or information in which an opinion or judgment is called for) e.g. What do you think the writer was suggesting by making the central character an animal?,Blooms Taxonomy,Refers to a framework facilitated by Benjamin Bloom Classifi
10、es learning objectives within education that are deemed important Bloom was concerned with the organization of educational objectives into such a structure that would allow for reliable and consistent assessment by instructors at the university/college level.,Blooms Taxonomy,Bloom, along with many o
11、thers, developed the framework between 1948 and 1953. Encompasses three domainsCognitive (thought processes)Affective (attitudes & behaviors)Psychomotor (fine motor skills),New Blooms Taxonomy,Blooms Taxonomy,Blooms Taxonomy is a hierarchical structure that identifies skills from lower order skills
12、to higher order skills with the assumption that those possessing higher order skills must have already mastered the lower level skills below them. A useful framework for educators to keep in mind while they are designing learning environments,New Blooms Taxonomy,Activity: According to Blooms?,When w
13、as the Olympics held in Beijing? What effect did hosting the Olympics have on China? What would it have been like to be at the Olympics?,Error Correction,Mistakes versus Errors,Mistakes: Slips of the tongue that students make for a variety of reasons: momentary inattentiveness or distractedness, spe
14、aking too quickly, or just getting things mixed up. Errors: Deviations from standard English (lang.) because the student does not know the required structure or form. A student can be expected to self-correct a mistake, but may not be able to correct an error without more focused teacher interventio
15、n.,Remember When,Growing up (in primary, middle school, high school), do you remember how your teachers corrected your errors? What effect did it have on you as a student?,Now, think of your experiences learning foreign languages (English, Uyghur, Russian, Japanese, ect).What experience do you have
16、of being corrected when speaking a second or foreign language? Do you think this will influence your teaching? In what ways?,What Do You Prefer?,How do you like to be corrected by your teacher, or do you prefer to corrected by your peers?,Fluency versus Accuracy in Error Correction:,Teachers always
17、need to balance the twin goals of fluency and accuracy when they judge when and how to correct a student. Fluency : ability to speak quickly and smoothly without much thought Accuracy: Ability to speak in a grammatically correct manner,When To Correct?,Teachers have to take into consideration a rang
18、e of factors: Stage of the lesson/type of activity: Is it an accuracy or fluency-based activity? When the focus is on accuracy, teachers can correct more immediately. For fluency-focused activities, teachers can correct right away those mistakes or errors that are impeding communication, but in gene
19、ral can hold other issues until the end of the activity.,When To Correct?,Level of the student If students make errors in language structures or items that are beyond their expected level, then teachers need to determine if the student has enough background knowledge to deal with any correction. If
20、beyond students current ability, the teacher may have to simply restate the information as clearly and simply as possible.,Student Errors,Which of these two sentences do you most agree with?Student errors are evidence that learning has not taken place. Student errors are evidence that learning is ta
21、king place.,Trial and Error,In most things, humans largely learn by trial and error, experimenting to see what works and what doesnt. Same with language learning,Student Errors Provides:,Evidence that progress is being made Show us that a student is: experimenting with language trying out new ideas
22、taking risks attempting to communicate making progress,Feedback from Students Errors,Analyzing what errors have been made clarifies exactly what level the student has reached (assessment)Helps the teacher know what to teach next (correction; teach),Whats the Best Way to Correct an Error?,*,Error Cor
23、rection: Five Different Opinions,1. Audio-Lingualism: Learners mistakes are avoided by the limiting of progress to very small, controlled steps. Hence, there should be little need for correction Belief that people learn by getting things right in the first place and have their performance reinforced
24、. (Ur, 2011),Error Correction: Five Different Opinions,2. Cognitive Code-Learning: Errors are regrettable, but an unavoidable part of learning Errors should be corrected whenever they occur to prevent them occurring again. (Ur, 2011),Error Correction: Five Different Opinions,3. Interlanguage: Errors
25、 are not regrettable, but an integral and important part of learning Correcting them is a way of bringing the learners interlanguage closer to the target language. (Ur, 2011),Error Correction: Five Different Opinions,4. Communicative Approach: Not all errors need to be corrected Main aim: Receive an
26、d convey meaningful messages Correction is focused on errors that interfere with this aim, not on inaccuracies of usage. (Ur, 2011),5. Monitor Theory: Correction does not contribute to real acquisition, but only to the learners conscious monitoring of speech or writing Main activity of the teacher s
27、hould be to provide comprehensible input from which the learner can acquire language, not to correct (Ur, 2011),Error Correction Ideas:,Elicit Correction: Simply correct the mistake! Use this method if time is limited, but remember that the student does not think for themselves.Tell the student, sen
28、sitively, that he or she has made a mistake (“Very good, but there is a mistake in your sentence. Try again”Use facial expressions: surprise, frown, raised eyebrows,Error Correction Ideas:,Use facial expressions combined with gestures: e.g. Raised eyebrows and hand outstretched to hold the sentence
29、until the class or student corrects it.Recast: Echo the sentence with changed intonation or stress to show where the error is and elicit the correction (e.g. S: I go shopping yesterday T: You went shopping yesterday?),Error Correction Ideas:,Elicitations: Ask a question (e.g. S: I go shopping yester
30、day T: When did you go shopping?)Meta-linguistic feedback: Give a clue or hint (e.g. S: I go shopping yesterday T: tense)Repetition: Repeat the sentence up to the error (e.g. “They looked for a?) using a questioning tone.,Error Correction Ideas:,Write the sentence on the blackboard, underline the mi
31、stake and ask students to correct it.Ask other students to help the student correct the error. Use the phonemic chart or realia: (by pointing at the relevant phoneme) to correct pronunciation.,Three Mistakes You Should Always Correct:,1. Communication failure. If it interferes with the listeners und
32、erstanding of what was said. 2. Bad/inappropriate language. Using swear words or words that could be construed as racist or sexist. You absolutely must let students know when they use this language, as they may not be aware of the full meaning of the words or phrases.,Three Mistakes You Should Alway
33、s Correct:,3. Habitual mistakes. High frequency errors. Listen for mistakes that are particular to that individual. If you can help a student correct an error that they habitually make, then youll be able to help their overall accuracy.,The 4:1 Rule,Four positive interactions for every negative inte
34、raction. For every five times that you interact with students in the classfor every negative one create four more positive ones. Part of your role is to be as positive and encouraging as possible to help your students become successful. Otherwise, students may feel that their language abilities are
35、inadequate or feel that they make more mistakes than they actually do.,Field-Observation Form: Feedback to Error,On TOP of field-observation form,Name Teachers Name Course /Level Date,References,Scrivener, J. Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching. Macmillan. Ur, P. (2011). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge University Press.,
