-PRACTICE II,
DIDACTICS OF ELT AND PRACTICUM AT PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL. Prof. Adjunto Regular
Estela N. Braun, auxiliar docente Prof. Liliana Monserrat.
CLASS 8: April 16th, 2015.
PRACTICAL 4:
Revision and integration of the main concepts learnt in this unit. Task to be solved as recursos Tareas in our
Moodle page.
PART 1:
Motivation.
Provide a
definition of Motivation citing authors. (Douglas Brown, Jeremy Harmer, Zoltan Dornyei).
What do we
understand by extrinsic, intrinsic, instrumental, integrative motivation?
Read about the
“Motivation Angel” metaphor by Harmer (2008:99). Explain the role that affect,
achievement, attitude, activities and agency play in learning.
SUGGESTIONS FROM
EXPERTS IN MOTIVATION: (Spratt, Pulverness and Williams, 2005, Cambridge, the
TKT course).
Ø A. Set a
personal example with your own behaviour (be motivated as a teacher yourself).
Ø B. Create a
relaxed atmosphere in the classroom (i.e. try to prevent anxiety in yourself or
the learners).
Ø C. Present tasks
in an interesting way which makes the tasks seems achievable to the learners.
Ø D. Develop a
good relationship with the learners.
Ø E. Increase the
learners’ self-confidence about language learning (I.e. help learners feel they
can be good at learning the language).
Ø F. Make the
language classes interesting.
Ø G. Promote
learner autonomy.
Ø H. Personalize
the learning process (i.e. make the course feel relevant to the learners’
lives).
Ø I. Increase the
learners’ awareness of their goals.
Ø J. Familiarize
learners with the target language culture.
ACTIVITY:
Match the following classroom activities to the suggestions above.
( H ) Giving
learners a story about skateboarding because you know many of them like
skateboarding.
( J ) Encouraging
learners to meet some first language speakers of English.
( B ) Giving
learners a test which is quite easy for most of them.
( G ) Asking
learners which of four tapes they would like to listen to in the next lesson.
( I ) Giving
learners reading texts about working in an English-speaking country.
( A ) Teaching
with enthusiasm and interest.
( C ) Presenting
the language to learners in small bits which they are able to learn easily.
( D ) Talking to a
learner after class about the problems in their last homework, and how they can
make better progress.
( E ) Encouraging
and praising learners , even weak ones.
( ) Making sure your lessons are varied and
well-paced.
( F ) Your
learners love doing crosswords and you often include them in your lessons.
1) Motivation is
essential to success because we have to want to do something to succeed at it
and without motivation we would fail to make the necessary effort.
According to
Jeremy Harmer, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone
to do things in order to achieve something. Douglas Brown also contributes to
this definition arguing that the need for ego enhancement functions as the main
motivator, in other words, the need for the self to be known and to be approved
of by others.
Zoltan Dornyei
claims that motivation is a key factor which affects different learning
behaviours in different ways, and taking into account that language learning is
a series of diverse learning behaviours rather than a uniform process, it might
be one reason why some direct motivation learning analyses have failed to
produce unambiguous results.
Extrinsic
motivation is related with outside factors. For instance: the need to pass an
exam, the hope of financial reward, the possibility of future travel, etc. On
the other hand, intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual. Hence a
person may be motivated by the enjoyment of the learning process itself or by
the desire to make themselves feel better.
In Gardner and Lambert words (1972), motivation plays an important role
in language learning. They are responsible for proposing the most commonly used
framework for understanding the different motivations that language learners
typically have. These writers distinguish two types of language learning
motivation: instrumental motivation and integrative motivation.
Learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because
of a practical reason such as getting a salary bonus or getting into college.
Many college language learners have a clear instrumental motivation for
language learning: They want to fulfil a college language requirement.
Integrative-motivated learners want to learn the language so that they can
better understand and get to know the people who speak that language. This kind
of motivation has proven to be a strong impetus to successful language
learning.
Learners who are integratively motivated are also interested in the
culture associated with that language. They may have significant Others such as
a boyfriend or girlfriend, or family members who speak the language and
heritage language learners typically have a particularly strong integrative
motivation for language learning. Several studies have found that language
learners who are integratively motivated are more successful than those who are
instrumentally motivated; it is likely that integratively motivated language
learners are more successful because their motivation is stronger than that of
instrumentally motivated students.
* The Angel of the
North is a remarkable 20-metre-high statue which provides with a satisfying
metaphor to deal with the greatest difficulty teachers face in terms of
motivation.
In practice, there
are five external factors which play an important role affecting motivation in
our classrooms. They are:
1) Affect: it is
concerned with students’ feelings and the teacher has a main role in it.
Students are more likely to stay motivated during a period of time if they feel
the teacher cares about them. This is achieved by building good teachers-students
rapport and in consequence, we will cause on their self-esteem to nurture, what
is vital for success.
2) Achievement: it is
closely related with success. Teachers´ duty is to try to ensure that students
are successful so as to maintain in them their same degree of motivation on
learning they previously start with, and prevent failures appear throughout lessons.
Nevertheless, success without effort does not seem to be that motivating.
Students will lose their respect for the task of learning if it is too easy.
They need to feel a real sense of achievement with a level of challenge
appropriate for them.
3) Attitude:
Teachers’ attitude is fundamental for children to gain confidence on their
knowledge. It is very important for them to perceive that the professional
really knows about the subject and is prepared enough to take this significant
position. The whole attitude, from the first time we walk into the classroom
until the way we are dressed will contribute to create their confidence on the
teacher. If this affair is achieved during the lessons, then the control over
students is guaranteed.
4) Activities: It is
very important to provide them with activities they enjoy and get involved with
in order to keep them motivated. Keeping a constant eye on each student and on
what they enjoy the most will help teachers to design activities related to
their tastes and, in consequence, to maintain them engaged with the lesson.
5) Agency: This
is a term which implies giving students an active role in the actual decisions of
the learning process and not being merely passive recipients of activities.
When students have agency, they make themselves responsible for their own
course design. Thus, to a certain degree, students should be allowed to make
decisions and have partial control of the lessons so as to foster their
motivation over a longer period of time.
PART 2:
Understanding the CEFR reference.
231-243 pages to
focus on.
Read and analyze the
illustrative scales of descriptor is: Which levels could be reached at primary
school/ secondary school levels? Read also the ALTE can do descriptors:
ALTE CAN DO
STATEMENTS, pages 251 until 256
Answer:
According to the
scales of descriptors, children at primary school could reach an A1 (False
beginners) level during kindergarten (from the age of 3 to 5 years) and first
cycle (from the age of 6 to 8 years) and they could begin with an A2 level (Elementary)
during the second cycle (from the age of 9 to 11 years). At secondary school,
children could reach an A2 level completely and begin with a B1 level (Pre-intermediate)
in order to reach it at the end of high school. Children would begin being
basic users of English (A1 and A2) till they will become independent users
(B1).
Compare and
contrast them with YLE Cambridge expected outcomes: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/153612-yle-handbook-for-teachers.pdf
About their
favourite holiday / words that the teacher gives them.
Answer:
Comparing and
contrasting the scales of descriptors with YLE Cambridge expected outcomes; we observe
that “Starters” cannot be compared with CEFR because the level is a bit lower than
A1. For example:
- Starters, Overall general ability, Listening & Speaking:
CAN: understand simple sentences about things around
them, like ‘This is a chair’, ‘I like my school’, ‘That’s my pen’. CAN: respond
to personal questions on topics such as age, family and their home.
- CEFR LEVELS, ALTE Can Do Statements: A1 Breakthrough level, Overall
general ability, Listening/Speaking:
CAN understand basic instructions or take part in a
basic factual conversation on a predictable topic.
In the case of
“Movers” is equivalent to an A1 level. For example:
- Movers, Social & Leisure, Reading & Writing:
CAN: understand simple stories and shorter texts with
the help of pictures and drawings. CAN: write about what they like doing in
their free time, using words given to them.
- CEFR LEVELS, ALTE Can Do Statements: A1 Breakthrough level, Social
and tourist typical abilities:
Reading. CAN: understand simple notices and
information, for example in airports, on store guides and on menus. CAN:
understand simple instructions on medicines and simple directions to places.
Writing: CAN leave a very simple message for a host
family or write short simple 'thank you' notes.
The same occurs
with “Flyers” which corresponds with an A2 level. For example:
- Flyers, Overall general ability, Listening & Speaking:
CAN: say that they do not understand something or
cannot do something, and ask for help; using expressions such as ‘Could you say
it again, please?’ CAN: talk about a problem in simple terms.
- CEFR LEVELS, ALTE Can Do Statements: A2 Waystage, Overall general
ability, Listening/Speaking:
CAN: express simple opinions or requirements in a
familiar context.
3. Using the
textbooks that you brought to class state:
Title: I-Spy
(Activity Book 1)
Author: Julie
Ashworth and John Clark
Year of edition:
1996
Find activities
that may suit the following descriptors: http://www.esolscotland.com/documents/alte.pdf
According to the
descriptors in the CEFR, the activities that we found in the book are suitable
for an A1 level.
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