Transcript Language Links – putting the pieces together!

What we know and what we do:
From Teaching Knowledge
to Teacher Development
Alan Pulverness
Norwich Institute for Language Education
No handouts…but electronic
copies available from:
[email protected]
What knowledge
do teachers need?
Two kinds of knowledge…
• Declarative knowledge: knowing about…
• Procedural knowledge: knowing how to…
…and a third
Tacit knowledge: what we know intuitively…
“We know more than we can tell”
(Michael Polanyi)
 Describe language systems and
language skills
 Understand learners and how they learn
 Be aware of different teaching
methodologies
 Prepare and plan effective lessons
 Select from a range of resources
 Use the ‘language of teaching’
 Understand different classroom
management methods for different
needs
What is TKT?
 Describe language systems and
language skills
 Understand learners and how they learn
 Be aware of different teaching
methodologies
 Prepare and plan effective lessons
 Select from a range of resources
 Use the ‘language of teaching’
 Understand different classroom
management methods for different
needs
TKT – 3 free-standing modules
Module 1
Language and background to
language learning and teaching
Module 2
Lesson planning and use of resources
for language teaching
Module 3
Managing the teaching and learning
process
Module 1
Language and background to
language learning and teaching
Part 1 Describing language
and language skills
 grammar
 lexis
 phonology
 functions
 skills and subskills
Module 1
Language and background to
language learning and teaching
Part 2 Background to language learning





motivation
exposure to language and focus on form
the role of error
differences between L1 and L2 learning
learner characteristics and needs
Module 1
Language and background to
language learning and teaching
Part 3 Background to language teaching





presentation techniques
introductory activities
practice activities
tasks for language and skills development
assessment types and tasks
Module 2
Lesson planning and use of resources
for language teaching
Part 1 Planning and preparing a lesson
or sequence of lessons





identify and select aims
components of a lesson plan
plan a lesson
choose and sequence activities
choose assessment activities
Module 2
Lesson planning and use of resources
for language teaching
Part 2 Selection and use of resources
and materials
 reference resources
 selection and use of:
- coursebook materials
- supplementary materials and activities
- teaching aids
Module 3
Managing the teaching and learning
process
Part 1 Teachers’ and learners’ language
in the classroom
 functions of teacher language
 functions of learners’ language
 categorise learners’ mistakes
Module 3
Managing the teaching and learning
process
Part 2 Classroom management




teacher roles
grouping
correcting
feedback
How can we develop our procedural know-how?
How can we make our tacit knowledge explicit?
Your teaching history
• Can you identify the key stages in your
development as a teacher?
• Which of these stages were triggered in some
way by external events or by contact with
other people?
• Which of them were brought about as a result
of your own accumulating experience?
• Can you see any patterns or threads in your
own development?
What is teacher development?
• What does TD mean to you?
• Why do you think it has become a buzzword?
• What experiences have you had which could
be classified as TD?
• How does it happen?
• How do you think it could happen?
Teacher development…
• …deals with the needs and wants of the individual
teacher in ways that suit the individual...from
confidence-building to language awareness or
technical expertise.
• …is often seen as relating to new experiences, new
challenges and the opportunity for teachers to
broaden their repertoire and take on new
responsibilities...helps to fight a feeling of jadedness
and to develop their careers as well as themselves.
Teacher development…
• …is not just to do with language teaching or even
teaching…can also be about language development,
counselling skills, assertiveness training, confidencebuilding, computing, meditation, cultural broadening...
• …has to be "bottom-up", not dished out by
managers…managers may have a role... and
managers should not stop organising in-service
training.
[Richard Rossner, cited in Head & Taylor 1997]
How does TD happen?
A. 30 minutes daily ‘quiet
time’ to list personal
action points.
B. 2 colleagues try out a
new idea for a month /
discuss progress once a
week.
C. Group of colleagues
meet once a month to
discuss a book or article
all agree to read.
D. Group meets once a month to
talk over problems individuals
have encountered.
E. Taking a course on a non-ELT
subject
F. Enrolling on a teacher training
course.
G. Reviewing a book for a
teachers’ journal.
H. Setting up a small-scale action
research project and reporting
on it at the next TEFLIN
conference.
A framework for effective self-monitoring
1. Select an aspect of your
teaching you are interested
in learning more about or
wish to improve.
2. Find out more about it by:
- reflection on problems
- reviewing feedback
- inviting an observer
- reviewing current issues
and how they might relate
to your teaching
3. Narrow down your focus to
what seems most important
to you.
4. Develop a plan of action to address
the specific problem area you have
identified. What will you try to
change? What effects will these
changes have?
5. Draw up a time frame to try out
new approaches and to monitor the
effectiveness of the strategies you
have chosen.
6. Decide on practical self-monitoring
procedures.
7. Check to see if you have been
successful.
[adapted from Richards 1990]
Methods of data-collection
 field notes
 teacher diaries
 audio recording
 video recording
 learner diaries
 interviews
 questionnaires
 sociometry
 still photographs
 documentary evidence
 case studies
 observation
Necessary conditions for
classroom research
Viability
Don’t tackle issues you can’t do anything about.
Discreteness
Only take on small-scale and relatively limited projects.
Intrinsic interest
Choose a topic that is important to you and your
students, or one that you have to be involved with
anyway in the course of your teaching.
Intentional action planning
1
2
3
4
5
Only I can make my action plan, but I can be greatly
assisted by the facilitation of another person.
An action plan should be treated with respect as a kind of
personal contract.
The steps on it must be clear, practical and attainable.
If not, then I am writing my own contract for failure.
The steps must take account of the problems that may
arise and how to respond to them.
An action plan must be purged of wishful thinking.
[Adrian Underhill]
Example sequence:
action planning after a period of learning
1 List the major possible learning points.
2 Choose just one of these points to work with.
3 List all the steps needed to put that point into action.
Check that each step is concrete, clear and
attainable.
4 Look at any possible problems and how best to
respond to them.
5 Include any help you will need, where you will get it
from, and how.
6 Specify your criteria for success.
7 Specify the time frame.
8 Decide how often you will review the plan.
Classroom research…
• “…is teacher development
made explicit”
(Maria Elena Perera de Perez, cited in
Head & Taylor 1997)
• “…liberates teachers from their prejudices
and allows their instincts to blossom.”
(Headmaster cited in McNiff 1988)
No handouts…but electronic
copies available from:
[email protected]