Transcript OPEN HOUSE - Sookmyung TESOL MA

2011 Fall MA Course
Portfolio
Kim Ju Young
(1054006)
Contents
1
Introduction
2
Personal and Professional
3
Teaching GEP class
4
Action Research
5
Epilogue
documents
Introduction
As an English teacher, I have been teaching
secondary students for six years. Teaching is one
of the most rewarding, and meaningful jobs that
can fulfill self esteem of helping others in many
respects. It entails lots of skills not only giving a
good lecture but also interacting with students,
and I always feel great need to keep studying and
being open minded to new trends of young
society with a good command of English. Thus I
apply for this M.A. course at SMU.
Introduction
Personal and
Professional
1
Curriculum Vitae
2
Teaching Philosophy
3
TESOL MA courses I took
Curriculum Viate
CAREER SUMMARY
Teaching English for approximately 10 years
Homeroom Teacher for 6 years
Earned qualifications, certificates and lots of
experiences in education, and volunteer work
.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION




Feb. 2012.
Expected to earn M.A.in Graduate school of
TESOL, Sookmyung University in Seoul,
S.Korea
2006
B.A in from English Education Department
Choongang University, In Seoul, South Korea
2002 – 2003
Study in Missouri University, USA
2000 – 2002
Study in Chinese Language and Literature
Department in Cheonnam National University,
Gwangju, Korea
Curriculum Viate
Curriculum Vitae
TEACHING EXPERIENCES








Jan. 2011. – Feb.2011
Teaching Internship in Delaware, USA
Supported by Incheon City Educationa Department
.
2009
Head teacher of learning foreign language club
In Incheon Girls Commercial Highschool
2008 – Present
Incheon Girls Commercial Highschool Incheon,
South Korea
2006 – 2007
Teaching in Namincheon Girls’ Middleschool
2006
Assistant teacher for native speaker of English
department In Namincheon Girls’ Middleschool
2006 – Present
Full time secondary teacher In charge of
homeroom class
2003
Part- time teaching at private English institute
2000- 2002
English Private tutoring
Curriculum Viate
Curriculum Viate
OTHER EXPERIENCES
•2004
Head student in the dormitory for
scholarship students In Namdo Haksuk,
Daebang , Seoul
•Mar. 2003
Volunteer work in the Indian Reservations
in Arizona, USA
•Aug. 2002 – May. 2003
Exchange student in Missouri University
Columbia, USA
•2001 – 2002
Volunteer work for Korean Americans over
summer break in Gwangju
•Mar. 2000– Aug. 2000
English reporter at University Press,
Cheonnam Tribune
.
Curriculum Viate
Curriculum Viate
OTHER EXPERIENCES
•2004
Head student in the dormitory for
scholarship students In Namdo Haksuk,
Daebang , Seoul
•Mar. 2003
Volunteer work in the Indian Reservations
in Arizona, USA
•Aug. 2002 – May. 2003
Exchange student in Missouri University
Columbia, USA
•2001 – 2002
Volunteer work for Korean Americans over
summer break in Gwangju
•Mar. 2000– Aug. 2000
English reporter at University Press,
Cheonnam Tribune
.
Curriculum Viate
Curriculum Vitae
CERTIFICATE and AWARDS
2008
Certificate of Teaching Korean to foreigners
Yonsei University in Seoul
2008
Certificate of TESOL
.
Sookmyung
Women’s University in Seoul
2006
Award at National English Drama Memorization &
Acting Contest hosted by EBS
2006
Certificate of National Secondary Teacher of English
Incheon City Educational Department
2003
Second place at National University Student English
Contest In Chosun University hosted by Education
Department of Korea
2000
Third place at English Essay Contest in Cheonnam
University
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
SKILL
2009
• TEPS (1+)
2008
•IELTS (7.5)
2004
•Information Processing Technician Certificate
2003
•Computer Use in EXCEL Certificate
•National Chinese Character Certificate
.
Curriculum Vitae
Teaching Philosophy
When I was a little kid, I can remember taking care of 3 or 4 year
olds. Even though I was young myself, I liked to play and take care
of younger kids. When tutoring in university, I liked to be with my
students. With this character, and good interaction and bondage
with students in the time of practice teaching, I had no doubts to be
a good teacher who loves students and teaching. However, English
is not most students’ favorite subject. For some students, it is
exciting to learn from the beginning, but for the majority of students,
English is a fearful subject and don’t want to deal with it. Especially
in the current school system, students have to memorize a lot of
vocabulary to interpret the written passages for the exam, and don’t
have much time to practice output areas such as writing or speaking.
That’s why students usually consider English as one of subjects, and
their active vocabulary for output skills is not good, easily getting
feared. As a language instructor, I want to encourage my students to
produce output of English rather than just having input and help
them feel confident with their English and themselves. Not only I
want to facilitate their learning but also I want to help them grow
inside and turn into a better person.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
When I teach, I try to help them get rid of this fear by emphasizing
that not all people should be proficient in English, and English test
scores are not all there is to learn and use English. In the way of
increasing students’ confidence in English use, I also have them
present in English at least one time throughout the whole semester. For
example, the topic I’m currently teaching about is taking pictures, so I
ask students to give a presentation on their memorable, and
meaningful picture to them. They should describe the picture in 6
sentences, and afterwards, the whole class read their presentation
script and I correct the big errors. Their presentation is sometimes just
a series of English words, directly translated word by word, in Korean
order and contains lots of Konglish and errors. To most of them, it is
their first English presentation, and they shake their hands behind the
podium. However, many of them show much better presentation than I
thought and they seemed to be proud of themselves about the fact they
do give presentation in English. I am happy with their facial
expression and attitude after this presentation which they show more
efforts than I thought. When correcting their script, they don’t even put
subjects, and verbs appear here and there, but I give them lots of
compliment on their brave try to use English.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
For EFL learners, getting the words out in English itself is a big
challenge, and naturally may contain a lot of errors. Instead of
focusing on correcting their mistakes, I’d like to give a compliment
on their try. As long as they speak English, broken or Konglish, the
first step is to speak words out, not to cook how to say in the head.
Thus I try to encourage students to speak as much as possible, and
give a big compliment in overreacting ways, which helps students
relieve fear and stress of English speech.
Besides this, I ask them not to feel afraid of foreigners. Except
for just a few students, all they did before the native speaker at my
school was calling out his name, and saying hi. When the native
speaker, Eric asked something, they just smiled a lot because they
didn’t know how to answer properly. My students feel inferior
because they cannot speak English well. However, I pinpoint the
fact that we are living in non-English country where other foreign
travelers or teachers should try to learn Korean. They should be
ashamed of not being able to use the language of the country they
are living in. In order to encourage them to speak English as much
as they can, and not to become shy, I give them my experience in
Japan where I was told in Japanese only even I couldn’t understand
Japanese.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
The number of English users doesn’t make the country stronger,
but when the country is strong, the language itself becomes strong. I
don’t want my students to feel inferior and ashamed because they
cannot answer foreigners in English. Even though I teach my
students usefulness and benefits of English ability when we are
abroad and for business as a global language, the most important
thing, I believe, is to feel confident with English whether correct or
not. Therefore, I keep mentioning it is natural that we make
mistakes, and have Korean accents.
In Korea, teacher’s role doesn’t confine to teaching the subject
only. Teachers have to take charge of a class of about 30 to 40
students with the name of homeroom teacher. It takes on much
responsibility and ongoing careful attention. As a teacher of just
about 6 years standing, I cannot say many experiences, but I try to
do as many things as possible for my students. I made them study
English picture cards, checked their daily schedule and journal by
writing comments, and made them daily classroom newspaper. This
was all extra work and time I put into for my students. Although
some students change into more mischievous person affected by
peers or unfavorable family situations, majority students change
into better person when more efforts and care are given. This year,
my students are worst of worst among 36 classes, but I still don’t
lose hopes that students do change. For teachers, it is the biggest
happiness when students show changes of action. What teachers
should adhere to even in moments of disappointment because of
students is belief of possibility and changeability in students.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
Nowadays teaching position is acknowledged because teachers
have long paid vacations as well as guaranteed long working years.
In the past, it was appreciated in the respect that it is most
rewarding and respectful because teachers are the ones who grow
immature people up and bloom the youth. Students are getting more
out of control and disrespectful. However, despite many difficult
unfavorable conditions, I believe being a teacher is an absolutely
precious role that grows immature human beings mentally and
academically. I want to give students hopes and good influence
through my experience, efforts, and English. For teachers, it is
greatly rewarding to see students gain confidence in the area they’re
studying, and so with themselves. I would like to help my students
realize the benefits of using English as a global language, and foster
strong second language ego as well as their identity.
Teaching Philosophy
Tesol Courses I took
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
METHODOLOGY 1
ISSUES IN COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE
TEACHING
TEACHING WRITING
INTRODUCTION TO CORPUS LINGUISTICS
INTERNET BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING
TESTING AND EVALUATION
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
.
Tesol courses
Teaching GEP class
1
Lesson Plan 1
2
Lesson plan 2
3
Mid-term Exam
4
Reflective Journals
Student Survey Result
Important Topics
games
social issues
cartoons
sports
12
art
fashion
shopping
jobs & career
language learning
movies
technology
Points
9 10 11
campus life
8
family
7
dating/relationships
6
leisure activities
5
friends
4
music
3
study abroad
2
travel
1
celebrities
food(cooking)
holidays
0
5
10
15
Introduction
Lesson Plan 1
Theme
• Daily Life
Function
• Writing complaint
Lesson Plan 1
Lesson plan 1
Time
8:00~8:05
(5 min.)
Activity
Materials
Introduction
▫ Greeting
▫ Returning writing assignment
8:05~8:25
Activity 1 – Finding worst of worst
(20 min.)
▫Students decide who had the worst experience on Korean
PPT
Thanksgiving day after sharing their experience in groups.
8:25~8:40
Activity 2 – Composing a complaint letter with given sentences Video clip
(15 min.)
▫ Students watch a video clip about complaining Mcdonald and Worksheet,
make a complaint letter with given sentence by excluding PPT
unrelated sentences to the given situation and ordering sentences.
8:40~9:40
Activity 3 – Tableaux
(60 min.)
▫ Students write a paragraph to explain a situation in a given place
PPT
and create frozen mime to show it.
9:40~9:50
▫ Break
(10 min.)
9:50~10:25 Activity 4 – Writing a complaints for SMU bulletin board
(35 min.)
Worksheet,
▫ Students write complaints about SMU life based on the survey PPT
results about school life.
10:25~10:30 ▫ Writing assignment and Closing
PPT
(5 min.)
Lesson Plan 1
.
* Activity 1 – Finding worst of worst
1. Objectives: Students will be able to complain their worst experience on Korean
Thanksgiving day in groups
Time
Procedure
3 min
1) Ts share their bad experiences on Korean Thanksgiving day.
10 min
2) Ss brainstorm their bad experiences on Korean Thanksgiving day.
3) Each student complains about one of the worst experiences in groups.
4) Each group decides the worst experience among 3 or 4 complaints.
7 min
5) The student who had the worst experience talks about it in class.
6) Ss decide the worst of worst experience on Korean Thanksgiving day.
* Activity 2 – Composing a complaint letter with given
sentences
1. Objectives
1) Students will be able to categorize sentences into related and unrelated to
the topic.
2) Students will be able to compose a complaint letter in a right order .
Time
Procedure
3 min
1) Ss watch a video clip in which a man speaking a complaint about a burger at
Mcdonald roughly.
12 min
2) Ts give a set of striped sentences of a complaint letter about the video clip. The set
of sentences includes several unrelated sentences to the given situation.
3) Each group unscrambles the sentences by excluding unrelated sentences and
arranging them in a right order.
4) Each sentence has an alphabet letter. When students complete ordering sentences,
one word can be formed. In this way, they can check the correct answer.
5) The first group which speaks the word will be a winner.
Lesson plan 1
.
* Activity 3 – Tableaux
1. Objectives
1) Students will be able to make a still image to show a situation where they can
complain and explain what situation it is.
Time
5 min
Procedure
1) Each group draws one strip where Ss may have dissatisfying experiences.
2) Ss brainstorm what dissatisfying situations can occur in the place based on their personal
experiences.
15 min 3) Ss choose a troublesome situation when they can complain, and write a paragraph to explain it.
4) Ss choose the scene to make frozen mime and prepare it to show the situation.
40 min 5) Ss present their frozen image in front of the whole class.
3(or 4) students will make the frozen image, and one student will explain their situation by
reading what they wrote.
6) After the presentation, other groups guess and write about which situation and which place the
presentation represents.
7) One student of each group reads their paragraph.
8) After presentation of all groups, Ts check a winner group that has the most correct answers.
* Activity 4 - Writing a complaining paragraph for bulletin board
1. Objectives
1) Students will be able to answer survey about satisfaction of SMU life.
2) Students will be able to write a paragraph complaining about SMU life.
Time
Procedure
10 min 1) Ss answer the questions in the survey sheet about SMU life.
2) Each group fines out what the most dissatisfying thing in SMU life is based on the survey
results.
15 min 3) Ss generate more detailed ideas related to their most dissatisfying thing in SMU life.
4) Each student write a sentence one by one to complete a complaint paragraph about the most
dissatisfied thing in SMU life in order to post it on the bulletin board of SMU web page.
10 min 5) T asks what the most common dissatisfying thing in SMU life.
6) A student in each group presents their complaint paragraph.
(Each group decides who will present.)
Lesson plan 1
.
< SMU Life Satisfaction Survey >
most
least
satisfied ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ satisfied
How much are you satisfied in SMU life?
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
1. Classes are helpful for your future study.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
2. There are many programs for job preparation.
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3. Exchange student program is established well 4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
enough.
4.
Professors
work
enthusiastically
on
class 4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
preparation and materials.
5. Classroom environment facilitates learning.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
6. Various scholarships are established.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
7. There are a lot of club activities for your free time.
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8. Cafeteria serves good food at reasonable price.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
9. Tuition of SMU is reasonable.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
10. I like SMU surrounding and atmosphere.
4 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 3 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ 1
Lesson plan 1
Lesson Plan 2
Theme
• Happy life (Happiness)
Function
• Giving Opinions
Lesson Plan 2
Lesson plan 2
Time
8:00 ~ 8:10
(10 min.)
Activity
Materials
Introduction
Video clip
▫ Greeting
PPT
▫ Returning writing assignment
▫ Showing video clip and playing the music
8:10 ~ 8:35
(25 min.)
Activity 1 – Seeking Components of Happiness
PPT
▫ Students will find the important factors consisting of Worksheet
happy life as a group and share the ideas
8:35 ~ 9:00
(25 min.)
Activity 2 – Finding Mr. Right (Group Work)
Worksheet,
▫ Students will choose the most appropriate guy for a PPT
woman and support their choice with opinions
9:00 ~ 9:10
▫ Break
PPT
(10 min.)
9:10 ~ 9:40
(30 min.)
▫ Activity 3 – Writing a paragraph about job
▫ Students will decide important facts regarding jobs and
write about it related to happiness.
9:40~ 10: 20 ▫ Activity 4 –Write an essay
(40 min.)
Worksheet,
▫ Students will write a fully developed essay about a PPT
happy life they want.
10:20~10: 25 ▫ Closing and Writing assignment
(5 min)
▫ Teachers assign homework.
Worksheet,
PPT
Lesson Plan 2
.
• Activity 1
Seeking Components of Happiness
1. Objectives:
Students will be able to
1) express their opinions with
supporting details.
2) come up with the idea of
the components of happiness
3)present their ideas and share them
about their view of happiness.
Activity 2 – Finding Mr. Right
1. Objectives
1) Students will be able to find the most
appropriate guy with good reasons.
2) Students will be able to write a
paragraph with one topic sentence and 5
supporting details.
▫ Activity 3
Writing a paragraph about job
1. Objectives
Students will be able to
1)figure out the important factors
for themselves.
2)write paragraphs about
occupations related to happiness.
Lesson Plan 2
.
* Activity 4 – Write an essay
1.Objectives
:Students will be able to write an essay
about a happy life.
Topic : What do you think you need
for your happy life and why?
Write a fully developed essay
with supporting details.
* Closing and Assignment
Within a few days, a new year
is waiting for you. What do
you want your next year to be
like? Imagine the best year of
2012 you wish for. What do
you think is the key to
happiness of 2012? State it
with specific details and the
reasons why you want it that
way.
Lesson Plan 2
< Self-Editing Checklist >
Group
Name
Please tick in the parenthesis, after you check the draft.
1. Format
(1) if spellings are all correct ( )
(2) if the title is appropriately put down (a title is better in noun forms)
(a) capitalization ( )
(b) centering ( )
(3) if paragraphing is correct
(a) indentation ( )
(b) sentences – one after with leaving just one space ( )
2. Language
(1) if sentence structures are all correct
(a) the first word is capitalized ( )
(b) punctuation (period, quotation marks, comma, etc.) are properly
used ( )
(c) proper nouns are capitalized ( )
(d) number agreement ( )
(e) tense agreement ( )
3. Content
(1) if the essay has a good thesis statement ( )
(2) if the essay has a good introduction paragraph ( )
(3) if the logical orders are natural ( )
(4) if each paragraph has topic sentences ( )
(5) if each paragraph has supporting details – more than 3 sentences ( )
(6) if the essay has a concluding paragraph ( )
(7) if the concluding paragraph does not include new information ( )
Lesson plan 2
<Activities>
Lesson plan 2
< Activities >
Lesson plan 2
< Peer-Editing Checklist >
< Content >
1. Introduction paragraph is interesting enough to catch reader’s attention.
Yes No
2. There are clear 2 factors for a happy life.
Yes No
3. There are enough supporting sentences to explain why the factor is important Yes No
for a happy life.
4. Conclusion paragraph doesn’t include any new information not to be in the Yes No
body paragraphs.
< Language >
1. There are some grammatical errors to bother comprehension of meaning.
Yes No
2. The punctuation marks are properly used.
Yes No
3. Spelling of words are correct.
Yes No
4. Linking words are used properly to connect content smoothly.
Yes No
< Format >
1. There is a well-formed title.
Yes No
2. There is the indentation in each paragraph.
Yes No
3. There are 1 introduction, 2 body, and 1 conclusion paragraphs.
Yes No
4. Each paragraph has more than 4 sentences.
Yes No
5. Each paragraph has a topic sentence.
Yes No
Lesson plan 2
< Activity Materials >
Lesson plan 2
Mid-term Exam
Midterm Exam - GEP II Fall 2011
Name: _______________
Student Number: __________________
1. Fill in the blanks by choosing appropriate words from Word Bank.
(10 points, each 1 point)
(1)
Word Bank
A birthday party is a celebration of the (A)
of the birth of the person
who is being honored. Birthday parties are a feature of many cultures. The
guests may be asked to bring a (B)
for the honored person. In Western
cultures, birthday parties are often accompanied by colorful (C)
, such as
balloons and streamers. In these cultures, a birthday cake is usually served with
lit (D)
that are to be blown out after a "Birthday wish" has been made.
The person being honored will be given the first piece of cake. While the
birthday cake is being brought to the table, the song "Happy Birthday to You" or
some other (E)
birthday song is sung by the guests.
(2)
Word Bank
(A)
party is a party that is not made known beforehand to the person in
whose honor it is being held.
(B)
party is a party where a large group of people get together at a
private home to socialize. This party is also called keg party or “keggers”
because people usually drink beer pumped from a keg in this party.
(C)
party is for the purpose of collecting money that will be given to
some person or to some institution, such as a school, charity, business, or
political campaign.
(D)
party is held for the purpose of welcoming a newcomer, such as a
new club member, or a family’s new baby.
(E)
is a style of party that is well suited to receiving many guests and
popular for large events such as holiday events at the White House.
Mid-term Exam
Mid-term Exam
3. Read the following complaint letter and circle the correct
answers.
(5 points, each 1 point)
(1)
Dear Mr. Choi,
I am writing to ( inform / perform ) you that the goods we
ordered from your company have not been supplied correctly. On
26, August 2011 we placed an order with your firm for 12,000 ultra
super long-life batteries. The ( consensus / consignment ) arrived
yesterday but contained only 1,200 batteries. This error put our
firm in a difficult position, as we had to make some emergency
purchases to fulfill our commitments to all our customers. This
caused us considerable inconvenience. I am writing to ask you to
please make up the shortfall immediately and to ensure that such
errors do not happen again. ( Otherwise / Likewise ), we may
have to look elsewhere for our supplies. I look forward to hearing
from you by return.
Yours sincerely
J. Wong
Mid-term Exam
Mid-term Exam
Midterm Exam - GEP II Fall 2011
Name: _______________
Student Number: __________________
1. Fill in the blanks by choosing appropriate words from Word Bank.
(10 points, each 1 point)
(1)
Word Bank
A birthday party is a celebration of the (A)
of the birth of the person
who is being honored. Birthday parties are a feature of many cultures. The
guests may be asked to bring a (B)
for the honored person. In Western
cultures, birthday parties are often accompanied by colorful (C)
, such as
balloons and streamers. In these cultures, a birthday cake is usually served with
lit (D)
that are to be blown out after a "Birthday wish" has been made.
The person being honored will be given the first piece of cake. While the
birthday cake is being brought to the table, the song "Happy Birthday to You" or
some other (E)
birthday song is sung by the guests.
(2)
Word Bank
(A)
party is a party that is not made known beforehand to the person in
whose honor it is being held.
(B)
party is a party where a large group of people get together at a
private home to socialize. This party is also called keg party or “keggers”
because people usually drink beer pumped from a keg in this party.
(C)
party is for the purpose of collecting money that will be given to
some person or to some institution, such as a school, charity, business, or
political campaign.
(D)
party is held for the purpose of welcoming a newcomer, such as a
new club member, or a family’s new baby.
(E)
is a style of party that is well suited to receiving many guests and
popular for large events such as holiday events at the White House.
Mid-term Exam
Mid-term Exam
4. Each of the following text has five parts that
need to be edited. Underline the inappropriate
parts and correct them. (20 points, each 2 points)
Example
Lately, some things at my new job have really been exciting me.
There's this new guy in
→ bothering
my office, Shin. she keeps asking me out. He's really nice, but I'm
just not interested in
→ He
her in that way. I told him that I would not date coworkers, but he
will give up. He
→ his
→ will not. He
has asked me everyday since I start.
→ started
(1) In Anglo-American culture, a tea party is a formally gathering for
afternoon tea. These parties are traditional attended only by
women, but men may also be invited. Tea parties are usual
characterized by the use of prestigiously tableware, such as bone
china and silver. The table, whatever its size or cost, are made to
look its prettiest, with cloth napkins and matching cups and plates.
The tea is accompanied by a variety of easy managed foods.
Mid-term Exam
Mid-term Exam
Midterm Exam - GEP II Fall 2011
Name: _______________
Student Number: __________________
1. Fill in the blanks by choosing appropriate words from Word Bank.
(10 points, each 1 point)
(1)
Word Bank
A birthday party is a celebration of the (A)
of the birth of the person
who is being honored. Birthday parties are a feature of many cultures. The
guests may be asked to bring a (B)
for the honored person. In Western
cultures, birthday parties are often accompanied by colorful (C)
, such as
balloons and streamers. In these cultures, a birthday cake is usually served with
lit (D)
that are to be blown out after a "Birthday wish" has been made.
The person being honored will be given the first piece of cake. While the
birthday cake is being brought to the table, the song "Happy Birthday to You" or
some other (E)
birthday song is sung by the guests.
(2)
Word Bank
(A)
party is a party that is not made known beforehand to the person in
whose honor it is being held.
(B)
party is a party where a large group of people get together at a
private home to socialize. This party is also called keg party or “keggers”
because people usually drink beer pumped from a keg in this party.
(C)
party is for the purpose of collecting money that will be given to
some person or to some institution, such as a school, charity, business, or
political campaign.
(D)
party is held for the purpose of welcoming a newcomer, such as a
new club member, or a family’s new baby.
(E)
is a style of party that is well suited to receiving many guests and
popular for large events such as holiday events at the White House.
Mid-term Exam
Mid-term Exam
5. Underline a sentence which is unrelated to the rest of
sentences in the following passage. (4 points, each 2 points)
(1) A shower is a party whose primary purpose is to give gifts to the guest of
honor, commonly a bride-to-be or a mother-to-be. Guests who attend are
expected to bring a small gift, usually related to the upcoming life event,
like getting married or having a baby. A shower will refresh you. As a giftgiving occasion, it may not properly be hosted either by the guest of honor
or the close relatives of the guest of honor, as requesting gifts from friends
for a near relative is seen as either greedy or begging.
(2) Outdoor parties include bush parties and beach parties. Bush parties
(also called “field parties”) are held in a secluded area of a forest (“bush”),
where friends gather to drink and talk. These parties are often held around
a bonfire. Decide whether you want to hold indoor or outdoor party.
Beach parties are held on a sandy shoreline of a lake, river, or sea, and
also often feature a bonfire.
6. The sentences below are in the wrong order. Put the sentences into
the right chorological order. (6 points, each 3 points)
ⓐ Finally, start looking through other profiles on the website.
ⓑ First, go to a dating website and make an ID.
ⓒ Then, It’s easy to use online dating services.
ⓓ If you lie on your profile, you might have a bad experience later one.
ⓔ Then, you have to fill in your profile honestly.
Mid-term exam
Reflective Journal 1
First, I liked Una’s bright greeting, and Hannah’s soft voice. I find tone and pitch of
voice important and helpful for students to keep focused, and I really like theirs. They
introduced the laughing game whose rule was not to laugh. This was my first time to
play it, and it was more interesting than I had thought, and good to warm up students
who felt awkward and uncomfortable for the first time being in the class. I also thought
of using it in my class on the first day of a new semester.
After this ice-breaking activity outside of the classroom, students were put into five
groups to do 7 minute activity, Treasure Hunt. There were five stations where big sisters
gave one mission for students to complete such as finding characters of fairy tales,
places, bingo games, and etc. Jeryoung and I were in charge of Bingo game which was
to have students figure out the prepositions of each sentence. The room was crowded
with students standing between chairs, moving for the different mission, and the room
was too hot without air-conditioning. Everyone was hot sweating, but all of us seemed
excited. Students looked more eager to get the piece of treasure map than I thought. In
my station, students had to figure out the missing preposition, and some of them were
not as good as I thought they would be. My partner who is an elementary school teacher
was so energetic and lively that students were excited at her exaggerated speech and
motion. Seeing this, I thought even university students liked to be treated this way. I
realized I should explain and complement students more with action, and in a higher
tone of voice.
At the last stage, students and teachers had time to shake hands. Hannah divided the
activity into one minute three different introduction. After shaking hands without saying
anything, we said hello introducing our names, and lastly we again exchanged names,
and introduced the other. It was a bit chaotic, especially at the third introduction. It was
a bit confusing to take turns introducing in threesome. I thought it might be more
organized if we introduced ourselves in two circles with one group moving clockwise
and the other counter-clockwise.
All in all, it was a good start, and ice-breaking time. Before the class, I was a bit
worried about students’ attitude toward us. But students were students like my school
students even though they were older. All activities were good to have us meet all the
students in one class.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 3
This week, Shinhye and I presented, and had quite felt-long 3 hours. First of
all, I appreciated the great roles of group leaders. I was worried a lot about how
our lesson plan, designed only in our head, would turn out. It went better than
we had worried about even though there were some unclear moments about
what to do for the tasks. I and my partner should have given clearer instruction
with some models or examples. Except for Tableux, there was no given
example, and even group leaders who had heard about our plans before asked a
lot about what kind of forms and what stories they should take in writing. We
thought of the plans, so we inadvertently assumed that they would understand
what to do like. Therefore, group leaders found some tasks unclear to carry out.
We should have given more detailed, clearer instruction.
In the activity 2, when they should figure out the right order of the sentences,
they needed to find the word, “ohyes”. One group completed the task much
faster than others, and raised their hands as required. At that moment, I didn’t
know what to do and just had them waited for other groups to solve the
problem. I should’ve thought about groups who finished early. When half of the
groups were done, I let them the first group who raised hands give the answer,
but there must have been better ways for all other groups to have time to
complete the task. In the activity 3, the students’ presentation didn’t last as long
as we thought. Making a frozen mime was quite interesting. It would be also
great to ask students’ response or choose the best acting group.
The last activity took far more time than our plan. I lengthened the given time
several times. Despite the prompt, and urges, they took their pace to finish the
task, and I had to take one group’s incomplete paper. I liked the professor’s idea
of peer editing. It was even better to give students a chance to revise other
group’s writing, and see their revision and comment on their writing than just a
presentation. Also, I thought I should’ve given a bigger paper so that they could
be more comfortable doing collaborative writing. There was one thing I
should’ve pointed out but I missed. I saw many group leaders holding the pen
and write mostly, which was should be avoided for student’s improvement.
Next time, I will have students take the main role, and write on their own.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 4
This week’s topic was party and its function is informing by email.
Students need to write an invitation letter in the form of an email. The
instruction was was very clear and specific at every stage, and generally
it was a well organized lesson.
The first activity was for students to refer to their reading assignment.
It was good to check whether students read or not, and it was a good
brainstorming activity. When it was conducted as a kind of group bingo,
it might have consumed too much time. Luckily, one group leader asked
how longer we should give answers, and it was shortened. In class,
asking and answering should be actively going on for oneself as well as
others. When I was not clear with something, others feel the same way.
Class leaders started to use blackboards, and it was good because we
were not still familiar with group names.
Secondly, we shared about our best or worst party. My group members
were thinking too hard. Although I initiated the conversation, it was not
easy to come up with. I thought it’s partially because Koreans don’t use
the term ‘party’ except for birthday party, and our get-togethers called
party in the West didn’t feel like fitting in.
In the third activity, we should complete an email informing about the
party. We were given a picture of different party, and filled out mind map
describing the party scene. In the mind map, there were categories were
given, which was very helpful to guide us what to think of. However, in
the email, there were too many guided sentences and information given
at the beginning, The idea of guided writing was good, but it showed too
much information, and even there was a closure remark that we will be
very appreciate if you join our party.”
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 4
Many lines below were useless and it was hard to develop smoothly.
Also, there was a wrong sentence, “we will be very appreciate”, and
even when all presentation ended, it was not corrected by class leaders.
Lastly, students need to create their own party, and write email. It was
good to have paper for even rough draft, and the colored big paper was
good. The last activity took longer than expected. Writing activity takes
much longer than planned, but the pace was faster than last class.
Performing was also interesting to see, but one of my students said,
“Again?” Performing increase the fun of class, and students’ creativity,
but it may not be conducted too much.
In fact, at the start of the class, I wished that class leaders had put some
authenticity in the activity. When my group presented, for authenticity,
and relatedness to students own life, I started with Chuseok experience,
and ended with SMU life survey. The beginning brainstorming activity
and planning the parties are all related to students’ life but it would be
better when its authentic purposes were mentioned. While working on
the task together, I kept wondering this group writing can be much
helpful increasing students’ MATE score within 3 months. Writing
collaboratively can lower the burden, and fear of writing, but writing test
is totally done by oneself. I was wondering what kind of individual
writing activity would be interesting. Overall class went smoothly. The
steps were well divided, and clearly instructed with cute PPT. I’m
looking forward to seeing other classes.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 6
This week was about narrative writing with the theme of dating. Group 6
had a well-organized plan and conducted it with balance of writing
activities and others. Especially interactions between groups were going
very well.
In the beginning, they briefly gave us an overview of what we were
going to do in class. Since we got the big picture of what each step and
activity involved, it struck us well-organized, and at each step, we were not
lost. Moreover, they passed out a packet of activity materials, which was
really efficient way of saving time as well as following directions more
quickly. It was good that materials were covered, so they were not revealed
beforehand.
The first activity was a memory game. It was fun as well as useful to
remind students of reading homework. It took less than assigned. In my
group, April was far better than the other two students. She was getting
most of the cards right, but Jiha got nothing until 5 cards were left. I didn’t
want to see Jiha end up with no cards, making her feel embarrassed. April
and Yoon also encouraged Jiha to guess the meaning of words, and gave her
all chances to finish the left cards near the end. When she got 2 sets of
them, all of us cheered greatly. I had leeway on the rule, but it was good to
see Jiha’s smile given that the winner was obvious at that moment. I wish
there were more cards to play with.
The activity 2 was asking and answering questions and voting for the
best. Asking questions related to dating was helpful and leading for the next
activities. However, the questions, especially on the yellow cards were not
intriguing enough. Students’ answers were not that particular or interesting
except for the question of dating disaster.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 6
The next activity was describing pictures in narrative style. The pictures
were not complicated and were appropriate to make stories out of. After
writing stories, groups exchange their own groups’ writing and put the
pictures in order basing on the written story. A check list was given, so it
was very helpful to remind students of what is important in writing. I liked
this activity because picture description doesn’t appear as a burden and
putting the pictures in order while editing others’ writing was quite fun.
In the following activity, it was a fun start with Hannah’s real example of
dating disaster. Groups were divided into two, and one watched Icecream
video while the other goups watched Seinfeld. After watching videos about
awkward dating situations, and students were supposed to fill out mindmaps and write individually. However, it was not easy for students to
understand it. My group members and me actually didn’t get the idea that
the female characters kept switching from unattractive to attractive. To our
eyes, she was not that different or ugly when being as regarded
“unattractive”. Also, I wish there were more words and expressions in the
list for students to refer to. When they fill out the mind map, they found it
really difficult. Their individual writing was all different. It was not because
they came up with the different solution or closing, but because they had
difficulty making stories with the little clue from the video. As usual,
students were much pressed against time when they wrote individually.
All in all, it was a good, well-organized lesson with good examples at
every step. Groups’ seating formation was very effective for exchanging
activities and sharing stories. Activities were various and well-balanced
with writing, the main purpose, and other motivating activities such as
acting, picture ordering, and watching videos.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 10
Week 10 was about drawing graphs with the theme of shopping.
Describing graphs was not common even in Korean, but students knew the
very purpose of learning it for MATE test. Class leaders prepared lots of
example graphs so that students could be exposed to as much as possible
within given amount of time. The class overall involved a lot of interaction
between students through drawing graphs, explaining them, and making
them on their own.
At the beginning, class leaders showed a video clip about the guy who’s
obsessed with graphs. My sisters said it was not difficult to understand it,
but they found it uneasy to figure out the answers. They thought their
characters’ speaking was not clear. I liked the idea of showing this sitcom to
make some links between the topic which is not regularly dealt with and
the comic situations that students could find it fun.
Followed activity was to match graphs with descriptions in pair. I urged
my students to refer to reading materials when they hesitated. Two pairs in
my group came up with the wrong answers, and compared them with each
other. It was helpful to see them work together, and help each other. I could
see peers do scaffold each other.
In the activity of Information Gap, my sisters were having trouble with
the usage of verbs. They kept asking me for appropriate verbs, and how to
describe percentage properly. They complained a bit that the reading
materials didn’t support them much with expressions for different kinds of
graphs other than line graphs. I looked it up in the reading materials, and
sure enough there were many useful expressions that students could
practice line graphs. We were given a kind of example answers, which was
good. However, I wish there were more exercises and more various
expressions to practice appropriate verbs and percentage usage for each
graph.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 10
Afterwards, some group members move to other groups and read out
the descriptions about the graphs so that the other students could draw
based on the description. It was a good chance to hear how other graphs
are described using what expressions. Drawing as a result can be criteria
how the description was correct and clear. This was more fun than just to
read and describe graphs, and also it was good because it stimulates
more involvement with students, guessing and even speaking. The
activities that encompass more engagement with students and other skills
or strategies are much better, so it was good.
For the last activity, students did make their own survey questions and
answers. Our topic was shopping habit, and we came up with the normal
ideas that where you usually do shopping among the Internet, street
shops, department or home shopping. Our group was to make pie chart.
It was very fun to do survey and get stickers on the shoulder. Using
different, various stickers was a good idea that makes activity more
interesting. I realized again even some childish-looking thing is still fun
for grown-ups.
As time goes by, I thought, the role of group leaders would be
diminished. However, students seem like they are adjusted to receive
help from big sisters any time when they need. Big sisters activate their
schemata and give ideas using their creativity as well as giving academic
help. That’s the purpose of group leaders’ existence, but I started to think
this great scaffolding from big sisters may hamper students from
thinking on their own, and tacking the tasks.
The class went very smoothly, and it was light-hearted, and felt like
moving fast. It was a good combination of writing, discussion, drawing,
and presentation that activate students’ multiple intelligence well in some
way.
Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 12
Week 12 was about writing comparison and contrast essays with the theme of technology.
This class gave a chance to students to do research, write a full essay and revise it like in
reality. In the former part of the class, it encouraged cooperative learning, and the later part,
it motivated autonomous learning, and analysis intelligence.
The first activity was to use combine parts of words, adjectives, adverbs and nouns. It was
pretty good practice to give students to think about the use of words, and appropriate phrases.
After seeing me make some example phrases, my sisters got the hang of it, and ended up
with 22 phrases. Class leaders asked for some examples, which was a good way of checking.
For the second activity, Mikyoung gave an overall instruction, and Sooyoung went over it
again more specifically, one by one. This was good repetition and clarification of the
instruction. However, I didn’t like the second activity was performed as designed. The terms
for camera usage, and technology seemed a bit of terminology, so it seemed like students
read the material and looked for the same words in pairs instead of talking. Also there were
quite many shortened forms and some incomprehensible unmbers like Approx., ftp,1080 HD.
It is true that we might look for cameras in other countries, and compare them based on the
English instruction, but for this task, students needed to practice vocabulary more in the
reading materials. This led to activity 3 because of the unfamiliar difficult camera terms.
Students drew and showed comparison and contrasts of the cameras to give presentations. I
doubted if students would understand much of them. Personally I thought the camera
comparison thing should have ended with the activity 2. The effects of activity 3 in terms of
language learning were not much to me. My students seemed to just copy different or similar
words and I didn’t think the content of one minute presentation was appealing to them.
After the break, we moved to another room. Even though students didn’t like moving, the
atmosphere of a computer room was good for them to settle down in the seat and do research.
My sisters seemed to look more tired as the semester goes near the end, and they kept
grumbling or letting a sigh if they are faced with seemingly daunting tasks. Thus, lately, I
needed to give more affective scaffolding with encouraging words like “It’s almost done.
Stick it out. Don’t worry. You are going to make it.”
In the computer room, students should use computer and do real research between galaxy
note and Iphone 4s. It was very authentic, and the flow of the whole second part of the lesson
after the break went very smoothly. It was a good organization of using graphic organizer,
writing a full essay, self-editing, revising, and even posting on the board as well as giving
comments on 3 people.
The class was like a real writing class. It was a student-centered lesson in an authentic
setting. Since students have written a form of full essay, they might get the idea of how to
write it. This time, they could rely on researched information a lot. I could expect that how
students would cope with opinion-giving essays next class.
Reflective Journal
Action Research
Effectiveness of scaffolding checklist
for providing scaffolding in English writing class
•Introduction
General English Program II course at Sookmyung Women’s
University, hereafter GEP, involves the students in a variety of
reading, writing, and presentation related activities focused on
meaning and purpose. The objectives of the GEP are to give
the students an opportunity to develop strategies for writing
proficiency in English and the skills necessary for attaining an
acceptable score on the Multimedia Assisted Test of English
Writing Test, hereafter MATE, and to link reading with writing
skills. Students are expected much of the in-class interactions
which will improve their reading, speaking, and listening skills
as well as their writing skills through communicative and
interactive activities. The students of GEP are assigned in 10
groups of 3 members with a group leader. Most of the
undergraduate students are seniors and are situated in a
stressful circumstance due to the pressure to get best grade for
the graduation. The group leaders, graduate students in their
final semester of TESOL MA program at Sookmyung
Women’s University, are called ‘big sisters’ who play roles as
facilitators who guide group members to follow the right track
and encourage them to enjoy the class. They also teach the
whole class as a team of two in turns under the supervision of
the professor.
Action Research
Action Research
•
Identification of a concern
Within a vibrant learning community, scaffolding plays an
important role. It may determine the success of a learning
atmosphere as it is assumed that if the students are scaffolded, they
will become actively engaged in their learning activities (Dabbagh,
2003). Dabbagh further commented that, “scaffolding is all about
providing the right amount of structure in a learning environment”
(p. 40). Consequently, this will create conducive learning
environment where every student is constructing knowledge.
Since the term scaffolding was coined in 1976, there has been
a great deal ofdiscussion and debate about what the concept of
scaffolding actually means. Scaffolding is no longer associated with
interactions between individuals only. These days, artifacts,
resources, and environments themselves are also utilized as
scaffolds (Puntambaker&Hubscher, 2005). Put differently, scaffolds
can consist of tools, strategies, and guides which support students
so that they can achieve a higher level of meaning making; one
which would be impossible if students worked on their own (Galea,
Stewart, & Steel, 2007; Vygotsky, 1978). Holton and Clarke (2006)
propose more concrete tools be used as scaffolds. According to
them, “scaffolding may also be provided in book form, over the
Internet, by telephone and so on” (p. 130). More importantly,
scaffolding can be provide through supplying hints, prompts,
probes, simplifications or other similar learning supports (Ronen &
Langley, 2004).
Action Research
Action Research
Holton and Clarke (2006) define scaffolding as: “an act of
teaching that (1) supportsthe immediate construction of knowledge
by the learner; and (2) provides the basis for the future independent
learning of individual.” (p. 131). In other words, scaffolding may
help a student learn a new lesson with the hope that the student may
later become autonomous. Although scaffolding may be associated
with activities of help or guidance, with the definition provided
above, scaffolding is seen from a specific perception of time in
which help or guidance is extended to a student continually until
student can construct knowledge independently, a condition where
scaffolding is already removed and that student is ready to pursue
her/his lifelong learning.
Holton and Clarke (2006) also classified scaffolding in a more
specific way. They point out further that there are three kinds of
scaffolding: expert, reciprocal, and self-scaffolding. This distinction
is crucial; because they consider that the ultimate goal ofeducation
is to produce independent learners, who can solve their own
problems when no expert is present to help them.
By trying Expert scaffolding and Self-scaffolding following
Holton and Clarke’s theory, the researchers expected the students
explicitly perceive scaffolding themselves at certain times in their
teaching-learning processes. This is particularly evident in selfscaffolding, which is claimed to be potentially the same as
metacognition (Holton and Clarke, 2006).
Action Research
Action Research
In Holton and Clarke’s cases, they perceive scaffolding from the
viewpoint of the students who provide the processes of scaffolding. In
other words, the students are given freedom to initiate the scaffolding
actions in their learning interactions. Thus, in expertscaffolding, the focus
is on the lecturer providing scaffolding to the students. In self-scaffolding,
it is also the student who is scaffolding her/himself in her/his learning
journeys to construct knowledge. This indicates that scaffolding is not
always necessarily provided by the teachers/lecturers. In this research, the
process of active scaffolding done by the students is investigated further
to add to the extension of the scaffolding theories.
As observing classes for a few weeks, we found a concern that students
need more systematic and effective scaffolding since this GEP writing
course is totally new type of learning experience for them. First, lots of
interactive activities are involved in this course and students need to
interact in English. Because of that, students seemed to feel more
pressure. It could cause anxiety, which prevents students from learning.
As a matter of fact, students often hesitated to speak out their ideas,
thinking their English is very poor. Second, their role as a learner is also
different from that in typical Korean classroom. Mostly students take
rather passive roles, which they are supposed to just receive what the
teacher provides. However, students in GEP class are expected to take
responsibility for their own learning and learn by doing, not only by
listening. However, students seemed uncomfortable with their role in the
observed classes. One of students said the class is too difficult and asks
too much to the students. These findings from the class observation
convinced us scaffolding is the key factor for students’ successful
learning experience in this GEP course. Group leaders need to scaffold
students affectively in order to create comforting learning atmosphere as
well as scaffold them cognitively in order to help students to complete
Action Research
tasks.
Action Research
To find out in what area students need more scaffolding, a need
survey conducted on students from three groups, 5 Onnies, Fresh
girls, and iSenior. Mostly students answered they need help in
vocabulary and content. Four out of 12 students answered they
feel most difficult with vocabulary and three answered it’s the
content knowledge that they feel most difficult. In addition, they
felt group leaders give supports when they give feedback,
prompts and ideas for their writing. To the question what kind of
support they want from group sisters, many students responded
they need help in linguistic area, such as grammar and
vocabulary. Other responses are ‘way to write fast’, ‘time to
think about the topic individually’, and ‘more information about
today’s classes’. In addition, from other group leaders’ reflections
on lessons, we also found that low-confidence and passiveness of
some students are also issues keeping being discussed. With
those students, affective scaffolding would plays even more
important role.
The goal of our action research is to find out what kind of
scaffolding is most necessary for our GEP students and how
group leaders can scaffold them more systematically and
effectively. At the end of this course, we expect to see that
students can cope with their new role as active participants and
experience success in their learning with group leaders’
scaffolding, which are given more consciously for its’
effectiveness.
Action Research
Action Research
Research Design
The first part
Need survey
The purpose of the survey was to seek what students find most difficult
and what kind of scaffold should be given to meet their needs. The
questions are as followed: (1) What makes you feel difficult the most
when you write in English? (2) What materials help you in class? (3)
What kind of support does your group leader give you? (4) What kind of
help do you need the most from your group leader?
For Q1, Vocabulary topped the list, followed by content
closely. Students have the biggest trouble when they confront vocabulary
problems. When they don’t know what to use, and their brain goes blank,
they just couldn’t go on writing. Also when they have no idea about the
topic, and have not as many details as they should, they stumble because
of the content. For Q2, Students found the pictures least helpful, which
was a little surprising. Picture use as realia is known highly motivating,
and encouraging, but the result turned out contrary to our general
perception. Word lists, mind-map worksheet, and reading materials are all
turned out helpful to almost the same amount. Students regard group/
class leaders’ instruction outstandingly helpful out of 5. They found big
sisters’ help most useful and effective. The supports students think they
receive most were the prompts and ideas as well as feedback for their
writing. They appreciated big sisters’ encouragement as well. The
question 4 was about the help that sisters want from big sisters. They
want some grammar check, feedback for accuracy, more information
about today’s class, and vocabulary.
.
Action Research
Action Research
From the survey results, we realized that students still need more academic
help from big sisters. They want to deal with vocabulary problems and grammar
when they write in English most. Thus we plan to scaffold them in two ways. One
is to support them with in terms of knowledge. Big sisters have more knowledge
of English and information on the contents covered in class. They are going to
provide scaffolding academically through vocabulary list, graphic organizer and
experiences. The other is to scaffold them from affective respect. Its purpose also
is to perform well in writing. Big sisters are going to cheer sisters up, prompt
them to come up with ideas, and give positive feedback as much as possible.
1.2 Class observation and reflection
For the week 9 and week 10, we wanted to figure out what kinds of
scaffolding could be used during the class. So we asked the class leader to send us
final versions of lesson plan and other teaching materials like worksheet and
Powerpoint slides, and analyzed the activities and made plan for giving
scaffolding in every situations.
In week 9, the class was about writing formal letter on job and
career. Jeryung’s group (5Onnies) and Juyoung’s group (iSenior) adapted the
planned scaffolding because Chiyeon took charge of class leading on that lesson.
As the first scaffolding in this class, we planned to give noticing in activity 2
using vocabulary from reading assignment for that class. Activity 2 was snatching
a right card when the students listened to group leaders’ clues. We thought that it
would be helpful for them to remind of job vocabulary before starting the game.
One of other scaffolding we gave to the students was explaining the role of cover
letter and its format what could be written for each part. And we planned to
mention the difference of thesis statement and topic sentence for them to make
sure.
Action Research
Action Research
We three researchers performed all the scaffolding we planned and
wrote down all the things we did to help students which were
whether planned or not. We analyze notes about what we did and
what we gave to students as scaffolding, then figured out that we
did much more things than we planned, and planning scaffolding
had limitations because we couldn’t predict all the help our
students might want to get. We thought that it would be better to be
more systematic to provide scaffolding.
I.The second part
Treatment: providing a scaffolding checklist to group
leaders
In the first part of the action research, we found out it is necessary
to provide scaffolding more effectively. In order to do that, we all
agreed that it is also important to think about how to scaffold
students as well as what to scaffold,as Wood et at al. (1976) asserts
that the expert’s familiarity with scaffolding techniques plays an
important role in students learning development. Based on the
agreement,we decided to provide a scaffolding checklist to help
group leaders as in Table 1.
Action Research
Action Research
Table 1 Scaffolding checklist for group leaders in GEP class
Modified from Lidz’ components of assisted learning via scaffolding
(Schwieter, 2010)
Group leaders were given the scaffolding checklist in week 11 and 12,
and asked to check whenever they use those techniques. In addition, we
also asked them to reflect the use of the checklist in terms of
helpfulness. We expected that they would have better understanding of
different kinds of scaffolding techniques and what kind of scaffolding
techniques they are actuallyusing.
Techniques
T-S interaction, engagements of attentions, and goals
highlighting, marking relevant differences, and elaborating detailed
Cognitive
& Meta
cognitive
scaffolding
information
activating schemata
stimulating new ideas
facilitating problem solving and inducing strategic thinking
challenging the learner within her ZPD
Knowing students’ character and respond to appropriately
giving the learner a sense of caring and enjoyment in the task
Affective
scaffolding
encouraging something good she did
minimizing frustration during learning development
finding improvement and communicating them to the learner
Action Research
Action Research
2.2 Results
2.2.1 Checklist Results from Group Leaders
Here are the techniques that teachers use in order of
frequency:
•Highlighting,
marking
relevant
differences,
and
elaborating detailed information
•Teacher and student interaction, engagement of attentions
and goals
•Facilitating problem solving and inducing strategic thinking
•Knowing students’ character and respond to appropriately
•Encouraging something good she did
•Giving the learner a sense of caring and enjoyment in the
task
•Finding improvement and communicating them to the learner
•Minimizing frustration during learning development
•Challenging the learner within her ZPD
•Stimulating new ideas
•Activating schemata
Action Research
Action Research
All in all, it turned out that teachers have used a variety of techniquesas
mentioned above consciously or unconsciously. Most frequently they
elaborated information, and highlighted important factors that would go
unnoticed without. Also teachers tried to keep students’ attention and stick to
the goal. Least frequently, teachers activated schemata or stimulated new
ideas than expected. Based on teacher’s reflection, teachers found out that
they came to try using scaffolding techniques more consciously after having
used this checklist. Some teachers commented that they realized they
relatively lacked in giving affective scaffolding in the past. Others also
mentioned that they thought scaffolding was in terms of providing academic
knowledge only such as vocabulary and grammar. It turns out this checklist
fosteredmore engagement with students, and more deliberate efforts to
conduct various kinds of scaffolding techniques.
2.2.2 Survey Results from Students
We also would like to see how students felt towards big sisters’ help
throughout the class. We did a survey on students with the similar questions
of scaffolding techniques with that they found helpful or not. In the survey,
they checked every column meaning that they received all the scaffolding in
the checklist. They commented that all the help from big sisters cheered
them up when they felt discouraged with English writing. All English
knowledge and information from big sisters helped them cope with the
difficulties in tackling the tasks, completing the activities and writing essays.
Students mentioned that they never had this kind of big help from experts,
and they found it significantly helpful and motivating to participate in class
actively.
Action Research
Action Research
Implication and Discussion
For four weeks, this action research on use of scaffolding techniques
had been conducted. For the first two weeks, we observed our own
teaching and procedures of giving scaffolding and drew out the lists of
scaffolding techniques. For the last two weeks, we shared this checklist
with other big sisters to encourage them to deliberately provide as much
scaffolding as possible for students. We felt that four weeks was not
enough to collect sufficient data. It would be better if we had more time
to do action research and try out more scaffolding techniques. Moreover,
we should have gathered opinions from other big sisters when we
formed this checklist, for example, by sharing the patterns of teaching
and scaffolding styles.
Additionally, we found out that the topics and themes for four weeks are
sometimes inappropriate for using certain scaffolding. That’s why
activating schemata, and stimulating new ideas were used relatively
little.
Despite the limitations as we described above, using this scaffolding
checklist was useful and meaningful for the following reasons: (1) to
raise awareness of various scaffolding techniques, (2) to implement the
different types of techniques, (3) to reflect on their own teaching styles.
Therefore, we would like to suggest that teachers make good use of
this kind of scaffolding checklist in their everyday class so that they can
provide students with scaffolding more sufficiently and efficiently.
Action Research
Epiologue
After about three years of study at
SMU, I have empowered myself mentally, and
skillfully. It was a tough but great
opportunity to improve myself in teaching
and enduring throughout difficulties. With
great scaffolding from peers, I could
achieve this precious degree, and I believe
that I’ve made a big progress and earned
strength to try more challenges ahead.
Epilogue