Curriculum Design and Textbooks

I believe that textbooks should only serve as a guide in creating a curriculum because of the plethora of other resources including that of the internet. Given the world is becoming more technology driven i think it is just as important to prepare students to use technology while learning language skills. My job as a langauge teacher is to of course teach langauage skills to my future students, but also prepare them for challenges they will face when using their language skills which i believe will be more technology driven. I do not believe that adults can not learn to use technology. I understand that it might be more difficult for them to navigate through the internet, but I will be preparing them for the life that is evolving around them, by integrating them into the technology field. So choosing a textbook should not be the sole reliance of a teacher rather one aspect of the curriculum.

Lesson Planning

I have stated before in my blogs that i believe that teaching is an art form and that not everything can be planned out. However, I like the idea of scripting a lesson plan very detailed so that you can possibly find problem areas in your lesson and maybe prevent some problems in the classroom. I think this would be very important for new teachers given they are under heavy scrutiny from school districts as it is to perform at a high level. A teacher that is organized and can avoid some of these problems will no doubt be looked upon better than teachers who aren't as organized or able to handle problems that come up in their classrooom for example giving directions to students, conclusions to activities, and introductions. Also given a new teachers lack of experience they may not know how to introduce activities, conclude that class hours appropriately, or bring students back on topic if they go astray without being overbearing. That is why i find scripting a lesson plan brings positives to the teacher and the classroom.

Technology Era?

In this weeks reading i found the pages on choosing the correct book strange. Oddly enough i attended a teachers conference this past week and learned that a few important things one of which is the role technology plays in the classroom. I find this very intriguing. Books can be very boring. I am almost to the point of believing that books are not even necessary to teach ESL or any language for that matter. As long as students have access to the internet and other forms of technology they can use them instead of buying expensive books. I think that the activities created outside the book are more fun, relate to life bette, and challenge students to learn more compared to books. I think it would bring significance to learning.

However technology is not the cure all for learners. I do realize that books are important and that there are some drawbacks for technology. Some of these drawbacks are adult learner computer competence and access to technology. However the time spent outside of class especially in an EFL setting where students are not exposed to the language everyday. This time is being lost to expose the students to that langauge and with the advent of technology this can close that gap of advantage that ESL programs.

What i think would be more important than showing a sample checklist for textbook evaluation would be an evaluation for goal setting for classes. I believe knowing your students is more imporant than knowing the text. Like my blog earlier, teaching is like an art. Well what is more important in art the picture you see or the picture you want to paint?

Teaching: judgement calls or knowledge

What is more important in the teaching arena? Day to day judgements a teacher makes or the knowledge and preperation a teacher as completed and has. If i had to choose one or the other i would choose judgement calls. I believe i would personally make this decision because i am good at reading peoples minds, body language and feelings. I am a very personable person. Where as my knowledge of theories and methods is not necessarily horrible but is not as superb as my judgement calls.

If a teacher does not make a right judgement call in a certain situation he could lose his students focus, respect and even connection with his students. Where as the knowledge portion of teaching can only tell you what theories might work but not how to apply them in certain situations and all the knowledge in the world can not prepare a teacher for every situation with every kind of student that a teacher will see in his lifetime. "On the other hand, teaching will alwys be a series of judgement calls; its real time cognitive complexity means it will never be just a science, and will always remains something of an art" (Crookes and Chaudron, 41).

I believe this last sentence captures the complexity of teaching and that not everyone is fit or capable of doing it. It takes special individuals to become a great teacher.

Sociocultural, Political, and Institutional Contexts

Teachers vs. institutional authorities war on curricular goals and on testing for achievement. First off language is a very difficult area to test. How can you test a students knowledge of a language by a standardized test? I do not believe that it is possible to accuaretly test for communicative proficiency. I feel that using standardized tests to test students only leads to the students studying for the tests and not studying the language for proficiency. Like Brown (140) says "That proficiency unfortunately often turns out to be relatedmore to the ability to cram for a standardized test than to the ability to use English for communicative, meaningful purposes."

Standardized tests take authority away from the teacher. Part of the teachers job is to assess and analyze a students work and if standardized tests recieve the final say of how students are achieving in learning English, should teachers even assess a students proficiency in English? I think standardized tests take away from the effectiveness of the class to teach English. There are a number of other factors including students motivation to take the test.

What if there are no consequences for the students? If these tests are only to assess the "teachers ability" to teach his or her students, what motivation do the students have to do well on tests? Student assessment should be left to the teachers and the teachers effectiveness, professionalism, and work will ultimately shine through his/her students.

Native Speaker?

After reading this weeks reading, When the teacher is a non-Native speaker, i have always thought of the definiton of a native speaker to be someone born in that country. However now the examples of children moving to another country when they are young is another issue that needs to be addressed. If the kids move to a country when they are young and gain native fluency, what is their mother tongue. As of now i do not think we need to distinguish whether someone is a native speaker or not. I think it is a fading concept especially given the number of speakers of English that do not live in America, Australia or Great Britain. English is the language of the world of "lingua franca" (429) as Peter Medgyes states. Given that i do not believe that the term native speaker applies to today non-NESTs should not be at a disadvantage when applying for a job.

Non-NESTs should be awarded a job on their merits on not over looked by employers when a native speakers applies and has no experience. I found Table 1 in the book rather disturbing. I found the entire list of percieved differences in teaching behavior rather dramatic. I think there are advantages for NESTs and non-NESTs. These results from this survey seemed really dramatic. Specifically the one that claimed that NESTs are more innovative than non-NESTs. I think that totally depends on the teacher. The teacher and the students make the class not the teachers.

Teaching cross proficiency levels

I think it is very important to distinguish a students proficiency level in order to correctly teach the students. So you are not teaching concepts that students can not understand or that they already know extremely well and don't further their development at all.

One thing i found the most intriguing in this chapter was the 7.1 figure. I liked how it was layed out with functions, grammar, pronunciation, listening and speaking, and reading and writing. Particualary the communication skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) examples. I just liked how it was broken down very easy for me to understand and follow. It is something i would look for in a textbook to teach students. A textbook that is creative, easy to follow, and detailed. However these three aspects don't just stop at the text. The teacher needs to have these skills and characteristics as well. If they want to be a successful teacher.

Individual differences in L2 learning: Age

What i found most interesting in this chapter can be seen in the title. I would like to discuss in more depth the Critical Period Hypothesis. In which there is a critical period for L2 acquisition. From my experience I have always believed that the earlier a person starts learning a langauge the better that person will be able to communicate. After reading about the study where the older adults were performing better, on tests, than younger students in the early stages of learning dutch. I found the statement that older adults use different ways to learn a language like metalinguistic knowledge. One thing I thought about, was that if adults use different techniques to learn an L2. Shouldn't they be evaluated differently on their L2 ability. It just seems more logical to me.

Overall this chapter placed the importance on many factors that influence L2 acquisition and that they are all related. To me this seems to be a recurring theme through out the course of this class. I first realized after analyzing and reading all the approaches to teaching.

Another interesting part of this chapter was personality traits, anxiety in particular does not necessarily have a negative consequence on a persons achievement on L2 acquisition. Instead in some students who listen and who do not interact as often can still attain high achievement in L2.