25 - What teachers do next (ch. 24)

Interviewing students about activities, materials, techniques and procedures (p. 416) can be an effective way to collect data for an action research inquiry. Students can be an invaluable resource for us as we work to improve our teaching and our students' learning experience.

In this contribution, brainstorm a set of questions that you might ask a student.

24 - Learner autonomy: learning to learn (ch. 23)

Let's use Example 1, "Finishing a unit" (p. 397) to reflect on the course. Answer the following questions:

1. The thing(s) that I enjoyed most in the 10 weeks of the course was/were ...
2. The thing(s) that I learned in the course that I did not know before was/were ...
3. The thing(s) I am going to do to help me remember course content is/are ...
4. The thing(s) I found most difficult in the coursework was/were ...
5. The question(s) I would like to ask about what we have done is/are ...

23 - Testing and evaluation (ch. 22)

"When we are preparing students for an exam, we need to ignore the exam from time to time so that we have opportunities to work on general language issues, and so that students can take part in the kind of motivating activities that are appropriate for all English lessons" (Harmer, page 391).

Respond.

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22 - Planning lessons (ch. 21)

Harmer (pages 375-377) identifies six issues that we should keep in mind when planning a sequence of lessons. Which issue is most important for you? Explain your choice.

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21 - Speaking (ch. 20)

Of the six categories of classroom speaking activities introduced by Harmer (pages 348-353), choose one and briefly discuss its use (or lack of use) in Korean classrooms.

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20 - Writing (ch. 19)

Recall that there are two competing metaphors for language learning: learning as acquisition, and learning as participation. These can be matched to Harmer's distinction of 'writing-for-learning' and 'writing-for-writing' (page 330).

An important aspect of participation is contribution. Of course, contributing involves social evaluation, as peers will evaluate and judge, either informally or formally, each other's written work.

Please comment.

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19 - Listening (ch. 18)

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

"Preparing for the CSAT improves learners' listening skills." Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

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18 - Reading (ch. 17)

Today's students live in the information age. They are bombarded with vast amounts of information in a variety of forms and must become critical consumers and users of information in order to be successful in school and beyond. Critical literacy allows students to be active and challenging participants as they respond to various types of texts. It provides students with a lens through which to look critically at written, visual, spoken, multimedia, and performance texts, to challenge the intent and content, and to get the most enjoyment and deepest meaning out of text.

In relation to classroom practice, students' learning experiences must help them to assume a critical stance when responding to or creating texts. They need to discover how texts are constructed and how they work. Students need to understand what texts are attempting to do and they need to move toward taking an active, meaning-making position with regard to texts.

So says the CLC Webcasts page on critical literacy.

• Watch, and provide a summary of, any one segment of the webcast on critical literacy.

OR

• Watch and provide a summary of Allan Luke's presentation (under 'Additional Features').

OR

• Read and provide a brief summary of the learning sequence here.

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17 - Language skills (ch. 16)

Skill integration is not a prominent feature of the current national curriculum (or of textbooks based on the curriculum).

Middle school students, for example, typically devote 1-2 lessons to 'listening,' then perhaps 1-2 lessons to 'speaking,' then 1-2 lessons to 'reading,' then (maybe) a class to 'writing.' Then repeat.

Critique this approach.

OR

Post a link to a webquest that you have created.

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16 - Teaching pronunciation (ch. 15)

Some people argue that Korean English teachers should not teach pronunciation, because (they say) students learn the 'wrong' English sounds from Korean teachers.

What do you think?

You may find it useful to refer to Harmer, page 249, in your response.

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