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Title: Resources for Pre-K–5 Educators of English Learners
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Judie Haynes has compiled a list of resources that she's come across in the last summer, especially for educators of young English learners: http://blog.tesol.org/10-resources-for-prek-5-educators-of-els/
Source: TESOL
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Title: Useful English: Online Resource for Russian Learners of English
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The Useful English website is an extensive collection of grammar lessons and other resources targeted especially for Russian speakers who are learning English. Explore this resource at http://usefulenglish.ru/
Source: Useful English
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Title: Strategies for Easing Transition Shock for English Learners
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From https://www.edutopia.org/article/strategies-easing-transition-shock
Strategies for Easing Transition Shock
English language learners in particular may be impacted by this form of stress, but simple strategies can help—and they benefit all students.
By Louise El Yaafouri
August 31, 2018
Transition shock—an umbrella term that incorporates culture shock, chronic distress, traumatic upset, and post-traumatic stress disorder—can impact student success in a number of behavioral, emotional, and physiological ways. It can also impair students’ ability to acquire and make sense of a language, meaning that it creates unique challenges for America’s fastest-growing student population, English language learners (ELLs), especially those students who have come from areas experiencing war or large-scale resettlement.
Read the full article at https://www.edutopia.org/article/strategies-easing-transition-shock
Source: Edutopia
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Title: Guessing Game Input Activity
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Here's a no-prep game that is novice-friendly: the teacher asks the questions to guess which student the class has chosen. In the example, the teacher asks questions about what the person is wearing, but it could also be used with other information such as personality traits or favorite activities (if the students know each other well).
Read the full activity description at https://senorachase.com/2018/09/25/a-clothing-input-game/
Source: Señora Chase
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Content Type: 1
Title: Language Latte Podcast and Article about Integrated Performance Assessments
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From https://kidworldcitizen.org
In this podcast, Becky Morales provides a background on Integrated Performance Assessments and interviews Jen Shaw about practical tips for their implementation: https://kidworldcitizen.org/ipas-integrated-performance-assessments-for-language-classrooms/
Source: Kid World Citizen
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Title: Activity Idea: Draw the Drawn Drawing
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From https://latinbestpracticescir.wordpress.com
Bob Patrick describes a picture description activity in this recent blog post. Student artists draw something of their choice that is inspired by recently-studied vocabulary. The teacher then describes one of the drawings, which the rest of the class hasn't seen, to the rest of the class, which is divided into groups who help a chosen person to re-create the drawing. The original artist selects the best re-creation.
Read a full description of the activity at https://latinbestpracticescir.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/pingite-picturam-iam-pictam-draw-the-drawn-drawing/
Source: Latin Best Practices: Comprehensible Input Resources
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Title: Clozemaster: Gamified Cloze Exercises in Many Languages
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From https://www.clozemaster.com/about
Cloze tests are basically fill-in-the-blank tests where the reader or listener uses the surrounding context to determine what the missing word is. Clozemaster is an online gamified collection of cloze exercises in many, many languages. Targeted vocabulary comes from the 10,000 most common words of the given language. For many languages, a listening component is also available.
Clozemaster is available at https://www.clozemaster.com/
Source: Clozemaster
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Title: Brain Break Ideas
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Here is a collection of ideas for brain breaks (short breaks between activities that get students moving and recharged): https://balancingmodes.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/brain-breaks/
Here are some more brain break ideas, along with an idea for building class stories in a circle: https://senorfernie.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/brain-breaks-and-the-story-circle-a-fun-twist-on-class-stories/
Source: Various
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Content Type: 3
Title: Role of Instruction in Development of Second Language Sound Systems
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By Misaki Kato, CASLS Fellow
A language's sound system is an essential part of its grammar. In order to be proficient in a language, a speaker needs to know what kinds of sounds are used in the language and how they are combined with one another to form a word, phrase, or sentence. A growing number of researchers acknowledge that learners’ pronunciation is often responsible for communication breakdown, and advocate for the need to integrate pronunciation instruction in second language classrooms (Isaacs, 2009).
However, the struggle often is that there is little direction in terms of what to teach and how to teach to improve learners’ pronunciation. Regarding what to teach, should teachers work towards reducing learners’ foreign accent or increasing intelligibility? These two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but more intelligible speech is not always less accented speech either (Munro & Derwing, 1999). Also, should segmental aspects (i.e., pronunciation of particular sounds, such as /l/ and /r/) be more emphasized than suprasegmental aspects, such as intonation or stress patterns? While there is no clear consensus, what we do know is that these two aspects are both important. For example, learners’ mispronunciation of consonants of high functional load impacts listeners’ perception of comprehensibility and accentedness (Munro & Derwing, 2006). Non-native speakers’ prosodic errors also affect listeners’ comprehension of the speech (Hahn, 2004). While more research is needed to determine what aspects of learners’ speech affect listeners’ perception, there is evidence that segmental and suprasegmental aspects can be trained to improve comprehensibility, accentedness, and fluency of their speech (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998). These studies support that various aspects of learners’ pronunciation, not just morphological and syntactic errors, affect how their speech is perceived, and explicit instruction cam promote understanding of non-native speech.
The next question is how should we teach pronunciation? It can be difficult to incorporate form-focused instruction, such as pronunciation practice, in a communicative language classroom where meaning-based activities are emphasized. However, form-focused instruction does have its place in a communicative language classroom. DeKeyser (1998) suggests that an exclusive focus on meaning is not adequate for the acquisition of second language (L2) phonological forms. In fact, teachers can incorporate various types of form-focused training, such as explicit explanation (Derwing et al., 1998) and recasts (Lyster, 1998), to encourage learners to notice a particular linguistic feature in their input or output, promoting learners’ awareness to understand and deliver their messages clearly. Another effective form-focused practice is repetition. Gatbonton and Segalowitz (2005) suggest that repetition strengthens the connection between an utterance and its function, and promotes accurate and fluent productions. Furthermore, repetition practice can be implemented communicatively, encouraging learners to make connections between pronunciation and meaning (see examples in Trofimovich & Gatbonton, 2006; Isaacs, 2009).
These studies suggest that explicit instructions draw learners’ attention to certain features of phonological forms that can be neglected in exclusively meaning-focused activities. The accompanying Activity of the Week will introduce an activity to promote learners’ awareness of their own pronunciation.
References
DeKeyser, R.M. (1998). Beyond focus on form: Cognitive perspectives on learning and practical second language grammar. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 42-63). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Derwing, T.M., Munro, M.J., & Wiebe, G. (1998). Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning, 48, 393-410.
Gatbonton, E., & Segalowitz, N. (2005). Rethinking communicative language teaching: A focus on access to fluency. Canadian Modern Language Review, 61, 325-353.
Hahn, L.D., 2004. Primary stress and intelligibility: research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 201–223.
Isaacs, T. (2009). Integrating form and meaning in L2 pronunciation instruction. TESL Canada Journal, 27(1), 1-12.
Lyster, R. (1998). Negotiation of form, recasts, and explicit correction in relation to error types and learner repair in immersion classrooms. Language Learning, 48, 183-218.
Munro, M.J., & Derwing, T.M. (1999). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning, 49 (Supp. 1), 285-310.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 34(4), 520-531.
Trofimovich, P., & Gatbonton, E. (2006). Repetition and focus on form in processing L2 Spanish words: Implications for pronunciation instruction. Modern Language Journal, 519-535.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 3
Title: Grammar and the Functional Language Approach
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By Stephanie Knight, CASLS Assistant Director
The assertion that higher-order thinking inspires learning and engagement is neither new nor unexpected. Various frameworks for learning (See: Bloom’s Taxonomy, Costa’s Levels of Thinking) and frameworks for curriculum development (See: Project-Based Learning, International Baccalaureate, the flipped classroom movement) urge educators to engage their learners actively in cognitive functions that surpass memorization and recognition. However, a well-established tradition and conceptualization of what language learning entails actively works to suppress such an approach. Despite a rise in communicative approaches in the classroom, anecdotal evidence points to the fact that language learners still expect language learning to involve a great deal of rote memorization of vocabulary and verb charts.
A function-based instructional approach has the potential to combat both the need for tons of rote memorization and, hopefully, the perception that the quickest path to language proficiency is a path paved in verb drills. Simply put, a functional approach limits the grammar and vocabulary learners are exposed to by identifying the words and structures that are absolutely necessary to engage in language functions. Consider, for example, a lesson about greeting peers. Learners only need first and second person singular forms of the verb “to be” to learn how to greet peers, not all forms. By limiting the information to what learners need to know to communicate, teachers foment a situation in which learners’ working memories become less encumbered by language memorization and more encumbered by appropriate and creative language use. That is, learners have more potential to engage in higher-order thinking than in a lesson in which memorization is central to success.
Truly embracing a function-based instructional approach to language learning requires a shift from paradigms that are ingrained in the traditions of language instruction. For example, though it is a commonly held belief that learners should be exposed to vocabulary and grammar in context, it is often grammar and vocabulary that determine the context of communication in textbooks and the like, and not the other way around. This tendency leads to the superimposition of contexts that might not accurately reflect communication “in the wild.” A common representation of this tendency is the common approach to using one’s daily routine to teach about reflexive verbs. On the surface, this trend is logical. Verbs like get dressed, wake up, and shower are related to one’s daily routine. However, people rarely actually use them when responding to the question “What have you done so far today?” They are, however, salient when considering the context of babysitting and telling the children to get ready for the day or get ready for bed.
How do we then divorce ourselves from the power of a tradition of when and how to teach specific content (a tradition that is obviously not working given drops in enrollment discussed in Flaherty, 2018)? Slowly. Begin by picking one or two language functions and really limit the vocabulary and grammar to what learners actually need to engage in that function. Instead of teaching the rest of the possible content that is tangentially related, devote time to more meaningful and intentional practice in the classroom. If we do that, we may just turn more students into life-long communicators.
References
Blooms Taxonomy: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
Costa’s Levels of Thinking: https://moodle.nisdtx.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=568977
Project-based Learning: https://www.bie.org/about/what_pbl
Flipped classrooms: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/
International Baccalaureate: http://blogs.ibo.org/blog/category/my-classroom/
Sources
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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