Unit 3: Corrective Feedback and Assessment in Writing

I found this to be a very interesting unit. I know that many of us say we want corrective feedback but then when we get it we can respond less receptively than we should. For assignment 3 we needed to share our work with an experienced ESL teacher. This was a task that caused me some anxiety. I have been a teacher for many years but this was the first time in quite awhile that I have had to show someone my work for a critique. It turned out to be a great experience. The teacher I shared my lesson with offered some great ideas for improvements or changes that would work for my lesson. She validated the approach that I used and encouraged me to continue on the same path. She was specific in what she was referring to when she was giving her feedback. This is so true for our students as well. Too often teachers fall into the trap of saying 'great job' or 'needs work' or even just assigning a grade without corrective feedback. I believe that all students want to improve and do their best work. The only way they can do that is if we offer them tangible feedback paired with re-teaching if necessary and the opportunity to practice.

Something that I have been trying to do for my own professional learning, is to locate articles or theses that have genuine input from second language learners. This unit I found a thesis by Anna Deptola on language learners' preferences. Although it was a small scale study (9 students) the general consensus was that students wanted corrective feedback, specifically in the areas of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and word choice. (Which is pretty much everything you need for language study!)

I also spent some time reflecting on the types of corrective feedback and made a chart which I have included under Unit 3 in my course tab.

Language Learner Preferences for Corrective Feedback

Unit 2: Approaches to Grammar and Writing Instruction

Writing has always been a passion for me. I love to read good writing and I love to write my thoughts. When a piece has spelling or grammatical errors I will often stop reading, it almost insults my senses. So the teaching of writing in any of my classroom has always been a priority. The written form has always been a way to convey your ideas or opinions in a thoughtful way. Most often you can take your time, thinking through what you will say, to ensure that the right message is being sent. Then came Twitter.... One of the most important messages I would want to convey to my students is that you need to think before you write. This is an opportunity for you to ensure that what you write is not open to interpretation. I would use an inductive approach to demonstrate this to my students. I would provide them with many opportunities to participate in shared writes, to read good pieces of writing and to use their writing in authentic ways. Through these writing opportunities correct grammar usage can be modeled and feedback and prescriptive teaching can follow the review of a student's work. Regardless of the level of the language learner I believe that teaching writing and all the structures that it entails, is an integral part of ESL instruction.

Unit 1: To be an expert or not to be an expert

In this unit there was a lot of discussion about the teacher as an 'expert' in grammar. The term expert, as defined by Webster, is : "One with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject". At the heart of the matter teachers need to be knowledgeable enough about their content to be able to provide information to their students so that the student can be successful. Generally when one becomes a teacher they have a 'passion' or a 'love' for a particular subject or topic that they teach. The enthusiasm that they bring to that subject is usually demonstrated in the way that they impart their knowledge to their students. This passion might be overarching to teaching in general but I don't think it applies, nor does it need to, to every subject a teacher teaches, especially at a time when assignments may be 'given' to the teacher rather than 'chosen' by them. As a teacher I do, however, need to know where to find information when I am not as knowledgeable about a subject and I need to give accurate answers to my students in a timely manner. I then perhaps become an expert on being the best teacher I can be by searching out sources, referring to student's knowledge(especially when they are adult learners) and ensuring that my students know if I don't have an answer I will find it and bring it back to them so they can continue their learning.

Unit 4: Use Technology and Create Resources

I really found this topic to be timely during this time of the pandemic. Educators and students everywhere needed to find not only a new way to teach and learn but also a new way to connect. I think this was a bit of a baptism by fire as on top of focusing on  curriculum, all involved needed to learn how to apply the technology to best meet the needs of students and teachers. Prior to this time, teachers often looked for ways to incorporate technology into their teaching practice, usually because they were directed by an administrator, it often wasn't the teacher's choice. Thus it was often used in the classroom in a non-authentic manner. A good example of this is the interactive whiteboard. I think that Kiddle (2014) aptly described this as a 'showpony' in a 'bookable multimedia room' (p. 196). Many times these whiteboards don't work effectively, they need to be realigned, creating materials to use for them is time-consuming and existing publisher programs often don't meet the needs of the learner. They are often $2000 tools that rarely get used and when they are used they aren't used to their capacity. What I find at this time however, is that teachers have no choice. They need to effectively use technology and all that it offers to deliver their programming. I have seen amazing work from teachers as they connect and teach using programs that they didn't even know existed a short month ago. I have also seen students turn the tables and become the teachers as they help others learn not only the technology but also new exciting multi-modal ways to demonstrate their knowledge. I think this will be a turning point in education. There will be less fear on the part of teachers to learn new technology and students will be given more opportunities to authentically use multi-media to present materials and meet course outcomes.

Kiddle, T. (2014). Developing digital language learning materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.).      Developing materials for language teaching. (pp. 189-203). New York: Bloomsbury.

Unit 3: Adapting Resources

To me the whole purpose of adapting materials is so that the learner does not feel like the boy in the picture. Our goal as educators is to engage learners through relevant and interesting lessons.
Billsborough (2017) provided examples of universal principles: providing opportunities for students to make effective use of their previous knowledge, helping them to use the same mental resources they used to acquire their L1 and taking into account their individual differences. Local principles would include: adding humor, creativity and incorporating opportunities for kinesthetc learning. In short, engaging students in their learning by creating practical, informative classroom opportunities. In previous courses we talked about a needs assessment, which I think is so important in the first step of planning for a class. That provides key information that can be incorporated into daily lessons, while still remaining true to the curriculum. Involving students in their own learning by providing choices (they adapt the lesson according to the choices they make) gives students the opportunity to become autonomous learners in charge of their own progress.

Editor, W. (2017, August 8). ELT materials writing: More on emerging principles. Retrieved from 

      https://mawsig.iatefl.org/elt-materials-writing-more-on-emerging-principles/