drop into my deep blue yonder... » EFL/ESL/ESP/EAP

aids to meaningful learning

words — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:36:42 +0000

I visited a workshop led by Rüdiger Iwan the day before yesterday. What I took away from that workshop was a re-examination of several key issues in school education: the role of homework, the nature of correction of pupil’s work and the link between the concept of portfolio and apprenticeship.
Homework
I think that homework can successfully fulfil its purpose only if the following criteria are met:
- the day in school (including travelling time) is short enough for the pupil to have a healthy balance of exercise, rest and fun as well as doing the homework
- the homework has a clearly defined purpose perhaps initiated by the teacher but negotiated with the pupil – that is to say the pupil ‘owns’ the reason for that homework
- it clearly advances the preparation for what is coming or rounds up what has been a successful learning experience thus far
- it reflects or extends an interest base the pupil already ‘owns’
Teacher’s correction of pupils’ work
There is little to be gained from correcting all of the errors in a long text written by a pupil. Far better to focus on one, two or three specific errors and agree in a dialogue with the pupil a path towards eradicating those errors. There needs to be a path forward linked to a sense of achievement for the pupil. The nature of the correction is important too. I favour marking the language errors with text marker and allowing the pupil to reflect on what is wrong. First of all alone, then, as one of a pair or a small group. In my experience 90% of errors can be corrected in this way in EFL work.
Pupils’ correction of their own work
When pupils have written a text which has been corrected by whatever means then the rewriting of that text is a cause for satisfaction and achievement because it mirrors the creation proves itself in which amendment follows amendment until satisfaction is achieved. It is the iterative process of the creative artist.
Portfolio
If the pupil maintains a portfolio of his/her quality work then this is a powerful card to play in succeeding at interview. A much more powerful card than any piece of paper containing exam results. It demonstrates clearly, visibly and powerfully what a person can do. The exam results open the door and get you an interview; the quality portfolio clinches the job as artists have always known.

correcting EFL work

words — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 03:33:25 +0000

Of course a spelling test or a grammar exercise is relatively easy to correct. The problem comes when the piece of writing is longer. It could be a piece of creative writing, a summary, expressing an opinion, a script, a portfolio submission or a test for example. The problem isn’t about correcting the mistakes although they need to be corrected with sensitivity. A page of red corrections isn’t inspiring and is de-motivating in my opinion. I correct in green because it is perceived as a friendlier colour than red. I also believe in focusing on one specific error with the hope of eradicating it by carefully selected and directed exercises starting with what amounts to a drill of some kind and leading up to open-ended use of the problem expression; working from convergent correction towards divergent use. Of course in the case of very able students or minor mistakes it is an option to focus on more than one point. The point to be borne in mind always has to be an answer to the questions: “What will the effect be on this student? What effect will my programme of correction have? Where do we go from here? What is the appropriate follow up?

I find all of the above difficult to envisage as forming part of a complete picture without detailed record cards. These need not be a chore as they can be completed quite naturally by the student in the classroom after the corrections have been successfully done. Each point needs to have a date, a title to describe the point corrected, a stage indication like gap exercise, repetition practice or free use and an indication of the degree of success – the last point being completed by the tutor as s/he checks the entry.

Another technique which works well is using a text marker to mark every error in a paragraph and leave the pupils to correct the errors themselves or in pairs using the teacher as a referee. It is amazing how many errors can be corrected in this way without teacher direction. In my experience often as many as 80 – 90%.

European Language Passport, Biography and Portfolio

words — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:23:02 +0000

Basically this is an excellent idea. The European Union’s aim seems to be that everyone who participates can have a language passport showing their level of proficiency in the basic skills areas. This can be backed up by a biography showing how they arrived at these skill levels and by a portfolio (possibly multimedia) to demonstrate to any employer or place of further study that it really is true and can be proven.

The one weakness that I sense in the scheme is the confusion between ‘expert’ assessment and self certification. Of course I believe that self certification has a role to play in negotiating a language level but is a self certificate really worth having when not backed by the opinions of qualified experts?