Relevant Theories Concerning the Evaluation of an English Class

1
Relevant Theories Concerning the Evaluation of an
English Class

• Zhang Yuxiang
• Foreign Languages Dept.
• Hefei Teachers College

2
Famous quotations

• One of the most characteristic features of
  communicative language teaching is that it pays
  systematic attention to functional as well as
  structural aspects of language , combining these
  into a more fully communicative view.
• --- William Littlewood

3
Relevant Theories

• Part I Some relevant theories concerning the
  evaluation of a lesson

4
Review of the Views of the Language

• In the past century, language teaching and
  learning practice has been influenced by three
  different views of language , namely, the
  structural view, the functional view and the
  interactional view.

5
Review of the Views of the Language the
structural view

• The structural view of the language
• The view that language is a system of
  structurally related elements for the encoding of
  meaning. The target of language learning is to
  master the elements (phoneme, morpheme, and
  syntax.) of the system. To learn a language means
  to learn these structural items so as to be able
  to understand and produce language.

6
Review of the Views of the Language the
structural view

• ?????
• ?????????????,????????????????????????????????????
  ????
• ?????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????????,???????????????????????????????????
  ???

7
Review of the Views of the Language the
functional view

• The view that language is a vehicle for the
  expression of functional meaning. This theory
  emphasizes the semantic and communicative
  dimension rather than merely the grammatical
  characteristics of language.
• The functional view not only sees language as a
  linguistic system but also a means for doing
  things. Most of our day-to day language use
  involves functional activities. So, learners
  learn a language in order to be able to do things
  with it.

8
Review of the Views of the Language the
functional view

• ????
• ???????????????????????????????????????????????
  ?????????????????

9
Review of the Views of the Language the
interactional view

• It sees language as a vehicle for the
  realization of interpersonal relations and for
  the performance of social transactions between
  individuals. Language is seen as a tool for the
  creation and maintenance of social relations.
• The interactional view considers language to be a
  communicative tool, whose main use is to build up
  and maintain social relations between people. So,
  learners not only need to know the grammar and
  vocabulary of the language but as importantly
  they need to know the rules for using them in a
  whole range of communicative context.

10
Review of the Views of the Language the
interactional view

• ??????
• ??????????????????????????????????????,????????
  ?????????????????

11
The Main Language Learning Theories

• Behaviorist theory(??????)
• The key point of the theory of conditioning is
  that you can train an animal to do anything if
  you follow a certain procedure which has three
  major stages stimulus(??), response(??), and
  reinforcement(??).
• Based on the theory of conditioning, Skinner
  suggested that language is also a form of
  behavior.

12
The Main Language Learning Theories

• Cognitive theory(????)
• The term cognitivism is often used to describe
  methods in which students are asked to think
  rather than simply repeat, which seems to be
  largely the result of Noam Chomskys reaction to
  Skinners behaviorist theory.

13
The Ultimate Goal of Language Learning

• The ultimate goal of foreign language teaching is
  to enable students to use the foreign language in
  work or life when necessary.

14
The Overall Language Ability

• The overall language ability involves the
  following five aspects
• language knowledge phonetics, vocabulary,
  grammar, functions and topics.
• language skills listening, speaking, reading and
  writing.
• learning strategies cognitive, self-management,
  communication and resource.
• cultural awareness cultural knowledge, cultural
  understanding, cross-cultural communication,
  awareness and ability.
• affect motivation and interest, confidence,
  collaboration and international perspectives.

15
????????

• ???? ??,??,??,??, ??
• ???? ?,?,?,?
• ???? ????,????,?? ??,????
• ???? ????,????,?? ???,?????
• ???? ????,????,?? ??,????,????

16
Communicative Competence (????)

• The ability not only to apply the grammatical
  rules of a language in order to form
  grammatically correct sentences but also to know
  when and where to use these sentences and to whom.

17
Communicative Competence

• knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the
  language.
• knowledge of rules of speaking.
• knowing how to use and respond to different types
  of speech acts, such as requests, apologies,
  thanks and invitations.
• knowing how to use language appropriately.

18
Task- based Language Teaching

• A task- based classroom instruction is
  composed of a series of tasks. All the tasks are
  involved in language use, the key features of a
  task are
• A task is a work plan--- a plan for learner
  activity.
• A task involves real-world processes of language
  use.
• A task engages cognitive processes such as
  selecting, classifying, ordering, and evaluating
  information in order to carry out the task.
• A task involves a primary focus on meaning.
• A task can involve any of the four language
  skills.
• A task has a clear defined communicative outcome.
  (Ellis, 2003)

19
Task- based Language Teaching

• In China, according to the ideas provided by the
  new curriculum and teaching system of new
  teaching materials, English task-based language
  teaching includes lead-in, pre-task, during-task,
  post-task, check and assessment, and homework
  assignments.

20
The Yardstick for a Good Lesson

• Purposeful
• Interesting
• Motivating

21
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching

• Communication principle Activities that involve
  real communication promote learning.
• Task principle Activities in which language is
  used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote
  learning.
• Meaningfulness principle Language that is
  meaningful to the learner supports the learning
  process. --Richards Rodgers(1986)

22

method
approach
design
procedure
theory of lg. theory of lg. learning

• Syllabus design
• Role of teacher
• Role of students
• Role of materials

classroom activity
23
The Principles of Lesson Planning

• Aim
• Variety
• Flexibility
• Learnability
• Linkage

24
The Format(??) of a Lesson Plan

• At the beginning
• The analysis of the textbook
• The analysis of the students
• Aims
• Knowledge
• Ability
• Affect
• Key points
• Difficult points
• Approaches and Methods
• Activities
• Teaching Aids

25
The Format of a Lesson Plan

• II. In the body
• Procedure
• WARM-UP Game(3 mins.) ( Next write out the
  name of the game.)
• STAGE1, PRESENTATION (approx. 10 mins.)
• Step 1
• Step 2
• etc.
• STAGE2, PRACTICE (approx. 15 mins.)
• Step 1
• Step 2

26
The Format of a Lesson Plan

• In the body (contd)
• STAGE 3, PRODUCTION (to end of
  lesson,17 mins.)
• Step 1
• Step 2
• Step 3
• etc.

27
The Format of a Lesson Plan

• In the end
• Summary of the lesson
• Homework
• Optional activity
• Layout of the chalkboard
• After-class reflection

28
Teacher Roles

• Harmer(1983) holds that the teacher adopts
  the roles of controller, assessor, organizer,
  prompter, participant, resource provider and
  facilitator according to the functions he
  performs in different activities.

29
Reference Books

• Ellis, Rod(1994), The Study of Second Language
  Acquisition, Oxford University Press
• Richards, Jack C. Rodgers, Theodore S. (2000),
  Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching,
  Fltra Cup
• Wang Qiang (2006), A Course in English Language
  Teaching, Higher Education Press
• Xiao Xi ((2003), A Practical Training Course of
  English Teaching Techniques, Higher Education
  Press
• Ouyang Junling Zhang Yuxiang (2007), English
  Teaching Methodology, Anhui Peoples Publication
  House

30
Assessment

• Part II The Assessment of the Lesson
• Module 9 Animals in danger
• Unit 1 We need to protect animals

31
Assessment of the Lesson

• Strong points
• 1. Generally speaking, the lesson went
  smoothly. Under the teachers instruction, the
  students can have a good command of what is being
  taught.

32
Assessment of the Lesson

• 2. At the beginning, by showing the students
  contrasting pictures (i.e. a group of pictures
  about animal living in peace and those about
  animals in danger), the teacher is able to draw
  the attention of the students and have them
  mentally prepared for the lesson and the
  follow-up activities.

33
Assessment of the Lesson

• 3. In the guessing game, it is good that the
  teacher has rewritten the definitions of the
  words in the textbook so as to make the
  descriptions more vivid and more concrete for the
  students to guess the words.

34
Assessment of the Lesson

• 4. Meaning for understanding in a context is
  very important for all the learners, so the
  teacher can revolve around the topic of Animals
  in Danger to demonstrate his teaching of
  listening and speaking in a specific context.

35
Assessment of the Lesson

• 5. In Listen and Read, the teacher puts
  forward the question Why are these animals in
  danger? and asks the students to have a
  discussion about the answer to the question,
  which provides the students with opportunities to
  obtain the information.

36
Assessment of the Lesson

• 6. In grammar teaching and learning Focus on
  sentences--- Read and find out the rules in the
  sentences, the teacher uses inductive method to
  let the students find out the rules by themselves
  , aiming at cultivating the students autonomous
  learning(????).

37
Assessment of the Lesson

• 7. In the role-play, the activity named
  simulation(??) is the communicative one, which
  gives the students the chance to use the language
  creatively.

38
Assessment of the Lesson

• 8. With the song Heal the World by Michael
  Jackson as the background, the two sentences
  Animals are our friends. and Lets protect all
  the animals in danger! are shown on the screen,
  which is not only used as the theme of the
  lesson, but again as moral education.

39
Assessment of the Lesson

• 9. The computer-assisted teaching is fully
  exhibited in the teaching process. Without it,
  the whole teaching would have been dull and
  abstract for the learners.

40
Assessment of the Lesson

• Suggestions for the further improvement
• 1. From the first impression, all the students
  seem to be not the second graders in junior high
  school but much higher graders. So, the teaching
  seems to be too smooth but may be not the case
  for the real second graders from junior high
  schools.

41
Assessment of the Lesson

• 2. It seems that the topic of the module(
  Animals in danger) and that of the unit (We need
  to protect the animals) have failed to function
  as well as expected. In fact, the teacher neednt
  write the topics for the sake of writing both on
  the screen and on the chalkboard. The topics
  should be given as naturally as possible in the
  process of the lead-in and explanation. In
  addition, the layout of the chalkboard should be
  redesigned, for it is a bit in disorder.

42
Assessment of the Lesson

• 3. In Listen and Read part, the sequence of
  activities should be adjusted a little bit, i.e.
  after the students have finished the step (Read
  again, ask and answer in pairs), then the teacher
  can present the key words and everyday English.
  In this way, the students can fully learn the
  words and expressions in context. Besides, the
  process of students obtaining the information
  can avoid being interrupted.

43
Assessment of the Lesson

• 4. The teacher should have given priority to the
  training of the students listening and speaking
  strategies. But in fact, the teacher has failed
  to do so. (Take listening for example, the
  students only listen to the first dialogue once
  for the second dialogue, the students are only
  asked to listen and read after the tape. It has
  nothing to do with the training of the listening
  strategies. )

44
Assessment of the Lesson

• 5. The offering of the correct answers has
  confined the students to do creative thinking. It
  is hard for the students to develop the habit of
  doing autonomous learning. (for example, in
  discussion of the question Why are these animals
  in danger? The students are only asked to focus
  on the three reasons.
• (contd)

45
Assessment of the Lesson

• And the same answers are used again and again
  in the following activities. The students have
  failed to mention other reasons than those
  offered in the conversation. Thats the reason
  why in the role play , the students fail to use
  the variety of language)

46
Assessment of the Lesson

• 6. It would be much better if the teacher were
  less dependent upon the textbook and would engage
  or involve more students in class and it would be
  much better if the teacher gave the students more
  comprehensible input in class.

47
Assessment of the Lesson

• 7. In the whole process of teaching and learning,
  the teacher is a bit dominant, and the students
  are somehow passive in deciding what to do,
  though they seem to be actively involved in the
  different activities.

48
Acknowledgement

• Id like to give my heartfelt thanks to Associate
  Professor Wang Jiling and Mr Jiang Daohua for
  their suggestions in the evaluation of the
  lesson.

49
Thank you for your attention!