Early Literacy Practices in TEFL: teacher educators investigate

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Early Literacy Practices in TEFL teacher
educators investigate

• Inas Deeb Valerie Jakar
• IATEFL Conference, Cardiff
• April 1st 2009

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Our study

• The efficacy of in-service courses for teachers
  of English to young learners (grades 1-6) who are
  native speakers of Arabic or Hebrew.
• Learners and teachers in action
• Concepts of literacy  in relation to
   socio-educational and cultural contexts
• Our own practice as teacher educators.  

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Our Work Professional Development

• Teaching Certificate courses - (disciplinary)
• Personal and social professional development-
  (interdisciplinary)
• The challenge of implementation
• The challenge of retention/development

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EFL teaching and learning in schools

• Language learning goals
• OR
• Language teaching objectives
• CALP- Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

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Our GoalsTo change the learning patterns and
norms

• by having the teachers
• Make L2 learning meaningful and communicative.
• Promote cooperative work in classroom.
• Involve learners in reflective and critical
  thinking.
• Get the learners to share experiences and
  knowledge .
• Deal with what is available/ mandatory
  (textbook, materials, traditional ways of
  learning)

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• An ethnographic approach
• Setting, scene, situation, contexts and
  participants

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Teachers

• Teach English in East Jerusalem Public schools,
  under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of
  Education.
• Arabic is their L1, almost exclusively.
• Take in-service courses for professional
  development.

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The Learners and their lessons

• The learners study classical Arabic (CA) from
  first grade.
• Their English language learning program begins
  (as a foreign language) from first grade.
• They have English lessons 3 - 5 hours per week
  in a formal setting.
• Palestinian Curriculum (English for Palestine)
• Minimal exposure to the use of English outside
  the classroom
• Macmillan

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Schools

• Language of Instruction is Arabic (vernacular) .
• The schools (56 ) are administered and supported
  by the Israeli government but the curriculum
  that is used is that of the Palestinian
  authority.
• Many of the schools that are located in poor
  neighborhoods are crowded and have only basic
  facilities .

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Norms of Practice.Learning Patterns and tasks

• Repetition and recall of information
• Cognitive exercises
• Memorization and rote learning
• (Learning the Quran)
• Analytical manipulation
• Learning for the test
• Extrinsic motivation
• The culture of grades

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Educational Cultural Context

• Grade oriented
• Individual work // Cooperative Work
• The product (display or performance) is given the
  attention

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(No Transcript)
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Tools for the study

• Questionnaire
• Interviews
• Observations

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Questions asked(in the questionnaire)

• Have you been using any extracurricular teaching
  materials?
• Do you use Big Books with the EL learners?
• Do you use readers for extensive reading?
• If you do use books in class, how do you use
  them? What do you do?

• What are the activities/ methods that you have
  been using in class that you learned about in
  previous training courses?
• If you have given up these ideas or methods,
  explain why.

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Responses

• Teachers admit that they no longer include the
  EFL literacy practices.
• Only two of the schools we polled actually
  continued to have the book after book project.
• Various practices were abandoned because they
  I cannot do it alone
• we had the new textbook and I had to get right
  through it !
• The principal needed me to give grades for tests
  and stick to the book, so I did not have time to
  do extra projects

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Positive Reflectionsfrom observations and
interviews

• Used book after book as part of the curriculum
  and the tasks were evaluated and graded.
• The continual support of their school principal
  reinforced the continuation of the project.
• Teachers were permitted time, space and materials
  to display the students books.
• Teachers are proud of the display.

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PICS
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PICS
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Difference of Perceptions

• Teachers reserved the old learning patterns and
  norms, but changed the cover of the book.
• Teachers invested heavily in display to emphasize
  the products and illustrations but not
  necessarily the process.
• The creation of the books (as a collective) did
  not exceed the sum of their parts (the individual
  work! Sharing of their learning experiences was
  not acceptable.

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Our Reflections Future Plans

• Allow time for teachers own critical examination
  of their interpretations of literacy.
• Provide teachers with a framework of how to
  sustain their practice.
• Closer, continuous follow-up /support is
  required for efficient application to be
  perpetuated.
• Consider the educational and cultural context,
  and the typical learning norms before imposing a
  new practice.

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Our final words

• Continue with the research.
• Explore literacy with the teachers
• Investigate what bi-literacy really means to
  different cultures in different circumstances !

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Our Sources of inspiration .
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Making Literacy Webs in Schools, families, and
communities( Taylor , 2000)

• Studying the many literacies that occur in
  families and communities.
• Create opportunity for students to follow on
  their footsteps to become ethnographers of
  literacy-
• The Literacy Walk project

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creating Memories for literacy or Literacy as
Journey of Memory(Meir, 2004)

• The immediate and ultimate goal of literacy
  education is to provide
• sophisticated and complex experiences in
  experimenting, manipulating, and using varied
  oral and written language forms.
• Knowing the letters - low-level literacy
  knowledge.
• Telling a story, discussing the plot or
  dramatizing a story Higher- level literacy

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Learners Lives as Curriculum (Weinstein, 1999)

• Develop language lessons and thematic units that
  grow from learners lived experiences.
• Begin lessons with a hot topic of high interest
  to learners.
• Provide language development through listening,
  speaking, reading, writing and using grammar
  functions.
• Invite learners to investigate a problem and
  encourage collective discussion of solutions.
• Become independent learners and able to monitor
  own progress

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References

• Cummins, Jim, 1986.
• Hornberger, Nancy, 1996/2007. The Biliteracy
  Continuum.
• Meier, Daniel, 2004. Literacy as Journey of
  Memory
• Sanduka, Yassar, 2008. Personal communication.
• Taylor, Denise, 2000. Making literacy webs in
  schools, families, and communities
• Weinstein, Gail, 1999. Learners Lives as
  Currilculum
• (Complete references available from the
  presenters)

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• Inas Deeb, Pedagogical Teacher Development
  Center. East Jerusalem
• inasdeeb96_at_gmail.com
• Dr Valerie S Jakar, David Yellin Academic College
  of Education. Jerusalem, Israel
• vsjakar_at_gmail.com