THE PROCESS OF TESOL LESSON PLANNING

1
THE PROCESS OF TESOL LESSON PLANNING
MATERIALS ADAPTATIONThe journey from initial
planning to lesson execution. When does the
planning stop? Marion West Veronica Brock
2
BACKGROUND

• Observation of Experienced teachers
• B. Lesson Planning

3
Task 1
4

• B. LESSON PLANNING
• a lengthy process for all teachers, however
  experienced.
• published materials are only a guide, often
  providing the basic idea.
• need to become adept at selection, adaptation,
  deletion, addition. etc.
• No one way of doing it everyone using the same
  material will devise very different lessons that
  marry generic teaching skills with personalised
  teaching learning styles, and which still meet
  the needs of learners at a variety of levels.

5
SOLUTION

• to provide more materials on our VLE which would
  allow for
• repeated and shared viewing of the planning
  process and resulting lessons
• trainees to engage in tasks to analyse specific
  decisions, episodes, teaching learning styles
  etc. involved in planning

6
RESEARCH AREAS

• How do teachers plan? An investigation into the
  planning process undertaken by teachers
  planning a lesson using the same piece of
  material as an initial stimulus.
• What is the journey from initial planning to
  lesson execution?

7
PROCESS

• recording of one hour think-aloud protocol
• Journal
• lessons filmed

8
Task 2
9
TRANSCRIPTION ANALYSIS CODING

• Embryonic
• post-coding (grounded approach)
• identification of common themes regarding
  planning behaviour decision making behaviour
• Coding system based on one devised by LATEX
  (Language Teaching Expertise, Lancaster) for
  analysis of task design.

10
Task 3
11
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS
12
THE LEARNER

• Consider Learner
• Attributes Linguistic Level, Nationality, Age,
  Character, Proficiency, Learner Type
• Needs Skills, Language, Social, Stimulus
• Interests
• Life Styles
• Predict/Simulate Learner

13
TASKS MATERIALS

• Identify task
• Task Stage Warmer, Presentation, Production,
  Practice, Revision
• Task Type Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Writing,
  Speaking, Listening, Prediction, Comprehension

14

• Consider Task or Material
• Accept/ Possibility/ Reject // Evaluate
• Adapt, Supplement, Personalise, Re-order,
  Differentiate, Alternative, Addition

15

• Consider Task Management
• Grouping, Time, Facilitation

16
THE TEACHER

• Likes/dislikes
• Beliefs about task/ learning/ teaching etc
• Rationale for doing/ not doing/ adapting the task
• Worries about task/ learners etc

17
LINKS

• Link to Curriculum Previous lesson, Future
  Lesson etc.

18
A need for covert planning

• request to take material away before the session
• sessions came to a natural end. Next step to go
  away to expand the task.

19
Procedure Sequencing

• 2 clear procedural stages
• Work through material chronologically summarise
  major decisions
• Flesh out tasks
• Course book controls the initial consideration of
  material for use

20
The learners, not the outcomes, shape the lesson

• Although outcomes were not detailed, each teacher
  was clear about the aim of each task

21
Teacher use of Terminology

• TESOL discourse Terminology
• Subject discourse Terminology

22
Teachers are not walking grammar books
23
(No Transcript)
24
BENEFITS

• Evidence that when teachers use published
  material to formulate plans, that they will
  naturally evaluate and adapt materials/activities
  to create lessons that meet the needs of their
  learners, and their own teaching styles.
• Has generated a cycle of reflection on the way
  lesson planning is approached in our TESOL
  modules.

25
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

• Encourage trainees to make more efficient use of
  1 hour group planning sessions by adopting the
  rapid 2-stage cycle
• Re-design of lesson plan templates.
• Finish rather than start with identification of
  outcomes.
• Start with production task work backwards
• Isolation identification of linguistic item to
  be focused on in the lesson (words/phrases/structu
  res)
• Focus on for what purpose (function) those items
  are to be used.