A Case Study of Application of TBLT to Teacher Training

1
A Case Study of Application of TBLT to Teacher
Training

• Presenters Hiromasa Tanaka (tanakahi_at_eleal.meisei
  -u.ac.jp)
• Yoshifumi Fukada (fukada_at_eleal.meisei-u.ac.jp)
• Affiliation Meisei university
• Address 2-1-1 Hodokubo Hino-city Tokyo 191-8506
  Japan

2
Issues in the teaching practicum courses at
Meisei university

• Strong anxiety for taking practice teaching
• Insufficient English knowledge

3
Solution of the issue

• Establishing a task-based teacher training
  project named Meisei Summer School Project (MSSP)
• One target task
• to teach English to students at risk.
• Three pedagogical tasks to accomplish
• (1) discussing how to manage their classes
  including the
• size of class and teaching styles to use
• (2) developing class curriculum/lesson plans
• (3) peer monitoring and evaluation in
  rehearsals

4
Participants of the project

• Teachers The Meisei university students
• Undergraduates from the first to fourth year
• Graduate students (Masters degree)
• International volunteers (2005)
• Students
• Elementary school students 4th grade (2005)
  5th / 6th grades (2004)
• Junior high school students 1st / 2nd grades
  (2002) 3rd grade (2003)
• Adults (2005)
• Two faculty members
• Hiromasa Tanaka (Initiator of the project)
• Yoshifumi Fukada

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Ethnography of the Task-Based Teacher Training
Project (MSSP)

• Foci of this ethnographic study
• how the participants learned through preparation
  process
• how the participants learned in actual teaching
  period
• what the participants learned throughout the
  whole project

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The data collection period for the ethnographic
study

• 1st MSSP (6 days July 28 August 2, 2002)
• Preparation period (About 2 months Late May
  July 27)
• 2nd MSSP (6 days July 28 August 2, 2003)
• Preparation period (About 2 months Late
  May July 27)
• 3rd MSSP (6 days August 2 August 7, 2004)
• Preparation period (About 2 months Late May
  August 1)
• 4th MSSP (6 days August 1 August 6, 2005)
• Preparation period (About 2 months Late May
  July 31)

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Research techniques used for the data collection

• Observation
• General meetings
• Teaching-teams group work at the university
• Their lessons (Videotaped)
• Informal interview
• During their group work
• During the individual meetings with each teaching
  team
• Questionnaire
• During both the first and second MSSP.

Triangulation
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1st Pedagogical task Discuss how to manage
their classes

• Adoption of Team-Teaching (T.T.)
• Formation of teaching groups
• 35 undergraduates/graduate Ss in each group
• 1 main teacher Teaching Assistants (TAs)
• Teaching based on collaboration .

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2nd Pedagogical Task Collaborative development
of curriculum / lesson plans in groups

• About two months of preparation for their lessons
• Each group of students started to work seriously
  on it about 16 days before their classes started.
  
• Each student spent 17 hours and 51 minutes on
  average for group meetings on campus during the
  last 2 weeks of preparation.
• In the 4th MSSP, Meisei Ss started working with
  the int. volunteers on July 24.

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Topics discussed in group meetings

• (1) The flow of lessons
• We talked about lesson plans. We tried not to
  have gaps between lessons. We tried creating
  lesson plans which are consistent with each
  others. (Miki)
• we talked a lot about the way of proceeding the
  lessons and the time allocation for each
  activity. (Yoshihei)
• (2) The content of class activities
• Teaching materials / games we use in the class.
  (Risa)
• The goal of the lessons and their contents.
  Rules of the lessons. (Hiroto)
• (3) Pedagogy to be used in their lessons
• We discussed how we can give lucid explanations
  to students, or which points we should spend more
  time with when teaching a class. (Risa)
• We discussed teaching techniques to entertain
  students, and to catch their attentions to the
  lessons. (Yuka)
• They developed class curriculum together and
  created teaching materials together in the
  meetings.

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3rd Pedagogical task Monitoring and Evaluating
lessons in rehearsals

• 1st / 2nd MSSP Encouraged Ss to rehearse their
  lessons at least one time.
• 3rd MSSP Imposed all Ss on rehearsing their
  lessons at least one time.
• 4th MSSP Imposed all Ss on rehearsing their
  lessons at least two times.

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Feedback Ss received from other Ss and faculty
members in the rehearsals

• (1) About appropriate ways of talking / attitude
  as a teacher
• You had better talk a little bit more
  friendly. Be more confident
• (Takuto)
• Talk louder, with appropriate tempo/speed.
  (Shigeyuki)
• (2) About the pedagogy / teaching techniques used
  in the practice
• teachings
• Its better to include pattern practice
  more.(Hiroto)
• The teaching should not be one-way, but
  interactive. Have more
• conversations with students.(Takeshi)
• These comments they received were concrete and
  particular.
• These comments were helpful to improve their
  lessons / teaching techniques.

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The target task Teach / manage their classes

• Four types of T.T. techniques frequently used by
  S groups
• Type1 Covering main teachers insufficiency in
  teaching
• experience and English
  skills/competence
• Example1.
• Kenji (Main T.) (Writing on the blackboard)
  Oh, I forgot the spelling of statue.
  (puzzled face)
• Noboru (T.A.) (Standing by the blackboard, he
• immediately write the word down for him).

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• Type2 Creating lively environment in a
  classroom
• Example2
• Yuta (S1) (Hesitating to answer a question
  from the main T.)
• Yoshihei (T.A.) Ok, you can do it, Yuta!
• Example3
• Akiyoshi (T.A.1), Rie (T.A.2), Mami (T.A.3)
  (Give big
• applause every time when students could write
  down a correct
• answer on the board.)

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• Type 3 Maintaining the environment where
  students can
• concentrate on their study in the
  classroom
• Example 4.
• To make space for playing a game, the main T.,
  all T.A.s, and some
• Ss spontaneously moved desks and chairs to the
  wall.
• Example 5.
• S1 (He tells the main T.,Yoshihei that he
  cannot see the board with reflection of sun
  light)
• Yoshihei (Main T.) Sorry, you cannot see the
  board with reflection of light.
• Mutsumi (T.A.1) (Being attentive to the Main
  T./the S, she goes to the window to close a
  curtain)
• S1 (He can see the board clearly, and
  starts concentrating on the class)

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• Type 4 Giving intensive support to the weak
  students in the classroom
• Example 6
• Yoshihei (T.A.1) (While doing an activity, he
  asks a question for a student
• sitting next to him) Teacher, he (the S)
  created one question, but where should he
  write it down on the handout?
• Example 7
• Hiromi (Main T.) (Checking on the answers of a
  practice quiz) S1, whats the answer of this
  question?
• S1 (Looking at the question, she tries but
  is having a trouble with getting the correct
  answer.
• Yoshihei (T.A.1) (He, who was standing by the
  S1, comes to her and gives her some advice.)
• S1 (With the support from Yoshihei, she got
  the correct answer.)

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What Ss have acquired through the task-based
teacher training project

• Growth as teacher
• Knowledge of English
• Sense of responsibility
• Sense of empathy
• Self-esteem
• Communication skills
• Intercultural communication skills

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(1) Growth as teacher Acquisition of
knowledge and skills required to become
teachers

• Realization of students diversity in a
  classroom
• All students in a classroom are different. Some
  students have high English skills, but others
  dont. Some students are very talkative and talk
  about things which are unrelated to class
  activities, but others are very quite. Every
  student is so much different (Serika
  Questionnaire)
• Realization of the way of dealing with the
  diversity
• Because each students personality is different,
  I learned how to improve/elicit his/her good
  points. In fact, some students were very quiet
  the first two days, but they started to talk a
  lot with enthusiasm when I talked to them from my
  side. I felt so happy when their attitude
  changed. (Nami Questionnaire)

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• Teaching techniques acquired through the teaching
  of classes
• Before calling on each student, I flung the
  whole class a question, and had them think the
  answer. (Hiroto Questionnaire)
• I explained each grammatical point not using
  grammatical terminologies. (Yukiko
  Questionnaire)
• I used oral approach (pattern practice) and some
  other techniques in my class. (Naoto
  Questionnaire)
• I learned that the words used in example
  sentences should be all common to Ss. I also
  learned that Ss wont be able to understand
  terminologies such as be-verb and third-person,
  so I need to paraphrase them with other basic
  words. (Mutsumi Questionnaire)
• I learned that praising on Ss leads them to get
  confidence / enthusiasm in learning English. I
  also learned that, even if our lessons did not
  proceed as we scheduled, we would be able to deal
  with it by preparing some extra class
  activities. (Yukiko Questionnaire)

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(2) Knowledge of English

• Vocabulary/Expressions
• When I ask questions to Ss about pictures I
  show, I need to say, What is this?, not Who is
  this? (Itsuko Questionnaire)
• I could enrich my English vocabulary. (Sayaka
  Questionnaire)
• English Grammar
• I learned why we write the word, I in a
  capital letter all the time. (Serika
  Questionnaire)
• I figured out the rules for the way of changing
  verbs into past tense or ing form. (Sayaka
  Questionnaire)
• I could increase the knowledge of prepositions.
  (Yoshihei Questionnaire)
• I learned a lot about articles. (Yukiko
  Questionnaire)
• I learned the rules of changing nouns into
  plural forms. (Nanae Questionnaire)
• Pronunciation
• I learned the significance of pronunciation. I
  hadnt paid much attention to pronunciation, but
  I noticed its importance through the preparation
  of the lessons. (Naomi Questionnaire)
• I learned the significance of pronunciation...
  (Naoto Questionnaire)

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(3) Sense of responsibility

• I decided to participate in the project just
  because it sounded fun to teach classes, but now,
  I realized that how much responsibility I had as
  a teacher on the project. I felt I had to
  complete my tasks as a teacher steadily.
  (Sayaka Questionnaire)
• I could acquire strong courage to complete tasks
  on my own responsibility no matter how difficult
  they are to complete. (Yukiko Questionnaire)

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(4) Sense of empathy The ability to feel, think,
act, and perceive the world from the other
persons point of view (Tamura, 1992)

• I noticed that if a teacher feels qualms about
  his/her own teaching, students also become
  uneasy. I felt I needed to be more confident in
  myself. (Serika Questionnaire)
• I became able to take things from the students
  viewpoints. I noticed that when I explain things
  in my lessons, I need to do it in the way my
  students can understand. (Aya Questionnaire)

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• Shota (a student) won an English game in
  Akiyoshi (the main
• teacher)s class. Akiyoshi promised him to bring
  some takoyaki food
• as a prize the last day of the class. However,
  Shota had a fever and
• could not attend on the class the last day. When
  preparing for the
• closing ceremony, Akiyoshi and other
  undergraduates in the team-
• teaching group came to the faculty members and
  said that they would
• like to hand over the takoyaki food and a diploma
  of MSSP to him.
• Akiyoshi said, Shota would be pleased if we
  bring him the takoyaki because he was very
  looking forward to eating them.
• When the faculty members agreed with the idea,
  they spontaneously
• called the Shotas mother and went to see him by
  train after the closing
• ceremony. (Fieldnotes)

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(5) Self-esteem

• I found that if I take actions, things march up.
  I realized I also can do it. I found that there
  was something that I can do. (Hiroto
  Questionnaire)
• I got confidence in myself. I felt so happy
  when students learned things from my lessons. It
  was so nice to be able to contribute to the
  students. (Nami Questionnaire)
• Tsugumi (her team member) has changed. She is
  so much different, now. She grew up. (Motoko
  Fieldnotes)

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(6) Communication skills to build good
relationships with others

• Communication skills required to establish good
• relationships with other team members
• I became able to work on a project collaborating
  with other members. (Hiromi Questionnaire)
• I found that we can get various new ideas
  through the talks with other team members.
  (Katsumi Questionnaire)

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• Communication skills required to establish good
  relationships with their students
• Each child is different, so we need to know each
  students character well. Through the contact
  with various types of children, I acquired good
  interaction skills. (Tatsuki Questionnaire)
• I learned how to communicate with my students.
  By having a lot of conversations with them, they
  would trust and like us. Students would get
  confidence and also get enthusiasm by praising
  them. Understanding each students personality,
  specialty, and interest would be the key to
  establish close relationships with students.
  Many children in their age are assertive. By
  listening to each students assertion, we would
  be able to get trust from them. (Yukiko
  Questionnaire)

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(7) Intercultural communication skills

• The meisei university students had many
  opportunities to communicate with international
  volunteers invited from various countries in the
  process of preparing and teaching their lessons.

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Implications of the project

• Incorporating a task-based teacher training
  project like MSSP into a teaching practicum
  course will help students fix what they have
  learned in the classroom and acquire
  skills/characters indispensable for becoming
  teachers.
• In case students feel anxious about their
  knowledge and teaching skills, adoption of T.T.
  would be effective.