Developing classroom English for teachers from Japan using tasks

1
Developing classroom English for teachers from
Japan using tasks

• Dr. Olenka Bilash
• University of Alberta (Canada) olenka.bilash_at_ualbe
  rta.ca

2
Background

• Part of a longitudinal Action Research Study (5
  years)
• Teachers of English from Japan
• FL setting
• Teacher training in Canada and Japan, Classroom
  visits
• Capacity building
• Teaching English through Japanese
• Try to increase student exposure to English (TL)

3
Exposure to the TL

• 3 years of jr. high
• 105 classes of 50 minutes each X 35 weeks 5,250
  minutes or 87.5 hours of instruction per year
  262.5 hours in three years
• 3 years of high school
• 175 classes of 50 minutes X 35 weeks 8,750
  minutes or 144.1 hours of instruction per year or
  432.3 hours in three years
• TOTAL in 6 years is 695 hours

4
How much English do students hear in a 50 minute
class?

• Greeting to signal the beginning of class 10
  seconds
• Pronunciation practice 40 seconds
• Listen to song or dialogue (2 times) 1 minute
• Vocabulary repetition 1 minute
• Structured Pair work 1 minute
• More Vocabulary repetition 1 minute
• More Structured Pair work 1 minute
• Farewell to signal the end of class
  10 seconds
• TOTAL 6 minutes
• 12 of 50 minutes

5
How much English do students hear in a year?

• 6 minutes
• 12 of 50 minutes
• 18 minutes per week
• 72 minutes per month
• 648 minutes per year
• Less than 11 hours per year
• 33 hours in 3 years
• 66 hours in 6 years

6
Consequences

• Problems with listening comprehension
• Lack of confidence in speaking
• Unbalanced development of 4 skills
• Feeling of inability to communicate in English
• Lack of faith in school system to teach
  English

7
Proposed way to improve the situation

• Increase the amount of English heard in the
  classroom
• Encourage teachers to USE more English
• Help teachers develop confidence to do so
• Teachers who speak English to their students
  show their students that it is possible and model
  confidence to try and acceptance of making small
  mistakes but still successfully communicating

8
BUT

• Interviews and surveys reveal that JTE do not use
  English more in the classroom because they do not
  feel confident.

9
Confidence

• What does being confident mean to JTE?
• Hunches
• Lack of vocabulary
• Low perception of ability
• Lack of experience using the language in select
  instruction giving situations
• Internal conflict with completing the
  curriculum and preparing students for exams

10
Lack of vocabulary

• a large and exhaustive book of classroom phrases
  is provided to teachers in order to encourage
  them to use classroom English
• No time to look up the words
• Poor organization/access
• No way to verify accuracy of selection of words
  to the context

11
Low perception of ability

• No examination exists to measure classroom
  language
• No experience learning through English
• No time to practice

12
Lack of experience using the language in select
instruction giving situations

• No opportunities - were taught English through
  Japanese
• Minimal contact with NS (especially in such
  situation)
• Fall back on their experience
• Few have been abroad
• Build it in to the teacher training course

13
3 Part study

• Needs Assessment
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Observations

• Developing Classroom Language pilot
• Tasks
• Grounded theory feedback sheet
• Self assessment
• student feedback

Developing Classroom Language study Tasks videot
aped Self assessment student feedback
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Participants in Needs Assessment

• Understanding confidence in the Japanese
  context
• Surveys completed by 100 teachers of English at
  elementary, jr. high and sr. high levels
• Interviews with 15 teachers

15
Participants in 2-Part Study

• Improving Classroom English
• Pilot 12 teachers of English from Japan
• Study 10 teachers of English from Japan

16
Needs Assessment Survey

• When teachers use English to teach English
• When teachers use Japanese to teach English
• Situations in which they self report comfort
  using English in spoken and written contexts

17
When teachers use English to teach English

• 70 use English less than 50 of the time. 30
  use more, using more English to teach grammar.
  Giving a greeting
• Giving praise and encouragement
• Asking short and simple questions
• - At the beginning of class
• After a reading or dialog
• Giving simple instructions
• Making connections with students
• checking for completion of an activity or
  understanding
• Not often ? giving extra information and giving
  students a clue.

18
When teachers use Japanese to teach English

• Giving a greeting
• Giving grammar explanations
• Disciplining students
• Explaining a context
• Giving complex instructions
• Translating
• because they do not think that the students will
  understand them if they speak in English
• because it takes less time (is more efficient) to
  use Japanese.

19
Situations in which would feel comfortable
Teachers Using English

• 100 - have a conversation with an ALT or
  foreigner in English (about your interests or
  hobbies)
• type on an English keyboard
• write in English (for example, a letter, essay,
  poems)
• team teaching
• 90 give someone who is lost directions to a bus
  stop or train station
• have a phone conversation with an ALT/native
  speaker
• 80read a story to students
• order food in a restaurant
• Give praise to my students
• 70 write an e-mail introducing yourself to
  someone in English
• read an English magazine about a familiar topic
• sing English songs at karaoke

20
Situations in which would feel comfortable
Teachers Using English

• 50 explain how to cook some Japanese food or
  play a Japanese game
• understand TV and radio broadcasts news,
  weather, sports
• 40 make a school or class newspaper in English
• do role plays or theatre
• listen and understand English music
• listen and understand English video, film
• give a presentation about teaching in English
• give a summary of a lesson
• self correct
• 30 learn how to make food or fix a cabinet from
  an English TV program
• create a power point presentation
• 20 tell a personal anecdote about my life
• read English literature

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Which type of task would respond to their needs?

• Authentic (Culturally)
• Unfamiliar
• Instruction giving
• Somewhat complex
• Use story or anecdote (with supporting actions)
• Presence of an authentic listener
• Required presentation/summary
• Not too long
• Could be repeated/rehearsed without becoming
  bored

22
TASKS

• Card tricks
• Paper-cutting stories
• Require presentation (story telling)
• Require teaching (with support)

23
Type of Task (Long, 1990)

• Planned/unplanned
• unplanned
• Closed/open
• Closed - room for negotiation of meaning
• No-way/one-way/two-way
• One-way (initially)
• Two-way

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Design - Part 1

• Part 1 (pilot)
• 12 different tasks
• 12 teachers
• 7 learners each
• Observations about HOW they taught
• Interviews about WHAT they thought about
• grounded theory approach
• Guided reflection/Feedback sheets

25
Teacher Guided Self Reflection
Name of teacher Which turn 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 Name of student Think about your
presentation of the GAME and describe how much
you agree/disagree with the following
statements 4 Strongly Agree 3Agree
2Disagree 1Strongly Disagree. I
remembered the vocabulary well. 4 3 2
1 I remembered the actions well. 4 3 2
1 I combined the vocabulary and actions
well. 4 3 2 1 I used accurate and
relevant language. 4 3 2 1 I went off
topic in a useful way. 4 3 2 1 I spoke
with confidence. 4 3 2 1 I spoke
clearly. 4 3 2 1 I checked that my
student(s) understood the task from the words I
used. 4 3 2 1 I made good use of
silence. 4 3 2 1 I repeated the
instructions enough for the student. 4 3 2
1 I didnt need to correct myself very
often. 4 3 2 1 I used a lot of full
sentences. 4 3 2 1 I let the student
talk or ask questions. 4 3 2 1 Other
things that were important to me are Next time
I want to concentrate more on / improve
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Learner Guided Self Reflection
Name of teacher Which turn 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 Name of student Think about
learning the GAME and describe how much you
agree/disagree with the following statements 4
Strongly Agree 3Agree 2Disagree 1Strongly
Disagree. It was useful to me when the teacher
... ... repeated specialized vocabulary 4 3
2 1 ... memorized specific terms and
phrases 4 3 2 1 ... used general terms
and phrases 4 3 2 1 ... said and did
the words and actions together 4 3 2
1 ... repeated the same words a lot 4 3
2 1 ... repeaed using different words 4
3 2 1 ... encouraged and praised me a
lot 4 3 2 1 ... used full
sentences 4 3 2 1 ... asked me
questions and interruptions 4 3 2 1
made eye contact with me 4 3 2 1
used hand gestures 4 3 2 1 let me
ask questions 4 3 2 1 let me try to
learn on my own 4 3 2 1 What else did
the teacher do for you that helped you
learn? Next time I could learn better if I . . .
Next time I could learn better if the teacher. .
. When it was your turn to explain back or
teach back the trick to your teacher, what was
easy or helpful or important? When it was your
turn to explain back or teach back the trick to
your teacher, what was difficult or not helpful
or not important?
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Design - Part 2

• 1 teacher
• 5 different students
• One task
• Videotapes, self assessments after each turn

X 10
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Original task

• Taught by NS
• One-on-one (familiar with one another)
• Presentation of card trick or paper cutting
  story
• Teaching of the presentation
• Teaching of the trick
• Practicing - Q-A
• Completion of the reflection sheet as a student
• Videotaped

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On teaching
T1
Task turn1
S1
On learning
30
SR1
On teaching
T1
Task turn1
S1
S1R
On learning
31
SR1
On teaching
T1
Task turn1
S1
S1R
On learning
32
SR1
On teaching
T1
Task turn1
S1
S1R
On learning
33
SR1
On teaching
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn1
S1
S2
S1R
On learning
34
SR1
On teaching
SR2
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn1
S1
S2
S1R
S2R
On learning
35
SR1
On teaching
SR2
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn1
S1
S2
S1R
S2R
On learning
36
SR1
On teaching
SR2
T1
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn3
Task turn1
S1
S2
S2
S1R
S2R
On learning
37
SR3
SR1
On teaching
SR2
T1
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn3
Task turn1
S1
S2
S2
S1R
S3R
S2R
On learning
38
SR3
SR1
On teaching
SR2
T1
T1
T1
Task turn2
Task turn3
Task turn1
S1
S2
S2
S1R
S3R
S2R
On learning
39
SR4
On teaching
SR5
T1
T1
Task turn5
Task turn4
S4
S5
S4R
S5R
On learning
40
Analysis of self reflections of teacher

• By turn

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What Teachers found important - Turn 1

• Using correct vocabulary
• Thinking about WHAT (content) they were teaching
• Thinking about the order to teach the content

42
Turn 1

• Using correct vocabulary

Language
Teaching
Content

• Thinking about the order to teach the content

• Thinking about WHAT (content) they were teaching

43
What Teachers found important - Turn 2

• Using full sentences
• Self correcting
• Speaking slowly and clearly
• Giving instructions more simply
• Scaffolding
• Checking for understanding
• Watching students more (assessment)

44
Turn 2

• Using full sentences

Giving instructions more simply

• Self correcting

• Speaking slowly and clearly

Language

• Scaffolding

Teaching
Content

• Checking for understanding

• Watching students more (assessment)

45
What Teachers found important - Turn 3

• Using more orderly vocabulary - e.g. first,
  second. . . . As mnemonics for students
• Giving their students more encouragement
• Making the activity more fun
• Assessing students difficulties

46

• Using more orderly vocabulary - e.g. first,
  second. . . . As mnemonics for students

Turn 3
Language

• Giving their students more encouragement

Teaching
Content

• Making the activity more fun

• Assessing students difficulties

47
What Teachers found important - Turn 4

• Improve rhythm, intonation
• Develop confidence
• Using more precise vocabulary
• Giving their students more encouragement
• Assessing students difficulties
• Give students more chances to practice

48

• Improve rhythm, intonation

• Using more precise vocabulary

Turn 4
Language
Teaching

• Giving their students more encouragement

Content

• Assessing students difficulties

• Develop confidence

• Give students more chances to practice

49
What Teachers found important - Turn 5

• The weaknesses of their students (the things that
  previous students had found difficult)

50
Turn 5
Language
Teaching
Content
The weaknesses of students
51
What Learners consider important (always Turn 1)

• Kindness, patience, gentleness of the teacher
• Helping students use more precise vocabulary
• Making the activity FUN

52
What Teachers consider important
Language
Turn 1
Turn 2
Turn 3
Turn 4
Turn 5

• Make content more fun (attractive,
  appealing)-motivation
• Using more orderly vocabulary e.g. first, second.
  .(mnemonics)
• Giving their students more encouragement
• Assessing students difficulties

• Improve rhythm, intonation
• Develop confidence
• Using more precise vocabulary
• Giving learners more encouragement
• Help students more
• Give students more chances to practice

• Using correct vocabulary
• Thinking about WHAT (content) they were teaching
• Thinking about the order to teach the content

• Using full sentences
• Self correcting
• Speaking slowly and clearly
• Giving instructions more simply
• Scaffolding
• Checking for understanding
• Watching students more (assessment)

Content

• Focus on learner weaknesses

Teaching
53
Turn 5
Turn 4
Turn 3
Turn 2
Turn 1
Help stud
voc
speech
content
encour
assessment
instruc
PCK
54
Turn 1
Language
Teaching
Content
55
Turn 2
Language
Teaching
Content
56
Turn 3
Language
Teaching
Content
57
Turn 4
Language
Teaching
Content
58
Turn 5
Language
Teaching
Content
59
Discussion

• Confidence means having the cognitive capacity
  (Kahnemann, 1973 ) to pay attention to the
  learning of the students
• When too much attention is used to remember the
  vocabulary or how to explain complex, new or
  abstract ideas use of English will decrease in
  the classroom
• JTEs seem to need at least 5 turns of teaching
  something before they develop enough confidence
  to be able to pay attention to the learning of
  their students

60
Future research

• Follow up in the classroom (in November) do the
  teachers use more English in instruction? Why?
  Why not?

61
Future research

• Expand the number of participants in the study
• Include interviews after each turn
• Possible think aloud

62
References
Long, M.H. (1990). Task, group, and task-group
interactions. In S. Anivan (Ed.), Language
teaching methodology for the nineties (pp.
31-50). Singapore SEAMEO Regional Language
Centre. Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and
Effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall.