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Week 1   Article 1: Younger and Older Learners (Ur, 1993) 1.        What are five assumptions about age and language learning? Explain each briefly. 2.        What kind of motivation do the young learners need? Why? 3.        What are three important sources of interest for children in the classroom? How? Why? 4.        Why are adolescents challenging for teachers? 5.        What do the results of the questionnaire indicate? 6.        What are the characteristics of adult learners? 7.        What is the relation between adult learners and the language teacher? Article 2: Teaching English to children in an EFL setting (Abe, 1991) 1.        What does the author say about human nature? 2.        What is a huge mistake for the author? 3.        Why is English for young learners a new trend in Japan? 4.        How do teachers react to young learners? Why? 5.        Why are chunks suitable for children? 6.        Why should not the teacher slow down her speaking speed with young learners? 7.        How should the cultural component be presented? 8.        Why is eye level important? 9.        What are visual aids? Why are they important?   Week II   Article 3: Helping Teachers & Students Understanding Learning Styles (Davis, Nur & Ruru, 1994) 1.        What are the three domains of learning? What are they related to? 2.        What are the three basic types of learning style inventories? 3.        What is teaching style/ instructional style? How/when does it contribute to learning? 4.        Why should teachers take the results of the learning inventories into account? 5.        How can teachers apply the findings of learning inventories into the teaching learning process? 6.        What does the article suggest for teaching visual, auditory and tactile learners? 7.        How do left brain and right brain dominant learners differ? 8.        What does the article suggest for teaching left brain and right-brain preferences? Article 4: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: Learning Preferences in EFL (Maggioli, 1996) 1.        How do visual learners prefer to learn? What kind of activities are suitable for them? 2.        How do auditory learners prefer to learn? What kind of activities are suitable for them? 3.        How do tactile learners prefer to learn? What kind of activities are suitable for them? 4.        How do kinesthetic learners prefer to learn? What kind of activities are suitable for them? 5.        What are the stages of the classroom tasks? What does the teacher do in each task?   Article 5: Learning Styles: Implications for ESL/EFL Instruction (Kang, 1999) 1.        What are learning styles? 2.        What are the five dimensions of learning styles? 3.        What are the differences between field-dependent and field-independent learners? 4.        Why should educators identify students’ learning styles and address their differences?   Week III 1.        What is the traditional theory of intelligence? 2.        What do current researches indicate about intelligence? 3.        What does Fuerstein’s Mediated Learning Experiences indicate? 4.        What does Diamond’s theory indicate? 5.        What is intelligence for Howard Gardner? How does he define intelligence? 6.        How many types of intelligence does Gardner identify? What is the relation among them? 7.        What are some of the biases towards and against certain types of intelligences? How do these biases influence education? 8.        Why is the theory of Multiple Intelligences a useful model? What does it indicate for each and every learner? 9.        Why is it important for teachers to identify their intelligences? 10.     What is the relationship between learning styles and multiple intelligences? Are they the same thing? 11.     How do Brain damage studies and exceptional individuals give evidence for MI? 12.     How do developmental history and evolutionary history give evidence for MI? 13.     How do psychometric findings and psychological tasks give evidence for MI? 14.     How do core operations and symbol systems give evidence for MI? 15.     What are the 4 key points about MI? 16.     Why is it important to develop different assessment techniques that address the eight intelligences?   Week IV Intervention: The Earlier, the Better (Ripley, 2002) 1.       What is a developmental delay? 2.       What is early intervention? 3.       What kind of support is given for children who have developmental delay? 4.       Why is it an important goal to place children with disabilities into settings designed for non-disabled children? 5.       What is the significance of this article for young learners in Turkey? Gifted Children Have Special Needs, too. (Sweeney, 2002) 1.       Why has early intervention been indicated as preventative for gifted children? 2.       What is the potential underachievement for gifted children? 3.       What is the problem with defining “giftedness”? 4.       What is the important difficulty imbedded in identification of gifted children? 5.       What is the use of observation in identifying giftedness? 6.       What kind of incidences may show that a child is potentially gifted? 7.       What are some of the important things to keep in mind while teaching gifted children? 8.       Why does the writer say “Being gifted or highly able is not a reward for anything”? 9.       Why does the writer say “Gifted children remain children”? 10.    Why does the writer say “Discourage parents from forcing academic skills on their children”? 11.    What is the significance of this article for young learners in Turkey?   Learning Problems, Causes and Treatments & Classroom Strategies for Dealing with Learning Problems (2003) 1.       What is a learning disability? What can a learning disability affect or create problems with? 2.       What is aphasia? What causes aphasia? Which skill do the children with aphasia have difficulties with? 3.       What is autism spectrum disorder? What causes autism? What kind of difficulties do the children with autism have? 4.       What is attention deficit disorder/ hyperactivity? Why do such children have discipline problems? 5.       What is dyslexia? Which skill do the children with dyslexia have difficulties with? 6.     How should the teachers reach to such learning problems? What kind of a communication is needed between the teachers and the parents of such children?   Characteristic Occupation Learning Centers Teaching Strategies Linguistic Intelligence * Love words and language * Sensitive to meaning, order, sound of words * Good speakers * Like to explain and persuade through words * Enjoy listening to, telling and reading stories * Good memory for names * Enjoy poetry and word games  Writer Attorney Spokesman Library Writing center Story time Reading Improving Vocabulary. Creative writing Debate Telling jokes Keeping a journal Storytelling Logical- Mathematical Intelligence * Good at analyzing, grouping, categorizing and recognizing connections. * Like reasoning * Ask “how” and “why” * Solve (math) problems rapidly * Enjoy dealing with abstraction Scientist Philosopher   Puzzle center Math center Science center Computer center Cooking center Solving problems Puzzles Exploring Using formulas &symbols Questioning Calculating Spatial Intelligence * Good at using pictures, visuals and imagery. * Ability to think and plan mental images in 3-D. * Able to use mind maps; organizes space, objects and areas. * Enjoy designing and redecorating. Architect Engineer Sculptor Painter Art center Media center Computer center   Taking pictures, Drawing, painting, coloring Creating charts and graphics Playing with patterns Bodily- Kinesthetic Intelligence * Process information through their bodies * Enjoys physical movement and dance * Experiences strong mind and body connection * Good at creative drama Athlete Dancer Actor Surgeon Dance circle Tactile-learning Playground Outdoor play   Role-playing, Dancing Miming, Using gestures, changing seats   Musical Intelligence * Good at sound rhythm and music. * Able to create, organize rhythmically compose music and play instruments. * Remember songs easily * Constantly humming, tapping and singing Musician Dancer Entertainer Music center Instrument center Singing center   Listening to music Singing, Clapping Using instruments Composing music Interpersonal Intelligence * Information through relatedness to others * Easily make friends and works cooperatively in a group * Have good communication skills, love to talk * Recognize and empathizes other’s feelings. Counselor Teacher Puppet theater center Dramatic play center Social area Group discussion   Cooperative learning Working in groups/ pairs Role-playing, Competitions, Discussion Giving feedback Intrapersonal Intelligence * Self- reflective and in touch with themselves * Strong sense of themselves * Enjoy day-dreaming and self-discovery * Excellent in self-planning * Like to be alone Poet Expert   One-person center Self-access   Mediation, Journal writing, silent reflection, emotional processing focusing, concentrating Natural Intelligence * Able to organize and classify plants, minerals, animals, racks and grass. Biologist Zoologist Out-door activities Examining flora and fauna.   Week V 4. Learning Words (Cameron, 2001) Young learners of a second/foreign language are still building their first language vocabulary; thus, in planning and teaching a foreign language we need to take into account this first language background to know what will work and what may be to difficult for children. Although children may use the same words with adults, they may not hold the same meaning for those words. The acquisition of word meaning takes much longer than the acquisition of the spoken form of the words, and children use words in their speech long before they have a full understanding of them. If we had to have complete knowledge of words before using them, we would be restricted to very limited vocabularies. In this sense, our production races a head of our comprehension and vocabulary development is a continuous process not just adding new words but of building up knowledge about words we already know partially.   Learning a new word is not a simple task that is done once and then completed. Learning words is a cyclical process of meeting new words and initial learning, followed by meeting those words again, each time extending knowledge of what the words mean and how they are used in the foreign language. Learning a word takes a long time and many exposures to the word used in different situations. (Metaphor: Cleaning a house) Vocabulary development is also about learning more about those words and about learning formulaic phrases or chunks, finding words inside them and learning even more about those words. What is a vocabulary item? Knowing a word: a.            Receptive knowledge: Recognizing & Understanding its meaning when heard/ read b.            Memory: Recall it when needed c.             Conceptual knowledge: Use it with correct meaning d.            Use it correctly in spoken form (in isolation and in discourse)* e.            Grammatical knowledge: Accurate use f.              Collocational knowledge g.            Orthographic knowledge: spelling * h.            Pragmatic knowledge: style and register i.              Connotational knowledge: positive and negative associations j.              Metalinguistic knowledge: grammatical properties k.             Cultural Content: what is the significance of use in the culture (deliver milk) No one person knows all the words in the language Adult NS: 20K (18yrs. Starting University) > 37K (Shakespeare) Child NS: 4K-5K by the age of 5 + 1K each year. Non-NS: 1 K each year (for who attended English speaking school) Child non-NS: 500 words each year given good learning conditions.             The gap between vocabulary size in first and foreign language is very large and seldom closed even by adult Foreign language learners after many years of study.   Conceptual knowledge grows as children experience more of the world in their daily lives. Younger children tend to make syntagmatic associations, choosing a linking idea in a word from a different part of speech or word class (dog: bark). Older children are more likely to respond to cue words with words from the same word class (dog: animal), which is called pragmatic responses. Children’s shift to pragmatic responses reflects other developments: i.         They become more able to deal with abstract connections (dog is an animal) and develop skills for working with ideas and talking about what is not present. ii.       They build up more knowledge of the world and words, and ways of organizing, classifying, labeling, categorizing, comparing and contrasting them. Word learning Superordinate              furniture                      animal Basic level             chair                   dog Subordinate                 racking chair                spaniel   The words for basic level concepts are the most commonly used words, they are learnt by children before words higher or lower in the hierarchy and they are more likely to have been mastered than superordinate and subordinate levels that develop through formal education. Early vocabulary learning may be ineffective if words are not consolidate and used regularly.   Younger children a.       need Concrete vocabulary b.       need recycling the words again and again in new contexts. c.       need Basic level words d.       learn words as collections     Older children a.       can cope with Abstract words/ topics b.       need recycling the words again and again in new contexts c.       can benefit from superordinate and subordinate vocab. linked to basic level words they already know. d.       Can learn through pragmatic organization. Function words & Content words: Content words form an open set in that new content words can be invented, whereas the set of function words is closed. Each set needs different teaching approaches. Content words can be taught in more planned and explicit ways. Function words will be acquired through repeated use in different contexts.   Techniques in presenting the meaning of new items to Young learners I.            Demonstration a.            Visuals: Magazine Pictures/ Flash Cards/ Filmstrips/ Photographs/ Images from TV or video b.           Real Objects c.            Black/white board drawings d.           Mime, gestures, acting II.        Verbal Explanation a.            Definition Lexical Meaning (requires preexisting knowledge) b.           Putting the word in a defining context (requires preexisting knowledge) c.            Translation: (This doesn’t require learner to do some mental work in constructing a meaning for the new foreign language word.) *   * The amount of mental work done by learners affects how well a new word is engraved in memory; the more learners have to think about a word and its meaning, the more likely they are to remember it. Sometimes a new word is first explained in the foreign language or with pictures, but is then immediately translated in the first language. Pupils will soon realize the pattern of their teacher’s explanations and learn that they don’t have to concentrate on working out the meaning because the translation is predictable given afterwards. How to extend children’s vocabulary beyond textbook Difficulties in learning vocabulary may result from that vocabulary not being sufficiently connected to pupil’s real lives. (1)    working outwards from the text book (2)   learner(s) choice (3)   incidental learning through stories Children’s vocabulary learning strategies Strategy use changes with age and that successful and less successful learners vary in what strategies they use and in how they use them. Teachers have to encourage young learners to adapt: ·         Guessing meaning ·         Noticing grammatical information about words ·         Noticing links to similar words in first language (cognates) ·         Remembering where a word has been encountered before   Thus, teachers can model strategy use, teach sub-skills needed to make use of strategies, include classroom tasks for strategy use, rehearse independent strategy use and help young learners reflect on their learning process through evaluating their achievement. Week VI Please decide if the following statements on Grammar Teaching & Learning are TRUE or FALSE, and explain WHY. Child-friendly Grammar 1.       Children do not have the mental capacity to understand about grammar. T 2.       Foreign language learners can develop an operational ability to the level of their mother tongue.  F 3.       In teaching the grammatical systems of English, we should teach patterns rather than giving logical explanations. T 4.       Pattern practice should exist within a comprehensible context. T  Cameron, 2001 Development of Internal grammar 5.       Time is important in Foreign Language Teaching, so the earlier teaching of technical rules and labels seems likely to be far better. F From words to grammar 6.       In the beginning stages, learners seem to use words or chunks strung together to get their meaning across with attention paid to grammar. F 7.       Paying attention to grammatical features of a language is not something that happens automatically. T 8.       Rote-learned chunks of language provide a valuable resource for developing grammar. T Learning through hypothesis testing 9.             Children cannot build hypotheses about how the foreign language works. F 10.         Errors in young learners’ language cannot be signals of growth. F Influence of the first language 11.         When data is limited, learners are likely to use their L1 to fill the gaps. T 12.         The cross-linguistically different and low profile features of grammar do not need form-focused instruction. F Principles for learning-centered grammar teaching 13.         It is appropriate for grammar to be explicitly taught as formal, explicit rules in young learner classrooms. F 14.         Grammar teaching may destroy motivation and puzzle children rather than enlighten them. T 15.         Good learning-centered grammar teaching requires active participation. T The need for Grammar: 16.         Grammatical accuracy and precision matter for meaning T 17.         Without attention to form, grammar will not be learnt accurately. T Potential conflict between meaning and grammar 18.         If learners’ attention is directed to expressing meaning, they may neglect attention to accuracy and precision. T Importance of attention in the learning process 19.    Noticing is not an important process for the learner’s internal grammar F Learning grammar as the development of internal grammar 20.          Learners can make use of discourse from vocabulary and from learnt chunks to learn grammar. T The role of explicit teaching of grammar rules 21.         Children can master metalanguage if it is taught. F  Teaching techniques for supporting grammar learning 22.         Routines and classroom contexts can serve to introduce new grammar T 23.         If a child offers a comment about a picture, for example, the teacher can respond with fuller sentences that pick up the child’s interests. T 24.         Noticing activities is not important for grammar learning. F 25.          Repetition drills are more grammar structuring than substitution drills. F 26.         Description needs some grammatical knowledge that has already entered the internal grammar through noticing and structuring. T 27.         It is not possible to talk about language without using technical terms. F

Week VII While reading the chapters on 4 skills (Listenning, Speaking, Reading and Writing) indicate 3 points for each of these skills that are important to know and/or that would help a language teacher of young learners. What do language skill activities have in common? Which activities do you find most useful and/or least useful to use? Why? Cameron, 2001 3                 Learning the Spoken Language: Two rules Meaning must come first:  Children need both to participate in discourse and to build up knowledge and skills for participation.  Young children must inevitably have to operate with only partial understanding of much of the language that they hear every day, but this does not stop them interacting.  When young learners encounter new language, they will bring their social knowledge: what they know already about how the world works, how adults talk.  When children want to share understanding with other people through the foreign language, they will search their L1 experience to act in the foreign language.  It takes some years for children to become equal participants in interaction: Young children are not very good at taking other discourse participants into account and shaping what they say to fit the needs of others.  Generally, to please their teachers, children may continue with activities even if they do not understand.  Speaking is much more demanding than listening on language learner’s language resources and skills.  Young speakers between 5 to 10 years understand other people’s talk relative to their current level of social and cognitive resources Children up to age 7 seem to blame themselves if they do not understand something said to them, rather than judging what was said to them might have been inadequate.  Even 10 and 11 years olds who have problems in understanding some thing may not ask for more information.  Researchers have tried to train children to be more effective communicators, but have found that training is only effective for older children.  Discourse in young learner classrooms should follow patterns children find familiar, from their home and family, or from their school experience and should not demand more of children than they can do.  Familiarity of the content and context in foreign language use will help children as speakers and listeners.   Extended talk makes heavier cognitive and linguistic demands because ideas have to be held in mind and organized so that the links between them will make sense to listeners.  Effective support for children’s foreign language discourse skills: ·         Through motivating topics ·         Through tasks ·         Through language practice All types of language practice should make sense to the child.   7                      Learning the Literacy Skills SL literacy is a complicated area and as far as young learners are concerned there is much that remains unknown.  The transferability of knowledge, skills and strategies across languages depends closely on how the two written languages work.  English is a complicated alphabetic written language and almost always requires learners of it as a foreign language to develop new skills and knowledge in addition to what can be transferred.  In the early stages, children should only encounter written words that they already know orally. If a text contains unknown words, then either the meanings of these need to be explained in advance, or the meanings must be completely obvious from the rest of the text.  Teaching reading and writing can utilize and transferable knowledge and skills from first language literacy.  Young learners at early foreign language learning; ·         Enjoy being read to form a range of books; enjoy looking at books ·         Learn how text is written down in lines and pages with spaces between words, capital and small letter ·         Learn to copy short sentences that have a personal meaning and read them aloud. ·         Learn a basic set of words ·         Being spotting words and letters. ·         Listen to rhymes, chants and songs and by joining in with them, learn by heart and be able to say or sing them. ·         Learn names, shapes and sounds of some initial consonants ·         Begin to learn the alphabet in order by name   Creating a literate environment in the classroom * Labels * Posters * Messages: English message on board. * Reading aloud  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚·         Children choose the books they want to hear or read ·         Children are motivated by choice and by the quality of the writing they encounter ·         Children often choose to read the same book many times and this is a valuable learning experience ·         Meaning comes first because the child understands the story as a whole ·         The link between reading and oral skills is very strong because children adapt and play with the language of the story ·         Parents can be involved with their children’s language learning through reading aloud with them.  If children leave their early foreign language learning able to read and write simple texts in the foreign language and use a good range of reading strategies, they will have a solid foundation for future literacy development. Week VIII LANGUAGE USE IN STORIES Parallelism: Repeated patterns Grandmother, what big eyes you’ve got. All the better to see you with my dear Rich vocabulary Alliteration: red riding Contrast: good and evil Metaphor: Forest: life outside the safety of the family Intertextuality: Making references within one text to aspects of another. Narrative/ Dialogue:  Choosing stories Stories that are enjoyable, interesting and motivating, that have characters and a plot that engage children, that include fantastical beings or animals in imaginary worlds. Stories that help children feel positive about other countries and cultures and can broaden their knowledge of the world. A clear plot: formulation of a problem, a series of linked events and a resolution of the problem. An element of surprise and unpredictability. A balance of dialogue and narrative The built-in repetition of words and phrases. New language: but not so much that the story becomes incomprehensible   Using a story Listening: Listening to the teacher read or tell a story is a useful language learning activity at any age; using story books does not have to be about teaching reading. Listening to a story practices the ability to hold in mind the meaning of an extended piece of spoken discourse. If a story appeals the children they will want to hear it again and again. Reading: Brain storming- First reading- second reading- follow-up activity Speaking: Acting roles, retelling the story Writing: Using the discourse of the story in other contexts.    Selection Read, read, read Choose stories you like Choose stories appropriate for your learners Choose stories with a simple structure Choose stories with positive values. Study the story’s background Test your selection Preparation Learn the story Outline the story Control the story’s length Control the story’s vocabulary Refine your storytelling style Practice, practice, practice Relax before telling Presentation Start on the right foot Express enthusiasm and enjoyment Concentrate on your voice Maintain eye-contact Help with your hands and body Use props sparingly: objects, costumes, puppets and bells Pay attention the physical setting: quiet, well-lit, comfortable Follow-up Ask comprehension questions Invent exercises in phonetics, semantics and syntax Do listening activities: Do oral activities Do written activities Do visual activities Do creative drama activities.   Week X Syllabus: the choice and organization of content   Previous Syllabus Types: Structural syllabus: grammar Lexical syllabus: vocabulary Skills-based syllabus: Listening, speaking, reading, writing Functional-Notional Syllabus: Language functions (apologize, promise)(size) Situational syllabus: (At the restaurant, in the supermarket)   Current Syllabus Types Task-based Topic- based Theme-based   Task-Based Syllabus Emphasis on a unit of activities that students will come across in real life situations and the content of the lessons is arranged around these tasks. The learners are focused on the meaning of content rather than on form. The learner’s goal and task outcomes are not explicitly language focused.   How to choose your tasks and content? Students’ interests, level, age, needs, socio-cultural experience and language background.   How? Stages of a lesson: Preparation à Core activity à Follow-up   The lesson has not only language demands but also cognitive demands. Cognitive demands: difficulty of concepts Language demands: difficulty of language, grammar, vocabulary, genre Interactional demands: nature of interaction (Q&A) Metalinguistic demands: Use of technical terms Involvement demands: difficulty in engaging with the task Physical demands: motor skills Balance between support & demands: Gym and lifting weights If a task provides too much support, then learners will not be stretched. Teacher’s use of L1= too much support   Too many demands early on will make students anxious and fearful of the foreign language; too few demands will make language learning seem boring. Careful selection and grading of goals is one of the key tools available to teachers to build success into learning.   Example: Task: Using a map to give instructions Preparation-> Core activity ->Follow-up Cognitive, linguistic, Interactional, Metalinguistic, involvement, physical demands   Some other Tasks: §          Write your resume and exchange it with another student. §         Study the positions available advertisements in the newspaper and find a job that would be suitable. §         Find someone who … §         Role play. You are in a clothing store and have to spend. Look at the clothing items on the worksheet. Find out the prices, and decide what to buy. §         Listen to the automated ticketing service for ‘What’s on around town this weekend’. Make a list of movies, and concerts and how much they cost. Work with three other students and decide where to go. §         You are at a party. Introduce your partner to three other people.  §         Call the airline and reconfirm a reservation you have.  Check other details, such as time of departure, and time you have to be at the airport. §         Role play. You are taking part in a job interview. Your partner will ask you about yourself.   Topic- Based Syllabus Emphasis on topics  and the content of the textbooks is arranged around these. Why topic based? The content of the lesson is more important than the language Children can associate words, functions, structures and situations with a particular topic. Topic-based teaching goes into a subject in depth. Working on topics gives a personal or local touch to materials. Topic-based teaching is on content: The work in the classroom naturally includes all the language skills.  How? Choosing your topic: Students’ interests, level, age, needs. Planning time: When? How Long? Collecting materials: Textbook, outside sources. Choosing functions and situations: Language you want to concentrate on Methods and activities: Which skills you will emphasize. More free activities Assessment   Example: Topic: Food Materials: Situations and Functions Vocabulary Work Methods and Activities:   Some other topics: Holidays/ Sports/ Cinema/ Childhood/ Crimes/ Future Life/ Addiction/ Endangered Species   Theme-Based Syllabus The essential notion of theme-based teaching is that many activities are linked together by their content: the theme of topic runs through everything happens in the classroom and acts as a connecting thread. Effective theme-based teaching is extremely demanding on teachers in both planning and in implementation; knowledge of a wide repertoire of activity types and resources is needed to plan for children of all abilities and to avoid them spending too long on cognitively less demanding activities: drawing. Theme-based teaching requires teachers to choose a theme and then to plan a range of teaching and learning activities related to the theme that incorporated aspects of mathematics, science art, language, history, geography, music and so on.    Planning theme-based teaching Finding a theme and sub-themes Planning content: people + objects + actions + processes + typical events + places Planning language learning tasks: activities, discourse types   Language is largely determined by the content and activities. New vocabulary items are likely to be introduced. Both spoken and written communication is encouraged     Example: Theme: Space Subtopics: The Solar system - Earth’s satellite – Space travel – Nine planets – Mars and Earth Language learning tasks: Listening (video for vocabulary) – Reading - Speaking- Writing – Grammar Activities: Puzzles while watching – subskills of reading – role-play- library search- comparing   Some other themes: Culture – Environment – Animals – Family - Art   Week 11- Correcting Errors Teachers are often afraid of their students’ making errors. However, trying out language and making errors are a natural and unavoidable part of learning a language. Students’ errors are very useful way of showing what they have and have not learnt. So they can be considered positively as an indication of what we still need to teach. We, as teachers, need to correct some error, to help students learn the correct forms of the language. The timing of correction is important and depends on the kind of activity and the aim of the activity. Correcting spoken errors ·         The effect of so many corrections would probably be discouraging for the students. ·         The teachers can correct the errors of content if the aim is speaking or the errors of grammar if the aim is practicing the structure. Strategies for correcting errors: The teachers should correct learners’ errors in a positive way. Encourage the students on what they have got right  Praise students for correct answers Avoid humiliating students Correct errors quickly (depending on the activity) She may help the student correct himself (self-correction) She may pass the question to another student (peer correction) When there is a mistake: Accept the answer or help the student to correct. (Self-correction) Indicate by a gesture that the sentence is incorrect for self-correction. Ask another student (peer correction). Accept the answer and praise the student (no correction). Help the student to correct himself (self-correction). Accept the answer giving the correct version yourself (teacher correction). Correcting written work Correcting written work is very time-consuming for the teacher and often seems to have very little effect on the students’ progress. ·         The effect of so many corrections would probably be discouraging for the student. ·         The teachers could correct only the errors that seem most important or only errors of a certain kind. ·         The teacher could reduce the amount of underlining and write correction in the margin. ·         The teacher could indicate the place and type of error for self-correction. ·         Peer feedback can be used. Common errors which students make constantly for which many students make can be very useful since they show what they have learnt and what areas might need to be taught again. Examples: When & how would you correct the following errors? Assessing Young Learners Issues in assessing young learners Age /Content of language learning/ Methods of teaching/ Aims of language learning/ Learning theories   The social realities of assessment England: the government introduced a national curriculum and assessment 7- 11- 14 years olds Parents and teachers began to protest at the stress being felt by seven year old children and ask for a review of assessment procedures.   Malaysia: 6-year grammar exam From age 7, pupils are tested every month every term, every year. The marks are used in some schools to place children in different groups within a class.   Global scale: a new test for young learners developed by UCLES 150. 000 students were expected to take the exam in 2000. Although the test assesses a child progress rather than awarding a pass/fail, parents often want to know whether their child has passed. Testing has become a multimillion-dollar global business in which the need for internationally recognized certification of language proficiency works with their learners’ or their parents’ understandable demands to see proof of the outcomes of their struggle to learn and the money they have invested in it.   Wash-back effects of testing Negative ·         Stress is placed on children by the demands of assessment ·         Individual children’s learning needs are down graded in the push to cover the syllabus or course book before the next assessment ·         Classroom activity is restricted to test preparation ·         Educational change is limited by the power of the assessment machinery   Positive ·         Attention to neglected aspects of learning (i.e.: oral language) ·         The effectiveness of policy, methodology, instruction, and materials can be seen.     Classroom realities By far the most frequently used method of assessment is paper and pencil test, testing single items of vocabulary and grammar through single sentences. Very few of the tests that were reported focused on spontaneous speaking, it seems that what was assessed was what was relatively easy to assess. In schools and classrooms, because it is much more difficult to devise and mark oral assessments fairly, most assessment is still carried out on paper.   Principles for assessing children’s language learning ·         Assessment should be seen from a learning-centered perspective (Vygotsky: we cannot get a true assessment by testing what the child can do alone) ·         Assessment should support learning and teaching (the process and outcomes of assessment can motivate learners; an assessment activity can be a language use model, assessment activity and feedback from it can support further learning, the outcomes of assessment can help teachers plan more effective lessons and can inform the evaluation and improvement of courses and programs). ·         Assessment is more than testing: The test results do not reflect the big picture. ·         Assessment should be congruent (in harmony) with learning. ·         Children & parents should understand assessment issues: parents need to know what teachers are doing and why.   Key Concepts in Assessment ·         Assessment – testing - evaluation: Evaluation is the process of systematically collecting information in order to make judgments. ·         Formative and Summative assessment ·         Diagnostic and achievement tests ·         Criterion- referenced and norm-referenced assessment ·         Validity ·         Reliability ·         Fairness   Teacher assessment of language learning ·         Assessing in relation to goals ·         Selecting an assessment focus ·         Assessment by observation ·         Creating opportunities for assessment during classroom activities ·         Record keeping Alternative techniques of assessment for Young learners ·         Non-verbal response (for silent period) ·         Oral interview (using visual clues) ·         Role-play ·         Written narratives ·         Presentations ·         Student-teacher conference: structured- interviews. ·         Self-assessment: A pupil who learns to assess his or her own work moves from being “other-regulated” to “self-regulated” or autonomous. ·         Dialogue Journals ·         Peer and group assessment ·         Student portfolios   Use of assessment information ·         Outcomes of assessment: Summative assessment: outcomes of the program, grades, tests, and scores for effectiveness Formative assessment: Difference in teaching and learning through observation, portfolios, checklists and rating scales which can be converted to feedback for parents, learners and other teachers. ·         Making feedback helpful to learners Corrective feedback  Evaluative feedback                    Strategic feedback