Professional Development September, 2012

Effective Use of Learning and Effective Use of Learning and Teaching Resources to Cater Teaching Resources to Cater for Learner Diversity in the for Learner Diversity in the

Learning of English at Learning of English at Primary LevelPrimary Level

Dr Gary Harfitt, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong.

Today’s objectives Making adaptation to coursebook materials to

broaden learning experiences (e.g. adapting learning tasks to cater for different needs and abilities; designing extended tasks to promote further learning).

Selecting learning and teaching resources (suitability and presentation of content, readability) to enrich curriculum content.

Designing open-ended tasks to allow students to demonstrate a range of abilities.

The rundown todayInput: Objectives and techniques for

adaptationHands-on practice (exploring linkage

between materials prepared for each group, designing tasks/activities to fit into the course book unit to learner diversity to enhance learning effectiveness

Group PresentationFeedbackQ & A and wrap-up

What is learner diversity? What makes students diverse? Learning stylesInterests / motivation / valuesCognitive abilities / readinessPace of learningStudent learning experiences in and out of

the classroomNeedsPersonality / concentration / attention span

Think about the following quotes from students? What do they tell us about their learning styles?

“This is boring. I don’t know what’s going on. I want to get up and talk to my friend over there.”

“Where are my highlight pens? I want to underline the key words.”

“Please be patient with me. I have to read aloud to help me remember.”

“I hate group work. Why can’t I just work on my own?”“I like to talk about Maths as I can learn better that

way”

Think of our classroomsJust think about our students’ characters to see how diverse the classroom can be:

Shy students / ‘leave me alone’ students? Trouble-making students? ‘Yes-but…’ students?‘Don’t know, don’t care, so there! students’‘Please don’t bother me’ students?The ‘never stop talking’ students?‘The wise listener’ or ‘only speak when spoken to’

students? ‘Mr/Miss Know-it-all’ ? ‘Mr / Miss Sleepy’?

Differences in personality patternsInnovative learners / sociable and cooperative – look for personal meaning when learninganalytic learners / patient and reflective – desire to know important things to add to the world’s knowledgecommon sense learners / enjoy finding solutionsdynamic learners / synthesise information from different sources

Differences in learning stylesVisual learners – learn best from visual

displays / prefer to take notesAuditory learners – learn best through

discussions and listeningTactile / kinaesthetic learners – learn best

through a hands-on approach

Differences in social interaction patternsAvoidant learners – take little responsibility

for own learningParticipative learners – accept responsibility

for self-learning and relate well with othersCompetitive learners – compete for rewards /

recognition and suspicious of peersCollaborative learners – work in harmony

with peersIndependent learners – prefer to work alone

and require little direction

Catering for diversity in classCurriculum Framework

Catering for Learner Diversity

making adaptationto…

Learning and Teaching Materials

(authentic / online resources)

Learning and Teaching Strategies

(Open-ended tasks)

Assessment for Learning(Not our focus today)

Your views towards using textbooks? (p.1 of notes)

Some quotes on coursebooks“Textbooks are written for everyone and they are written for no one.” (Graves, 2000: p. 174)

“The whole business of the management of language learning is far too complex to be satisfactorily catered for by a pre-packaged set of decisions embodied in teaching materials” (Allwright, 1981)

Cunningsworth (1984) notes that coursebooks are good servants but bad masters

Bell and Gower (1998: p.117)

Teachers’ views Something GOOD:Ready madeProvide a clear framework Suggest teaching ideas (though not necessarily good)

Something BAD:Too much control over the language useNot sufficiently contextualized and relevant to local studentsNot communicativeFail to cater for learners’ differences:

Linguistic and cognitive

Lack of authenticityAdaptation

Identifying gaps or areas of weakness in the coursebook:Grammar: One practice on relative pronouns etc. might

be insufficient for our students. Do the students see grammar in context? Is there really enough vocabulary?

Reading: Only a limited number of text types / reading skills covered / how can reading be made more interesting?

Listening: Only a limited range of listening skills is covered – same skills all the time such as listening just for specific information

Writing: Students have been writing the same genre / topic for years – is there a link between the reading and writing? Can it be a different topic?

Making use of textbooks:Keep the learning targets and objectives of a key

stage in mind and identify the focus of each unitMatch the textbook content against the school’s

English curriculum and make sure there is a balanced coverage of the learning targets and objectives

Omit certain parts (what do we omit?)Use different parts flexibly for different groups of

learners (how can this be done?)Adapt the activities to make them attractive to the

learners

1. Why?

ADAPTING RESOURCES

2. What?3. How to select and adapt ?

Adapting materials: Using authentic materials What do you understand about the

term “authenticity”?

What are the benefits?

Authenticity of the materials

‘Using authentic materials is problematic in the L2 classroom because it is not constructed to contain only the aspects of language the learner has encountered or learned up until that point and so may not be entirely accessible to the learner.’

(Graves, 2000: p.156)

What is “authenticity”?Authentici

tyText Task

•Texts created to fulfill some social purposes in the language community

i.e. not produced for L2 learners

•Real communication takes place

•Relate to ‘real world’ tasks

Benefits of using authentic materialsAccording to Peacock (1997):Increase the learners’ level of,

on-task behaviorconcentrationinvolvement in the activity

Motivate learners*learners are motivated by authentic materials

NOT because they are more interesting

ImplicationsWillis(1996) describes the 4 Key conditions for language learning:

Exposure to a rich input of real language Opportunities for real use of language Motivation of students Focus on language

On your handout (p.2),

What are some of the learning and teaching resources you have used in your teaching?

Authenticity in the classroom

Other types of authentic materials we can use in class:

Adverts / flyers / YouTube clips / labels / internet / posters / comics / pamphlets / signs / letters / songs / poems / language arts materials / postcards / listening input / recordings / cartoons / photos etc.

What are some of the difficulties you face when selecting learning and teaching resources? (p.2 of notes)

Difficulties when selecting teaching and learning resources:

Identifying challenges in terms of language, content and presentation and planning support.

Abridging authentic materials; Simplifying the language;

What is the difference between ‘abridging’ and ‘simplifying’?

Other difficulties when integrating selected materials into a school-based curriculumIdentifying language objectives and

designing purposeful tasks to focus on the use of the target grammar points for communication;

Planning scaffolding for language activities to cater for weaker / stronger students;

Sequencing the content of learning to provide coherent learning experience.

Adaptation: recapping brieflyDoes it suit the students’ language standard and

learning needs?Is it authentic, meaningful, and purposeful?Is there sufficient input before production?Are there challenging yet manageable tasks in

terms of cognitive and linguistic difficulty?Does it maximize learner talk?Does it cater for learner differences?Is the material interesting? (Tomlinson,

1998)

Adaptation: How do we adapt?

5 options:Adding: extending and expandingDeleting: subtracting and abridgingSimplifyingReorderingReplacing material

Example:

Looking at a coursebook unit

Task:

Imagine that you are going to learn about HK’s past and in particular some famous districts and buildings.

How would you prefer to learn this information so that you get full marks?

Refer to page 5 of your notes

Some possible answers to achieve the same objective: Look at pictures – descriptions / locations / context Listen to a story about HK and places Match and order cards Play a game In groups list the places that you know and give clues to

learn the rest Listen to a talk by a guest speaker Watch a video of HK in the past Do some research on the internet Learn some interesting facts about the places and

districts Create a mnemonic Memorise the list of places Field trip to see some places

What might also be added? 

What are the advantages here? How do they match the target learning objectives of the unit?

What type of learners do these clips cater for?

What about this video? What type of learners would this video appeal to?

Field trips / Role play

Can cater for kinaesthetic learners

Or poems as language inputPoems can be used in many ways:As a lead-in to a theme or topic;As a supplementary reading text;As a language focus (vocabulary);For motivation (poems can be fun);For oral work;For listening practice (record the poem for a

range of activities including dictogloss and running dictation).

HK is full of people by Mike Murphy (p.7 of your notes)Hong Kong is full of people

Everywhere you go

People of all ages

Walking fast NOT slow?

 

People pushing past you,

Looking straight ahead,

Never stopping till they are

Sleeping in their bed.

 

People on the pavement,

People on the trams;

People in their motor-cars

Causing traffic-jams.

 

People also rushing

Underneath the ground;

Squeezed into the MTR

Going round and round.

 

People going shopping,

Always on their feet;

Spending lots of money,

Till it’s time to eat.

 

People in the winter,

Trying to keep warm.

People in the summer,

Waiting for a storm.

 

Hong Kong is full of people

Everywhere you look.

I wonder if these people

Have time to read a book?

 

And yet without her people

She wouldn’t be the same,

For it is her people

Who give her wealth and fame.

 

Open ended tasks for this poemHow could we build open-ended tasks and questions around this poem? What learning styles would these tasks cater for? (see p.7 of your notes)

Ask students to suggest a title (don’t include the title when we give out the poem)

Ask students to draw one stanza as they listen?Ask small groups to do a role-play / still image?Turn the poem into a jigsaw activity – a running

dictation?Ask students to add one more type of HK person?Give students three lines from one stanza and ask

them to work in pairs or groups to write the final line?Consider open questions for students that would

motivate and engage them?

Some possible ‘open’ questionsCan you name some very busy places in HK?Is this the same where you live?Do you agree with the poet’s opinion on HK

people? Why, or why not?Do your family members have time to read a

book? What about you?Have you been to any other cities like HK

where everyone walks quickly?

Any others?

Could we re-sequence or change any parts?Some questions to consider:

Do we always have to start with the reading text?

Could the grammar focus be moved up in any way?

Either…or / neither…nor – could this structure be developed in any way?

TaskWould we modify the task?The task involves speaking skills and some research

(experiential learning)Would we want to develop this to ask students to find

out more?Could we extend the grammar focus by setting a

short writing task / speaking task on whether they’d like to live either in the past or in the present/future?

Imagine a day in the life of a P.6 student then? Or for weaker students, even a diary entry for one part of the day?

If we extend or add to a unit, something must go…

What are your views on this?

Why adapt? Songs and poems arouse students’ interest Incorporate authentic materials – visuals work well Integrate language skills

Listening – gist, specific information Reading – inference Speaking Vocabulary Grammar – expose students to other uses as well.

Let them see the grammar in context where possible Writing – extended tasks

Adapting the Unit

Remember the options:Adding: extending and expandingDeleting: subtracting and abridgingSimplifyingReorderingReplacing material

Limitations in General

1. Increased workload2. Time constraints3. School management, Panel heads’

and parents’ expectations

Dilemma: Quality of Work vs. finishing the syllabus on time

Are we teaching the students or teaching the syllabus?

This is a real dilemma. Much depends on the readiness of the English team teachers at each school. It’s unrealistic to make adaptations to each unit if there is a lack of experience in developing school-based curriculum and materials.

Students’ language abilities

Ss are assumed to be weak, average or elite when it comes to learning a language

We need to pay attention to learners’ diversity but how?

RecappingOpen-ended tasks can cater for the diverse learning

abilities, by providing more challenging writing tasks to stretch the abilities of the more able students.

We should not set a low expectation on the less able learners, otherwise, we are limiting their growth. Careful unit plans, which include scaffolding on difficult parts, can help these students meet learning objectives. For example, graded worksheets with more scaffolding can be provided for the less able students. Whereas greater flexibility and more choices can be given to the more able students.

ImplicationsSkehan(1996):In task-based learning, teachers should be:

Able to select and sequence tasks for supplementary activities

Able to organize appropriately pre- and post-task

Willing to adapt task difficulty Sense individual differences and take into

account differences in learner orientation

Further readingsUr, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge

University Press. Module 12 and 13.Pennington, M. (Ed). Language in Hong Kong at Century’s

End. Hong Kong: HKU PressBolton, K. (2002). Hong Kong English, Autonomy and

Creativity. HK: Hong Kong University PressTomlinson, B. (Ed.) (1998). Materials Development in

Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press