ma teaching l2 skills syllabus bandar-abbas azad university

Teaching L2 Skills (TEFL MA) Islamic Azad University, Bandar-Abbas Branch Facilitator: Arman Abednia [email protected] Faculty of Humanities Winter & Spring 1390-1 (2012); Thursday 3-7 English Department

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Education is not an affair of “telling” or being told,

but an active and constructive process

(Dewey, 1916; Democracy and Education).

The context of the course

The premise that directs many courses but hopefully NOT this course is that education is meant to merely

transmit "right" knowledge. In this dominant type of education, i.e. Banking Education (Freire, 1972), the

main concern is the size of information transferred to learners at the cost of developing learners’ ability to

construct knowledge of themselves and the world individually-collectively. A very common product of this

type of education system is Bill. How much are we similar to or different from him?

“Bill is one of life’s plodders, conscientiously looking for and sticking to the one ‘right’ method of

working. It is a strategy which, unfortunately, pays off in many school situations, and he will

probably end up with a reasonably good set of grades and a school report which describes him as

a ‘good student’. His inability to adapt to changing requirements and his lack of self-knowledge

may start to be a problem when he is expected to study on his own. But for the present, his

teachers do not see him as a problem and are quite glad to have a few like Bill in their classes”

(Nisbet & Shucksmith, 1991, p.3).

The ideology which informs this course-let’s hope- is miles away from a “spoon-feeding” one. It is based on

love, hope, a utopian and realistic awareness of one’s existing abilities, a critical consciousness about the

status quo, and genuine attempt to transform it. In a word, the course is based on critical and

transformative views of education. Three major principles of transformative education are briefly explained

below.

mailto:[email protected]


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Reading the word/reading the world

Freire (2005) defines reading the world as our daily experience of different personally and socially

significant events which influence our lives somehow or another and reading the word as reading the

generalizations made based on those day-to-day experiences in books and elsewhere. We should never

separate our understanding of real life and real life tasks from what goes on in classes, hence the

inextricable link between reading the word (e.g. course materials) and reading the world (e.g. local

experiences). I love this quote from Freire. I thought you would do so too:

“If I am really studying, seriously reading, I cannot go past a page if I cannot grasp its

significance relatively clearly. My solution does not lie in memorizing portions of

paragraphs by mechanically reading-two, three, four times-portions of the text, closing my

eyes and trying to repeat them as if the simple machinelike memorization could give me

the knowledge I need. …Reading is an intellectual, difficult, demanding operation, but a

gratifying one. Nobody studies authentically who does not take the critical position of being

the subject of curiosity, of the reading, of the process of discovery. Reading is searching

for, seeking to create an understanding of what is read” (2005, p. 34).

Problem-posing education

Education is not only about problem-solving, i.e. developing our ability to think of and practice effective

solutions to the problems presented to us by others. Rather, going beyond this, it aims at improving our

abilities to actively problematize situations, i.e. present the apparently "OK" situations as problem-situations

and limit-situations, critically and fairly scrutinize them, and offer and implement socially relevant solutions.

Dialogical education

All said above won’t come true unless our attempts are dialogical. That is, this course takes the position

that reading is a dialogical process and the way we read the world somehow determines the way we live.

Since learning happens through social interactions, dialog is an important educational tool. We will use this

tool in our class discussions and the ways reflective journals are written and commented on. According to

Freire (1972), for an interaction to qualify as dialog, it should be based on a profound love for the world and

for people, humility, intense faith in humankind, mutual trust, hope, and critical reflection. We should make

sense of these features in our own ways and try to live up to them.

Course objectives

We will try to:

1. Critically review the major literature in teaching L2 skills

2. Understand the nature of each skill and component as well as their interrelations

3. Enhance our awareness of our own strengths and potential areas of improvement regarding our

command of the skills



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4. Improve our ability to teach and assess the skills and component in an effective and locally

relevant manner and in light of insights we gain from findings of the past and the present.

5. Develop a consciousness of critical approaches to teaching English skills

Course procedures

In this course you will:

1. read the assigned readings before attending the class so that in-depth and critical reflection and

discussion about each significant issue in light of our local experience happens effectively.

2. develop 2 questions based on the topics addressed in each chapter for critical reflection in the

class.

3. write a reflective journal on each of the issues (e.g. skills and components) covered every week. In

each entry you should focus on the ways in which the readings and class discussions helped you

understand how you should develop your language abilities. Or, alternatively, you can focus on the

awareness you developed of what the situation is like in the setting where you teach/learn L2 in

terms of how that particular skill is viewed, practiced, and taught. Since we are going to focus on

one skill/component every other week, you are required to send your journals to me via email on

the Sunday following each session. One-day delay is tolerated.

Each entry should be at least 200 words and typed in Microsoft Word (font size: 12/14; font: a

readable one, e.g. Arial or Times New Roman). You would do a good job if you write the first draft

of your entry two days before the deadline so that you will have enough time to reread and revise it

before emailing it. To make sure journals will land safely on my laptop, in addition to attaching

them, paste them in the email message. The format that you must follow is:

Course:

Name (both 1st and last name):

Reflection Number:

Date: (the date you send it to me)

Focus:

4. write one class assessment (due Week 4; Ordibehesht, 6) and one self-assessment (due Week 5

Ordibehesht, 20). We will decide on their content together. Each assessment should be at least

300 words and typed in Microsoft Word (font size: 12/14; font: a readable one, e.g. Arial or Times

New Roman). You would do a good job if you write the first draft two or more days before the

deadline so that you will have enough time to reread and revise it before emailing it. The format

that you must follow is:

Course:

Name (both 1st and last name):

Class/self-assessment

Date: (the date you send it to me)



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Evaluation

Participation in class discussions1 30 Assessments 20 Reflective journals 50

Total score 100

Course rules

Academic discipline requires that:

1. we respect each other and ideas different from our own. Any scornful behavior in any form (e.g.

inappropriate comments and laughter) is absolutely unjustifiable and will be appropriately reacted

to by the facilitator.

2. we be in the class on time. Latecomers will lose marks for long and frequent delays.

3. we meet the deadlines for all assignments. Marks will be deducted for delays.

4. we avoid dishonesty and plagiarism. Plagiarism is the conscious and deliberate copying from a

source without giving credit to that source. An act of plagiarism carries disciplinary reaction in this

course.

Course Weekly Schedule

Week Reading

1 Introduction to the course Discussion about our strengths and areas of improvement in terms of English skills and components

2 Current Perspectives on Teaching the Four Skills (Hinkel, 2006)

2Unit II, A. Listening Aural Comprehension Instruction: Principles and Practices (Morley) Skills and Strategies for Proficient Listening (Peterson) Teacher Education handout (Abednia)

1 Continued verbal participation is not necessarily a measure of active participation. Rather, in-depth mental involvement which may not result in more than some brief but relevant, critical, and thought-provoking comments and/or questions is what counts in this course. Let’s hope I can tell the difference between shallow, borrowed, perfunctory and/or glib explanations and meaningful and genuine contributions! 2 The picture of apple shows that the reading(s) are in Celce-Murcia (2001).



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Unit II, B. Speaking Teaching Oral Skills (Lazaraton) Teaching Pronunciation (Goodwin) Developing Children’s Listening and Speaking in ESL (Peck) Teacher Education handout (Abednia) English as a Lingua Franca (Seidlhofer, 2005) Native-speakerism (Holliday, 2006) The non-native speaker teacher (Selvi, 2011) Who I was and became: a critical reflection on my teacher-student self (Izadinia, 2011)

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Unit II, C. Reading Teaching Children Literacy Skills in a Second Language (Ediger) Developing Adult Literacies (Weinstein) Reading for Academic Purposes: Guidelines for the ESL/EFL Teacher (Grabe & Stoller) Teacher Education handout (Abednia) Dynamics of an EFL Reading Course with a Critical Literacy Orientation (Izadinia & Abednia, 2010) Five steps to practice critical literacy in second language reading (Abednia & Izadinia, 2012)

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Unit II, D. Writing Functional Tasks for Mastering the Mechanics of Writing and Going Just Beyond (Olshtain) Considerations for Teaching an ESL/EFL Writing Course (Kroll) Grammar in Writing (Frodesen) Teacher Education handout (Abednia) Freire and Bakhtin in EFL Writing: Rethinking Tertiary EFL Writing in light of dialogic- critical pedagogy (Abednia & Karrabi, 2010)

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Unit II, Grammar and Vocabulary Teaching Grammar (Larsen-Freeman) Cognitive Approaches to Grammar Instruction (Fotos) Vocabulary Learning and Teaching (DeCarrico) Teacher Education handout (Abednia) Noticing (Batstone, 1996) ‘Focus on form’ and ‘focus on forms’ (Sheen, 2002) Lexical Chunks (Schmit, 2000)

Make sure you budget your time so that you won’t have to read the materials in the last minute.



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Required materials

Abednia, A. and Izadinia, M. (2012). Five steps to critical literacy in second language reading. AUC TESOL

Journal, 2.

Abednia, A and Karrabi, M. (2010). Freire and Bakhtin in EFL Writing: Rethinking Tertiary EFL Writing in

light of dialogic-critical pedagogy. Proceedings of Writing the Future: Tertiary Writing Network

Colloquium. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, 2, December.

Batstone, R. (1996). Noticing. ELT Journal, 50, 3, 273.

Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.) (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Boston, MA: Heinle &

Heinle.

Hinkel, E. (2006). Current Perspectives on Teaching the Four Skills. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 1, 109-131.

Holliday, A. (2006). Native-speakerism. ELT Journal, 60, 4, 385-387.

Izadinia, M. (2011). Who I was and became: a critical reflection on my teacher-student self. Reflective

Practice, DOI:10.1080/14623943.2011.626028

Izadinia, M. & Abednia, A. (2010). Dynamics of an EFL reading course with a critical literacy orientation.

Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 6(2), 51-67. Available

http://www.coa.uga.edu/jolle/2010_2/Izadina_Dynamics.pdf

Schmitt, N. (2000). Lexical chunks. ELT Journal, 54, 4, 400-401.

Seidlhofer, B. (2005). English as a Lingua Franca. ELT Journal, 59, 4, 339-341.

Selvi, A. F. (2011). The non-native speaker teacher. ELT Journal, 65, 2, 187-189.

Sheen, R. (2002). ‘Focus on form’ and ‘focus on forms’. ELT Journal, 56, 3, 303-305.

Supplementary materials

Brown, D. (2001). Teaching by principles. An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New York:

Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Carter, R. and Nunan D. (Eds.) (2001). The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other

languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gebhard, J. G. (2006). Teaching English as a foreign or second language. A self-development and

methodology guide. USA: University of Michigan Press.



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Grabe, W.(1991).Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 3,

375-406.

Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 1, 44-69.

Hadely, A.O. (2003). Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Jenkins,J.(2004). Research in teaching pronunciation and intonation. Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 24, 1, 109-125.

McDonough, J. and Shaw, C. (2003). Materials and methods in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

MacCarthy, M. & O'Keeffe, A. (2004). Research in the teaching of speaking. Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 24, 1, 26-43.

Nassaji, H. & Fotos, S. (2004). Current developments in the research on teaching of grammar. Annual

Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 1, 126-145.

Nunan , D. ( 1998 ). Teaching grammar in context. ELT Journal,52, 2, 101- 109.

Raimes, A.(1991).Out of woods: Emerging traditions in the teaching of writing. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 3,

407-430.

Read, J. (2004 ). Research in teaching vocabulary. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 1, 141-161.

Richards, J. C. and Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in language teaching. An anthology of current

practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2002). An introduction to applied linguistics. London: Arnold.

Sifakis, N.C. (2004). Teaching EIL – Teaching international or intercultural English? What teachers should

know. System, 32, 2, 237-250.

Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach grammar. Essex: Longman.


ma teaching l2 skills syllabus bandar-abbas azad university

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