project proposal

I am going to do the research project.

Syllubus of A Mixed Focus Curriculum

A syllubus of a mixed focus curriculum "included all levels all the time, but the emphasis changes at different stages of learning." (p76 methdology) Each level has a new focus allowing changes in lesson planning and focus of content in second language learning. This makes sense because as learners of different ages have different levels od cognition. As learners grow they are more adapt at being able to learn more advanced and abstract materials. An advantage of this design "would seem to allow the syllabus designer the most freedom to respond to changing or newly percieved needs in the learner, and at the same time provides a framework for the teacher who may not be willing or willing to 'go fully communicative' (76 methdology) The goal is to challege learners to learn new ideas but also promote viable communication

Content Based Instruction

One aspect of the Content Based Instuction i would like to touch on is project work. Project work with groups can be very beneficial for a second language classroom. Not only does it help students learn the language but it also can lead towards a better social understading of the the language depending on the type of project. Group projects also promote communicative interaction between group memebers in the target language along with a presentation can help develop verbal skill. If students are able to pick a topic they are interested in they are more likely to get something out of it and have and investment in the learning. It also creates an atmospherre where students are teaching their peers which on a personal level I sometimes felt it was easier to understand at times. The problem with group project work in a second language (or any classroom) there needs to be callaborative effort instead of one or two people doing all the work and the others sitting on the sideline

Task-based instruction

After reading about the chapter task based instruction it had me thinking about the type of instruction that I recieved in my second language education. In high school, there were some elements that I recieved would be considered task-based but the class was focused more on form rather than meaning. Once I started taking a second language in college I noticed that there was a more focus on meaning than what was emphasized in my highschool classroom. We approached learning the language towards authentic communication rather than strictly grammatical forms. While focus on form may work for some I felt the larger focus on real life communicative situations had a more deeper inpact on my learning.

The end of CLT

Bax is quick to argue that CLT is the overbearing majority method teachers use to teach a second language. He claims that this method is the fad of the times and does not adequetly give a substantial form of teacheing. He claims that everybody believes, "The communicative appraoch is the way to do it, no matter where you are, no matter what the context" (p281) I disagree, although this approach is very popular it is not the only method being used and no one teacher truely uses a CLT approach. As we have discussed good teachers overlap methods and use what is best suited for their students. I believe he is a little too critical of the CLT approach.

Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative competence is as important as being able to produce the target language. It is counterproductive to learn a second language if you are unable to communicate with others with the language. As a second language teacher it is important to promote and teach students both communicative and social competence of the language. I beleive there should be a large emphisis on communicative competence and a teacher should use various activitites to promote it.

TESOL relationships among speakers

In the matter of TESOL there is a presence of inequality.TESOL has the dichotomy between native and nonnative speakers the power stuggle between native and nonnative speakers looms. There seems to be a struggle for nonative find a complete social welcoming. Tones on race and ethnicity run widely in the configurations of power and inequality in English. "As one's nativeness as a speaker of English is often assumed to correlate with the paleness of one's skin. (Pennycock 333) How do we find a way to close the gaps of inequality and power stuggles for nonnative speakers and other supressed groups? There is no simple solution to this problem.

Nature of a Teacher

Kuma discusses what is the nature of a teacher and the type of teachers there are. He catagorized how teachers view themselves as passive technicians, reflective practitioners, and transformative intellectuals. This got me thinking about how I view myself. At this point in my education I see myself fall under a reflective practitioner. The majority if not all teachers share some attributes from each catagory and are not fully placed in one place. "Learnign to teach does not end with obtaining a diploma or a degree in teacher education but is an ongoing process throughout one's teaching career. Reflecting on teaching will show what you know or do not know about teaching.