Stephen van Vlack

Sookmyung Women`s University

Graduate School of TESOL

English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Spring 2006

Week 11 - Brinton, (2000), pp, 48-70 & Peterson, (1997), pp. 158-174 & Turner, (1997), pp. 187-200 - Questions

1. What are the main outcomes of the study presented in this chapter? (Brin)

Of the main outcomes of this study can be divided into basically two sides: those related to the students, and those related to the teachers in training. For the students in the CBI program the outcome was one of increased language proficiency across the board and particularly in academic type of language requirements and functions. This is the general outcome. There is also an outcome religion students wherein they began to enjoy the CBI approach, although this was not the case at the beginning of the study. This just shows that students expectations often tarnish new trials in language teaching. The students expectations restricted them from being able to really enjoy and understand what was going on at first. As the study went on students began to become more years to what was going on and began to see how the big picture was being played out with them in the classroom. Thus, they grew to enjoy CBI, or at least to see its good points, in the end. The outcomes for the student teachers were somewhat different. The student teachers who started with a high degree of excitement and commitment began to feel somewhat overwhelmed very quickly in this study. Since they were close to the students and were in the classroom more or less as students and observers they were able to bear the full brunt of the student's observations which in the beginning were more complaints that anything else. This also caused them as teachers in training to begin to question which was going on in the study. The began to question the decision to include many different subject areas, none of which many of the students actually have any interest in. They also began to question their own knowledge of the content areas and how they could make those content areas meaningful for the students. For the acquisition of content in the CBI approach is just as important as the acquisition of certain language skills and they felt that they were unprepared for that eventuality, in fact reality. Still, for the teachers in training the outcome in the end was still somewhat positive. Like the students themselves, the teachers in training could begin to see how things fit together in the end, but the road in getting there was certainly very shaky. Thus, one of the outcomes for the teachers in training was to assert extend negative in that they began to question some of the basic tenets of the CBI approach, at least the CBI approach when used in an across the curriculums type of program.

2. What was the study set up to achieve? (Brin)

The study was originally set up to achieve some soda success in the area of teacher training as related to the CBI approach. The author of the article, Brinton, explains in great detail in the beginning of the article how there seems to be an overt lack of teacher training related to CBI. People describe CBI, people to studies on the efficacy of CBI, but people don't train other people in how to do CBI, which would seem to be very important since the CBI approach certain techniques would seem to be essential. These particular techniques, while not developed exclusively for CBI, are uniquely joined in a CBI format. Thus, teachers in training who are learning about CBI should be, or must be exposed to some of these different techniques. Likewise, there are special concerns in CBI, such as the content itself in the integration between content and language and the effect that this has on the students. These are all things that teachers in training need to know about in relation to CBI. This study, then study was set up to give teachers in training and opportunity to be able to see CBI work and come up with their own conclusions about what was working in the CBI course and what was not. Rather than teaching them directly details of CBI, the study was set up to let students find out for themselves into determine themselves how CBI was working.

3. Can you spot any flaws in the study; things you would change? (Brin)

The main flaw of the study, in my opinion, is the selection of the content areas. Yes, we understand the value of doing an across the curriculums type of program, but such a course design might be very confusing and frustrating for students in the beginning. In this study it did not seem that there was enough information given to the students about what would actually be going on in the classroom. The students were simply supposed to follow along with little sheep and do what they were expected to do. As a result, particularly because the students were not used to this type of instruction, there were some motivation problems. The students simply didn't know what they were doing and why they were doing it. A lot of this could have been avoided if the teacher had simply explain to the students in the very beginning what is that they were going to do what the point was and how things were going to be conducted in the classroom. The students in the class where adults, university students: obviously intelligent people and experienced learners. They should have been given the information they needed to have been able to appreciate the course from the very beginning. As it worked out, things were not that bad in the end, but a lot of frustration and anger could have been avoided by simply giving more information. Adults like to know what's going on in the classroom they like to be guided but they also want to know where there being taken. This particularly to an approach is like CBI which students are often not used to. Teachers like anyone else need to explain their actions. If the students don't know what's going on then the optimal situation for learning probably does not exist in that classroom.

4. What are the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of a CBI teacher? (Pet)

This might seem obvious bu there are basically three areas that teachers need to know about to be effective ESL content-based teachers. They are subject matter, student information, and context (situation, institutional, socio-cultural). Of the skills needed maybe the most important one in the area of CBI is the ability to use language and other things in a way which is comprehensible for the students. As for attitude it is important that teachers in training are aware of their own attitudes in relation to all the different components necessary for effective language learning such as their won attitudes about the learning process, the students she has and their cultural backgrounds, as well as the CBI enterprise as well.

5. How should error correction be handled in CBI? (Pet)

Error correction In CBI is a major area for Peterson particularly because teachers not only have to deal with language problems but also content problems. It is impossible to give balanced ands in a sense fair feedback if the teacher is trying to focus feedback on all these things at once. Peterson also makes a big deal about the often touted fluency and accuracy distinction in practice. Following Thornbury (1999), I would reject this distinction on the part of the students but embrace it in relation to feedback. The bottom line is we need to focus our feedback to make it fair if not effective.

6. How can we create valid content-based language tests? (Tur)

The most important thing about making a valid test in the area of CBI is to be systematic and link every aspect of the test to the class that you have been teaching. That is the main idea behind the eight steps she advocates. The first two stages in this development process entail going back and looking at the course goals, not what was actually done, but the goals. This is a good idea provided that you have stuck fairly closely to the goals. I like this focus on goals and not simply what was done in the class because a focus on the later generally produces tests which often just tests the students memory of what happened in the class and not the skills they were supposed to have learned as set out in the initial goals. These two steps are reliant on the presence of clear goals which, if they are not there, need to be written. By focusing on a well defined and well specified set of goals we will hopefully keep both our instruction and testing skills centered and not just memory centered. Next, in step three, the different types of testing formats need to be considered and chosen. There are many different types of formats that can used for testing, but as we mentioned before we need to try to use ones which are similar to what we have actually done in the class. This linking the test to the actual class as regards possible formats makes things easier both for the teacher and for the students. Next, in the fourth stage the test-developer needs to write up the specific goals fo the test. What are the students expected to be able to do on the test? In response to this question the test-developer needs to come up with specifications for the test. After this standards need to be created. This is basically the grading scale which will be used. Then, finally, questions can be made. They are then revised. Finally, the sample test is piloted to check for reliability and validity.

7. Of the eight stages proposed by Turner, which one is the most important? (Tur)

It is hard to say definitively which is the most important of these steps because one is reliant on te other. If any one of these steps is not carried out well then the test as a whole might suffer, but the beauty of this is that the steps are closely enough linked that if one step is not done well this might be caught in the next step. Using this as a logic for test development then the last step would be the most important one. It is imperative that all tests (or indeed any kind of teaching material) are piloted before they are given to large numbers of students. It is shocking how rarely this is done, but its importance cannot be overestimated. By piloting a test the designer can find out all sorts of problems which she had not noticed in the process of development. For this reason, th last step is the most important in hat it can reveal weaknesses in any of the preceding steps in the process.

8. Of the eight stages proposed by Turner, which one is the least important? (Tur)

It is equally hard to determine which of these steps is the least important. As was suggested in class, rather than simply eliminating a particular step because it is less important we might be setter served streamlining the process and combining some of the steps. As regards combing, probably steps 1 and 2 could be combined. The same can be said for steps 7 and 8. Since the results of step 8 will certainly require a revision of any one of the previous steps and instruments will need to be revised it is simply just to combine these steps to streamline the process as well.