Last week: Brown 23 & 24, and Shohamy: Assessment and testing

Assessments are helpful to see where the student is at, their weaknesses and strengths, and the progress the student has made. When creating a test, it is important to make sure they are practical, valid, reliable, authentic and have a wash back effect. These are priorities for the design of language assessments. Like the wash back section mentioned, it is necessary for teachers to provide feedback on test performance. When teachers provide feedback, it always helps me to know my weaknesses and strengths, as well as what and how to improve the next time I take a test. I have known classmates that are scared to argue with the teacher about their grades, because the teacher would get upset or not even listen to the student. But, I have also seen teachers that are more than welcome to discuss grades and be open to receive a student's feedback on a grade. I need to remember not only to provide feedback, but be open to hear my students about their own grade. I need to remember that a letter or number grade cannot help my students improve their own learning. Providing feedback in tests is useful for all grades. Brown also touches on the practical steps to test construction in classrooms which I found very useful. Test development is a delicate process that needs a lot of preparation to appropriately assess students. The before, during and after test strategies could help me when using all kinds of assessments, so my students can fully understand the upcoming test and be aware of their expectations. Any information that is given step by step helps me see exactly what I have to do to develop a more effective learning environment. Every student deserves the right to find out their weaknesses and strengths, and self-evaluate their progress to become more independent in their learning process. I found these chapters very useful because they provide specific steps to design an appropriate test for students, how to help them develop autonomy, and create a more collaborative learning environment. The chapter on assessment by Shohamy addresses how to better assess the discourse competence of the students tapping on the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). It is necessary to use a variety of discourse types on tests to appropriately assess the individual. Another important aspect they focus on is the importance of applying a variety of  discourse features and criteria in evaluation. The testers could create their own scales based on the expected goals and objectives of the test. The chapter also suggests the importance of using different elicitation techniques rather than standard test formats to be able to appropriately test them. As well as Brown, Shohamy suggests teachers to use feedback by giving assessment conferences regularly, so the students can improve their learning. I found these chapters very useful especially for language teachers who are developing tests and assessing ELL students, but these ideas can also work nicely for regular mainstream classrooms.

Week 13: Lesson Planning and Curriculum

One necessary aspect of teaching is writing lesson plans because it helps organize what one is planning on teaching. Before writing it, it is necessary to plan and prepare ahead so we can appropriately apply it to the student's unique learning styles and needs. I have written a few lesson plans for classes, but I think I still need more practice on it. Preparing for a lesson and figuring out what and how to teach is helpful to me, especially because I'm more of a visual person. Having every step of my expected lesson, and a clear set of goals and objectives, can benefit me, even though I know it will most likely change during the actual lesson. It is also necessary to expect a variety of answers and give open-ended questions, as well as challenging the student with high-order questions. Being able to adapt and being flexible is key to every lesson planning and teaching. Brown discusses the need to focus on variety, more student talk, good pacing, good timing when writing lesson plans. Also, it is key to take into account the variation of ability in the students, and monitoring the difficulty of the lesson, we want to challenge the advanced ones without making it too hard for the below and average students.The different techniques and materials the book offers, such as role-playing, problem solving, dictation, technological aids, realia, etc., can help make a lesson more engaging and meaningful, and help support learning, especially for L2 learners. Also, another aspect involving teaching and lesson planning is the importance of monitoring our own teaching acts discussed by Kumar. He mentions the M&M scheme and the importance of self-evaluating, self-analyzing, and self-observing one's teaching acts to explore one's classroom processes and practices. It is necessary to plan ahead, write out in detail the steps, and expect the unexpected when teaching all sorts of students.

Research paper: TESOL and Culture

After doing some more research, I have decided to change my previous topic (on teaching listening) and focus more on the effects of culture and language on ELL writing skills. My research question: How can L1 linguistic and cultural influences affect L2 writing skills?. I want to focus on the types of challenges the student faces influenced by their native culture. Also, how these identity factors affect the development of  English writing skills for ESL learners. I will focus mainly on college level or graduate students. I want to discuss the pros and cons about cultural influences, and student's beliefs and attitudes about it. My topic is still in progress.
Sources:
 "Argumentation across L1 and L2 Writing: Exploring Cultural Influences and Transfer Issues" by Hacer Hande Uysal (2012).  It is a study that explores the argument preferences of people from the same cultural background across their L1 and L2 texts within a cultural-educational framework.

"Teaching of English Writing in American and Chinese Colleges: A Data-Based Study" by XU Hui-yan (2012). It analyzes the similarities and differences in teaching English writing in Chinese and American colleges through surveying the published papers. American writing teachers tend to work in teams with more focuses on collaborative learning and writing communities, while Chinese teachers work more individually with stresses on errors analysis, teaching for the test, and negative transfer of Chinese language and culture in English writing.

"Identities and Beliefs in ESL Writing: From Product to Processes" by Xuemei Li (2007). This article focuses on the relationship of culture, identity, and beliefs with regard to the writing process and the process of learning to write in the ESL context.

Week 12: Kumar 11 & 12 and Brown 26

This week's readings help me realize that as a future teacher, I have the opportunity to model mutual respect across cultural, political, and religious boundaries while tapping into controversial issues, so I can create a more unified and safe classroom environment for every diverse student. It is necessary to avoid any biases, as a teacher, when taping into world issues to create a more egalitarian classroom environment. This reminds me of the role of the teacher as a transformative intellectual. We need to reflect and connect pedagogy with wider social issues. We need to challenge our student's minds and guide them to treat other races, cultures, and languages equally. Political and economic issues affect everyone and if these issues are presented within the classroom, we can help our students challenge their own perspectives on these issues and develop a more unified concept of the world. We can help them become critical thinkers about current issues affecting the world. These chapters help me see beyond the classroom and understand how I can make a change in a child's life. Teachers should treat everyone equally, model fair treatment across cultures and be unbiased on any social issues that affect anyone in the classroom, so their students can follow the same path. Children learn by observing and modeling, so every teacher is a model and if the teacher discusses issues surrounding every student's life, then they can challenge and prepare them to face the sociopolitical and economic issues that affects their life in a more critical way. Also, ESL students come from different countries and bring their own unique beliefs and attitudes to the classroom. If teacher connect everyone's beliefs, every student will be able to understand the importance of accepting one another. We are more than just a language teacher or a content teacher, we represent someone that can make a change in a world that is in desperate need for change. Teachers should help their students embrace their own culture and language, as well as creating and maintaining a linguistic and cultural identity. By respecting the student's linguistic and cultural identity, we can connect with the student's family, community, and personal identity. We should appreciate their identity in the classroom because it defines who they are as a human being. A question that was mentioned in one of the chapters that I am still questioning is how can students preserve their own cultural identity if they have to survive in a culturally challenged world? I am sure that with the teacher's efforts, and school and family support, they can help a child surpass any obstacles that this world may bring to the student. As teacher, we can help our students challenge these obstacles and issues (economical, political, religious, educational, racial, social, etc.)  that are affecting their families and themselves. By following a critical pedagogy and being a more transformative intellectual, the classroom will be a more unified, acceptable, fair, and loving environment for each and every diverse student.