week 15 reading reflection

High stakes test

 We Japanese have to take “the center (National) test” which is the standardized preliminary examination for university applicants. There are 5 subjects. These are English, Japanese, mathematics, science, and history. It takes extremely long time. It takes 2 days. In order to get good scores, high school students have to study harder like Korean students explained in the class. As the matter of fact, that test is “preliminary examination.” There is secondary examination in order to entrance University in Japan. It is a unique test which individual university has. It also takes about 2 days. I do not want to take those kinds of test again. I really hate these. Even though these tests are very high stakes, it never assesses proficiency level. I think that the function of these two test is just screening. This is one of issues of the test in Japan. In order to change this test, I would like to learn testing more and more. 

Week 11 class reflection

In class some people said that there are some biological or gender differences when people acquire second language. I think that the differences are not biological or gender differences but individual differences. (Our focus was literacy skills in the class; however, I would like to write about it from speaking skills.)

     Generally speaking, we think that woman is talkative rather than man. In other words, the amount of output of woman is much bigger than that of man. Therefore, woman  is good at acquiring second language rather than man. However, according to the article of scientific America, I forgot the title and researchers’ names, some researchers conducted the experiment and they concluded that there is no big difference of amount of output between woman and man.

     Therefore, I believe that there is no biological or gender differences when we acquire second language. The difference is individual differences. 

Week 11 reading reflection

Nowadays, growing number of countries are moving toward making English language instruction mandatory from a young age. I heard that in Korea, they start to learn English from 3^rd grade in the elementary school. This is based upon the new curriculum. In order to know the truth,  I asked about it to my roommate who is from Korea and his age is 21. Then he said that he started to study English when he was junior high school students. He does not know the change of curriculum. From this, I think that the change of curriculum is really new. Japan also tries to change the system or curriculum like Korea. However, I can not agree with them. I never believe Critical Period Hypothesis by Scovel.

     According to the book, it is controversial whether to introduce English young age or not because there are several advantages and disadvantages. I really want to say that Japanese ministry of Education consider about it. We should not be in a hurry to change the curriculum. 

week 10 class reflection

In class, first, we talked about what kinds of reading strategies are taught. I was just taught only grammar translation and SQ3R system. Compared with me, other group members experienced variety of strategies. For example, skimming, scanning, guessing vocabularies from the context, and reading between lines. I experienced only two strategies. I thought that I should learn more and more strategies because if I have variety of reading strategies, I can adjust students’ need in the future.

     During discussion, we tried to think about the question ‘what should we do in order to create background knowledge?’ I think that the best way to create background knowledge is to read materials which are written in native language. For example, if we want to understand biology, we should read material which is written in native language and connected with biology. I experienced this strategy when I studied TOEFL. I think it is very helpful and easy to do. 

week 10 reading reflection

My reading experience

 

When I was junior high or high school student, I was taught English reading based upon grammar-translation. I always translated English into Japanese word by word or sentence by sentence. Any other reading skill except for grammar-translation was taught by teacher at that time. I really hate that because it is not useful if our proficiency level advanced. However, when I was university student, I learned SQ3R system. I think it is really helpful when we read. When I become a teacher, I would like to introduce SQ3R system to my students in the future.

There are a lot of reading assignments now. I would like to know and acquire more effective reading skills. It is good for me and my future students. 

week 8 reading

After reading both MCM and Brown book, I hit upon questions that speaking skills and pronunciation (skills) are same? Should we have to think of them separately? I do not know the answer. Therefore, someone, could you tell me the answer?

In the Brown book, seven principles for teaching speaking skills are introduced. Among them, I like the part of 2^nd. That is ‘provide intrinsically motivating techniques. It says that it is important to help students to see how the activity will benefit them. Students often do not know why we ask to do certain things. When I was a junior high or high school student, sometimes I do not know why we should do some kind of activities. I think that it is really important to make the student know the reason of the activities. It will motivate students.

In MCM book, techniques of child’s speaking skills are introduced. I think that Jazz Chants can be used not only for children but also for adults. When I teach speaking skills, I would like to use jazz chants. 

Week 7 class reflection

In the class, Aaron and I presented about oral skills. First, I expalined why the learners have difficulties in speaking. After that we tried discussing following things. 

1. Cover multiple subjects from textbooks
2. Discussion w/ class (10 min), Topic: Why EFL/ESL students tend to have difficulty speaking:

1. What experiences do you have with this personally?

2. What are the differences between a proficient L2 speaker and a native L1 speaker of English?

3. How can our ESL/EFL students improve their speaking?

4. What would be some good speaking strategies for our ESL learners in the US? What about in other cultures (maybe where English is a widely used 2^nd language, i.e. Russia/Russian accent,  ?

5. What activities can we use to enhance learners’ speaking skills?

6. What forms of technology should we use and are they helpful when teaching oral language skills?

 

II.                Activities

a.       In small groups (5 groups of 3 people) create a discussion using multiple speaking strategies. Remember to take notes during or just after your discussion. (Topics: Politics/international relations, cultural differences, food, sports/fashion (gender speaking differences), television/movies, media control, etc.) (10 Min.)

b.      As a class, share the notes about your group’s conversation and (if time) discuss how these strategies could be taught. What else can we do to improve and motivate/encourage (i.e. confidence) our students’ speaking ability?

Unfortunately, we did not enough time to cover everything. However, we could discuss a lot. I think that it was good. Next time, I am going to focus on writing. I will do my best.             

week 7 reading

Week 7’s focus is on oral skills. In MCM book, Brown (1994) introduced several reasons why the ESL/EFL learners have difficulty in speaking. First, he focuses on segmental level. In English speech, there are a lot of reduced forms, such as constructions, vowel reductions, and elisions. Second, he focuses on suprasegmental level. English speakers often use their unique stress, rhythm, and intonations. In addition, Lazarton, who is the author of this section, mentioned the most difficult part. It is that almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. In other words, the learner have to monitor and understand the other speaker, think about one’s own contribution, produce that contribution, monitor its effect, and so on. The learners are not prepared for spontaneous communication and do not cope with all of its simultaneous demands. I agree with these opinions. 

week 6 class reflection

In class, we discussed what the most interesting and effective technique of listening was. When I was junior high or high school student, I never experienced interesting listening techniques. All of the techniques were very boring for me.

I mainly learned listening skill by dictation in Japan. I hate that technique because 1) it is not authentic, 2) it is monotonous, and 3) it is very frustrating if we do not understand. First, this technique is not authentic because in real world, we never write down what a speaker says. Second, it is very monotonous. In dictation, we just listen same dialogues many times. Third, it is easy to be frustrated. Sometimes we can not understand what the tape says even though we listen many times.

For all these reasons, I hate dictation.

In a textbook, many techniques are introduced, so I would like to try these. 

Week６ Reading

I was very excited to read textbook for teaching listening because there are a lot of things which I did not know. Among these, the most interesting point is that ‘listening in their native language, people never hear all the information in a message, and they do not need to.’ Before I read the textbook, I misunderstood that we have to understand the all the information when we hear. When I was a junior high or high school student, I often practice to write down every single word which I hear because I thought that is extremely important for second language learner to listen every single word. I think that English teachers in Japan also misunderstand so even now. I really want English teachers in Japan to know this fact and stop making students write down every single word. 

Week 5 reflection

In the class, Stephanie and Rachel presented about vocabulary building. In second activity, we had to guess the meaning of unknown words from the content. It was really difficult for me because I did not know not only the target words but also some other words. It made me more confused. But I really enjoyed the activities. When I become a teacher, I try to introduce my students to do that kind of activity.

Dian explained her APP. Her focus is on vocabulary building. She tries to make the students memorize vocabulary by using association cycle. I think that it is really helpful; however, it has one disadvantage.  The method she is using  consumes time a lot.

I really know what kinds of strategies our classmates use when they acquire second language.

week 5 reading reflection

In apple book, the history of teaching vocabulary is explained. There is pendulum of teaching vocabulary based upon the changes of favor of teaching method and theory. I am very interested in the history of teaching vocabulary. I would like to know the detail.

When I built up vocabulary, I often used audiolingual method. I just memorized the word itself with Japanese translation by doing drills again and again. I never memorized the words in context. Those were sometimes boring and time consumer. Unfortunately, I cannot use the words which I memorized. It means that my vocabularies are passive vocabulary. In order to use them in real life, I have to find out the way to make the passive vocabularies active vocabularies. According to the apple book, the author suggested that we should associate target words to something. I think that it is really helpful way.

In grammar teaching, the authors of The Grammar Book mentions that we should teach grammar from three dimensions: form(accuracy), meaning(meaningfulness) , and use(appropriateness). We should have the following questions. How is it formed? What does it mean? When/why is it used? Students have to learn to use grammar structures accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately. In my experience, these three components were not well balanced. Fortunately, I am taking a grammar course of ENG 583 in this semester. So, I would like to find out appropriate way to teach grammar. 

week 4 class reflection

During the class we discussed the cross cultural difference. There are a lot of differences between cultures. For the first part of discussion, Dr. Smidt talked about her experience. Her example was about ‘double dripping.’ I think that in Japan, ‘double dripping’ is not acceptable, too. Of course, there are individual differences. I reconfirmed that ‘double dripping’ is rude attitude in Asian countries.
Chris talked about personal distance. When I was undergraduate student, I read the article about personal distance. According to that article, there is the unique distance which depends on culture when the people talk in pair. For example, the distance between Japanese is about 1 meter. On the other hand, the distance between Americans is closer than that. That is about 50 cent-meter. Therefore, there might be trouble when an American and Japanese talk. Japanese may feel uncomfortable if the American uses his or her unique personal distance.
I think that it is very interesting to find out the cultural differences. However, sometimes it is dangerous because we tend to fall into stereotype. I think the balance is important.

Week 4 reading

As we know that language skills can be divided into 4 skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Recently, there is trend toward skill integration or whole language approach for more authenticity and better reinforcement.
Integration of 4 skills always reminds me of TOEFL iBT (internet Based Test). In speaking and writing section of iBT, skills are integrated. For example, in speaking section, test takers have to answer by first, reading essay, second, listening a conversation about essay between two students, and finally speaking the summary of essay and conversation. The speaking is assessed. In order to entrance MSU, I took a TOEFL iBT 3 times. It was really hard to get a good score. I am not good at taking this kind of test.
In order to train learners’ skill integration, some models of skills integration are introduced in teaching by principles by H.D.Brown. In Japan it is difficult to introduce Content-Based Instruction or Theme-based Instruction now because there is a few teachers can teach by using these methods. However, in the latter part of the chapter, Experiential Learning and the Episode Hypothesis are introduced. I think that these methods can be used in Japan. In order to use these methods in Japan, I have to study more about them.