In a recent blog I have produced a lesson plan with a task called Video telling- Narrar el video. In this blog I will provide more information about the process of material production and the principles that I have used to evaluate my teaching materials.
This chosen principles are relevant for my practice, some of them were drawn from the literature mention in my blogs.
- Materials should encourage students to maximise their potentials.
- Materials should expose learners to language in authentic use(Tomlinson, 2011)
- Materials should be clear and systematic but flexible enough to allow for creativity and variety.
- Materials should encourage learners to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom.
I will summarise the step that I followed by using the model provided by Jolly and Bolitho(1998:97):
Identification This task based learning was aim to a small group of adolescent students, who are preparing for their Spanish GCSE. The students have private tuition once a week. Their Spanish level is at beginners level and they need to gain confidence in the Spanish speaking and writing skills. This group of learners found difficult to learn a long list of vocabulary and find videos more memorable and entertaining. I created a video for students to connect visuals with content.
Exploration of the area of need in terms of language, learners need to be able to write and script by using new vocabulary and complex sentences.
Contextual Realisation of the proposed new material, the short video gives the learners the opportunity to listen to an authentic Latin American accent and encourages them to record their transcript.
Pedagogical Realisation of materials by the finding of appropriate exercises and activities. The learners will be using their worksheet that they download on their IPad or mobiles.
Physical Production of materials, involving sharing the YouTube video and writing their own script and sharing with their families.
Information on Learner’s Context
Language level: Spanish GCSE and AS level
Learner Type: Students -age 14+ and Adults Time: 30 minutes
Task: Preparation for Oral examination Task and Written task
Topic: Describing my hometown
Language: Sophisticated vocabulary -Grammar- Use adjectives comparison
Material: Ipads, laptops,
The aim: The students will be able to learn how to edit Youtube film and express their opinion with new vocabulary, on a relevant topic for their oral and writing exam.
Checklist of questions for evaluating a task
Rod Ellis Cap9. The evaluation of communication task(1998:225) Tomlinson, B. (1998:225)
| Dimension | Key questions | Answers |
|
Approach 1 Objectives model (To learn sophisticated vocabulary to describe their home town) |
Is the approach to be one evaluating the task in terms of its objectives or is it to be one of de an understanding of how the task works for language learning. Or both? | Both because this vocabulary is essential for learners to pass their GCSE exams. Students are challenged to use new words for the task. The found that describing their own town was easy.They were able to ask vocabulary related to their town history. |
|
Purpose 1 accountability 2 development Teacher development/ self-taught how to use technology for teaching. |
Is the evaluation directed at determining whether the task ‘works’ or is directed at improving the task for future use or encouraging teachers to reflect on the value and use of this of this kind of task? | It is directed to improve the task for future use and to encourage teachers to reflect on the value and use of this kind of task. |
|
Focus 1 Effectiveness 2 Efficiency |
Is the focus of the evaluation on the effectiveness or the efficiency of the task? If the focus is on the effectiveness of the task, what will the task to be compared with? |
Effectiveness of the task is considerable because the students can compare their own video production and make alterations and improve their work while they see other examples. However, this task is not effective in regard time management as it takes proportionally too much time during lesson. But it is a good task for homework to stimulate autonomy beyond the classroom. |
|
Scope 1Internal 2 External |
Will the evaluation of the task be in terms of its stated objectives or will consider the appropriateness of the objectives themselves? Will the evaluation of the task consider predicted benefits or will also consider unpredicted benefits as well? |
In my lesson plan I have considered the appropriateness of the objective against students learning profile before I set the task. During and after the lesson I evaluate the objective against performance. Before setting the task I predict the benefits of the task and during the lesson note all unpredicted benefits. |
| Evaluators 1 Insiders(teacher and students)2 Outsiders (peer evaluation) |
Who will evaluate the task? What biases do the chosen evaluators have? |
Teacher will focus on internal and external scope, while students may focus on their interest in the task. My colleagues evaluate on short and long term learning goals. I evaluate on students grades and results. |
|
Timing 1 Formative 2 Summative |
Will the evaluation of the task take place as it is being used in the classroom or on its completion? | It takes place during the activity or with checklist at the of each lesson. |
|
Type of Information 1 Test scores 2 Documentary 3 Self-report 3 Observation |
What kinds of information will be used to evaluate the task? How will the information be collected/ |
Self reporting,Test scores, observation by teacher. Data is collected manually by google mail. |
To conclude, the above checklist helped to adjust and evaluate the task. This evaluation shows that the materials used were compatible accord with the principles. The task encourages students to maximise their potential while performed their task. Students were able to compare their own video production and make alterations. This was not anticipated. Nonetheless, the time frame was not quite as predicted for the specific task because the task was completed in two sessions. Overall, this evaluation shows the appropriateness of the materials used and how they can be implemented in the future. I have to admit that this study has demonstrated for me that digital technologies have potentials when applied in SLT. This type of task not only helped the students to be creative but also encourage me to use more visuals and sounds in mobile devices. Further research on how to evaluate teachers materials with technology seems to be appropriate.
References
Jolly, D. & Bolitho, R. (1998) A framework for material writing. In: Tomlinson, B. 1998, Materials development in language teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York;. Pp 98-99.
Ellis, R. (1998) The evaluation of communicative tasks. In:Tomlinson, B. 1998, Materials development in language teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge;New York;. Pp 225.