English Language Teaching - Article Example

Lesson Plan Name University School Course Date Introduction This article provides an insightful critique of a lesson plan for English Language Teaching (ELT) focusing on its suitability and capacity to meet the identified needs of the learners in Australia. The critique takes into account the various principles and guidelines utilized in the design of effective lessons for the English language in diverse contexts. Finally, the critique will also analyze the applicability of the identified lesson plan to a diverse context of teaching. Lesson planning constitutes a crucial ingredient in the process of teaching and learning. Planning a lesson is useful in ensuring the teacher remains organized and on track during the teaching exercises. Consequently, this provides the teacher an opportunity to deliver more knowledge to the learner and enabling the latter realize learning objectives with a lot of ease. Preparing for a lesson also enables the teacher to handle any emerging issues that occur unexpectedly in the course of a lesson. Lesson plans provide a framework that ensures coherence and a seamless flow of the teaching activities by ensuring the teacher is well organized (Darling-Hammond, 2012). In addition, lesson plans provide direction that guides the delivery of learning content outlined in a syllabus. A well-planned and organized teacher delivers learning content confidently, effectively, and efficiently thus strengthening the learning process. Planning the lesson equips the teacher with the ability to address the identified learning needs of different categories of students. Finally, lesson plans provide tangible evidence of the teacher spending considerable time and resources in meeting the needs of the learners hence useful for reference (Chinh, 2013). The socio-cultural context The socio-cultural context for learners in Australia is very diverse hence, the need to employ appropriate approaches for teaching English Language in a manner that addresses the needs of the diverse student population. Most of the classes contain students who are either migrants or refugees who are struggling to learn a new language following their resettlement in new communities. In addition, the diverse nature of these learners is evidenced by their culture, ethnicity, language background, as well as their likelihood of having been exposed to traumatic events (Echevarria & Graves, 2007). Understanding this context is very useful in designing appropriate learning programs that will realize maximum impact while dealing with such a group of learners. Moreover, the learners of immigrant origin possess varying levels of proficiency in English based on their previous educational experiences. In the southern part of Australia, the government runs a mandatory program that equips learners with the capacity to use the English language in primary schools owned by the state. Consequently, students from this background have an enhanced capacity to transact using English during social interactions, cultural learning, and academic literacy (Fernandez & Yoshida, 2012). In addition, children are required to spend sufficient during the Integrated English Language Classes until they gain the required competency before transitioning to the mainstream classes. Children with a migrant background spend approximately twelve months learning English whereas those with a refugee background may spend additional time based on the student’s needs. On average, a single class may contain students drawn from more than twenty countries with a corresponding number of their primary dialects. In some instances, it is possible to come across scenarios where every student speaks a unique primary language (Harmer, 2008). Literature review According to Jones (2009), who conducted a study on lesson planning as a means of effective and purposeful learning, lesson plans constitute a crucial element that enhances effective teaching by providing evidence of in-depth as well as reflective learning activities. Lesson plans clarify the aims of learning activities, the intended mode of delivering the learning content, as well as the mechanisms put in place to evaluate the learning outcomes. The author considers lesson planning as an indisputable approach that provides mechanisms that ensure learning is purposeful. Considering the vital role of lesson plans in teaching, the author posits that there is need strengthen the former as the hallmarks of professionalism amongst teachers (Jones, 2009). Lesson plans highlight the fundamental questions that the teacher seeks to help the students understand. Despite the fact that some experienced teachers do not draw physical lesson plans at the pretext of their expertise, the fact remains that they have conceptualized the structure and flow of particular lessons in their mind and are able to replicate these plans without referring to a piece of paper but their memory. The time allocated for learning different lessons is limited hence the need for teachers to plan their lessons in order to realize greater impact (Herrell & Jordan, 2015). Due, Riggs, & Augoustinos, (2016) investigated the diversity manifested by centers for training English language in South Australia as well as the applicable socio-cultural strategies for teaching students with backgrounds of either migrants or refugees. The study relied on an ethnographic approach in understanding the challenges associated with teaching English language to a class comprising of learners from very diverse backgrounds. The author emphasized on the utilization of socio-cultural approaches that capitalize on the cultural differences to advance learning rather than treating these differences as the obstacles to the learning process. He observed that in Australia and the United States, classrooms constitute of learners from very diverse backgrounds hence the need to apply learning approaches that take cognizance of these differences (Due et al., 2016). Previous research studies show that shared communication remains a major concern while teaching learners from diverse backgrounds. While formulating lesson plans for learners from diverse backgrounds, there is need to integrate the experiences of the learners in order to enhance rapid acquisition of knowledge. Socio-cultural learning approaches are very useful in such backgrounds where diversity amongst learners exists and enables the learners to apply the new knowledge into their existing concepts. Learning activities that capitalize on the students’ experiences have been proven to yield better learning outcomes than other conventional methods (Richards, 2015). Westbury, Hopmann, & Riquarts, (2012) consider teaching English as a difficult task for those teachers lacking prior training on instruction techniques for successful English lessons. They identified eight components that should be part of a lesson plan for teaching English language. These include preparations, setting the background, inputs that are comprehensible, strategies, avenues for interaction, practical application, delivering the lesson, reviewing and assessing the learning outcomes (Westbury et al., 2012). The objectives of the lesson plan should enable the learning process and all materials required to deliver the content of the lesson should be made available prior to the lesson. The teacher should vary the learning activities in order to maintain interest amongst the learners and realize superior learning outcomes. Some learning activities include the use of repetition, interviews, role-plays, group discussions, and simulations. The students may be instructed to speak, write, or listen during these activities in order to realize learning objectives (Chinh, 2013). Lesson plans follow a predetermined design that begins with a review of the content that was previously delivered to learners. During the warm up phase, the teacher provides the learners with an opportunity to put their previous lesson into practice. The teacher then introduces new material while providing unique opportunities that allow learners to practice what they are being taught whereas the teachers evaluate them. As the teacher presents the new content, he/she is able to gauge the comprehension of the learners and provide them with an opportunity to apply the new content. The evaluation phase allows for the assessment of the extent to which the learners grasped the content delivered by the teacher (Jones, 2009). Lesson plans provide a clear road map of the learning experiences by clearly stipulating the objectives while providing the strategies that enable the realization of those objectives. The lesson plan is an important tool that aids the teaching activities of both new as well as experienced teachers. The level of the teacher’s experience influences the amount of details that the teacher includes in a lesson plan with majority of the season teachers choosing to include minimal details but following the established pattern in their mind (Darling-Hammond, 2012). According to Robertson & Acklam, (2000), all English lessons are unique but go through predetermined stages depending on whether their major focus is on writing, reading, vocabulary or grammar. The activities contained in such lessons may include speaking or listening with a concentration on the introduction of new content or revision of previously learned materials. The context of the teaching, the nature of the students, and the specific aims set out by the teacher ultimately determine the content of an English lesson. Interesting the students in the learning content so that they enjoy the learning experiences is associated with faster learning and better progress (Robertson & Acklam, 2000). Critique of Lesson Plan 2 EAP: Quality of planning, the learning opportunities and the suitability of the lesson plan to the socio-cultural context The lesson sets out the background by identifying the target audience, the duration of the lesson, which is two hours, the focus of the lesson as well as the circumstances under which the lesson takes place. The teacher succinctly outlined the learning objectives that entailed familiarizing the learners with the rhetorical features employed while writing academic papers. In addition, the lesson plan seeks to increase the awareness of students on issues relating to language as they prepare to undertake formal writing. The preparation phase also entailed readying the materials to be utilized during the lesson namely different articles and essays, overhead transparencies, worksheets, assignment sheets, annotated writings and reading journals. The features identified in the planning phase discussed above address the requirements of an effective lesson plan as identified by Harmer (2008). The objective of the lesson plan is clearly stated and the specific content that the students will learn was well identified. Similarly, a lesson plan should identify the learning materials that will be required to execute a particular learning experience. An effective lesson plan should also provide an opportunity to review the content that was previously delivered to learners. The lesson plan under critique met this threshold and thus consistent with the set standards. Moreover, the lesson plan is sequenced in a logical manner with clear timeframes for every learning activity to be executed in the course of the lesson (Harmer, 2008). About the learning opportunities entrenched into the planned lesson, several learning activities were integrated in the plan to support the realization of the set objectives. The lesson began by reviewing the concepts previously taught to the students thus providing an opportunity for the teacher to reinforce the learned materials and gauge the understanding of the learners. Reviewing previously learned concepts provides an opportunity for the teacher to correct any misunderstanding amongst the learners before introducing new content that may become too complex for the learners (Due et al., 2016). In addition, the lesson plan provides an opportunity for the learners to practice the content delivered through writing, and reading aloud their sentences to demonstrate various concepts. The learning activities also involved group discussions and plenary sessions that enabled the students to learn from each other. According to Robertson & Acklam, (2000), varying the teaching approaches provide unlimited opportunities for the students to learn new content in English language. In addition, a teacher can maintain the interest of his/ her learners by varying the activities involved in the learning process (Robertson & Acklam, 2000). This lesson plan provided varied learning opportunities thus enabling learners to draw maximum benefits from the lesson. Discussion groups allow the students to share amongst themselves and gain new knowledge from their peers. In addition, during the discussion groups, learners are able to build their confidence and self esteem which are useful during the learning process. The environment in discussion groups appears to be less threatening to the learners when compared to the conventional classroom setup that may undermine the learning process (Herrell & Jordan, 2015). The lesson plan under review was designed for first year and second year students in the University for Purposes of equipping them with skills in academic writing. The socio-cultural setup for the learners is very diverse considering that learners come from different backgrounds. Learners at this level also have varied capacity in using the English language depending on their previous languages of instruction (Due et al., 2016). There is no evidence of the integration of socio-cultural approaches in the execution of the lesson under current review despite the fact that they provide an effective strategy for delivering content to learners from diverse backgrounds. Nevertheless, the sequencing of the lesson as well as the approach utilized to deliver the content is consistent with that of teaching learners at that level of education. Socio-cultural learning approaches enable the students to learn from their own cultural experiences and to apply the new knowledge to their lives thus yielding stronger learning outcomes (Harmer, 2008). Conclusion The lesson plan under review provides very clear objectives of the intended learning experiences while stating the materials required for the successful delivery of the content. In addition, the lesson plan employs various teaching strategies that provide unique opportunities for the learners to conceptualize the learning content. In addition, the variations in the teaching methodologies also ensure that the learners maintain their interest in the learning experience as they enjoy the lesson thus strengthening better outcomes. On the contrary, the lesson plan reveals apparent limitations that may hamper its effectiveness. In the first place, the plan acknowledges university students as the targeted audience but does not take cognizance of the socio-cultural differences orchestrated by the variations in the cultural backgrounds of the learners. Moreover, the lesson plan lacks feedback and evaluation mechanisms to monitor the understanding of the learners following the delivery of new knowledge. References Chinh, N. D. (2013). Cultural diversity in English language teaching: Learners’ voices. English Language Teaching, 6(4), 1. Darling-Hammond, L. (2012). Powerful teacher education: Lessons from exemplary programs. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_ETQd-zD8RUC&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=lesson+planning+for+english+teachers+2012&ots=np6Cutb5EJ&sig=FMJFzpQARHeGW9OCq9M3VIGwZRo Due, C., Riggs, D. W., & Augoustinos, M. (2016). Diversity in intensive English language centres in South Australia: sociocultural approaches to education for students with migrant or refugee backgrounds. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1–11. Echevarria, J., & Graves, A. W. (2007). Sheltered content instruction: Teaching English language learners with diverse abilities. Pearson Allyn and Bacon Los Angeles, CA. Retrieved from http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume4/ej14/ej14r7/ Fernandez, C., & Yoshida, M. (2012). Lesson study: A Japanese approach to improving mathematics teaching and learning. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=N7uTsZxWXFkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=lesson+planning+for+english+teachers+2012&ots=f74e6_NXDO&sig=Dp5KLp9aaRYSOs6BUaO_osguCuU Harmer, J. (2008). How to teach English. ELT Journal, 62(3), 313–316. Herrell, A. L., & Jordan, M. L. (2015). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners. Pearson. Jones, R. I. (1999). The More Electric Aircraft: the past and the future? In Electrical Machines and Systems for the More Electric Aircraft (Ref. No. 1999/180), IEE Colloquium on (pp. 1–1). IET. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=828621 Richards, J. C. (2015). Error analysis: Perspectives on second language acquisition. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b00eCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=English+language+teaching+2015&ots=sAHM4fmgIZ&sig=yNVGj63sRipWnB_f5spLR0P_HyM Robertson, C., & Acklam, R. (2000). Action plan for teachers: a guide to teaching English. BBC World Service. Westbury, I., Hopmann, S., & Riquarts, K. (2012). Teaching as a reflective practice: The German Didaktik tradition. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=onEFU1inlBoC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=lesson+planning+for+english+teachers+2012&ots=sI8HDZF0Ja&sig=k6tQL6N3ORk9w5Lp8D8jVboctIg  Read More