The Importance of Plan and Methods in the Foundation Program - Essay Example

Introduction: “The Foundation Program is designed for who are not sufficiently prepared to join the four-year bachelor program offered at the University and it complies with the National Standards for Foundation Programs in Oman. Most of these students may be required to spend from one to three semesters in the Foundation Program, depending on their results in the placement tests administered by the University.   The Foundation Program is designed to bridge the gap between secondary education and university undergraduate studies.  The program’s focus is primarily on the enhancement of students’ proficiency in English, so students enrolled in the program have a full day schedule with a weekly load of around 30 hours, including study groups.” “The program is communicative in nature, shifting the emphasis from grammar to meaningful oral and written communication. The instructional materials adopted for the program have performance-based objectives as well as clear scope and sequence for teaching communicative skills. The program approaches language as a tool of communication and stresses reading and writing as the two main language skills instrumental for students success in university-level education through the medium of English.  The teaching methodology treats language skills in an integrated fashion and incorporates study skills into the program.  The teaching methodology is communicative in nature, presenting authentic and simulated communicative tasks in real life Situations”. (Dhofar University, Foundation program). However most of the students in the foundation programmer are unappreciative with the role of English language. In this stage of a students’ academic life, it is very important for the teacher to find effective ways to help these students progress to the next level. Teachers must know their students and their needs very well. They have to decide on which communication skills they would develop : reading, writing, speaking, listening, or phonology. As with any instructional method, everything starts with lesson planning. A well-developed lesson plan is the foundation to a good execution of a lesson. According to research, planning sets the stage in teaching and school learning making it the most critical part of instruction teaching and school learning (Clark & Dunn, 1991). The lesson plan must align with the goals of the program as well as the curriculum so that it would fit the context of the learner. In short, the lesson plan must translate into instruction the goals of the Foundation Program. Since the program aims to focus on developing communication skills, the preferred EFL methodology that will be used is the PPP ( Presentation, Practice and Production). The PPP method has been used for a long time by EFL teachers in many parts of the world. The presentation part is teacher-oriented wherein a “situation” is presented and the teacher builds underlying concepts from such realistic situations . The practice stage is where students work as a pair or a group to start interacting in the English language. The teacher directs the activities but the learners are actively engaged in the learning process. The culminating point of this method is the Production stage wherein the learners demonstrate the communication skills that they have learned. Dialogue or role playing is often used in the production. The teacher is an observer in this stage with minimal intervention unless the learner asks for help. A realistic situation such as asking directions when one is a tourist engages the participant to become independent users of the language. The teacher usually makes the comments after the presentation. The popular online EFL teacher Jason Renshaw commented that this method is effective for beginners in the English language as well as for new teachers handling EFL since it is “straightforward and structured “ ( Renshaw 2005 ). Therefore , the PPP method is appropriate for using this program. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Lesson planning is an indispensable tool in enhancing the effectiveness of any learning program. The teacher must consider many factors in designing a lesson so learning will become relevant on the side of the learners. The level of a student’s readiness must be evaluated properly before setting objectives in a lesson plan. As stated in the introduction, the learners in this program are not even conscious of the importance of the English language which in itself presents a challenge to the teacher. Dana and Hedgcock ( 2004 ) observed that frequently: students assigned to these courses are identified as weak in specific skill areas and allowed to take courses that count toward a degree or certificate only after they successfully pass these courses, successfully pass an in-house language proficiency test, or achieve a specified score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or other criterion-referenced test. Therefore, the importance of lesson planning cannot be undermined in EFL instruction since the lesson plan if carefully designed, can correct the weaknesses of a learner. The implication of a proper assessment of student’s strengths and weaknesses is the formulation of a lesson plan that would stimulate most the student’s learning. Therefore, the lesson plan is a key component in ensuring that desired learning outcomes will be met. Similarly, a study made by Panasuk and Todd ( 2005 ) showed that lesson planning using FSLP strategy revealed that a higher lesson coherence occurred. Indeed, the strategy may differ but the significance is that there is a lesson plan that was conceived. In teaching EFL, there have been numerous debates as whether to use PPS or other methods like ESA. The important thing to remember in instructional planning is that the learner’s environment is of prime consideration when designing the lesson plan. The result of an important study in relation to EFL learning was published in 2007 by Mohammad Ali Salmani-Nodoushan . His study emphasized the importance of a cognitively orientated-approach in writing as espoused by Mann. Here, the relationship between the learner and the materials is of prime importance. Syllabus can be, accordingly, defined as the constant interaction between the learner and the materials to which he is exposed ( Salmani-Nodoushan 2007). The approach focuses on learning and the role of syllabus in between the learner and materials. A lesson plan determines the objectives of the lesson as well as provide the materials that will be needed in delivering instruction. Therefore, content of the lesson dictates the quality of the lesson. Lesson planning not only helps the learners, but aids the teacher as well .Clark & Peterson ( cited in Baylor, Kintsantas, Chung 2001 p.3 )” conducted an extensive review on teacher planning and found that systematic planning provides novice teachers with a framework for developing a personal lesson planning style”. Indeed, the primacy of lesson planning supersedes all other instructional activities. For without a lesson plan, the direction of the instruction would lead to diminished learning or no learning at all. Whether learner or teacher, both stand to gain from having a well-constructed lesson plan. REFERENCES Baylor, A. L., Kitsantas, A., & Chung, H. (2001). The Instructional Planning Self-Reflective Tool (IPSRT): A Method for Promoting Effective Lesson Planning. Educational Technology, 41(2), 56-59 Clark, C., & Dunn, S. (1991). Second generation research on teacher planning. In H.C. Waxman & H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Effective teaching: Current research. Berkeley CA. Dana R. Ferris, Hedgcock , John S ( 2004 )Teaching ESL Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ. Mohammad Ali Salmani-Nodoushan 2009 "Thinking on the write path: Mohammad Ali Salmani-Nodoushan emphasises the importance of cognitive orientation to the success of EFL students in writing courses". Training Journal. FindArticles.com. viewed 24 Mar, 2009. Panasuk, Regina M. ,   Todd ,Jeffrey. Effectiveness of lesson planning: factor analysis..Journal of Instructional Psychology ,  Sept, 2005  viewed March 21, 2009 Renshaw, Jason (2005 )The PPP Approach to Communicative Language Learning., englishraven.com. Viewed on March 18,2009. Read More