Monday, November 16, 2009
Preparation
This week the materials that I covered gave a novel outlook toward lesson planning and more significantly a lesson planning for interactive teaching and learning in which the teacher and the learners are in constant collaboration with each other. It does not only cover planning the things that we are going to do step by step, rather according to Harmer(1991) a lesson plan includes elements like description of the lesson, recent work, objectives, contents including context, activity, and class organization, aids, language, and possible problems as well as some additional possibilities. Considering this definition, the task of lesson planning is a very difficult and time consuming job to do. Yet some reasons make us have a plan for the lesson we are going to teach. In order to feel confident of the lesson going smoothly and in the right way and to anticipate and resolve the possible problems that may happen during the lesson and to provide an organized structure to the lesson, it is wise to have a lesson plan.
Assistance
In order for us to have a lesson planning for interactive teaching and learning, one the things of crucial importance is the needs of learners. Learners' needs are of several types. Objective needs are those needs that can be diagnosed by the teacher through the analysis of personal data along with information about language proficiency. Subjective needs are the kinds of needs that cannot be diagnosed by the teacher easily like wants, desires, expectations and other psychological manifestations of a lack. Content needs include the selection of topic, grammar, function, vocabularies, syllabus design. Process needs refers to the selection and sequencing of learning tasks and experiences. Initial needs include the needs before the beginning of the course. Ongoing needs include the learners' needs once the course has begun.
Several factors influence on the decisions regarding lesson planning for interactive teaching and learning. Learners variables which are of prime significance include age, level of proficiency, personality, styles and strategies and affective factors. Considering the level of proficiency the teaching process would be different in each level. 10 factors are considered:
1-students' cognitive learning process including focal and peripheral processing
2-the role of the teacher: at beginning levels more teacher dependant but at later stages more student center.
3-teachers talk: in beginners more clear and appropriate teacher talk is needed
4-authenticity of language: authentic language should be used for every level of proficiency
5-fluency and accuracy: in lower levels fluency and in higher ones both fluency and accuracy are important
6-students creativity: in beginners less creativity is expected
7-tecniques: simple techniques should be used for beginners but more complex techniques can be applied in advanced levels
8-listening speaking goals: meaningful authentic communicative tasks in lower levels
9-reading and writing goals: brief but real life materials in lower levels and close to native like competence in more advanced levels
10-grammar: an inductive approach to grammar for any level will be more effective
Age is another variable of learners which influences on lesson planning. In fact lesson planning will be different for a child, teenager and an adult according to the following categories:
1- Intellectual development: concrete & tangible concepts should be used for children and abstract and complex concepts should be applied in the older learners.
2- Attention span: children are very impatient than adults. So in order to keep their attention, a variety of activities and a sense of humor as well as the activities that tap into the children's curiosity must be employed.
3- Sensory input: children need to have all the senses stimulated but for adults it’s not very necessary.
4- Affective factors: children are often innovative but have inhibition & are sensitive especially to peer pressure. Teacher should try to lower the affective filter in all the learners.
5- Authentic, meaningful language: in each age, language needs to be context embedded. Authentic and meaningful language must be utilized for both children and adult.
Also contextual variables can affect the lesson planning process:
1- setting which refers to physical context like time & place
2- scene which refers to Socio-psychological factors including the impact of decision makers, culture, politics & the role relationship and expectations.
There are two engagements in a classroom:
1-interactional: this kind of engagement establishes social relations and promotes accepted values & help the students become socialized. In this case the teacher has the authoritarian role.
2-transactional: the source is an authority which transfers knowledge; here the teacher has the authoritative role.
In order to structure a theory of interaction in language teaching and learning, some principles must be met. They are as follows:
1-automaticity: to focus on meaning rather than form.
2-intrinsic motivation: to relate what the student study to what they need.
3-strategic investment: to use strategic language competence in order to say, write, interpret well.
4-risk taking: to provide a situation in which the learners try to have the risk of failing.
5-the language- culture connection: to be thoroughly versed in cultural nuances of language.
6-interlanguage: to be aware of developmental nature of learning so are errors are expected.
7-communicative competence: to meet all the four elements of communicative competence including socio-linguistic, linguistic, discourse, strategic competence.
There are two models of lesson planning:
1-linear model of lesson planning includes the following:
a- setting the objectives
b-selecting learning activities
c-organizing learning activities
d-evaluating
2-alternative model of lesson planning
a-identifying a problem
b-coming up with a solution
c-implementing: variety and pace
d-evaluating
Application
For planning a lesson, it is needed to have a thorough awareness of the learners and of the teaching situation. In fact, since every teacher, every learner and every situation is unique, the plan for each lesson would be different. Accordingly, it would be in the realm of me as a teacher to explore all the aspects and design a lesson plan which goes with my learners' needs. In order to plan a lesson for an interactive learning and teaching, I should be meticulous for the important principles mentioned which are among the principles used in the principled approach of teaching.
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