TBLT for Teacher Development Implementing an Online Course

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TBLT for Teacher Development Implementing an
Online Course

• María Elena Solares
• solares_at_servidor.unam.mx
• Department of Applied Linguistics - CELE
• Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• September, 2007

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Objective

• Through direct experience in learning tasks
  participants will analyze and implement the
  principles of TBLT in order to assess its
  usefulness in their specific teaching context

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This objective derived from 4 premises

• Direct Experience Do as you preach
• Implement Performance-based curriculum design
• Assess not TBLT as the golden method but to
  raise teachers awareness of recent research in
  SLA
• Addressed to Teachers main agents of change
• Making SLA research accessible to Ts raising
  teachers awareness of their teaching habits and
  of the kind of teachers they are to deal with
  change in language teaching

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Reaching my course objectives implied

• Finding the way of making teachers experience TBI
• Defining my concept of task in T Ed
• Defining the aspects of TBI which were applicable
  to teacher education
• Defining what my framework for TBL in teacher
  education would be

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TBL Experience what I wanted

• Involve Ts in learning x analyze experience
  TBI
• However
• x different from English learning
• Time constraints 60 hours
• Need to clarify concepts, present TBI in a
  historical context and respond to Ts needs
  analysis

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TBL experience what was achieved

• Organizing knowledge around a main task
• Main task implementing learning by doing
• Having a pre-task stage with mini-tasks which
  prepared Ts to achieve the main task
• Pre-tasks which allowed Ts to notice important
  features of tasks and of TBI necessary for the
  implementation
• Post-task identify teachers major problems and
  interests
• First module in English in ALAD diploma ?
  possibility to explore L2 development in a
  content based course

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Tasks in T Ed (Crookes, Prabhu, Ellis, Puren)

• A work plan where the primary focus is on
  solving a real-world teaching and learning
  problem and which promotes teachers reflection,
  questioning and searching for solutions. This
  work plan is usually reflected in a product or
  outcome.

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Criteria for Tasks in T Ed

• Tasks (Ellis)
• Work plan
• Focus on meaning
• Real-world processes of language use
• Four skills
• Cognitive processes
• Communicative outcome

• Tasks in T Ed
• Work plan
• Focus on solving a problem
• Real-world teaching and learning problems
• Problems in the 4 skills
• Reflective, cognitive processes
• Outcome

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Course Features
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Course Content

• Unit 0 Speak to us of Teaching
• Unit 1 What is Task Based Language Teaching?
• Unit 2 Models for Language Teaching
• Unit 3 What is a task?
• Unit 4 Implementing TBLT
• Unit 5 Assessing TBLT

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Course Structure
Problem Input Major Problem
Pre Task
Task
Post Task
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Framework for TBL in Teacher Education (Puren)
STATEMENT OF A PROBLEM Approached from
teachers representations or beliefs about that
problem
I N P U T Through articles, models, interactive
activities, online presentations engaging
teachers in constant reflection and search
INDENTIFICATION OF A MAJOR PROBLEM Attempt to
solve a problem ? a major problem (no unique,
universal solution)
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Course Components

• Course platform units, personal folder, forum,
  gallery, tools (progress log, evaluation rubrics,
  course schedule, peers profile, etc.)

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Course Components (cont.)

• Tasks which promoted collaborative work and
  interaction at different levels
• Tutor-student folder
• Student-student forum
• Student-content interactive activities

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Course Components (cont.)

• Samples of TBL implementation interviews with
  implementers

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Course Components (cont.)

• Free online articles, books, books or articles
  summaries
• Constant cycles of self-evaluation

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The Online Course

• Unit 0
• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5

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Preliminary Results

• Feedback Questionnaire

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Course strengths

• Organization
• 5 sts very well organized
• 1 sts some aspects were, others werent (tech.
  sup.)
• Objectives
• 6 sts were reached and went beyond my
  expectations
• Content
• 6 sts was very good, very useful and relevant to
  my teaching practice

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Course strengths (cont.)

• Materials
• 6 sts very useful and illustrative
• Evaluation criteria
• 6 sts very adequate
• Evaluation rubrics
• 6 sts were useful and clear to understand what
  was expected from me in each of the activities

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Course impressions

• Interesting
• Useful
• Seed for new projects
• At the cutting edge
• Motivating
• Very good
• It invited me to reflect and improve my classes
• Innovative

• Edifying
• Recommendable
• Attractive and fruitful
• It overcomes teachers isolation at work
• Excellent course
• Educational
• Some times tiring

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Things to improve

• Time allotted to different units
• 3 sts enough
• 2 sts more time should be allotted to each unit
• 1 sts limited, some units needed more time
  (planning a TBL lesson, designing/transforming a
  task, implementation)
• No. of activities assigned for each unit
• 5 sts enough
• 1 sts too many

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Things to improve (cont.)

• Kinds of problems you found in the course
• 6 sts technical (folder was not working
  properly, lack of support from technician)
• In future courses
• 3 sts WWW resources should be better exploited
• 2 sts it was ok for me
• 1 sts audio, video-tapes and/or CDROM should be
  included

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Suggestions for the course

• Improve technical problems
• More time should be considered for some
  activities
• Reduce a couple of readings, specifically in unit
  4 (implementation)
• Course schedule should be extended to assimilate
  contents better

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Conclusions Insights
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Conclusions Insights

• It is possible to make SLA research accessible to
  busy practicing teachers
• The proposed approach for teacher education
  generated reflection and hopefully change in
  teachers practices
• The course motivated teachers to further explore
  TBI in their classes
• Presenting TBI in a historical context resulted
  useful and enlightening for teachers (against
  omitting unit 1)
• Need for long-term teacher follow-up was
  expressed and it is also necessary ? study groups

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Conclusions Insights (cont.)

• Instruments to measure teachers behavior or
  views before and after the course are necessary
• Transforming exercises into tasks writing TBL
  lesson plans were considered motivating, useful,
  challenging, meaningful, real-life tasks
• Willis framework and Ellis approach to
  understanding task and TBL resulted
  enlightening and accessible. Both allowed Ts to
  look at TBL as a whole, as a larger pedagogic
  plan around a task
• Evaluating TBLT rejection to Swans criticisms
• Task vs. exercise debate Ts had clear idea about
  differences between task and exercise

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Conclusions Insights (cont.)

• TBLT course L2 teaching more meaningful exp.
• (Ts apply what the learn explore from the
  classroom tutor colleagues feedback)
• More time for planning, implementing and
  assessing teachers experience is necessary
• Online education allowed sharing and enrichment
  from different teaching contexts minimizing
  Ts isolation
• Swapping units 2 and 3

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Future Research

• Need to further explore TBI in teacher education
• Need for instruments to measure Ts change in
  ways of thinking, attitudes and behavior
• Need for teachers follow-up ? study groups
• Results in wider/different communities
• international
• where L2 is an objective

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Future Research (cont.)

• New areas of research
• The role of tutors feedback in teacher
  development
• Ts interaction in discussion forums
• Knowledge building in online education
• When and how teachers awareness takes place

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Samples of Tasks
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Task 1 Presenting Willis TBL framework

• Pre-task
• Poem Pre-Task Activities
• Teachers role Teacher's Role
• Mind map Pre-task.pdf
• Task Cycle Task Cycle.pdf
• Language Focus Language Focus.pdf

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Task 2 Task vs. Exercise Debate

• Participation in a debate Task-Exercise
  Debate.pdf
• Supported argumentation (from someone elses
  shoes)
• A discussion is started from a concrete problem
• Ts are asked to participate in discussion from a
  point of view contrary to their own
• Each teacher must act as a person with different
  views from his/her own

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Task 3 Creating evaluation instrument

• Ts read a text and prepare an evaluation
  instrument based on its content for a different
  group to answer
• Instrument 1 instrument 1.pdf
• Instrument 2 instrument 2.pdf

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Main Task implementing TBLT

• Taskifying textbook units
• Teaching 2 parallel courses same objectives
  different methodology (traditional vs. TBLT)
  exam compare results
• Analyzing textbooks from TBL perspective
• Implementing TBL lessons and task created by Ts
  observing sts response writing Ts insights

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Other pedagogical tasks

• Matching concepts, interviewing colleagues,
  finding similarities and differences in teachers
  implementation of TBI, inferring concepts,
  reading to agree or disagree, analyzing different
  authors points of view, etc.
• Tasks Characteristics (Skehan) motivating,
  meaningful, useful, at the appropriate level of
  difficulty
• Course tasks lead teachers to comprehend, to
  analyze, to synthesize, to evaluate and to apply

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Thank you!solares_at_servidor.unam.mx
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PRE-TASK ACTIVITIES

• Engage your students
• In pre-task activities
• Advance preparation
• So goals are attained
• Defining objectives
• Will surely be needed
• Let students recall
• Eavesdrop here and there

And words will sure flow Introduce vital
phrases And language as well To make students
confident For whatever may come But dont you
despair If problems do arise As pre-task
activities Are only the start
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Teachers Role
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What is TBLT? (unit 1)

• What is TBL, its objectives, its theoretical
  support?
• What does TBL consist on? How does it work? What
  are the advantages and disadvantages of TBL for
  learners and teachers? How efficient is TBL?
• How much of CLT is there in TBL? What is the
  difference between TBL and CLT?
• Where does TBL come from? Who created it, when
  and where? Who is/are its proponent(s)? What
  audience is TBL addressed to? For how long has it
  been used?

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Models for Language Teaching (unit 2)

• How can I use TBL in my classes? How is grammar
  approached in TBL?
• Does TBL allow for focus on form?
• Does TBL have any implications in lesson
  planning? How can I plan TBL classes? How can
  activities be sequenced in TBL?
• Can TBL be applied to the 4 skills?
• What kind of activities does TBL suggest for
  learners to go beyond communication and be able
  to automatize specific structures?

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What is a task? (unit 3)

• What is a task?
• What is the main difference between a task and an
  activity?
• What makes a task a task?
• Why should we use tasks? What is their rationale?
  What do they consist on?
• What type of tasks?
• Are tasks always oral, written or both?
• Can tasks be used in all languages and for any
  topic?

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Course Structure Principles of TBI (Skehan)

• Instruction should allow for the experimentation
  and use of the model pre, during and post task
  (implementing)
• Selection of tasks should lead to a larger
  pedagogic plan implementation of TBL
• There should be conscious cycles of evaluation
  self-evaluations evaluation rubrics

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Numa Markee (199780)

• From the perspective of practicing foreign
  language teachers, SLA research is rarely worth
  reading because the ideas researchers discuss are
  too distant from teachers everyday classroom
  concerns.
• Furthermore, even when researchers discuss ideas
  that are potentially relevant to teachers, they
  often express themselves in such opaquely
  technical language that teachers are turned off
  from the whole idea of research.