Педагогические науки/5.Современные методы преподавания

Zhussupova R.F., Zhumataeva B.K.

Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan

KEY REFLECTIVE PRACTICES IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

English as one of the means of a dialogue and knowledge around the world takes a special place in the system of modern education owing to the social, informative and developing functions.

Teaching a foreign language is connected with the development both thinking and emotions and other spheres of a person. Importance and necessity of including of personal motivational and emotional spheres is underlined in the methodical literature in last years on teaching foreign languages. Mastering the language in artificial conditions without surroundings where it is spoken demands creation of the imagined situations stimulating a real communication in the language.

Process of studying a foreign language promotes the formation of creative independence as there is a possibility of using creative tasks and exercises within the limits of the given subject which demands independent work from student. They are taught to use a language material for expression of their thoughts in a dialogical and monologue speech.

Foreign language teaching and learning is one of the areas where learner feedback, peer observation and reflective teaching are in use as key reflective practices in the EFL classroom.

Hence we suggest Reflective practice as thinking about and learning from what happens in classroom. Reflecting on what teacher/learner does, why and how he/she does it, what the effects on learners are, helps teacher to identify and take action on areas for improvement.

So we propose for teachers to make up a booklet so that to plan, to conduct or sum up every lesson and final achievements. It may be in a form of a key note and teacher should keep in mind what went well in the classroom or didn’t go well in a lesson. Think about the reasons why something went well. Think about how you can improve on the things which didn’t go well.

According to British Council’s questions that help any teacher to develop professionally:

§ Did I achieve my aims?

§ What did my students learn?

§ Were the materials helpful?

§ Did the activities motivate the class?

§ Did my students enjoy the lesson?

§ How do I know my lesson was successful?

§ What did I learn from my students?

§ What changes will I make if I teach this lesson again?

Furthermore perfecting the system of improvement qualifications and methodical work with teachers in intercourse period, as its integral part, needs reorientation of methodical services activities for providing professional growth connected with competent teacher’s role of modern educational institution.

Secondly Learner feedback is a useful way of understanding difficulties, preferences, what students find useful and what they think could be done differently.

There are several important aspects to consider when giving feedback:

• Both positive and negative feedback are needed for the most effective learning. Negative feed-back is direct error correction or drawing attention to error. Positive feedback can be affective, can reward for correct or successful communication, or can provide the opportunity for self-correction.

• Feedback can be oral, written, or non-verbal; it can be given to individuals, groups, or the entire class.

• Feedback can be given immediately or delayed, depending on which would be most effective for the task or situation?

• Feedback can be either formative or summative. Formative feedback isn’t usually graded and is given at all stages throughout the learning period. Summative feedback is given at the conclusion of a unit, a project, or a period of learning. This can be a grade or a final report on students’ work.

• It is important to understand the nature of an error in order to determine whether and how to use corrective feedback.

For teachers urgently gets feedback as from every stage of lesson as from the whole learning process. Moreover she/he learns to evaluate his/her drawbacks and try to avoid them in teaching later on.

And finally Peer observation involves each other student’s observation. The aim of peer observation is not to make judgments on groupmates learning, but to help and support each others’ development. Through peer observation students are able to see mistakes in their thinking and can correct any problems in future assignments. Some students find it useful to observe and be observed by a student who shares their interests and concerns. The idea is to explore these areas together and provide encouragement and support to each other in trying out ideas and new approaches. Some students find it beneficial to be observed by a more experienced or advanced student who will be able to give guidance and advice. By grading papers, students are better able to understand the grading process and recognize their own strengths and weakness while learning how to think while completing assignments. Students also learn better strategies for taking tests. By grading assignments, students may learn how to complete assignments more accurately and how to improve their test results.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_assessment - cite_note-9

To illustrate the most productive and widely used technique of peer observation learning we propose to use peer observation forms. So learners have to write their essays to their classmates as online as by post and after evaluate each other. The equal form has both the learner whose essay is going to be observed and the learner who is doing the observation. Evaluation list of peer assessment may be follows according to highest criteria - exemplary (5) to lowest - weak (1):

Criteria:	5 Exemplary	4 strong	3 satisfactory	2 developing	1 weak
Ideas/ content	Original treatment of ideas, well-developed from start to finish, focused topic with relevant, strong supporting detail.	Clear, interesting ideas enhanced by appropriate details.	Evident main idea with some supporting details. May have some irrelevant material, gaps in needed information.	Some attempt at support but main topic may be too general or confused by irrelevant details	Writing lacks a central idea: development is minimal or non-existed, wanders.
Organization	Effectively organized in a logical and interesting way. Has a creative and engaging introduction and conclusion.	Structure moves the reader smoothly through the text .Well organized with an inviting introduction and a satisfying closure.	Organization is appropriate but conventional. There is an obvious attempt at an introduction and conclusion.	An effort has been made to organize the piece, but it may be list of events. The introduction and conclusion are not well-developed.	A lack of structure makes this piece hard to follow. Lead and conclusion may be weak.
Voice	Passionate, compelling, full of energy. Shows emotions and generates an emotional response from the reader.	Expressive, engaging, sincere tone with good sense of audience. Writer behind the words comes through occasionally.	Pleasant but not distinctive tone and personal. Voice is appropriate to audience and purpose.	Voice may be mechanical, artificial or inappropriate. Writer seems to lack a sense of audience.	Writing tends to be flat or stiff. Style does not suit audience or purpose.
World choice	Carefully chosen words convey strong. Fresh, vivid images consistently throughout the piece.	Word choice is functional and appropriate with some attempt at description.	Words may be correct but mundane; writing uses patterns of conversation rather than book language and structure.	Word choice is monotonous; may be repetitions or immature.	Limited vocabulary range.
Sentence fluency	High degree of craftsmanship; control of rhythm and flow. Variation in sentence length and forms adds interest and rhythm.	The piece has an easy flow and rhythm with a good variety of sentence.	The writing shows some general sense of rhythm and flow, but many sentences follow a similar structure.	Many similar sentences with little sense of rhythm. May have many short sentences.	No real sentence sense-may rambles or sounds choppy to read aloud.
Conventions	The writing contains few, if any, errors in conventions. The writer shows control over a wide range of conventions for this grade level.	Generally, the writing is free from errors, but there may be occasional errors in more complex words and sentence constructions.	Occasional errors are noticeable but minor. The writer uses convention with enough skill to make the paper easily readable.	The writing suffers from more frequent errors, in appropriate to the grade level, but a reader can still follow it.	Errors in conventions make the writing difficult to follow .The writer seems to know some conventions, but confuse many more.

What’s more so that peer evaluation works effectively the learning environment in the classroom must be supportive. Students must feel comfortable and trust one another in order to provide honest and constructive feedback. Teachers who use group work and peer assessment frequently can help students develop trust by forming them into small groups early in the semester and having them work in the same groups throughout the term. This allows them to become more comfortable with each other and leads to better peer feedback.

Thus the present research attempts to find the essence of different types of key reflective practices in the EFL classroom as such as reflective practice, learner feedback and peer observation. At that point we make an attempt to review various sources on the topic but mostly the attention is drawn to the significance of their usage and the purpose for it.

Overall we think that all the above reflective practices have strengths and limitations and have an important function for both students and teachers. The most significant fact is that choosing a combination of key reflective practices is the fairest and most logical approach. In connection with it issues of professional self-development become very actual.

References:

1. Adrian Underhill. IATEFL Issues, June/July 1999, 149:17.

2. Managing Change in English Language Teaching. Lessons from Experience. Edited by Christopher Tribble. British Council 2012. London. UK.

3. Tessa Woodward. Ways of Working with Teachers. 2005. TWPublications.

4. Leslie Opp-Beckman, Sarah J.Klinghammer. Shaping the Way We Teach: English Successful Practices Around the World. The University of Oregon, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs ©2007.