Researching Professional Talk (Pre-Conference Event) Date: 8 April 2013 Presenters: Steve Walsh (Newcastle University) and Steve Mann (Warwick University) Location: Liverpool, UK Further details:
This workshop will examine a range of approaches to collecting and using spoken data as a means of improving professional practice. The focus will be on helping participants to become active reflective practitioners and researchers of their own contexts. There will be an emphasis on data-led approaches which highlight the importance of dialogue and collaboration, our main argument being that most professional activities (including teaching and teacher education) are accomplished through talk. By studying the ways in which we interact, we can gain closer insights into professional practices and professional development. In the session, we’ll be demonstrating how, by using appropriate tools, classroom data, introspection and some kind of dialogue, practitioners can both improve their practices and make their teaching more enjoyable. By using actual data as empirical evidence and by focusing on the interactions which take place in any professional setting, we suggest how we might create active, engaged learning environments. We will cover a variety of contexts, including both language teaching and teacher-training perspectives. The session will cover:
The approach will be very ‘hands-on’ and we’ll be making extensive use of audio and videotaped materials in addition to a range of ‘tools’ specifically designed for class-based research. Steve Walsh is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University, and is author of Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action (Routledge, 2011). His book Teacher Development and Classroom Interaction is due to be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2012. Steve Mann is an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, and is author of Teacher Development: A Discourse for Individual and Group Development (VDM Verlag, 2011). He has previously taught at both Aston University and the University of Birmingham, as well as in Hong Kong, Japan and Europe. 21 May - 1 June 2012: Article Discussion: Materials development for language learning and teaching14/5/2012
Article Discussion: 'Materials development for language learning and teaching’ Date: 21 May - 1 June 2012 Article: 'Materials development for language learning and teaching', by Brian Tomlinson Guest moderator: John Gray, Institute of Education, University of London. Location: ReSIG YahooGroup Download article here This event is open to ReSIG members and non-members. You can join our YahooGroup for free here. How to participate:
- Join our YahooGroup at the link above. if you're not a member yet. - Download the article at the link above. - Read the article. - To help you get ready for the discussion, here are some possible questions, suggested by John, apart from ones you might have of your own: 1. Do you agree with the suggestion that for materials development to become more credible, it needs to become more empirical? If so, which areas would you identify as being in need of research? 2. Tomlinson’s paper – in line with the tendency of much of the materials literature – is focused mainly on materials evaluation rather than materials analysis. From a research perspective, how do you view this tendency? 3. What is the best way to go about evaluating materials - given the proliferation of checklists and frameworks for materials evaluation, and even, as reported here, a set of questions to evaluate such instruments? 4. Given that most good teachers are said to engage in materials adaptation, what avenues for research do you see in this area? 5. The article points out that few academic theorists and researchers are actually involved in materials writing – although there have been exceptions in the past (e.g. Stephen Pit Corder) and in the present (Mike McCarthy). Who should write materials in your view? 6. What do you see as the relevance of corpus descriptions of language to materials writing – particularly with regard to materials for use in your own setting? 7. The paper suggests that both initial and in-service teacher education could do more to facilitate a move away from reliance on textbooks. Do you agree with this suggestion and, if so, how might it be facilitated? 8. The article mentions the uses of new technologies (e.g. mobile phones) in making language learning materials available to students. What kinds of research do think need to be undertaken to explore the actual affordances of new technologies for materials development? 9. In one study carried out in three countries Tomlinson reports that 92% of the teachers consulted regularly used a coursebook and that 78% of them were negative about coursebooks. How can this be explained? 10. In the section on ideology in materials, Tomlinson suggests that it is important for teachers and materials writers to develop ‘constructive criticality’ – do you agree, and if so, how might this be done? |
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