My Experience at TESOL 2018

Allison Lewis

I attended the TESOL International Convention during the last week of March, which was a great experience. It was my first time attending the conference, and I went to a lot of interesting sessions. These are the highlights from some of my favorite sessions:

Namhee Suk, “A Guide to Implementing Extensive Reading in ESL/EFL Classrooms”

Namhee Suk explained how she has implemented an extensive reading program in her EFL classes for university students in Korea, and she also shared the results of a research study she conducted in her program. The article she wrote, “The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition”, was published in Reading Research Quarterly. Her study compared two groups of students: one group that did intensive reading and a second group that did both intensive and extensive reading. At the end of the semester, her results showed that the group that did both intensive and extensive reading improved more than the intensive-only group in the areas of reading comprehension, reading rate, and vocabulary acquisition. Hearing about this study reinforced my own views on the importance of extensive reading and inspired me to try to find more ways to get my students interested in reading. Suk emphasized the importance of giving students access to lots of interesting reading material, letting them choose what they read, and giving them time in class for extensive reading.

Scott Thornbury, “The Persistence of Grammar”

Scott Thornbury presented on the topic of the grammar syllabus. He questioned why the grammar syllabus has persisted in language teaching, despite the research evidence showing its ineffectiveness. The “grammar syllabus” refers to the practice of breaking apart the grammar of a language into pieces and then teaching each piece separately in a defined order—for example, “First, we teach the present tense. Next, we teach the past tense. Then, we teach the future tense.” Students are expected to learn grammatical forms by producing them accurately in practice activities. As Thornbury pointed out, SLA researchers generally agree that this kind of approach to instruction is not effective. But despite about 50 years of research evidence, most language textbooks are still based on a grammar syllabus, and many teachers still follow a grammar syllabus. Thornbury conducted a survey of thousands of ESL/EFL teachers to investigate why there is such a huge disconnect between research and practice. According to the teachers he surveyed, the two main reasons why the grammar syllabus persists are: 1) Students expect it; and 2) ELT publishers are unwilling to take risks with alternative ways of organizing coursebooks. Thornbury discussed these as well as many other possible reasons, and he encouraged teachers to try to find ways to break away from their allegiance to a grammar syllabus. Instead, he said, classroom activities should focus on communication and the exchange of meaning. Explanation of grammar rules should be used as a support for meaning-based communication, not as the focus of a lesson.

From Scott Thornbury’s presentation

Contee Seely, “Achieving Early Fluency via Comprehensible Input and High-Frequency Structures”

This presentation described how teachers can use the method of TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling) in their classes. TPRS is mainly used with lower-level students, and it focuses on providing students with a lot of comprehensible input to help them acquire the language. In TPRS, the teacher and students work together to collaboratively create a story. It is usually very engaging to students because they use their own ideas to create the details of the story. I’ve been using TPRS in my own classes for a few years now, and the presentation reminded me of some of the core elements of TPRS that can help our students be more successful. For example, students need to hear numerous repetitions of words and phrases before they can acquire them. Teachers can provide these repetitions by asking students questions and through the process of creating a story together.

Walton Burns, “4 Conditions for Building Classroom Community”

Walton Burns presented on how to help build a strong community in class. As he said, building a strong community is about more than just doing a few icebreaker activities with students. He gave some ideas for specific activities that require students to work together to achieve a clear outcome. I discovered that he has a lot of resources on his Teachers Pay Teachers page, where he posts a lot of “Clue-by-Clue Mysteries,” where students are given individual clues related to a mystery, and they work together in groups or as a class to try to solve it. I love this idea! I just downloaded his free “Break In” mystery, and I’m hoping to use it with my intermediate-level students soon.

The conference was an excellent way to develop professionally, and it also provided a great opportunity to interact with other English teachers from all around the world. I’m already hoping I’ll be able to attend next year’s TESOL convention in Atlanta, and I hope to see other Illinois TESOLers there, too!

_____________________
Allison Lewis teaches adult ESL at Richard J. Daley College and Pui Tak Center in Chicago. She is the Social Media Manager for ITBE.

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My Experience at TESOL 2018 Allison Lewis I attended the TESOL International Convention during the last week of March, which was a great experience. It was my first time attending the conference, and I went to a lot of interesting sessions. These are the highlights from some of my favorite sessions: Namhee Suk, “A Guide to Implementing Extensive Reading in ESL/EFL Classrooms” Namhee Suk explained how she has implemented an extensive reading program in her EFL classes for university students in Korea, and she also shared the results of a research study she conducted in her program. The article she wrote, “The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition”, was published in Reading Research Quarterly. Her study compared two groups of students: one group that did intensive reading and a second group that did both intensive and extensive reading. At the end of the semester, her results showed that the group that did both intensive and extensive reading improved more than the intensive-only group in the areas of reading comprehension, reading rate, and vocabulary acquisition. Hearing about this study reinforced my own views on the importance of extensive reading and inspired me to try to find more ways to get my students interested in reading. Suk emphasized the importance of giving students access to lots of interesting reading material, letting them choose what they read, and giving them time in class for extensive reading. Scott Thornbury, “The Persistence of Grammar” Scott Thornbury presented on the topic of the grammar syllabus. He questioned why the grammar syllabus has persisted in language teaching, despite the research evidence showing its ineffectiveness. The “grammar syllabus” refers to the practice of breaking apart the grammar of a language into pieces and then teaching each piece separately in a defined order—for example, “First, we teach the present tense. Next, we teach the past tense. Then, we teach the future tense.” Students are expected to learn grammatical forms by producing them accurately in practice activities. As Thornbury pointed out, SLA researchers generally agree that this kind of approach to instruction is not effective. But despite about 50 years of research evidence, most language textbooks are still based on a grammar syllabus, and many teachers still follow a grammar syllabus. Thornbury conducted a survey of thousands of ESL/EFL teachers to investigate why there is such a huge disconnect between research and practice. According to the teachers he surveyed, the two main reasons why the grammar syllabus persists are: 1) Students expect it; and 2) ELT publishers are unwilling to take risks with alternative ways of organizing coursebooks. Thornbury discussed these as well as many other possible reasons, and he encouraged teachers to try to find ways to break away from their allegiance to a grammar syllabus. Instead, he said, classroom activities should focus on communication and the exchange of meaning. Explanation of grammar rules should be used as a support for meaning-based communication, not as the focus of a lesson. From Scott Thornbury’s presentation Contee Seely, “Achieving Early Fluency via Comprehensible Input and High-Frequency Structures” This presentation described how teachers can use the method of TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling) in their classes. TPRS is mainly used with lower-level students, and it focuses on providing students with a lot of comprehensible input to help them acquire the language. In TPRS, the teacher and students work together to collaboratively create a story. It is usually very engaging to students because they use their own ideas to create the details of the story. I’ve been using TPRS in my own classes for a few years now, and the presentation reminded me of some of the core elements of TPRS that can help our students be more successful. For example, students need to hear numerous repetitions of words and phrases before they can acquire them. Teachers can provide these repetitions by asking students questions and through the process of creating a story together. Walton Burns, “4 Conditions for Building Classroom Community” Walton Burns presented on how to help build a strong community in class. As he said, building a strong community is about more than just doing a few icebreaker activities with students. He gave some ideas for specific activities that require students to work together to achieve a clear outcome. I discovered that he has a lot of resources on his Teachers Pay Teachers page, where he posts a lot of “Clue-by-Clue Mysteries,” where students are given individual clues related to a mystery, and they work together in groups or as a class to try to solve it. I love this idea! I just downloaded his free “Break In” mystery, and I’m hoping to use it with my intermediate-level students soon. The conference was an excellent way to develop professionally, and it also provided a great opportunity to interact with other English teachers from all around the world. I’m already hoping I’ll be able to attend next year’s TESOL convention in Atlanta, and I hope to see other Illinois TESOLers there, too! _____________________ Allison Lewis teaches adult ESL at Richard J. Daley College and Pui Tak Center in Chicago. She is the Social Media Manager for ITBE. BACK
ITBE Link : Spring 2018 - Volume 46 Number 1