Running a college Language Lab: Running a college Language Lab: Memoirs of two personal trainersMemoirs of two personal trainers

ETAI International Conference, Ramada Hotel, Jerusalem – July 14th, 2010

Dr. Melodie Rosenfeld & Mr. Melvyn Rach

Achva College of Education

The Challenge at our collegeThe Challenge at our collegefor EFL teacher candidatesfor EFL teacher candidates

Need for language skill improvement (!)Need for language skill improvement (!)

Many levels of English proficiency (!)Many levels of English proficiency (!)

Not all are strongly motivated (!)Not all are strongly motivated (!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What and how to improve?What and how to improve?

Which materials?Which materials?

Which methods to develop skills & motivation? Which methods to develop skills & motivation?

Our Lab PopulationOur Lab Population

N=22 N=22

1 female native speaker 1 female native speaker 1 male 1 male

1 Arab female, aged 18 1 Arab female, aged 18 19 other females, ages 23 - 4519 other females, ages 23 - 45

Room 216Room 216

TheThe Lab InterventionLab Intervention

– 2 weekly hours; 2 semesters– No grades (pass/fail) – “Personal Trainer” role of instructor – Only-speak-English policy– Weekly presentations (instructor & students)– Independent-partner-group work online– The Lab online sites

The Language Lab websitesThe Language Lab websites

www.melvyn.ik.org

www.online.achva.ac.il/2009/courses/languagelab/index.htm

StudentStudent RequirementsRequirements

•Signs of life (mandatory attendance)•Signs of personal initiative to improve•Signs of improvement•Typed, weekly paragraphs + corrections•Online involvement•Vocabulary notebooks •Dialogue journal entries•Mini-presentations•Midterm & final portfolios

The Lab mindsetThe Lab mindset

• The instructor is your "personal trainer"

The Lab MindsetThe Lab Mindset

• “Not done to you, but rather done with you”

A 2nd-person perspective rather than a 3rd-person perspective

• An eye on authentic motivation to improve your own English:

Students need excellent English to keep their future jobs as English teachers.

The Lab mindset (cont’d)The Lab mindset (cont’d)

Many students came +/- 20 minutes before the lesson officially starts.

• 10 minutes: Students work independently on the Lab computers; homework returned;

• 5 minutes: Focusing the students – What are you working on?

• 60 minutes: Independent/partner work with online sites; instructor's "diagnosis" of students (miscue analysis, help with study skills; correction of English; strategies, skills, motivational talks); partner/group work on course material (e.g. summarizing, paragraphing, reading academic articles in English).

• 15 minutes: Interactive presentation by instructor (grammar, spelling, writing, speaking, pronunciation, issues bothering them in courses…)

Weekly schedule Semester Aleph Weekly schedule Semester Aleph

((MelodieMelodie))

Topics of Semester AlephTopics of Semester Aleph

• Touch-typing: 20 wpm required test (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing)

• Individual diagnosis of reading/writing/speaking (oral proficiency & miscue analysis of oral reading)

• Separate vocabulary notebooks• Regular notebooks to write down websites & rules etc.• Reading for pleasure & sharing • Strategies for reading academic articles in pedagogy• Strategies for summarizing articles• Strategies for writing a correct English paragraph• Grammar and spelling strategies

Weekly schedule Semester BetWeekly schedule Semester Bet((MelvynMelvyn))

Many students come +/- 20 minutes before the lesson officially starts

• 10-15 minutes: students present web sites that have helped them improve their language skills

• 15-30 minutes: "Bits and Pieces" (teaching a general language point)

• 35-55 minutes: Independent work at computer & individual counseling (including exchanging dialogue journals)

• Final 10-15 minutes: Discussion of “Hebrish” (sentences were emailed)

Example of HebrishExample of Hebrish((MelvynMelvyn))

הוא דומה לאחותו.הוא דומה לאחותו.1.1.

תארו לעצמכם שאתם זוכים בלוטו!תארו לעצמכם שאתם זוכים בלוטו!2.2.

היא תגמור את כל העוגה.היא תגמור את כל העוגה.3.3.

הוא גמר את כל העוגיות.הוא גמר את כל העוגיות.4.4.

!!100100אני רוצה שהמורה ייתן לי אני רוצה שהמורה ייתן לי 5.5.

קניתי בגד חדש.קניתי בגד חדש.6.6.

דני גדל בחו"ל.דני גדל בחו"ל.7.7.

Topics of Semester BetTopics of Semester Bet

• Instructor and Peer correction of weekly written paragraphs. • Writing improvement: how to use a thesaurus• Melvyn's "Bits & Pieces"• Poem "Horrible EnglishHorrible English" and the introduction of the site: www.howjsay.comwww.howjsay.com• Difference between in/on/at (of time)• Forms of -ing (Five uses of the Present Participle)• Division of Writing and Proper Paragraphing• Six ways to effectively connect sentences• When (and why) should we double a final consonant?• Three types of Questions: tags, subject and all the rest• An easy way to differentiate between Present Simple and Present Progressive• The English Verb system: about auxiliaries and aspects • KWL, a dictation of difficult-to-spell words• Do adverbs describe anything else besides verbs?• Presentation of the Cobuild Collins Guide to English Usage Cobuild Collins Guide to English Usage • What you MUSSSCCMUSSSCC know about any new word• Presentation of "my best grammar bookmy best grammar book" • Homonyms, homophones and homographs

Examples of student workExamples of student work

The Research QuestionsThe Research Questions

1. What English skills improved?

2. What other changes did they report?

3. According to students, what contributed to their changes?

Findings

1. What English skills improved?

What improved? “How much did you improve in the following areas?” N=13

Reading

__________________reading for pleasure 2.60reading vocabulary 2.50 comprehension of texts in English 2.46finding academic articles 1.80

Writingparagraph structure 4.00presentation skills 3.69sentence structure 3.40importance of drafts 3.30grammar in writing 3.30vocabulary 3.00spelling 3.00 ________________proofreading 2.80writing correct emails in English 2.30oral reading 2.00

Listening

______________listening to lectures in English 2.61 listening to others in English 2.60listening to TV & radio in English 2.23

Speakingvocabulary while speaking 3.00pronunciation 2.92motivation to speak lots of English 2.92grammar 2.89oral presentations in front of audience 2.89 ________________

Other Skills

computer skills 4.07other study skills 3.30

_______________

Affective Improvements

bringing work to lab 3.92taking initiative 3.77coming on time 3.38using Lab time effectively 3.15

______________

Findings

2. What other changes did they report?

Skill Changes

using computer to improve English 4.07other study skills 3.30more aware & critical of my English 3.30 general English improvement 3.15

__________

Affective Changes

bringing work to lab 3.92taking initiative 3.77taking responsibility 3.46using Lab time effectively 3.15

____________

I worried about the level of my English as an EFL teacher 2.3Lab reduced the worry 1.92

Other Changes

I received help in areas I needed 3.77Lab helped identified areas to improve 3.60

______________

Findings

3. According to students, what contributed to their changes?

What contributed to making the Language Lab helpful to you? N=13

Affective Areas

a supportive, non-judgmental atmosphere 4.38 ____________

The Instructors

the "personal trainer" role of the instructor 4.38the instructors themselves 3.54 ____________

The Pedagogy (what the instructors did)

weekly correction of your written paragraphs 4.23instructors' presentations 4.00 pass/not pass 3.69"speak only English" policy 3.62personal help from instructors 3.54help in identifying weaker areas 3.31opportunity to bring work from other courses 3.17Lab requirement to show improvement 3.15other students' presentations of websites 3.08 ____________opportunity to work with other students 2.69keeping a vocabulary notebook 2.30

The Material

Melvyn's website 3.00 ____________other online links with EFL activities 2.85EFL material such as Longman programs 1.92the Lab's online site 1.85

Otherjust knowing that you'll need excellent English to be an EFL teacher 4.23

Student Feedback Samples 1Student Feedback Samples 1Affective IssuesAffective Issues

The teacher was very supportive, and no question was too "dumb".

I try to speak about various subjects that in the past I was afraid of.

The individual time was a great opportunity to ask questions about things I had trouble with.

This course is very important for all the students. The ones that weren't confident and wanted to improve their English skills found a great deal of help.

Student Feedback Samples 2Student Feedback Samples 2Writing & SitesWriting & Sites

Thinking about my own mistakes in English helped me understand my own pupils better, because they often do the same thing: they think in Hebrew, and when they write, it comes out "Hebrish“.

I found myself looking forward to writing in my journal, sharing my thoughts with you, but most of all, I was filled with anticipation to read your feedback.

I believe that sharing websites is very helpful; now I have a great list of useful sites that I might not know of without the mini presentations by my classmates.

Student Feedback Samples 3Student Feedback Samples 3In GeneralIn General

I hope that this course will be available to other students that need to improve and boost their confidence in English.

The course improved my English in every aspect: grammar, oral proficiency, and common mistakes that many of us Hebrew speakers make, and need to pay extra attention to.

Reflection ExampleReflection Example

We need to improve in LabWe need to improve in Lab

• More EFL speaking + listening opportunities

• Weekly monitoring & guiding of each student

• Better documenting of individual improvement (vocabulary bees?)

• Efficient updating of Lab websites

More QuestionsMore Questions

• A one- or two-semester course?

• The instructor as “personal trainer”: a model for other teacher colleges?

• Make the English Lab available for other Departments?

• How to practice oral English more?

To Contact UsTo Contact Us

Dr. Melodie RosenfeldDr. Melodie Rosenfeldmelorose@gmail.com

Melvyn RachMelvyn Rachmelvynrach@gmail.com