Schedule

As teachers, one of our main jobs is providing feedback on students’ understanding and use of language. But what do we believe feedback actually does, and how exactly does it facilitate language acquisition? By examining the notion of feedback through ELT history, we will shed light on its place today and make concrete suggestions for how it might be done in the future. The presentation will contain interactive activities, a chance to share our ideas and experiences, and practical classroom ideas rooted in ELT theory such as Constructivism, Sociocultural Theory, Dynamic Assessment, Verbal Protocols, Connectionism and Lexical Priming.

(Profile: Chris has been teaching English since 1998 and training teachers since 2003, and has worked on 4 continents, in 7 countries, including Argentina, Spain, Poland and South Africa. He is part of the Head of Teacher Training team at ITTC, Bournemouth, one of the largest dedicated Training Centres in the UK. As well as training on other courses, he is a Cambridge CELTA and Delta tutor, and holds a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, specialising in applied Sociocultural Theory.)

In this workshop we will look at and approach the skill Listening Comprehension from various angles, focussing on the following aspects:

• the (theoretical background of the) concept of Feedback and its various forms and manifestations
• the principal issues pertaining to the skill Listening Comprehension:
  • dealing with various types of audio texts and their specific characteristics
  • working with different types and formats of (closed / half-open) tasks
  • coping with different varieties of English / international English
• the practical implementation and integration of both in the language learning classroom

In order to assess and give feedback to a large group of learners it is only possible to do this if the learners themselves are involved in the process. By creating a feedback culture and self assessment and reflection this then becomes possible. It is also part of a learning strategy for learners to assess themselves and also others rather tham only being assessed by one person. This is also practically impossible given the number of pupils a normal teacher has to teach on a daily basis. It is also essential that the learner keeps a record of his/her progress in order to see an improvement and to work on weaknesses and increase strengths. If the learner does not participate in this then he/she is showing a weakness in their learning strategy competence.

In this workshop participants will try out different peer and self assessment strategies and reflect themselves on how they can use them in their everyday teaching.

How can I design a good writing task? Which criteria should I use to adequately assess the students‘ performance? What do the results tell me about their learning process? How can I make my students interact more efficiently with my feedback?

In order to answer these questions we will analyze various authentic samples of students‘ writing products with respect to the task fulfillment (message) and the degree of language correctness (accuracy). I will also show different ways of marking student papers focussing on summative and formative assessment. Finally I will outline how students can successfully integrate feedback as well as subsequent corrections and improvements into future writing tasks.

Practise makes (almost) perfect, but how can peer and teacher feedback promote oral competence? What criteria are there for measuring oral performance and how can they help teachers to assess performance? With practical examples from an English classroom using Klett´s Green Line and Green Line Oberstufe course books, teachers will have an opportunity to compare notes and talk about feedback and the assessment of oral performance.

(Vortrag mit praktischem Teil

Schulart: Gymnasium

Referent: Paul Dennis, Lehrer, Autor und schulischer Ausbildungsleiter in Lahnstein)

Wie können alle Beteiligten von Leistungsmessung im Englischunterricht profitieren? Wie lauten kritisch-konstruktive Antworten auf viele der mit Leistungsmessung im Unterricht zusammenhängenden Fragen? Auf welchen Ebenen kann Selbstevaluation stattfinden? Im Zentrum dieser Fortbildung steht eine individuelle Selbstevaluation, bei der die SchülerInnen Aspekte ihrer eigenen Arbeit systematisch evaluieren.

In konkreten Beispielen zeigt die Referentin in ihrer Fortbildung zu Leistungsmessung vs. Selbstevaluation die Notwendigkeiten und Probleme schulischer Leistungsmessung, die Methoden und die Inhaltsbereiche und den Nutzen vergleichender Leistungsmessung. Gemeinsam mit den Teilnehmern erörtert die Referentin, ob empirische Studien überhaupt eine praktische Relevanz haben, wenn man an moderne Bildungsziele wie persönliche und schulische Autonomie sowie soziale Partizipation denkt.

(Schulart: Realschule, Realschule Plus, IGS

Referentin: Christiane Dillenberger [Staatl. Aufbaugymnasium Alzey Landeskunstgymnasium Rheinland-Pfalz])

After a short familiarisation session on the CEFR definitions of B2 speaking skills in connection with the rubrics used in connection with the Saarland speaking tasks, we will look at one or two video recordings in order to focus on individual test takers and assess their strengths and weaknesses. These assessments will then be taken as a basis to show how useful feedback can be given to the learners to enable them to improve their performance.

Giving and receiving feedback on our teaching can be tough, especially when we have to do it with our peers. It can be hard to know what to look for when observing and even harder to give constructive feedback. In this session we’ll be looking at how to make the most out of peer observation, both as an observer and an observee. We’ll look at how to focus peer observations so that anyone can provide useful feedback, no one feels judged and everyone can benefit from their colleagues’ opinions. This practical workshop will encourage you to use action research as a way of developing your own teaching, as well as providing you with tangible ideas for observation tasks and what to look for when observing. Participants will be expected to share ideas, thoughts and experiences of peer observation and be prepared to develop tasks to focus observations.

(Profile: Lucy has been teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages since 1998 and has worked all over the world, including in Poland, Spain, Argentina, South Africa and the UK. She is now the Joint Head of Teacher Training at ITTC, Bournemouth, UK and trains on the Cambridge CELTA and Delta courses. She has a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, specialising in pragmatics and speech acts.)