Volume 2
Issue 4
December 2010
Tropical English Teacher Vol II #4 December 2010
TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER
Volume 2
Issue 4
December 2010
Tropical English Teacher is a refereed journal publication sponsored by CfBT and circulated free
of charge for private educational purposes.
The views expressed herein are those of the respective authors of the articles and are not
necessarily those of the sponsoring organisation.
All effort has been made to acknowledge copyright where required of materials used in the
journal. If you believe, however, that copyrighted material has been unwittingly used to which
you have copyright entitlements, please contact the editor at [email protected] or the Education
Director at [email protected].
Requests for republication of materials should be addressed in the first instance to the editor.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
[Contents]
Tropical English Teacher
Contents
Introduction
Editorial .........................................................................................................................page 3
Greg Keaney, CfBT
Letters ...........................................................................................................................page 5
Teachers on Teachers ....................................................................................................page 6
Assessment and Exams
A Share of the Credit: Helping test-anxious students perform better in exams .................page 9
Clayton Barry, CfBT, SM Masin
A formative approach to the assessment of composition writing ................................... page 26
Nik Clark, CFBT, SOAS College
Research
Do position and proximity affect young learner willingness to participate?.................... page 31
Kevin Watson, CFBT, SM Sayyidina Ali
What an attitude! Factors affecting teenager attitudes to foreign language learning …. page 38
Zoe Evans, CfBT, SM SMPAPHR SB Lumut
Serendipitous Accidental Action Research ..................................................................... page 48
Linda Galbraith, CfBT, SM SMJA
Issues
What about the boys? … .............................................................................................. page 55
Toni Mills, CfBT, SM PDSM Mentiri
Second Language Acquisition: Theory, Research, and Implications… .............................. page 59
Mahomed Mohsin, CfBT, SM Rimba
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[Contents]
Professional Development
Cambridge On-line: A Review of the IGCSE Cambridge Examinations Course I ................ page 69
Wendy Pearson, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Husain [Jerudong]
Cambridge On-line: A Review of the IGCSE Cambridge Examinations Course II ............... page 72
Kevin Sampson, CfBT, Anthony Abell College
Cambridge On-Line: A Review of the Assessment for Learning Course ............................ Page 75
Anne Crowley, CfBT, MS PSBS [Maktab Sains]
Writing
Using Models to Improve Writing ................................................................................. page 78
Ian Stroughair, CfBT, SOAS College
You’ve Got a Friend: Pen Pals ....................................................................................... Page 88
Anthony Fuller, CfBT, SM Rimba
Technology
ICT Integration: An introduction to blogging ................................................................. page 92
Terence Gallagher, CfBT, 2010
Useful ELT Software ..................................................................................................... page 97
Peter Muter, CfBT, SOAS College
Activities
10 Library Activity Worksheets ................................................................................... page 101
Kim Geddes, CfBT, SOAS College
Poetry
Hutan makan ............................................................................................................. page 113
Rob Goldspring, CfBT, SM SMJA
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 2
[INTRODUCTION]
Tropical English Teacher
EDITORIAL
Greg Keaney, CfBT, Editor
Welcome to the December 2010 issue of Tropical English Teacher.
As a professional educator I have always been stung by Lamour’s famous line in his Education of
a Wandering Man: ‘I had to leave school because it was interfering with my education’.
Education is often presented as a ‘salvationist’ discourse – it takes itself very seriously – ‘work
hard and you will be rewarded’, ‘suffer unto me little children’ goes many a teacher’s refrain
‘and I will enable you to receive great rewards in the after school life’. There is a core belief that
this is the way that society works and that educational attainment and social position should be
closely aligned. And yet... and yet... The real world does not quite seem to match this. Good
grades don’t necessarily lead to a satisfying life, rocket scientists end up on the dole and some,
like Louis L’Amour, leave school at 12 and go on to achieve great success.
True education is a lifelong voyage of discovery. Small children discovering the wonder of
raindrops, teenagers realising that Hamlet also had some issues with his parents, high school
students outdoing themselves in a drama performance or a sport, pre-university students joining
the conversation of great minds that has been continuing for five millennia, post-graduates
admiring the wisdom of the ancients – these to me are some of the moments of true education.
What does all this have to do with Tropical English Teacher? Some readers may feel that the
‘tropical’ in our name implies that the content is somewhat trivial –nothing could be further
from the truth! To counter this assumption try this quick quiz. What words do you associate with
the word TROPICAL? A search on www.thesaurus.com (a great reference site by the way – it
even includes a crossword generator) tells us that tropical is an adjective that means warm and
humid. Synonyms include: equatorial, hot, lush, steamy, sticky, sultry, sweaty, sweltering and
torrid. Antonyms comprise arctic, freezing, frigid, polar.
Tropical English Teacher in the past five issues has suggested that ‘tropical’ teaching is
something to aspire to – hot, lush and steamy seems to me to be a far better description of great
teaching than freezing and frigid!
Rules, procedures, formal exams, impenetrable documentation, neckties, uniforms, interminable
policies and procedures – all these may be necessary or virtuous for certain social or institutional
reasons but they are not, at core, an essential part of real education. Real education is
inspirational and transformative not mundane and mechanical.
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[INTRODUCTION]
In essence those who work in widely different contexts frequently have the opportunity to
evolve varying answers to the dilemmas of teaching well because they have a wonderful lens to
look at what is really important in education rather than what is (often stridently) merely
claimed to be.
So let’s celebrate teaching ‘tropically’ – making classrooms full of light and joy and flowers and
scents and thunderous rain and brilliant sunshine and magical trees and hammocks swinging in
the breeze and siestas and spices and scintillating food and clean water – let there be light!
This issue, has a wide range of bright light and scents and even a bit of thunderous rain on offer.
Clayton Barry looks at English language examinations set against the historical background of
high stakes testing while Nik Clark provides a practical suggestion to assist with the development
of formative assessment of compositions. Kevin Watson investigates the role of proximity to the
teacher in primary classrooms and its effects on participation while Zoe Evans investigates ways
to improve the ‘X factor’ – attitude. Mahomed Mohsin then gives us a detailed look at SLA.
Linda Galbraith continues her series of articles on student journals and the thinking that
underlies student writing and classroom performance while Toni Mills continues our growing
interest in strategies to ensure that the ‘boys’ are not left behind. Wendy Pearson, Kevin
Sampson and Anne Crowley all review CIE on-line courses that are an effective way for teachers
in Brunei to keep upgrading their skills.
The indefatigable Ian Stroughair provides some practical advice on the use of writing models to
improve student writing skills and Anthony Fuller gives us a completely honest account of the
triumphs and tragedies in the Pen Pal approach to interschool writing exchanges. Terence
Gallagher takes us through some blogging techniques and Peter Muter shares some cheap but
useful software for lesson design. Finally Kim Geddes has ten photocopiable ready-to-use library
worksheets and, to add a few sweet drops of saffron to the mix, Rob Goldspring ends this issue
with some bardic verse. Hope you enjoy every morsel.
The 2011 volume of Tropical English Teacher will continue to grow and evolve. We have a new
editorial and design team, illustrators and columnists as well as our wide range of
teacher/writers. Each issue will have a different guest editor or editorial team – possibly with a
differing focus. The March 2011 issue will be edited by Malcolm Orsborn, June 2011 by Albert
Polita and Alan Birimac and September 2011 by Robyn Elmi and Nicki Maday. Volunteers for
assistant editors for these issues or for editing issues beyond these dates are most welcome.
Thanks to all readers and contributors for helping our journal grow and thrive. There’s always
room for another ecological niche in our rainforest so please contribute.
Happy holidays.
Greg Keaney, CfBT Brunei, December 2010
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 4
[LETTERS]
Tropical English Teacher
Letters
Send us
your letters,
comments,
feedback,
complaints,
mail,
correspondence,
suggestions,
post,
messages,
emails,
ideas,
commentary,
remarks,
observations,
clarifications,
interpretations
and anything else
you have to say.
[email protected]
Congratulations on the publication of a great and useful
magazine, the variety of articles in TET have already
enabled my professional cognitive processes to spark.
While I have used the idea of journal writing many years
ago, it was the article in Tropical English Teacher that
inspired me to revisit the technique.
Much to my surprise they opened up, something
happened that I was not able to previously do, my
students became keen writers, it enabled me to gain
insight into the lives of my Bruneian students,
marvelous!! So a big thanks to Linda and TET for that
inspiration. Keep up the great work.
Looking forward to the next issue.
Barry Johnson, SMSH
Hi to readers of Tropical English Teacher,
My name is Jon Roller. To introduce myself a bit: I'm from
Louisville, Kentucky, USA. I have a BA in English, I taught
ESL in China from 2004-2008, and am currently back
home living in America while working on my MA in Media
and
Communications
Studies
through
the
European
Graduate
School
in
Switzerland
(http://www.egs.edu). Louisville is the home of the
famous baseball bat ‘the Slugger’, though basketball
definitely dominates the world of sport here in the
Bluegrass State.
I love reading your journal for inspiration. Hopefully, the
muse will strike and I can send something your way soon
too. In this anemic US economy being published in Brunei
would be a heck of a feather to stick in my cap!
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[QUOTES]
TEACHERS ON TEACHERS
I am not a teacher, but an awakener. Robert Frost
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. Socrates
Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier. Charles F. Kettering
Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself. Chinese Proverb
Awaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a
spark. Anatole France
Life is amazing: and the teacher had better prepare himself to be a medium for that amazement.
Edward Blishen
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Albert
Einstein
An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One
looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched
our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital
element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. Carl Jung
The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves. Joseph Campbell
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. Mark Van Doren
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays
young. Henry Ford
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The
great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward
What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. Soren Kierkegaard
Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. Josef Albers
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[QUOTES]
We think of the effective teachers we have had over the years with a sense of recognition, but
those who have touched our humanity we remember with a deep sense of gratitude. Unknown
Whatever you teach, be brief; what is quickly said the mind readily receives and faithfully
retains, while everything superfluous runs over as from a full container. Who knows much says
least. Author Unknown
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make
yourself as you wish to be. Thomas A. Kempis
Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. John C. Dana
If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different
needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor,
lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine
months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. Donald D. Quinn
Teachers who inspire know that teaching is like cultivating a garden, and those who would have
nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers. Author Unknown
Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be
stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them. Author Unknown
One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until
you try. Sophocles
The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think--rather to
improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with
thoughts of other men. Bill Beattie
He who asks a question may be a fool for five minutes. But he who never asks a question
remains a fool forever. Tom J. Connelly
What’s wrong with 8J?
Anonymous Teacher
What’s wrong with my teacher?
Anonymous 8J student
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Assessment and
Examinations
Shhhh.... Be vewy vewy quiet – we’re hunting wabbits...
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
A SHARE OF THE CREDIT:
HELPING TEST-ANXIOUS STUDENTS
PERFORM BETTER IN HIGH STAKES EXAMS
Clayton Barry, CfBT, SM Masin, [email protected]
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform
(Horace Walpole, 1798)
Brunei’s upper secondary school sector relies heavily on high stakes, end-of-year
examinations in order to assess and reward students’ competence in English. ‘High
stakes’ testing is defined by Davis (2006: 1) as “testing with serious consequences for
students, their teachers and their educational institutions”. The GCSE O-Level English
examination, administered by the University of Cambridge, can be considered
particularly ‘high stakes’ because there is a direct relationship between students’ one-off
exam performance and their work and further education opportunities in Brunei. For
instance, receiving a ‘credit’ (50% or more) in the O-Level English exam is a prerequisite
for entrance into Universiti Brunei Darussalam’s bridging program (UBD, 2010), and may
form part of the ‘credit’ requirements to enter a 6 th form college. Receiving a ‘credit’ is
also a prerequisite for many of the much-sought-after jobs within Brunei’s 45,000-strong
public service (Mohidin, 2008).
It might seem axiomatic that for students to succeed in the O-Level English examination
they would need to develop competence in the productive and receptive skills of English
– this is, after all, what the examination purports to test! So this is where English
language teachers in Brunei rightly expend most of their energy – improving students’
English competence. However, teachers at the chalk face quickly learn that there is much
to be gained by also working towards improving students’ exam performance 1 .
1

Chomsky’s (1965) linguistic theory made the first real distinction between linguistic competence
and performance and this distinction has had a marked effect on English language teaching pedagogy. For
Chomsky, competence is defined by the subconscious capacity of the language learner to use English in an
ideal (and therefore non-existent) situation. Performance, on the other hand, is a measure of the language
learner’s actual utterances, sullied by memory limitations, distractions, language anxiety, loss of attention,
errors. Therefore, an examination can never truly be seen to test a students’ linguistic competence, only
their performance.
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Tropical English Teacher
Therefore, experienced teachers work hard to build students’ meta-cognition of what I
like to call an exam’s architecture. Good teachers brief students on exam question
sequencing, time management and multiple choice strategies, and they give students
opportunities to interpret exam criteria and conduct past paper analysis.
But there is a third strategy that teachers can use in order to improve students exam
results, what educational psychologists called test anxiety reduction. I’m thinking here of
those students who may have ‘passed’ (40% to 49%) their Form 4 O-Level English
examination, but did not get the magic 50% needed to attain a ‘credit’. These students
may have shown all year that they have the English skills necessary to be awarded a
credit but on test day perhaps they spent too long coming up with a narrative essay
idea, or they got distracted and took to looking out the window, or they misread a
crucial question. These students may have become flustered while reading the
comprehension text, or they may have forgotten to proofread their formal letter or they
may have spent the moments before the test wildly leafing through their English
workbooks. It is likely, given the extensive research literature on the topic, that many of
our ‘pass’ students suffer from a debilitating form of test anxiety that robbed them of
producing their best performance and perhaps getting the ‘credit’ that their class work
shows they are capable of.
This article highlights how education in general and Brunei in particular came to rely
almost exclusively on high stakes examinations as measures of student performance. It
then looks at how such a reliance on high stakes testing has a relationship with students’
test anxiety. Finally, it provides an overview of, and instructions for, a practical,
evidence-based behavioural strategy called Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation
that students can learn with the express purpose of improving their performance during
the English O-Level examination.
A long way from high stakes testing?
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
A History of Examinations – Here to there and back again
To the uneducated, an
A is just three sticks – Eeyore (Milne, 1957)
The competitive examination system as
we know it here in Brunei and which Imperial Examination Success Rates
According to Foo (1996) it was not uncommon
seems so central to the modern for candidates to spend years or even decades
education system actually has its roots in preparing for China’s Imperial Examination.
Imperial China. China instigated public Despite this, pass rates were incredibly low. For
example, of the 14,000 candidates who took the
service examinations in the year 165 B.C examination in 1889, just over 300 passed
introducing the first meritocratic (Bodde, 2004).
selection of public servants, a system
which lasted in China until 1905 (Foo, 1996; Teng, 1943). China’s Imperial
Examinations were distressing affairs for candidates; even for entire communities. In
China’s Confucian hierarchy, scholars occupied an important position, sitting above
farmers, labourers and the generally despised merchant classes. Therefore, it was not
uncommon for entire villages to sponsor a promising candidate, hoping to share in
the honour and prestige that would follow exam success, or anxious to avoid the
shame of failure (Foo, 1996). Bodde (2004: 8-9) describes the typical Chinese exam
day:
The examinations took place within huge walled enclosures, inside of which were thousands of small brick
cells, laid out in straight rows like the houses of a town. Each cell contained a bench and table, and housed
a nervous candidate. Every precaution was taken to prevent cheating. Candidates were searched before
entering the enclosure, carefully watched while the examination was in progress, and not permitted to
leave until it was over. Each examination commonly lasted several days and was of unbelievable difficulty.
This description above bears a striking, if less humane, resemblance to the way we
conduct modern exams, showing evidence of the relative immunity of some
assessment traditions to changes in society (Wilbrink, 1997).
It was the idea of meritocracy, a belief that individual competence is healthier for
government administration than nepotism or lineage that saw the Imperial Examination
system transfer to the West. In pre-revolutionary France, sensing the increasing
agitation of the Third Estate, Finance Minister Turgot looked to China’s examination
system as a move toward ending the privileges of nobility (Bodde, 2004). A system of
public examinations was eventually introduced there in 1791. Germany followed in
1800, while the US introduced merit based exams in 1883 (Foo, 1996).
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Likewise, in Britain, the meritocratic nature of the Chinese examination system gained
strong support as more and more English travellers returned from China and
published their observations. A consensus was building in Britain which was based on
two assumptions. The first assumption is exemplified by this comment in the 1755
article in Gentlemen’s Magazine: “that the Chinese excell (sic) all other Nations in the
Art of Government” (in Teng, 1943: 284). The second assumption is typified by this
1775 comment from an English traveller to China: “England will certainly lose every
colony she possesses unless she adopts some system of impartial elevation of
colonists to the posts and honours at the disposal of the crown 2” (in Teng, 1943: 289).
Following intense parliamentary debate, Britain introduced public examinations in
1855. The paradigm shift towards meritocracy in the public service that occurred in
the late 18th century directly impacted on the then-infant mass compulsory schooling
sector. Meritocracy (and its bedfellow, competition!) continues to be one of the
pillars upon which all compulsory mass education still stands.
Apart from China’s Imperial
examination
system,
In the Middle Ages, the schools of the Brethren of the Common
schools also adopted many
Life used an elaborate ranking system which may appeal to
the more competitive amongst you. At the end of the year
of the assessment practices
when students received their final ranking, students of the
that had developed in the
Brethren had the opportunity to appeal their result. ‘Great,’
you might say. After all, the modern appeal process used in
world’s first universities.
schools and universities ensures accountability and fairness. In
When universities in Europe
the schools of the Brethren, students could appeal the rank
began
conducting
given to them by challenging the student with the next highest
rank to a contest. In this way, a student could leap-frog up the
examinations,
students
rankings (Codina, in Wilbrink, 1997)
were originally ranked
against
their
peers
(Wilbrink, 1997). In fact, ranking was the dominant assessment practice in universities
of the Middle Ages. Generally, points were awarded throughout the school year to
university students for good behaviour and lost for misbehaviour and exams were
used to determine final rankings at the end of the year (Wilbrink, 1997). Here we see
the origins of awarding points for exam questions. These points were used to further
consolidate a student’s ranking. Sometime in the mid-19th Century, rankings were
Rank Ambition
2

There is an irony here. One of the more enlightening facets of Imperialism was the Western
education given to select individuals of colonised countries. This education was to prepare them to help
administer the colonies on behalf of the coloniser, giving the imperial power some indigenous legitimacy in
the eyes of the subject people. Of course, the establishment of Western education in Asian colonies led to
the introduction of the quite foreign concept of nationalism into the region. As two cases in point, both Ho
Chi Minh of Vietnam and Mohandas Gandhi of India were educated in the West (in France and England
respectively) and they used the ideas learnt on foreign soil to foster nationalist sentiment in their home
countries.
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
replaced by marking systems and grades in universities as the sole measure of
assessment. However, as we see here in Brunei, ranking sits uncomfortably alongside
objective performance-based measurement as at least a tacit (though public!)
assessment of students’ academic worth.
The O-Level Exam – In Brunei and Beyond
“Hello, we used to have everything. Now, we’re just basically
horribly literate.” (Robin Williams, 2010 – discussing the sunset
years of the British Empire)
As a practising teacher working closely with my British colleagues, I think it prudent to
express at the outset my rejection of comedian Robin Williams’ assessment of the
current status of the United Kingdom in world affairs! However, Williams’ assessment,
mischievous as it may be, serves to highlight one particular manifestation of Britain’s
colonial legacy. That is, the English language through the medium of English language
assessment is increasingly of major ideological and economic importance for British
influence worldwide. According to the British Council, the English language teaching
sector earns £1.3 billion for the UK in invisible exports (in Phillipson, 2009). Brunei
contributes to these earnings through the Ministry of Education’s adoption of the
Cambridge GCSE O-Level Examinations.
The Ordinary-Level (O-Level) Examinations were originally a domestic test designed for
the top 20% of British students and initially most candidates came from elite grammar
schools (Raban, 2008). Introduced into the UK in the 1950s, the O-Level exams were
scrapped in the 1980s due to claims they were old fashioned and relied too much on
rote learning (Saxena, 2009). Despite this, the O-Level examinations have continued in
various incarnations in many former British colonies, including Brunei. According to the
University of Cambridge International Examinations Department (CIE), the O-Level
Examinations “have been designed especially for an international market and are
sensitive to the needs of different countries (CIE, 2010). A registered non-profit
organisation, CIE operates in 157 countries and draws on 150 years of international
examination experience (CIE, 2010).
In Brunei, the early history of the O-Level English Examination is a history of heartache
for students, their parents and of course, their teachers. Up until the start of the new
millennium, the number of students achieving O-Levels ‘credits’ hovered between 7% to
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
13% (CfBT, 2010; Nicol, 2008). Wood et al (2009) claim there is “widespread criticism of
the low level of examination passes in English, and more specifically the numbers who
get a credit in English O-Level”3. This criticism has been offered in the context of a more
general world-wide debate over the validity, reliability and indeed the ethics of ‘high
stakes’ testing4. From an English language teaching perspective, many reasons have
been offered for Brunei’s dismal O-Level English exam statistics.
Wood et al (2009) argue that the O-Level Exam is very artificial and not suitable for ESL
learners. Ghadessy and Nicol (2002), on the other hand, link poor exam results to their
findings that Bruneian students have a negative attitude towards learning. They
speculate that this poor learning attitude may actually reflect the fact that many
students become tired of never-ending exam preparation lessons they receive, thus
losing motivation for the exam! Minnis (1997) argues that for Bruneian students with
finely honed consumer mentalities, it is the credential that comes with passing the OLevel English examination that is more important than the deep learning that is
necessary to pass the exam. He calls for a devaluing of the exam. Mossop (1996)
suspects that with the increasing validation of World Englishes, the O-Level English exam
(what he calls an exo-normative exam) is largely irrelevant for Bruneian students. This is
because Standard English, as promoted by Cambridge, is increasingly culturally
irrelevant for Brunei students who are coming to accept and even show pride in their
“nativisation” of English (Svalberg, 1998). He calls for a local or endo-normative exam, to
better meet the needs of students.
The more recent history of the English O-Levels in Brunei has been more heartening. In
the mid-2000s, there was a concerted push to increase the number of ‘credits’ in the
Sultanate. The then-Minister of Education Pehin Dato Hj Awg Abd Rahman set the
“cautiously optimistic” target of 1000 students obtaining a ‘credit’ in the O-Level English
exam (Rahman, in Brunei Times, 2007). This follows his previous concerns that students’
O-Level results had not improved despite significant improvements in the Primary
Certificate of Education (in Othman, 2005). Fortunately, there has been a massive
increase in O-Levels ‘credits’ awarded since 2004. Over the last two years, 24% of
students obtained a ‘credit’ in their English O-Levels (CfBT, 2010), a 10% increase from
3

Lest I be accused of bias, of the 80 or so journal articles with a focus on Brunei English and
English language teaching, none explicitly outline the advantages of the O-Level English exam.
4

This debate has reached fever pitch over the last ten years both in academic circles and within the
popular media. The heat in this debate I suspect is in part the result of the United States’ No Child Left
Behind Act, which links school accountability, student achievement and funding to standardised testing
regimes.
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[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
the mid-2000s. From the perspective of CfBT, these improvements have been
impressive. As CfBT Education Director, Greg Keaney, states:
It would appear to be one of the most significant percentage increases in examination performance
worldwide although accurate statistical comparisons are, at this stage, difficult to establish (Keaney, pers.
th
comm., 8 Nov, 2010).
The research literature on Brunei’s English language teaching situation has not as yet
caught up with the latest improvements in O-Level results, and as such there is no
academic analysis of the reasons behind the changing trend. It will be interesting to see
whether such improvement continues or plateaus and what conclusions are drawn by
academics and teachers to account for the change.
Test anxiety – Scaring yourself Stupid
Actually I think being Secretary of State is less stressful than
taking exams – (Hillary Clinton, 2010)
Of all the human emotions that students experience during their journey through
school, it is anxiety above all others that has been the focus of researchers’ attention.
In fact, Pekrun et al (2002) list some 1200 articles that focus on academic anxiety,
with most of these specifically focussing on test anxiety. Indeed, research into test
anxiety has a long academic tradition with the first research occurring as early as
1914, not long after the introduction of mass compulsory schooling (Stober & Pekrun,
2004). Before I look at the particular effects of test anxiety on exam performance and
how students might decrease test anxiety, it might prove useful to look more closely
at anxiety in general.
All of us at some stage in our lives have felt the physiological and psychological
symptoms of the anxiety. That is because anxiety is simply a natural reaction to what
our brains consider to be any stressful situation (Ratey, 2008). I’ll give you an example
of a perfectly normal, indeed evolutionarily useful, anxiety response:
Ahmad had left it to late afternoon to check whether his chickens had laid any eggs. He stepped into the
chicken coop only to be confronted by a three metre King Cobra, not more than four metres away. Faster
than Ahmad could move, the snake raised its head off the ground and puffed its neck in the classic defence
posture. Ahmad jumped back. Fortunately, there was a small hole in the wire fence at the base of the
chicken coop and the snake slithered through the hole back into the jungle. When confronted with the
snake, Ahmad’s body had provided an immediate millions-year-old physiological response to the situation
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
5
he put himself in . His heart exploded in his chest and then started pumping faster than usual, his hands
became clammy and shaky, his muscles became tense, and his breathing got faster. But the threat was
gone. A few minutes later, Ahmad’s body returned to its equilibrium. The next week, Ahmad replaced the
fencing around the coop, but from that moment on, he became very wary when collecting eggs.
What I have described is essentially the physiological symptoms of anxiety – the socalled ‘fight or flight’ response. Very simplistically, a part of Ahmad’s brain called the
amygdala (the brain’s panic button) starts telling the adrenal gland to pump the
hormone epinephrine (adrenalin) and later cortisol, along with many of other
neurotransmitters, to various parts of the body to ready it for intense action – action
that will overcome the stressful situation your pre-frontal cortex (the planning,
evaluating and understanding part of the brain) put it in (Ratey, 2008).
The scenario I described above might seem far removed from the quiet environs of
the examination room, but for many Bruneian students the very act of sitting an exam
produces the ‘flight or fight’ response in the same way as a near car crash, or severe
aeroplane turbulence or coming across a King Cobra at the back door. For most
students, the anxiety response is mild (feeling nervous), while for others it is severe to
the point of being debilitating (feeling panic), but all points of the anxiety continuum
lead to a physiological response, some of which are described by Larson et al (2010:
4):
Physiological effects of test anxiety include constricted blood vessels, raised body temperature, increased
dilation of the eyes, muscle spasms, increased blood flow to muscles, and decreased blood flow to the
skin…also nausea, muscular cramps, faintness, and dry mouth to the list of physiological symptoms as a
result of test anxiety.
Essentially, the emotional manifestation of anxiety is fear (Ratey, 2008). In the
scenario, Ahmad’s fear was painful death-by-envenomation. For the test-anxious
student, ‘high stakes’ exams usually provoke a fear of failure, with its consequent
feelings of shame, humiliation, loss of status and self-esteem (Hagtvet & Benson,
1997). The memory of fear is what makes us particularly anxious in some situations.
For Ahmad, returning to the chicken coop evoked mild anticipatory anxiety
symptoms. For the text anxious student, every exam they complete invokes the fear
memory, with consequent symptoms of anxiety.
5

The King Cobra is the largest highly venomous snake in the world. It is considered the 12 th most
toxic (ARVU, 2008). The amydala fires messages to the adrenal gland within ten milliseconds (Ratey,
2008).

Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Researchers have long established a link between test anxiety and exam
performance, on the one hand, and on the other, test anxiety and learning. For the
exam performance dimension, anxiety can often manifests itself through a variety of
negative coping strategies. The most rational of these to the primitive brain is
avoidance, which is a form of danger control. In schools, this might be seen as
absenteeism on the day of the exam, or a student putting their head on the table only
moments after entering the exam room. Other negative coping strategies include
anxiety suppression which manifests itself as task irrelevant thinking (Hagtvet &
Benson, 1997) or worry. In this situation, students’ may use up valuable cognitive
resources processing non-exam stimuli as a way to distract themselves from their fear
of failure. For instance, students might scour the desk for signs of graffiti, or they may
read colourful posters on the wall, or they may listen to a conversation occurring
outside the classroom (Meijer, 2001).
The impact of anxiety on cognition has become increasingly well established at a
molecular level. In particular, anxiety seems to interfere particularly with working
memory and attention – two cognitive functions that are of course, central to
examination success. For instance, Eysenck
Working memory is a temporary storage
found both storage and processing that holds and manipulates incoming,
restrictions in working memory during task-relevant information and integrates
examinations as a result of anxiety. Working it with other information from long-term
memory (Steenari et al, 2003).
memory was instead taken up with taskirrelevant thinking (in Dutke & Stober, 2001). Crozier and Hostettler (2003) recorded
decreases in shy students’ vocabulary performance when students performed under
high-anxiety contexts (in Hadwin et al, 2006). Elliman et al (1997) study on the
executive functions of the working memory through a sustained attention task
showed that highly anxious participants performed slower than those with lower
anxiety levels. As this small research snapshot shows, anxiety can have significant
impact on how students behave during the examination environment as well as how
well their cognitive processes deal with the examination proper.
Both low expectations and poor self-confidence are significant constituent factors in
predicting test-anxious students. Selkirk et al (2010) in a recent study of 6th graders
revealed that those students who valued success in English the most but who expected to do
poorly reported the highest levels of test anxiety.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Reducing Test Anxiety through Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Tension is who you think you should be – Chinese proverb
Fortunately for test anxious students, there are now some evidence-based coping
strategies that may be of immediate benefit to their exam performance. Some of
these coping strategies are cognitive, such as exam desensitisation, which requires
the individual to re-boot the way they think in certain situations. Other coping
strategies are behavioural and mostly address the physiological symptoms of anxiety.
The strategy I want to recommend for students is called Abbreviated Progressive
Muscle Relaxation (APMR) because it is very easy for students to learn and initiate. It
is a behavioural strategy that students can use immediately prior to their exams in
order to reduce anxiety-based symptoms.
APMR is a technique developed by Edmund Jacobson in the 1930s and further refined
by Bernstein and Borkovec as a way to provide anxiety sufferers some measure of
anxiety control (McCallie et al, 2006). The entire premise of Jacobson’s technique is
that an anxious mind cannot exist in a relaxed body. By this he means that the
physiological and cognitive dimensions of anxiety exist in a continual negative
feedback loop. For example, a student may face increase anticipatory anxiety
preceding the test. Perhaps on the way out of the door on exam day the student’s
father told her that her family is counting on her. Before the test, the student might
extrapolate into the future and spend a couple of minutes pondering the
consequences of exam failure. She thinks about failing her family. The student
clenches her jaw and her shoulders become tense. She then notices her clenched jaw
and realises she is very uptight. This new cognition feeds back into her body and her
hands become clammy.
Interesting information about APMR that won’t help your
The anxiety deepens....
students pass the O-Level Exam
The efficacy of APMR has been tested in a variety of health fields.
Apart from anxiety related research, it has a particular strong
tradition in cancer research as well as pain management,
cardiology, insomnia treatment, asthma treatment and
hypertension. Burnette et al (1991) found that APMR significantly
decreased the recurrences of genital herpes, a disease which is
particularly susceptible to stress. Bagharpoosh et al (2006)
Iranian study of 62 pregnant women, found that there was a
significant reduction in pain and behavioural reactions in those
women who had received APMR training than the control group.
During the active phase of the pregnancy only 9.7% of the test
group reported severe pain, compared to 74.8% in the control
group.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
The goal, therefore, of
APMR is to act as a circuit
breaker to this feedback
loop by releasing skeletal
muscle tension. It works
by having the individual
alternatively tense and
release the body’s major
muscle
groups
in
succession (see Appendix
Page 18
Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
A for directions). Jacobson found that this led to a reduction of muscle tension and
consequently anxiety. This is because the newly relaxed muscles provide an
incompatible physiological signal to the anxious mind, therefore cutting off the
anxiety feedback loop – the body is not doing what the mind thinks it should be doing
and the amygdala’s influence decreases, allowing the hippocampus to resume its
regulation of the pre-frontal cortex (Ratey, 2008).
APMR has been found to be effective using both biofeedback measurement and selfreporting tools. This has led psychologists to conclude that APMR is at least as
effective as traditional cognitive based anxiety reduction measures (Carlson & Hoyle,
1993). Generally, APMR has been shown to reduce the levels of salivary cortisol in
individuals, as well as reduce heart rate - two important biological measures of
anxiety (Pawlow & Jones, 2002), providing evidence that APMR is useful for disrupting
the negative continual feedback loop between the mind and body that leads to
anxiety.
For students, APMR has been shown to reduce the generalised state of anxiety in
secondary school students using both self-reporting anxiety scales and biofeedback
measurements. Of Hembree’s early (1988) meta-analysis of 562 test anxiety
treatments, 32 studies involving nearly 1000 participants looked at relaxation training
(of which APMR formed a part). He concluded that relaxation training led to a
reduction in test anxiety. In Roome and Romney’s (1985) study, thirty gifted middle
school students were taught either APMR, biofeedback treatment or given no
treatment. Both biofeedback and APMR significantly reduced the state of anxiety. In
Rasid and Parish’s (1998) study 20 students were taught APMR via four twenty
minute video sessions, while 17 students served as the no-treatment control group.
Following the training, it was found that the APMR group had significantly lower selfreported anxiety scores than the control group. Lohaus and Klein-Hessling’s (2003)
study tested the efficacy of APMR, as one of a range of strategies, as a test-anxiety
treatment. For the APMR group, 32 students were trained in APMR and their anxiety
was measured through self-reporting scales, heart rate, skin temperature and skin
conductance levels. They found that there were “immediate relaxation effects
reflected at a physiological as well as a subjective experience level” (Lohaus & KleinHessling, 2003: 247). In Larson’s et al (2010) very recent study, 177 3rd grade students
underwent a five week APMR and deep breathing course in an effort to reduce test
anxiety. Following the course, Larson found that students receiving relaxation training
achieved a “significant reduction in test anxiety scores” while the no-treatment
control group demonstrated no significant decrease (Larson et al, 2010: 11).
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Conclusion: Teacher as Trim Tab
Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder
called a trim tab. It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the
rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab
(Buckminster Fuller, 1972)
‘High stakes’ examinations have been a part of the Brunei educational landscape since
the introduction of Dwibahasa in 1985. While there are changes afoot in the lower
secondary school to devalue the place of ‘high stakes’ exams in Brunei, I think it
unlikely that Brunei will move towards complete school-based continuous assessment
in the upper secondary school in the conceivable future. This is because Brunei, like a
lot of the world, is beholden in some respects to the English language assessment
requirements as set out by the University of Cambridge. While entrance into UK
universities continue to be seen as a badge of prestige in Brunei, ‘high stakes’
examinations will continue to have a place in the education system. Consequently,
the problem of student test anxiety will also remain and perhaps intensify as the
internationalisation of English continues.
For the CfBT teacher, whose sphere of influence over assessment decisions may be
smaller here in Brunei than in their home country, helping individual students control
their test anxiety may provide some professional solace. Indeed, CfBT teachers
currently working in Brunei are in a very unique position. I think it is the perfect
climate for teachers to engage in action-research projects that can have a positive
impact on an entire nation’s student population. As yet, there is no research
investigating the effects of test-anxiety on students in Brunei. At the same time, CfBT
through the SCOPE project, are actively promoting action-research and case study
research as a way to increase O-Level credits (CfBT, 2009). Also, as I have made clear
above, the Ministry of Education has spent the latter half of the last decade actively
seeking ways to improve O-Level results. There is scope here for a widespread, crosssectional research project led by interested CfBT teachers to investigate the efficacy
of APMR as a test-anxiety treatment. The result may very well be that O-Level
‘credits’ are shared more broadly amongst Brunei’s student population than is
currently the case. And even if such a project does not get off the ground, I commend
APMR to you, as there is a lot of personal satisfaction to be gained by helping a young
person gain control of their fears.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 20
Appendix A
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
Tropical English Teacher
Directions for Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation
The routine, as set out below, takes approximately 20 minutes and therefore it is something that
students can do in the lead up time to exams. Lohaus and Klein-Hessling (2010) found that five
training sessions had optimal effect on anxiety levels. When tensing muscle groups students
should take care not to over-exert the muscle. This is particularly the case with the lower back.
1. Sit in a comfortable, quiet position.
2. Clench your fists and hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds concentrating on
how relaxed your hands feel.
3. Arch your hands back towards your elbows to tense the muscles on your forearm. Hold
for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your arms
feel.
4. Tighten your biceps by drawing your forearms up to your shoulders. Hold for 10 seconds.
Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your upper arms feel.
5. Tighten your triceps by extending your arms out straight at eye-level. Hold for 10
seconds. Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your underarms
feel.
6. Raise your eyebrows as far as you can. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds,
concentrating on how relaxed your forehead feels.
7. Scrunch your eyes closed. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds,
concentrating on how relaxed your eyes feel.
8. Open your mouth as wide as you can. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds,
concentrating on how loose your jaw feels.
9. Tilt you head backwards. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating
on how relaxed your neck feels.
10. Raise your shoulders towards your ears. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20
seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your shoulders feel.
11. Flex your shoulder blades back towards each other. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for
20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your upper back feels.
12. Tighten your chest muscles by taking a deep breath and holding for 10 seconds. Then
release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your chest feels.
13. Suck in your stomach. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating on
how relaxed your abdomen feels.
14. Arch your lower back, but don’t stretch too far. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20
seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your lower back feels.
15. Tighten your buttocks by drawing them together. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for
20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your bottom feels.
16. Squeeze your thigh muscles. Hold for 10 seconds. Then release for 20 seconds,
concentrating on how relaxed your upper legs feel.
17. Tighten your calf muscles by drawing your heels off the ground. Hold for 10 seconds.
Then release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your lower legs feel.
18. Tighten your feet by curling your toes as far as you can. Hold for 10 seconds. Then
release for 20 seconds, concentrating on how relaxed your feet feel.
(Adapted from Bourne, 2005)
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
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Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS]
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th
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Walpole, H (1798) The Works of Horace Walpole, earl of Orford. University of Michigan Library: Ann Arbor.
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th
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Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 23
[PRIMARY CORE VOCABULARY]
Tropical English Teacher
A Core Vocabulary
A CORE VOCABULARY FROM CHILDREN'S WRITING
Words most frequently written by South Australian children in years 3 -7
1-50
the
on
and
went
I
had
a
is
to
then
was
for
it
said
we
whe
in
so
of
that
he
but
my
one
they
were
Words 1-50 account for about 50%
there
up
she
me
out
got
with
at
you
all
his
day
go
as
her
saw
came
him
back
after
are
about
very
have
of all words written
51-100
down
what
their
be
house
around
home
this
if
like
time
who
some
will
found
them
going
night
would
off
see
not
could
little
because
two
people
into
took
do
get
over
started
from
an
man
our
by
ran
Words 51-100 account for 10% of all words written
Mum
next
put
us
did
come
now
door
just
Christmas
told
This list was created in Adelaide as part of a research project by staff at Salisbury
Teachers College (now Adelaide University) in 1972. It remains relevant.
Source: http://www.raisingreaders.com.au/resources/assessment/salis_vocab.htm
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 24
[HAVE YOU READ]
Tropical English Teacher
Have you read?
What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd
Whitaker builds a picture of the kind of teacher you
may want to be and the classroom culture a great
teacher creates. A teacher full of positivity seeing the
light inside every student. Whitaker suggests that it is
this kind of teacher that is the most effective with
students. A ‘great’ teacher’s classroom is a joy to be a
part of so children are inspired to create and learn.
This book is one for the nightstand, one to turn to for
a little bit of inspiration. Highly recommended.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 25
Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINTIONS]
A Formative Approach to the
Assessment of Composition Writing
Nik Clark, CfBT, SOAS [email protected]
A formative approach to assessment implies that feedback obtained from
learning activities is used to adapt the teaching to meet the learner’s needs
(Black and William, 1998), and can help students take greater control of their
own learning (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006).
I can’t think of many teachers who have claimed to enjoy marking (although there have been the
odd few), but I do know that most appreciate its importance. As an O-Level teacher, like many
others here in Brunei, it is not uncommon for there to be several piles of student composition
books stacked on my table awaiting the red pen. Four classes of thirty students equals one
hundred and twenty books. At an average speed of eight compositions an hour, that’s fifteen
hours of marking. This happens every three weeks, for about thirty school weeks a year. The
grand total is, therefore, somewhere in the region of a hundred and fifty hours of composition
marking a year!
Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario does not end like so many of the compositions I mark “…and then I woke up and it was all a dream” - so, desperate to reduce this burden, yet not
wanting to avoid my responsibilities as a teacher, I set myself what seemed an unlikely goal: to
find a way of marking compositions faster, without compromising on the quality of feedback.
What emerged is shared with you here. It is definitely a faster way to mark - I’m up to twelve
compositions an hour now; a 50% increase - but that’s not the best bit. What I have discovered
from using the assessment tool presented here is that the quality of feedback I am able to
provide is far superior to anything I was able to offer before, when my trusty red pen would
highlight errors, scribble corrections and supply what I thought were detailed and helpful
comments to assist students in the development of their writing. Yes, I continue to mark with
red pens to annotate students’ work, but a paragraph or two of this is often adequate. It is the
‘comments’ part where much of the time is saved, and where all of the increase in quality is
found. So, read on and let me explain what I have developed, how it works, and why I believe it
is a far superior way to mark compositions. I hope it helps you and your students as much as it
has helped me and mine.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 26
Tropical English Teacher
[ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINTIONS]
What is it?
It is an assessment tool which provides a quick and simple way to provide quality summative
feedback to students on composition work. It also serves the formative function of providing
information and data which can be used to guide input, prepare interventions and plan
differentiated pathways in writing development.
How does it work?
The assessment tool is essentially a grid which separates ‘composition’ into four key aspects:
content, organisation, grammar and vocabulary. Five performance descriptors, arranged in
ascending order, are provided for each of these aspects. The descriptors are based on CIE OLevel marking criteria, but adapted to highlight certain features of writing that I felt were
especially relevant to my students (e.g. the use of capital letters, the accuracy of singular and
plural grammar). However, the descriptors can easily be modified to suit the characteristics of
other students or other contexts. This is how it works:
1. When marking compositions, have a supply of photocopied assessment grids at hand (2
grids per A4 sheet saves paper).
2. Read the composition and do whatever ‘red pen’ work is required.
3. On the marking grid, highlight the ‘best fit’ descriptors which apply to the different
features of the writing. (O-Level ‘credit’ standard is somewhere between level 3 and 4.)
4. Calculate the total score for the piece of work by simply adding up the descriptor levels
awarded to each of the 4 assessed aspects of the writing. Thus, if a student’s writing is
assessed as level 4 for content, level 3 for organisation, level 3 for grammar and level 3
for vocabulary, that would give a combined total of 13 marks out of 20 and, of course, it
can be doubled for compositions marked out of 40. In my experience, scores obtained in
this way are very comparable to scores obtained following the CIE O-Level marking guide
(though perhaps slightly more generous).
5. At the bottom of the marking tool there is space to personalise the grading process
through the addition of teacher’s comments and helpful suggestions, but these need
only be brief.
6. When marked composition books are returned, each with a completed marking grid
inserted, students’ are provided with high quality feedback comprising both summative
and formative qualities.
The summative qualities
This includes information in the form of an overall score, plus visual / descriptive
summaries of the various features of the writing. The student, therefore, knows
whether the composition is of a ‘credit’ standard or not and, by comparing the level of
attainment in each of the 4 assessed aspects, also knows where the strengths and
weaknesses of the composition lie.
The formative qualities
By considering the descriptors below and above each of the indicated attained levels,
students are also able to see what they have shown competence in, and what
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improvements are required to progress further in each of the assessed aspects of the
writing. This information can be used by students (with guidance) to take greater control
of their own learning by forming or adapting personal study plans which are focused on
meaningful and relevant targets.
The marking grid also enables teachers to record performance in composition work in
more detail since it has been assessed in more detail. Instead of scribing a generic and
fairly meaningless 13/20 into the record book, attainments can be recorded for each of
the assessed aspects in order to build up profiles of individual students which can be
used to monitor performance and development in content, organisation, grammar and
vocabulary. This data can then be applied to making informed decisions about future
courses of action, which may include forms of differentiation, remedial inputs, or other
guided interventions.
Thus, in true formative style, what is learned from the assessment is used to feed back into the
teaching and learning process and, ultimately, enhances it through the development of far more
personalised development pathways. And don’t forget, it’s a quicker way to mark compositions
too!
References
1. Black, P., & William, D. (1998), Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi
Delta Kappan, 80(2): 139-149
2. Nicol, D.J. & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and
seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education, Vol 31(2), pp.199-218
Tips for more effective use:
1. Before using the marking grid for the first time, it needs to be
introduced properly so students can understand its form and
function. (Could even work on producing a translated version?)
2. When selecting and highlighting ‘best fit’ descriptors for each of the
assessed aspects, anything irrelevant in the selected descriptor
can be deleted. For example, if a student’s vocabulary is assessed
at level 3, but the spelling is perfect, the reference to spelling
mistakes can be blacked out. (Though this is not essential if
students understand the concept of ‘best fit’.)
3. When marked work is returned, allow students time to read the
feedback, digest it, and seek clarification.
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COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT
CONTENT
ORGANISATION
GRAMMAR
VOCABULARY
Your composition is
completed and of a
suitable length. It is
relevant and very
interesting throughout.
You have clearly
expressed some complex
ideas and information.
Sentences consistently begin with a
clear capital letter and end with a
suitable punctuation mark. Other
punctuation is used accurately. All of
your sentences are successfully
organised in clear paragraphs. You
have used paragraphing to good
effect .Layout and presentation of
your writing is helpful to the reader.
All simple and many more complex
sentences are accurately written.
Your writing shows a sound working
knowledge of essential grammar as
well as many more complicated or
less common structures. You are
able to sustain a high level of
accuracy throughout your writing.
You have carefully used an
ambitious and extensive
vocabulary to good effect
throughout your writing. There
are hardly any, or no, spelling
mistakes.
Your composition is
completed and of a
suitable length. It is
relevant and interesting
throughout. All of the
information and ideas in
your writing can be
understood clearly.
Your composition includes
sentences which consistently begin
with a clear capital letter and end
with a suitable punctuation mark.
Other punctuation is used with
some success. All of your sentences
are successfully organised in clear
paragraphs and care has been given
to the general layout and
presentation of your writing.
Most simple sentences, and some
more complex sentences, are
accurately written. Your writing
shows a clear understanding of
essential grammar as well as some
more complicated or less common
structures. There are frequent
sustained patches of accuracy.
You have used an interesting
and wide vocabulary and
express yourself very clearly
throughout your writing. There
are very few, or no, spelling
mistakes.
Your composition is
completed and of a
suitable length. It is
mostly relevant and quite
interesting throughout.
Most of the information
and ideas in your writing
can be understood clearly.
Your composition includes
sentences which mostly begin with a
clear capital letter and end with a
suitable punctuation mark. Other
punctuation is attempted. Most of
your sentences are successfully
organised in paragraphs and some
thought has been given to the
general layout and presentation of
your writing.
Most simple sentences are correctly
written. Your writing shows some
understanding of essential grammar
(e.g. basic verb forms, singular and
plural aspects). There are some
sustained patches of accuracy.
You have used an adequate
level of vocabulary to express
yourself clearly throughout
your writing. There are a few
spelling mistakes.
Your composition is
almost long enough (but
possibly not finished).
Parts of it are relevant
and interesting. Some of
the information and ideas
in your writing can be
understood clearly.
You have tried to write in sentences
which begin with a clear capital
letter and end with a punctuation
mark. You have tried to organise
some of your sentences into
different paragraphs.
Some simple sentences are correctly
written, but there is confusion with
essential grammar (e.g. basic verb
forms, singular and plural aspects).
There are isolated patches of
accuracy, but these are not
sustained.
Your vocabulary is limited but
you can express yourself clearly
some of the time. There are
some spelling mistakes in your
writing.
Your composition is too
short or not finished yet.
You may not have
understood the task.
Remember to write in sentences
which begin with a clear capital
letter and end with a punctuation
mark.
One or two sentences may be
correctly written, but accuracy is
seldom achieved due to a lack of
basic grammar.
Your vocabulary is very limited
which makes it difficult for you
to express yourself clearly.
There are many spelling
mistakes in your writing.
Comments:
Mark / Grade
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Next Steps:
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Research
I never knew that!
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DO POSITION AND PROXIMITY AFFECT
WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE? AN
INVESTIGATION INTO A YOUNG
LEARNER CLASSROOM IN TAIWAN
Kevin Watson, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Ali, [email protected]
This Action Research (AR) sets out to investigate the extent to which seating positions and the
proximity of the young learners (YLs) to the teacher is able to stimulate willingness among the
YLs to participate orally during classes.
For purposes of analysis, the seating within the AR classroom was notionally divided into two
sections or zones; a front zone (FZ) and a back zone (BZ). The front zone should be taken to
mean both the front row of seats closest to the teacher and the two desks directly behind the
front row at the sides of the classroom. The back zone, meanwhile, refers to all seating located
behind the FZ seats, further away from the teacher.
Formulation of the AR problem
Being individuals, all FL learners seem to be different, and Williams and Burden (1997:88) assert
that these individual learner differences (ILDs) are most likely linked to issues of ‘gender,
personality, aptitude, intelligence’ and ‘motivation’. Taking a broad view of ILDs, they seem to
fall into two categories related to achievement and input. Fisher (2005: 122) outlines the first ILD
as relating to the degree to which learning is successfully achieved, while Lightbown and Spada
(2006:59) explain that the second ILD relates to the individual preferences YLs have for
‘absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills’.
Setting ILDs aside, there do seem to be similarities in the ways that YLs learn, and one such
example of this is in the way social interaction seems to boost cognitive development (Tough
1991:213).
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In the case of language learning social interaction seems to be especially important, indeed
Farrell (2009:25) identifies an unwillingness to orally participate in classes as being one of the
characteristics common to unsuccessful language learners. There could be numerous reasons
why some YLs prefer not to speak out in classes, but a lack of ‘motivation’ and ‘self-confidence’
along with high levels of ‘anxiety’ among YLs seem to be contributory factors (Ellis 1985:263). In
addition to these factors there may be other, less obvious reasons, and Glover (2010:71)
identifies one such possibility as relating to the perceptions of the learners about how ‘relevant’
or ‘interesting’ the teacher’s questions may be to them. Glover (2010:71) also points out that
some YLs may become reluctant to speak out in situations where they perceive themselves as
being scrutinised or ‘assessed’.
Reflecting on personal experiences; frequently, when discussions have taken place with parents
who are concerned by the seeming passivity of their children, a request has been made to
relocate the child into the FZ- closer to the teacher. These intuitions by parents seem to tally
well with the experiences of Bailey and Nunan (1996:134) who explain how students sitting in
the FZ may benefit by being kept focussed and perhaps motivated ‘to work better’ because the
FZ ‘falls within the attention zone of the teacher’. Conversely, the benefits of being seated in the
FZ seem to be absent when considering the BZ, which Bailey and Nunan (1996:135) regard as
having an ‘atmosphere’ which may be ‘distracting and nonconducive to work’.
Description of the context
The setting for this AR was a privately-owned EFL school in Taiwan. All of the students are
Taiwanese FL learners aged between six and eight years old, who attend four classes per week.
The participating class has a roll of fifteen YLs of which twelve are female and three male. The
teacher fronting the class is a native English speaker. Within this school there occurs some
rotation of classrooms and because of the differences in sizes of the rooms this sometimes
affects the arrangement of student seating.
Within each of the observed classes, the teacher took what Farrell (2009:71) calls a ‘whole-class
learning’ approach. This meant that the classes were ‘teacher-led’ inasmuch as the teacher
controlled who spoke and when- meaning there was almost no opportunity for peer
communication in the target language (Farrell 2009:73).
In terms of the questions posed to the YLs by the teacher, the vast majority could be classified as
‘display questions’ which were in the main intended to elicit brief, predictable answers from the
YLs (Nunan 1991:194).
Description of the research strategy and its relationship to the research question
This AR followed Wallace’s (1998:1) reflective practitioner model in that it was designed to be
small in scale and sought to harvest results that were specific to the context in which it was
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carried out. This AR also sought to satisfy the dual principles of validity and reliability and so
every effort was made to ensure that this AR actually researched what it set out to research,
using methods that were appropriate to the task (Wallace 1998: 17).
Reliability was achieved by employing appropriate data gathering procedures that theoretically
could produce consistent results if used by different researchers (Wallace 1998:36). Within this
AR, reliable, quantitative data was gathered through the combined use of video recording and
observation checklists.
So that both teacher and YL behaviour during the observations might be considered reliable and
natural, the researcher made preliminary visits to the participating class where the researcher
sat in on lessons and where video-recording equipment was set up. The purpose of these visits
was to let the YLs get used to the presence of both the researcher and recording equipment in
the classroom. Another strategy that was used with the intention of ensuring reliability was the
trialling of data gathering tools such as recording equipment, checklists and questionnaires to
ensure that they worked as they were envisaged to.
Once the formal, recorded observations were underway, the researcher attempted to ensure
the reliability of results and reduce the chances of single, freak performances by participants
distorting results by observing and collecting data from two sessions before moving onto the
next cycle or change.
Description and justification of research techniques used
Van Lier (1988:56) explains that there are two primary ways in which information about teaching
and learning can be gathered- by asking questions of those involved and by observing what
actually happens in classrooms. The research techniques used in this AR sought to incorporate
both of these approaches- through the use of interviews, questionnaires, recording devices and
checklists.
Video and audio
Farrell (2009:31) asserts that because of the unreliability of the human memory, recordings are
essential for the collection of ‘concrete classroom communication data’.
During each session, and so that the entire classroom scene could be recorded, the video
camera was set up in a single ‘fixed position’ (van Lier 1988:239). These video and audio
recordings were made primarily so that the researcher would be able to freeze each scene after
questions had been asked by the teacher and accurately count the YLs’ hands that were being
raised. Recordings were also made of individual interviews with the YLs, which enabled the
researcher to go over student responses in his own time and ensure that the data collected was
accurate.
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AR Journal
An AR journal was kept to record general observations by the researcher during the AR.
Information contained within this journal particularly helped inform the researcher in situations
where feedback coming from the teacher and the students conflicted, where the teacher’s
perception regarding the YLs’ willingness to attend class and confidence in speaking English are
at odds. In such cases notes made by the researcher helped him decide which data he
considered to be more reliable and valid.
Student Interviews
The purpose of these interviews was to try to understand something about the YLs’ attitudes to
English language learning. In an effort to elicit unselfconscious, honest feedback and optimise
the reliability of that feedback the interviews were conducted without the class teacher being
present. Instead, interviews were conducted by the researcher and a female member of staff
known to the children. Also, so that clarity could be ensured, questions were sometimes
translated into the YLs’ mother tongue.
Checklists
Checklists in the form of classroom floor plans were used to record which YLs were occupying
which seats and which of these YLs were raising their hands to try and answer questions. The
checklists were used both in real time and later while looking through recorded footage.
Questionnaires
The class teacher was given a questionnaire, the objective of which was to gather data related to
the target group and the sort of classroom layouts that would be most valid for the collection of
baseline data and the change sessions of the AR.
Findings
Assumptions
Before the data collection began the assumption of the researcher was that students who were
seated in close proximity to the teacher might be more motivated to participate orally than if
they were seated more remotely from him. If this assumption were proven to be correct, it was
felt that it might provide the class teacher with knowledge that could particularly benefit those
students suffering from low levels of motivation, ability or confidence.
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Overall group findings
Data relating to the zones in the classroom from which the YLs raised their hands most reveal,
perhaps surprisingly, that three YLs were most active when seated in the BZ. Meanwhile, five YLs
raised their hands most when seated in the FZ, and the remaining six YLs (for whom complete
data was available) performed uniformly wherever they were seated.
The initial results did not seem to reveal any concrete patterns regarding the effects of seating
students in close proximity to the teacher- If anything, the data seems to emphasise ILDs, and so
in a bid to uncover behavioural patterns the researcher decided to triangulate the range of
collected data by categorising the YLs into groups based on Williams and Burden’s (1997:88) list
of ILDs.
Motivation
Of the fifteen YLs within the group there were four who indicated some reluctance regarding
attending English classes. Counter to previous assumptions, none of these participants raised
their hands more frequently when seated close to the teacher. By comparison, of the remaining
eleven YLs who were willing attendees, four raised their hands more frequently when seated in
the FZ. These results seem to suggest that for the YLs within this target group there were no
clear motivational benefits to seating unwilling attendees closer to the teacher, while for some
individual willing attendees there did appear to be some benefits.
Aptitude
At the beginning of the AR the teacher identified nine students as being of higher ability and six
students as being of lower ability. Of the eight higher ability students for whom complete data
was available results again seem inconclusive, with three raising their hands more frequently in
the FZ, two in the BZ and another three raising their hands with uniform frequency in both
zones. Perhaps tellingly, the breakdown for lower ability students was almost exactly the same.
These results may imply that higher and lower ability groups of students within this group
behave in similarly disparate ways when seated in close and distant proximity to the teacher.
Confidence
The teacher identified five of the YLs as being confident English speakers. Generally, this group
did seem to respond to sitting in the FZ; with two YLs raising their hands more frequently there
and a further two performing uniformly in both the FZ and BZ.
Results for the less confident YLs seems to reveal no clear pattern, however; instead there is an
even breakdown between those who raised their hands most frequently in the FZ and those who
raised their hands most frequently in the BZ.
Gender
In common with the groupings seen above, no clear patterns have emerged relating to the
respective gender groups with a fairly even spread of YLs raising their hands most in the FZ and
BZ.
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Combinations of factors
Ultimately, the category of students who seemed to respond most to being seated closer to the
teacher belong to the ‘willing female attendee’ group, of whom four YLs raised their hands more
frequently from the FZ. Contrastingly, of the ‘unwilling female attendees’, none raised their
hands more frequently when seated in the FZ.
The next categories of YLs that were examined were gender and confidence-related. Results of
these groups showed that there was a fairly even distribution of participants who raised their
hands most in each seating zone, and so once again conclusive patterns could not be discerned.
General findings regarding the zones
By temporarily putting aside the focus on individual YLs, and by focusing instead on data related
to the zones and in particular to each of the fifteen seats within the classroom it is perhaps
possible to discern something of a pattern. Results reveal that four of the five seats from which
occupants raised their hands most are located on the front row of the FZ.
These results do not reveal a particularly neat pattern however, as there are some glaring
anomalies. Occupancy of the seat in the middle of the front row for instance did not seem
stimulate occupants to raise their hands especially frequently, whereas one seat on the right
side of the BZ did.
This AR set out to investigate the extent to which the proximity of the YLs to the teacher may
affect their willingness to participate orally (as signaled by their raising of hands) in classes.
Subsequent analysis of the data collected, however, has failed to identify clear patterns
pertaining to the individual participants; instead, what seems to emerge is just how random and
individual the results are.
By analysing the data from a seating plan rather than an individual, human perspective,
however, a pattern does emerge. The greater frequency with which those seated in the front
row raised their hands seems to suggest that YLs who sit at the front row will probably raise
their hands more often than those sitting elsewhere.
Taking the group as a whole; and while there were some students who raised their hands more
frequently when seated in the BZ, overall, for the majority of YLs being seated in the FZ did not
seem to negatively impact the frequency of their hand-raising, and for a significant number it
seemed to stimulate the frequency of their hand-raising.
Touching briefly on the issue of student choice; by triangulating data related to how the YLs felt
about being rotated around the classroom, only two YLs raised their hands more frequently in
the seating zone that they identified as preferring to sit in, whereas five YLs may have raised
their hands more frequently in zones counter to the one they expressed a preference for.
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Implications
In the interests of fairness to all of the YLs in the group it could be argued that all should be
given opportunity to sit at the front of the classroom as this could have benefits on their
motivation to raise their hands, and ultimately, speak out.
While making seating rotation mandatory and part of this class’s routine would seem to offer
benefits to the majority, it may not suit all participants as there were a number of students who
raised their hands more when seated at the back of the room. Alternatively, giving the YLs a
choice about where to sit or whether to rotate does not seem to be a cut and dried issue either.
The results seem to give reason to doubt whether these YLs can be relied upon to make all
decisions about what may be best for them.
References
Bailey, K.M., & Nunan, D. (eds.). (1996). Voices from the language classroom: Qualitative
research on second language education. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Farrell, T.S.C (2009) Talking, Listening, and Teaching: A Guide to Classroom Communication.
Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Fisher, R. (2005). Teaching Children to Learn. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.
Glover, M. (2010) An Investigation into the possible influences that persuade Young
Learners to attempt, or not attempt, to participate in class discussions. Teaching English
To Young Learners Fourth International TEYL Research Seminar 2007 Papers. York: Dept
of Educational Studies, University of York.
Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learned. (3rd ed.). Oxford:
London: Longman.
Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology. Oxford: Phoenix.
Oxford University Press.
Tongue (Eds.) Teaching English to Children From Practice to Principle (pp. 213-227).
Tough, J. (1991). Young children learning languages. In C. Brumfit, J. Moon, and R.
van Lier, L. (1988). The Classroom and the Language Learner. London: Longman
Wallace, M. (1998). Action Research for Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Williams, M. and Burden, R.L. (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers. Cambridge:
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What an Attitude!: Factors Affecting
Teenagers’ Attitudes towards Foreign
Language Learning
Zoë Evans, CfBT, SM PAP Hajah Rashidah, [email protected]
Z…Z
….Z…Z. What is that noise?! Oh dear! 9AP2 have fallen asleep again! If I sit very still
the hour will be over and…….hang on, what am I saying? What a terrible attitude! Oh, it’s O.K. I
just got carried away with my reoccurring dream about finding a cure for sleeping student
syndrome. Alas, my research did not reveal a magic cure but it did investigate the reasons
behind students’ attitudes towards language learning.
Although my research is U.K. based with examples of European foreign language learning, I
believe that attitude is a global issue with many correlations between the attitudes held by
European foreign learners and our ESL learners here in Brunei. In my September article, I spoke
about how AfL (Assessment for Learning) is inextricably linked to the concepts of SPN21. The
same can be said for learner attitudes. If the school education system aims to develop the
potential of the individual so that they are able to cope confidently with the daily demands of
life in a technological and information rich society (MOE website – The New 21st Century
National Curriculum Brunei Darussalam) it is our job to understand and reform their attitudes so
that they can achieve their full potential.
Context of the Research Project
I carried out my research in August 2006 whilst studying for my MA in Sociolinguistics (Language,
Society and Change in Europe) at Queen Mary University of London. My dissertation, entitled
A Great Feast of Languages (Shakespeare,W., Love’s Labour’s Lost, v.i., 39), is the
product of my personal concerns with the state of foreign language learning in Great
Britain. As a Modern Languages graduate and teacher of English as a foreign language, I
hoped to make a small contribution to raising the profile of language learning through
this study of attitudes towards foreign languages.
The project attempted to identify what attitudes teenagers have with regard to foreign language
learning, the reasons why they have these attitudes and suggests strategies which could change
negative attitudes. Data were gathered via student questionnaires and teacher focus-group
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interviews. The research was carried out firstly in a pilot school then the revised instruments
were used in a second school. The report concluded that the research questions were valid ones
and that there are numerous affective factors which form teenagers’ attitudes towards language
learning.
In this article I have taken some extracts from my research project and discuss the following
factors affecting attitudes: gender, socioeconomic background, personality type, satisfaction
with language lessons and exposure to language. I am convinced that the last two factors are
those that our teaching can influence the most. Whilst reading about each of the factors I would
urge you to bear in mind your own classes and teaching experience, as I have done, and reflect
on how these factors affect their learning.
What’s With the Attitude?
‘In the bias of our own culture-bound world view, we too often picture other cultures
in an oversimplified manner, lumping cultural differences into exaggerated categories, and then
view every person in a culture as possessing stereotypical traits’ (Brown 2000:178).
As the above quotation exemplifies, most people have certain preconceived views of those
belonging to different cultural groups from themselves. These stereotypes and overgeneralisations, whether they are true or false, are frequently extended to the languages people
speak and subsequently affect attitudes towards language learning. Negative attitudes are often
the result of unreliable indirect contact to the culture, such as media sources. Such attitudes
may lead to decreased motivation and input, therefore leading to a lack of proficiency (Brown
2000:181). Gardner and Lambert’s 1972 study (cited in Brown 2000:181) revealed that an
English-speaking Canadian’s positive attitude towards French-Canadians will result in a
propensity to learn French. Similarly, Sherer & Wertheimer (1964, cited in Larsen-Freeman et
al.1991:175) showed that American students’ positive attitudes towards Germans and towards
themselves speaking German were correlated with proficiency in German.
Significantly, attitudinal factors have relatively little influence on childhood second or
foreign languages acquisition, because attitudes are not fully developed in young learners
(Macnamara 1973: 37, Genesee & Hamayan 1980, cited in Larson-Freeman et al.1991:175).
Perhaps in our experience of teaching in the Brunei context it could be argued that there is an
attitude of complacency with regard to developing a proficient knowledge of English rather than
an attitude of preconceptions and stereotypes.
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Improving Attitudes
Attitudes towards the learning situation are a major contributing factor with regard to successful
language learning (Schumann & Schumann 1977, cited in Larsen-Freeman et al. 1991:179).
Attitude is often confused with ability, or lack of ability is given as an excuse for not making an
effort, resulting in commonly-heard phrases such as, (Crystal 2003:18) ‘I’m not good at
languages’ or ‘I never got on with my ........ teacher’.
Teachers’ attitudes play a key role in the quality and quantity of the learning which takes place
(Larsen-Freeman et al.1991:179). Interestingly, Tucker & Lambert (1973, cited in LarsenFreeman et al.1991:179) claim that teacher attitudes are more influential than parent attitudes
regarding the outcome of language instruction. If teacher and learner agendas oppose each
other, the learner can develop negative attitudes, which can lead to the learner abandoning the
course of study (or just going to sleep!).
Can the teaching environment and resources help to bring about a more positive attitude
towards language learning? Whilst teacher-pupil personality clashes may be difficult to
overcome, creative teaching methods which place the language in a realistic and cultural
context, alongside up-to-date and user-friendly course books, authentic materials and use of ICT
(Information Communication Technology), could sway learner attitudes towards the positive
(see Morgan & Neil 2001:6-8,29-36, 85-106). I will discuss creative resources in later sections of
this article.
Factors Affecting Attitudes
Gender
Languages in particular have been dismissed by boys as ‘feminine subjects with feminine topics’
(Callaghan 1998, cited in Morgan & Neil 2001:133). When GCSE foreign language learning was
compulsory, between 1995 and 2004, figures showed that A-level language study was not
popular with boys, suggesting they stopped this subject as soon as possible (Clark 1998, cited in
Morgan & Neil 2001:133). In their study, Carr & Pauwels (2006:65) asked boys to rank-order
subjects, resulting in languages coming near the bottom of the table just above food technology.
When questioned about their choices, the respondents repeatedly replied that ‘real boys don’t
do languages’, even when provided with contrary examples.
Research in the field of gender differences has traditionally shown women to have an
enhanced performance on verbal tasks and men on spatial tasks (Maccoby & Jacklin
1979, Tittle 1986, cited in Baker & MacIntyre 2000:319) which could explain why
languages are perceived by males as feminine. Peer pressure is another explanatory
variable for this ‘gendering’ of subjects (Wertheim 1995, cited in Carr & Pauwels
2006:64, since Elwood and Gipps (1999, cited in Morgan & Neil 2001: 133) found that
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boys in single-sex schools had a more positive attitude to languages than their
contemporaries in mixed-sex schools. Carr & Pauwels (2006:65-66) discovered that
parents are also responsible for perpetuating traditional stereotypes. Furthermore, boys
themselves believe that the female sex have attributes suitable to language study (Carr
& Pauwels 2006:66-67). Comments included: girls being smarter and having the
appropriate brain structures for studying a ‘hard’ subject such as languages, girls being
able to concentrate for longer, being able to multi-task, having the confidence to ask for
help, having better relationships with teachers than boys.
Conversely, in my classes I find the boys to be enthusiastic and keen to participate yet when it
comes to assessments they are often out-performed by their quieter female counterparts. In the
September edition of the Tropical English Teacher, Emma Rooney (Combating The Gender Gap)
discussed some useful ideas with regard to improving boys' learning. I think that this is an area
which requires constant focus.
Socioeconomic Background
The 2005 Ofsted Report for Modern Foreign Languages revealed that in schools where
large numbers of pupils were entitled to free school meals, under half of pupils continued with a
foreign language at GCSE level (Ofsted Subject Report 2003/2004: Modern Foreign Languages in
Secondary schools, HMI 2430, Feb. 2005). Bearing this fact in mind, it was predicted that the
socioeconomic background of the pupils in this project would no doubt have an impact upon the
data obtained. Socioeconomics is a broad area to cover, therefore this study decided to
investigate one particular area which has proven to be influential upon young people: that of
parent attitudes
Numerous studies have analysed the role of parent attitudes. Gardner (1960, cited in
Larsen-Freeman et al.1991:178) revealed that English speaking students in Montreal who learnt
French as a foreign language had attitudes towards French Canadians which resembled those of
their parents. Feenstra (1969, cited in Larsen-Freeman et al.1991:178) discovered that such
attitudes impacted upon achievement in learning French. Stern (1967, cited in Larsen-Freeman
et al.1991:178) produced similar evidence from his Welsh study: success in Welsh-medium
schools was directly linked to parental attitudes towards the Welsh language.
In their study of Year 9 foreign language learners, Lee et al. (1998: 45-46) asked respondents
what their parents thought about their learning a foreign language, a similar question to that
asked in this research project. Although the responses merely reflect respondents’ knowledge of
their parents’ opinions and not the actual view that parents have, this type of question does
allow the researcher to gain an insight into the impact of a respondent’s socioeconomic
background upon their attitudes. The findings in Lee et al. (1998:45) report that 61% of
respondents claimed their parents’ attitudes to be positive, comprising 48% as positive and 13%
as very positive.
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Parental contact and support is an area which we frequently discuss here in Brunei. At the SBAfL
workshops, which took place this summer, it was a hotly debated topic in which we discussed
better means of communication with parents in order to make them more involved with student
learning.
Personality Type
Foreign language users with high self-perceived competence, or self-esteem, could display more
positive attitudes to the target language. High levels of self-perceived competence are linked to
an extrovert personality type and lack of anxiety, willingness to communicate and frequency of
communication (MacIntyre et al. 1998, cited in Dewaele 2005:124, see also Brown 2000:146),
‘In short, self-esteem is a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes that
individuals hold towards themselves’ (Coopersmith 1967, cited in Brown 2000:145).
Heyde 1979 (cited in Brown 2000:146) found that self-esteem correlated positively with oral
production performance. He also suggested that teachers can have a positive influence on selfperceived competence and thereby linguistic performance. Watkins et al. 1991, Brodkey & Shore
1976, and Gardner & Lambert 1972 (cited in Brown 2000:146) all concluded that self-esteem is
an important factor in second language acquisition, especially with regard to cross-cultural
factors such as culture shock and acculturation (see Brown 2000:182-185).
Bley-Vroman (1989:41-68) claims that adult foreign language learners are affected by affective
factors yet children are not. Similarly, Heyde 1983 (Bley-Vroman 1989:41-68) shows a
correlation between proficiency and self-esteem in adult learners, just as Naiman, Frohlich,
Stern & Todesco (1978, cited in van Els et al.1984:121-122) reported a lack of self-confidence
among less successful second language learners. However, these affective factors must be
present in childhood, as children do not have an equal and perfect self-esteem. My project
aimed to dispute Bley-Vroman’s theory, attempting to prove that adolescents’ attitudes are
affected by self-esteem.
Similarly, foreign language learners who are less anxious may have a better attitude to the
target language. Anxiety is linked to ‘feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt,
apprehension, or worry’ (Scovel 1978, cited in Brown 2000:151). Foreign language anxiety has
been defined as follows (Horwitz et al. 1986, MacIntyre & Gardner 1989, cited in Brown
2000:151):

communication apprehension: ‘learners’ inability to adequately express mature
thoughts and ideas’

fear of negative social evaluation: ‘learners’ need to make a positive social
impression on others’

test anxiety: ‘apprehension over academic evaluation’
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MacIntyre et al. (1997: 265-287) concluded that respondents who felt more anxious
rated their proficiency lower. Dewaele (2002, cited in Dewaele 2005:123) reported that
subjects who performed high on extroversion scored low on levels of communicative
anxiety.
Conversely, although anxiety is frequently perceived as having ‘a negative *debilitative+ effect on
the language learning process’ (MacIntyre & Gardner 1991, cited in Brown 2000:151), it can have
a facilitative effect as it keeps the learner alert and stimulated so that they perform well (Brown
2000:151, see also Ehrman & Oxford 1995, Young 1992, Horwitz 1990).
When I think about the classes I teach, their lack of self-esteem to practise speaking definitely
hinders their progress. To counteract this, from next year the English Department at Lumut are
implementing drama, speech and debate activities that will be practised by the different year
groups during specific terms. They will then perform in assemblies and inter-class competitions.
It is hoped that this greater exposure to speaking will boost confidence and have a subsequently
positive effect on performance and progress.
Satisfaction with Language Lessons
Research has shown that there is a correlation between satisfaction with lessons and
achievement in foreign language learning. Sawhney’s study in Delhi (1988:122-125) of students
learning German as a foreign language measured, amongst other variables, satisfaction with
teaching methods. The results showed that satisfaction with the learning situation correlated
positively with achievement (based on examination scores), suggesting it is important to be
satisfied in order to obtain a high level of achievement. Dörnyei (2003:24) emphasises the
importance of increasing learner satisfaction as a key part of motivational teaching practice.
My project aimed to reveal any links between satisfaction with language lessons and attitude
towards the foreign language, assuming that a high level of satisfaction cannot only be equated
with achievement and motivation, as exemplified by Sawhney and Dörnyei, but also with a
positive attitude. This assumption is made owing to the correlation between motivation,
achievement and attitudes to the learning situation, the teacher, materials and activities, and
the target-language community (Coleman et al. 2005:41). This link between motivation and
attitudes was first revealed by Gardner & Lambert (1959, cited in Hamers et al.1989:236).
Despite the fact that Oller et al. (cited in Hamers et al. 1989:236) dismissed the positive
connection between motivation and achievement, Gardner (1980) and Clément & Kruidenier
(1983) refute this claim on the basis of methodological weakness (cited in Hamers et al.
1989:236).
Motivating our students is an issue that is frequently discussed amongst teachers in Brunei.
Focusing on creative teaching materials has a huge impact on engaging student interest so we
are very fortunate to have so many resources available to use. To mention but a few, the SBAfL
workshops highlighted numerous innovative methodologies and tasks, some of which I
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discussed in my September article; there is an up-and-coming instant project booklet being
produced by Nik Clark and Andrew Dowling (look out for Shoebox Zoo which Nik and I
collaborated on); Linda Galbraith’s writing journal; Jean Kiekopf `s Differentiation DVD (you may
have been shown extracts from this during your Orientation Course); and not forgetting your
own homemade tasks: I recently wrote some role-play activities for my year 7s in which they
had to take on the roles of a pyramid and a Senet board.
Exposure to Language
Frequent users of a foreign language may well have a more positive attitude towards it. This is
related to their amount of exposure to the target language (TL): number of lessons per week,
amount of work carried out at home/outside lessons, reading in TL, exchanges, holidays in TL
country. Personality type may be an additional factor: Extroverts’ relaxed attitude towards oral
communication may positively affect their attitude as they tend to be sociable, outgoing,
gregarious, talkative, risk-taking individuals (Dewaele& Furnham 2000, cited in Dewaele
2005:122). Yet, extroverts are not always talkative,
‘Extroversion is the extent to which a person has a deep-seated need to receive egoenhancement, self-esteem, and a sense of wholeness from other people as opposed to receiving
that affirmation within oneself ’ (Brown 2000:155).
However, the link between extroversion and proficiency is a very tenuous one. Whilst Chastain
1975 (cited in van Els et al.1984:121-122) concluded that outgoing personality was related to
course grades, Tucker et al.1976 (ibid.) found that achievement in listening and oral skills was
associated with being adventurous and using the target language in the community, whereas
Naiman et al.1978 (ibid.) reported no relationship between French proficiency and
Introversion/Extroversion.
In order to facilitate a greater exposure to the English language I have started a U.K. e-mail penpal scheme with my 7B class. This scheme has four key objectives: to challenge this higher ability
group, enhance their ICT skills, give them an insight into U.K. culture and, most importantly, give
them the opportunity to consolidate their English skills whether they are extroverts or not. Our
English Department has additional plans to develop proficiency: we will be starting a newsletter,
spelling competitions and developing English across the curriculum so that all staff are
promoting accurate and fluent use of the language. Exciting opportunities for our students who
take French as a foreign language are the Alliance Française Film Viewings and the French Fun
Day (22nd November 2010) organised by Stephen Gregory at STPRI.
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Future Prospects
The future of language learning and teaching appears to be a gloomy one. According to the U.K.
teachers in my project, linguistic dominance of English leads to a lack of instrumental reasons to
learn modern foreign languages and consequently results in a general lack of motivation and
poor attitude with regard to languages. It seems as if today’s young people in hte U.K. fail to
recognise the benefits of language learning: communication skills, cognitive skills of spelling,
rote learning and learning of grammar; including the learning of the grammar of one’s native
language, and not least cultural knowledge. My project recognised the possibility of fewer future
linguists resulting in fewer future language teachers, not to mention loss of business
opportunities. With school and university language departments already closing, could modern
foreign languages in Britain die the same death as Latin?
In order to reverse this decline, strategies in the U.K. have already been put into place at topdown levels. Organisations such as CILT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching and
Research) and the Council of Europe are persistently working to raise the profile of languages.
Many colleges offer F.L.A.W (Foreign Languages At Work) courses, some universities offer
business language modules as part of foreign language degrees, and GCSE topics have been
updated to be more relevant to young people’s lives and to try to make topics less ‘feminine’.
The focus is on practical and contemporary issues, such as writing a C.V., discussing work
experience, dangers of drugs, awareness of healthy eating, instead of topics such as ‘at the train
station’ and ‘youth hostelling’, which are seen by many pupils as outdated and irrelevant.
Research in Scotland (www.hmis.scotoff.gov.uk/riu) has already recommended the use of
languages in combination with topics such as ICT and Business Studies in order to show young
people the importance of languages in an increasingly mobile European and international
climate.
However, in the drive to modernise language teaching there is a danger that the importance of
cultural and literary studies will be overlooked. The knowledge of a language as a
communication tool is redundant without the ability to understand a culture. With careful
thought and preparation we can also teach our Bruneian pupils about suitable cultural aspects,
as I am doing though my e-mail pen-pal scheme.
To end on an optimistic note for language learning in Brunei, the CDD English Subject Committee
is hard at work drafting new marking criteria and innovative in-class Common Assessment Tasks
for year 7 and 8 (yes, you did read that correctly – more formative and less summative
assessment).
So until I find my cure for sleeping student syndrome, I just need to wake up my students so I
can carry on trying out some more of the fascinating lesson ideas and resources available to
us.........
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References
Baker, S.C & MacIntyre, P.D. (2000), “The Role of Gender and Immersion in Communication and
Second Language Learning”, Language Learning (50), pp.311-341
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989), What is the logical problem of foreign language learning?, in: Gass, S.M.
& Schachter, J.(eds), Linguistic Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, Cambridge
University Press
Brown, D.H. (2000), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 4th ed, Pearson Education,
Longman, New York
Carr, J. & Pauwels, A. (2006), Boys and Foreign Language Learning, Real Boys Don’t Do
Languages, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research www.cilt.org.uk
Coleman, J.A. & Klapper, J. (2005), Effective Teaching and Learning in Modern Languages,
Routledge, Abingdon
Council of Europe www.coe.int
Crystal, D. (2003), English as a Global Language, Cambridge University Press
Dewaele, J.M. (2005), “Sociodemographic, Psychological and Polticocultural Correlates in
Flemish Students’ Attitudes towards French and English”, Journal of Multilingual and
Multicultural Development vol. 26, no. 2, 2005
Dörnyei, Z. (2003), “Attitudes, Orientations, and Motivations in Language Learning: Advances in
Theory, Research, and Applications”, Language Learning (53), pp.3-32
Gardner, R.C. (1985), Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Roles of Attitudes
and Motivation, Edward Arnold, London
Hamers, J.F. & Blanc, M.H.A. (1989), Bilinguality & Bilingualism, Cambridge University Press
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M.H. (1991), An Introduction To Second Language Acquisition
Research, Longman, Harlow
Lee, J., Buckland, D. & Shaw, G. (1998), The Invisible Child: The Responses and Attitudes to the
Learning of Foreign Languages Shown by Year 9 Pupils of Average Ability, CILT, London
MacIntyre, P.D., Noels, K.A. & Clément, R. (1997), “Biases in Self-Ratings of Second Language
Proficiency. The Role of Language Anxiety”, Language Learning (47:2), pp.265-287
Ministry of Education Brunei, The New 21st Century National Curriculum Brunei Darussalam
Available: www.moe.edu.bn/web/spn21 (Accessed: 2010, September 21st)
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Morgan, C. & Neil, P. (2001), Teaching Modern Foreign Languages, Kogan Page, London
Ofsted Subject Report 2003/2004: Modern Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools HMI 2430,
Feb. 2005 Available: www.ofsted.gov.uk (Accessed: 2006, April 22)
Sawhney, C. (1988), The Role of Attitudes and Motivation in Foreign Language Learning: The
Case of German in India, in: Agnihotri, R.K., Khanna, A.L. & Sachdev, I (eds), Social Psychological
Perspectives in Second Language Acquisition, Sage, New Delhi, pp.119-129
Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (1999), “Foreign Languages in the Upper
Secondary School. A Study of the Causes of Decline”, Interchange 59 Available:
www.hmis.scotoff.gov.uk/riu (Accessed: 2006, June 27)
Shakespeare,W., Love’s Labour’s Lost, v.i., 39
van Els, T., Bongaerts, T., Extra, G., van Os, C., Janssen-van Dieten, A.M., (1984), Applied
Linguistics and the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Edward Arnold, London
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SERENDIPITOUS ACCIDENTAL ACTION
RESEARCH
Linda Galbraith, CfBT, SM SMJA, [email protected]
In first term 2009 I wrote a letter to my classes and asked them what is the hardest thing to do in
English and overwhelmingly the answer was composition. I asked what is hard about
composition and the answer was “thinking, ideas, what to write.”
In term 4 2010 I wrote a letter to each class and there were five questions to which the students
replied. The questions were: What have been the highlights of the two years for you? What will
you most remember about our English lessons? What was the hardest thing about learning
English? What would you like to be remembered for most? What do you hope to do in the
future?
The following is a compilation of the student responses.
HIGHLIGHTS
The two highlights for each class were the journal and the Hiking Club. “I loved to write my
journal, I felt relaxed and it made me laugh when I read it back.” “In the Hiking Club we had fun
and we challenged ourselves to reach the top. We enjoyed having our pictures taken.”
Other highlights from 5B included “getting us involved with events such as the music workshops”
(guitar and flute, harp and flute and violins) “the concerts and music workshops”, “the Brunei
Traditional Music Concert”, “ the concerts built up a passion for music”, “the musical The King
and I at The Empire theatre”, “teaching us how to score high points in Scrabble”, “ forcing us to
watch movies like The Perfect Storm”, “ exciting movies such as A Knight’s Tale”, “ King Kong
both versions the new and the old black and white”, “ I enjoyed and was always looking forward
to our English lesson,” “ me and my fellow classmates made a special bond with you and we
wished that every day would have an English period”, “reading books and writing reviews but
most of all the journal writing”, “ SCOPE workshop 2009”, “ISB-BGIC conferences”, “making
board games with my friends was fun.”
From 5S: “we express our feelings by writing our journal for you to read”, “started to like English
because of you”, “movies and writing about them (King Kong both versions)”, “really enjoyed
your class and having extra class outside the school”, “the board games made by ourselves about
The Hound of the Baskervilles”, “my English improved”, “the way you teach us, love your stories
the most, you care about us.”
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From 5F: “Besides giving us an education I feel like its enjoying to have you as my teacher”,
“having fun in class”, “I understand when you read the story with your actions”, “you taught us a
lot of general knowledge”, “truly love when we write the journal”, “the way you taught me gives
me inspiration, sometimes your stories cure my sadness”, “the walkathon because at the finish
line we took our pictures together”, “the guitar workshop when Richard Hand signed my guitar
and our story was in the newspaper”, “the SCOPE Clinic at STPRI”, “everything changed – the
journal changed my English”, “the journal encourages me and teaches me to think for ideas and
it helps me to become someone with stronger imagination”, “many highlights – wrote many
compositions and improved my writing and speaking”, “watching movies”, “playing Scrabble”
and “hiking at Tasek Lama.”
MEMORIES
Many of the memories are similar to the highlights The recurrent memories are the journal and
the Hiking Club and that they had fun in English. One student (5F) wrote “the journal made me
realize that English is not so hard, it’s fun” and another (5S) wrote that “doing the English journal
made me aware of myself and who really I am.” A student in 5B and also a student in 5S noted
that “the first lesson you wrote a letter to us and took pictures and now the last lesson you wrote
another letter to us and asked us to reply.” Many students commented that writing the journal
“improved my English.” Many students also mentioned my three rules: 1.Be polite 2. Speak
English 3. Just do it and K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Students)
Other memories from 5B include: “your stories, your laugh, your jokes, your souvenirs.” “You
taught me not to be dependent on friends, you made me strong and brave, you gave me courage
to talk.” “I have learned the meaning of life and have had fun with my class.” “The way you
express your feeling in teaching us has been effective to me and I think I have improve a lot.”
“When you went back to Australia the class secretly missing you.” “You made things we did
together fun and interesting.” “As a teacher you gave me inspiration that I could be anything I
want to be.” “Classes were never dull.” “You care and help us break through all obstacles.”
“Sharing your knowledge with us.” “Your three rules – we made you proud of the third.” “Journal
writing because I made friendships in live.journal.”
5S: “You have been kind, patient and understanding with us especially the boys”, “I loved playing
Scrabble – it made my brain work hard to find out the best words”, “I had a good time with you”,
“your three rules especially the third so now every time I want to do something, I just do it”,
“your smile”, “your journal comments”, “you made us read books”, “watching movies”, “You
made me realize English is not so hard – it’s fun”, “your teaching style is different – you are my
first foreign teacher”, “hari raya celebration and your baju fesyen.”
5F: “your laugh”, “your smile”, “your three rules”, “watching movies”, “reading books”,
“chocolates from Australia”, “the smell of your perfume”, “your sayings – they have become my
favourite quotes”, “when you told your stories”, “your kindness and patience with our freaky
naughty attitude”, “doing the journal”, “my results improved in English”, “when reading my
journal in the future I will laugh and grin”, “Shidah’s birthday celebration at Nyonya Restaurant”,
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“your jokes”, “hiking together”, “Tasek Lama”, “laughed with classmates”, “playing games in
groups”, “I liked to do my journal”, “photos you took and gave to us”, “when you give smiles in
my journal”, “I enjoyed learning English.”
My philosophy of education is that we learn when we are having fun. My style is interactive and
communicative to make language acquisition real and relevant. My objectives in the classroom
and beyond are to give students opportunities to appropriate and use language in a meaningful
way. It seems that the activities we have done together have developed student confidence in
and appreciation of the English language.
HARDEST THING TO DO IN ENGLISH
These are the areas that students in all classes wrote were hardest: vocabulary, words,
understanding the words, comprehension, summary, paper 2, word order, spelling, “being
perfect”, “not to make things complicated, always choose the easiest way, it’s about simplicity
and accuracy. Reading is also important. Speaking fluently in a second language”,
“pronunciation”, “coming across a word I‘ve never heard before”, “at first I didn’t understand
when you spoke but I got used to it and now I watch DVDs with no subtitles”, “grammar”, “to
include new words in my writing”, “arranging words correctly before I speak”, “in summary
writing I don’t really know the important points”, “in comprehension understanding the stories
and the difficult words”, “doing comprehension by myself without you helping us because I don’t
know the meaning of the words.”
This is a major paradigm shift from term one 2009 when the hardest thing to do was write a
composition. This was not mentioned by any student in term four 2010. In fact nearly all
students in the letter of response wrote that they thought they had improved in English and that
they loved or enjoyed writing the journal. It seems that journal writing has had an enormous
impact in student confidence in English writing.
Just to give some numbers to this review, we did 24 journal entries in 2010. From 2009 to 2010
we did 18 past paper comprehensions and summaries in class which apparently has not built up
the same level of confidence for this task in the way that the journal writing promoted
confidence in composition writing. It is however a positive sign that the students themselves
have become aware of the importance of building a strong vocabulary so that they can
comprehend the texts.
TO BE REMEMBERED FOR MOST
This question was difficult for many students and only half of them responded.
5B “My journal entries”, “for the stories that I made”, “as a student who struggled to do his
best”, “my charming personality and sense of humour”, “as your assistant (monitor) who loved
helping you”, “as the guy who p__ u off in the first month of the first year but who now respects
you and shared some laughs with you when you were cracking jokes”, “as playful yet cute”, “as
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the so called ‘walking dictionary’ (by classmates) with a metallic smile (braces) who wished to
help people”, “as the most energetic student in your class”
5S “As a student who loved English”, “ as the quiet but polite girl sitting at the back of the
classroom”, “as the loud one”, “ for my smile”, “as a good boy - a kind person”, “my outgoing
personality”, “ eagerness in English”, “ enjoying the Hiking Club”
5F “That I’ve been a good student and done my study with good grades for my English as your
student”, “ the shy and quietest person in the class”, “ for spending time together especially in
the Hiking Club”
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
The hopes and aspirations of students included: “a simple life, to stay in Brunei, to get married,
to have kids”, “a bright future”, “to achieve my dreams”, “to master my English”, “to use your
stories to guide me.”
“To get an A in English”, “to get a Credit in English”, “ to pass O level”, “ to get a scholarship”, “
to go to sixth form”, “ to study overseas”, “to study in the UK”, “to study in Australia”, “ to study
sociology”
“To be a teacher like you”, “an English teacher”, “ a Geography teacher”, “ an Art teacher”
“To travel”, “ to go Australia”, “ to visit Japan”
“To make my parents proud”
“To meet RyoDa”
Career aspirations included: chartered accountant, forensic scientist, lawyer, designer, chemical
engineer, mechanical engineer, pilot, doctor, to own a bakery, to own a children’s nursery and to
have a business career
ACCIDENTAL FINDINGS
The most significant finding is the shift in student perception about what is hardest in English
from composition to comprehension. In reviewing journal writing each term I have been
privileged to have a window into the lives of my students and their approach to writing in
English. It is very edifying to read how much they have enjoyed writing their journals. Likewise I
enjoyed reading their journals which over time reflected their maturing as people and as writers.
I had no preconceived idea as to what they would say is the hardest thing to do in English and
was surprised at the consistency of the responses that said vocabulary, comprehension,
summary and paper 2. The implications for the future are to develop more strategies for
learning more words in dynamic and fun activities.
Comments by students about writing and reading their journals include: “I am proud I have
written so much” “I love writing my journal” “I realized I am an awesome person” “ I enjoyed
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writing my journal” “ It helps me improve” “ It was fun, enjoyable and interesting” “ It is easier
writing paper 1” “ It brings a smile to me” “ It was nice to read my teacher’s comments” “ the
journal felt like really talking to you” “I loved reading your thoughts about my writing and
experience, your words have inspired me”
An intrinsic element in the success of journal writing is the written interaction between writer
(student) and reader (teacher). The written response is essential to affirm the writer that the
words have been read, it validates the experience.
The use of emoticons, very much the language of today’s techno savvy generation also affirms
the writer of the awareness of their world. The emoticons were used as a response to the
content, not accuracy of language.
The second interesting finding is that students think they have improved. Errors were not
indicated. The process of “red lighting” and correcting every error is time consuming, counterproductive and demoralizing for most students. It is significant that students themselves think
that their writing is improving and overall it is because they are freed from the tyranny of the
red pen and the implications of failure. It allows them to write more and to experiment with
more complex ideas and sentence constructions.
The third finding is that students no longer feel that they have difficulty with ideas for
compositions. I think this may be because the range of topics is so wide and approaches to
responding include writing a story. The topics for each entry are structured so that different
types of questions are posed and different tenses are required for the responses. The model
from a student gives the weakest student a framework to follow. Initially some students copied
the text but as they became more familiar with the task and understood that they could write
their own story without fear of penalty they began to write about their experiences in their own
words, this being an essential skill requirement for answering some of the questions in paper 2
and certainly a desirable skill in summary writing.
I noted in my previous article (TET September 2010) that some students in their reflections
wrote that they thought the topics got easier each week. I find this curious because the topics
actually become more abstract. Perhaps these students found that writing was easier and
attributed ease to the topic rather than feeling more comfortable with the process.
Another surprise for me was the silence in the classroom each time I returned the journals. The
first time I thought maybe the Principal or some other important person must be at the door but
it was simply that the students were reading my comments. In third term some students started
allowing their friends to read their journals. Several students, mainly boys wrote in their
reflections that the journal was like having a friend to talk to and that they wouldn’t want other
people to read what they had written. We need to respect this and not betray any confidences.
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CONCLUSION
For me and my students journal writing has been a very positive and enjoyable experience that
“improves English” and certainly improves student confidence in writing in English. I commend
journal writing as an additional complementary strategy for engaging students in writing. Write
on.
Downloaded from: http://staff.esuhsd.org/danielle/english%20department%20lvillage/journals.html
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Issues
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WHAT ABOUT THE BOYS?
Toni Mills, CfBT, SMPDSM Mentiri, [email protected]
This discussion piece is the result of a couple of things that happened to me during the
September 2010 holidays. It is in no way intended to be a definitive piece on boys’ education;
instead it is an outcome of thinking about how boys learn based on my own observations and
experiences both in New Zealand and in Brunei. There are numerous articles and books
dedicated to the concern that many of us have about what our boys are doing in the classroom
and why some of them are disengaging from learning. My hope is to get feedback from other
teachers about their experiences and views about boys in their classrooms here to get a
measure of whether this is an important issue in Brunei.
I was prompted to put pen to paper by an incident that happened with my children on holiday
and coincidently by an article that appeared in the previous edition of this journal. These events
have caused me to think again about the issues that we have with educating boys.
While on holiday in September I came to an interesting realization. The teachers at ISB had
kindly allowed our children leave from school for the local term break with a request that a
holiday diary be kept. This diary became the bane of my existence for two weeks. Encouraging
my boys to focus their attention on the task in hand; coping with the ‘done it, not looking at it
again’ attitude; trying to extol the virtues of presentation as well as content I caught myself in
teaching mode. I was interacting with my young boys the same way as I teach boys in a
classroom setting who are seven or eight years older – dealing with the same issues in scarily the
same way. This got me thinking that despite changes in education and new curricula many (but
obviously not all) boys, throughout their time in our education systems seem to exhibit similar
behaviours in the classroom and these seem to have a consistency across ages and cultures.
They are behaviours that are competitive, physical, argumentative, challenging, at times
combative, attention-driven and above all noisy. These are the students who have the messiest
books, who often have no pens in class, whose homework is not done or left at home, who
doodle, daydream and procrastinate. These behaviours have a physicality that schools and
teachers often despair of. It’s pushing, shoving, swinging on chairs, making faces, punching
shoulders, pinching and fidgeting. It is the students who tap desks to drum beat rhythms, click
pens, drop pencils and make and throw all variety of paper products from aeroplanes to
smashed up balls of exercise book paper. It is the students who draw on themselves, their
desks, their bags, their clothes and others. It is the constant adjustment of uniforms and tapping
of feet. These actions are often accompanied by every type of sound that the human vocal
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organs can make - laughs, hoots, whistles, screams, snorts, groans and mimicry of every hue and
shade. They are behaviours that have an impact on the students themselves and their
attainment, their classmates and at times the sanity of their teachers.
At this time I also read with interest Emma Rooney’s article in the previous edition of this
journal. In it Emma examines the experience of a school in the UK and how it adapted its
programmes to respond to the learning needs of the boys. The article notes that “their (boys)
attainment in GCSE English, in the UK at least, is overall lower than that of girls”. It goes on to
outline the various ‘steps to success’ that a school had taken to try and address this gender gap
and suggested a range of measures and approaches that worked in the classroom.
In addition at the beginning of September the Borneo Bulletin also published a related article.
“Women learn, earn more than men” a grab taken off the AFP from Washington. Of course the
American system is quite different to New Zealand and Brunei but what struck me was the
similar conclusions that this study in America came to. The report concluded “that one reason
young, single women are overtaking men in terms of earnings is because girls are “going to
college in droves”. Nearly three-quarters of girls who complete high school go on to university,
compared to only two-thirds of boys. Women are one–and-a-half times more likely than men to
graduate from university and to obtain a masters degree or higher” the report says. “Census
data released in April showed that women overtook men in terms of holding advanced degrees
in 2000, with 58 percent of all US master’s degrees or PhDs awarded to women” (Saturday 4
September, 2010 pg 13).
So I started musing. Over the years I have changed the way I interact with boys in my
classrooms. I am far more forgiving of noise levels and far more accepting of messy scrawls and
battered books. I have found wonderful ideas jotted down the margins of the most abused
exercise books, in clear but unintended defiance of my plaintive pleas to “keep it on the line,
keep it small and keep it neat”. I have inadvertently caught profound and insightful utterances
from pupils I have believed haven’t listened to a word I have said. I spend more time now
listening rather than lecturing, facilitating rather than pontificating.
I have tried to develop an approach in the classroom that acknowledges and tries to
accommodate the boundless energy of the boys and channel it rather than trying to suppress it
and eradicate it via the various discipline avenues open to classroom teachers. In essence what I
now employ is a variety of strategies in dealing with boys in my classroom that try to engage the
boys with their work. What I realised long ago, as many teachers do, was that I could not expect
the boys to learn in the same fashion as the girls. That by accepting this rather than fighting
against it I was able to think about strategies that could be used to try to bring out the best in
my male students.
Below are some of the basic strategies I use in my classrooms that allow the students to engage
with their work more actively. These of course do not work all of the time but I have seen an
improvement in the attention span and on-task behaviour of the boys by employing them.
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1. Lowering my voice.
After years of retiring to a staffroom hoarse with stripped vocal cords from trying to project
my voice above classroom noise level with no obvious impact, I now employ the tactic of
lowering my voice. I have found that I repeat myself less often because the students haven’t
tuned out my ‘nagging mother voice’ and so try to pay more attention to something that
may be said only once.
2. Targeting individual students for task reinforcement.
Some boys just don’t seem to be able to listen actively. I know they can hear what I am
saying because their ears do work but this often doesn’t mean they have listened. It’s these
boys that then often go on to be the detractors and initiators of off-task behaviour because
they have missed crucial instructions and won’t ask for help. Instead of confronting these
boys with what they haven’t done i.e. not listened and berating them about their behaviour,
I instead talk to them individually about what they have to do and this often seems to give
them a push in the right direction.
3. Cajoling.
Cajoling boys into starting and continuing with their work rather than lecturing them about
how they will end up failing if they don’t focus. This threat approach has never really
worked for me because it’s a threat that is not really understood and is normally shrugged
off.
4. Avoiding obvious signs of exasperation, in words or gestures.
This can be a difficult strategy to maintain with the most trying of students. But these tend
to be the most attention-driven pupils and at the same time the ones lacking the most in self
confidence and self esteem. I have found that these students are also the ones that often
have difficulty beginning and completing tasks. Their procrastination often reflects their
inability to complete work without teacher guidance and support. Their bravado often hides
their embarrassment in asking for help. A small step by step plan of what to do in what
order at the side of the whiteboard is often a good way to focus these students.
These are a few techniques I have found that work. My classes can still be noisy but we seem to
be able to get completed what I would like done. Book work is still not as tidy as I would like it
to be but more work is being produced. There is still off-task behaviour, pushing, shoving and
whistling but redirecting this energy into something like a competitive spelling test seems to
deflect it well.
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I could go on. However, what I would appreciate is feedback from other teachers. Do you
believe Brunei is struggling with the same issues as other countries with boys’ education? Have
you seen this in your classroom? Is it reflected in your classroom in boys’ behaviour? Is it
reflected in assessment grades? Do you have strategies that work well with boys here? Are
there resources or activities that seem to appeal to boys more than girls? Have you tried some
of the techniques used in other countries to try to address the differences in learning styles
between boys and girls, for example boys only extra classes? My hope is that with this kind of
feedback we may be able to get a realistic picture of how boys are performing in Brunei and
whether this an area we need to be conscious of when designing programmes and schemes of
work and how we may go about doing this.
To conclude: Some food for thought
While tinkering away on this article I came across a story published in the New Zealand Herald
newspaper titled “Boy, girl school achievement gap gets wider”. In it the author notes “The
achievement gap between boys and girls is widening. Last year half of all female students at
secondary schools passed NCEA level 3 (senior qualification) or gained sufficient attainment to
attend university, while 37.1% of male pupils passed”. The article goes on to observe that “boy’s
favoured competition and examinations but found it hard to stay motivated for the regular
assessments during the school year.”
I shall leave this piece with an observation from Ernie Buutveld, Principals Federation President
(New Zealand) – “The gap that is apparent at primary school still seems to be evident at that
later stage. It begs the question – when do they (our boys) catch up?”
References:
The New Zealand Herald, “Boy, girl achievement gap gets wider” October 7th 2010
Borneo Bulletin, “Women learn, earn more than men” September 4th 2010
Rooney.E. “Combating the gender gap” Tropical English Teachers Journal. September 2010
Interested? Want to know more
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/boys-underachievement-101
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/46121?uc%20=%20force_uj
Wilhelm, J. (2010) Let's Get Boys Reading and Writing: An Essential Guide to Raising Boys
Achievement Oxford University Press
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Second Language Acquisition: Theory,
Research, and Implications
Mahomed Mohsin, CfBT, SM Rimba, [email protected]
The field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is an active, growing, and fascinating one. As in
many ongoing research areas, there are more questions than answers. In addition, language is
highly context- dependent so what may make sense in one social or learning situation, could
prove to be nonsensical or irrelevant in another. A possible reason for this inconsistency arises
from the fact that many of the scholars interested in this field have been trained in different
disciplines and draw on the work of not only linguists, but also psychologists and to some extent,
sociologists. They have thus approached SLA from very different perspectives and treat all the
variables involved in the learning process differently. The field as a result, appears at times both
confusing and frustrating. All the present theories, hypotheses, and models then, are perhaps
best viewed as preliminary work done toward the ultimate goal of a true theory. In this article
we explore some of the literature and research to date, and extract what may be of use to the
Bruneian second language learning context.
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SLA THEORY
Before reading on, complete the following activity to test your current knowledge of SLA theory.
Provide definitions for the following acronyms.
Match the theorist to the
correct theory.
L2
________________________________________________
1. Krashen
_____
A.Socio- Educational Theory
UG
________________________________________________
2. Bartlett
_____
B. Critical Period Hypothesis
NSTs
________________________________________________
3. Brown
_____
C. Interaction Hypothesis.
TL
________________________________________________
4. Gardner
D. Shema Theory
LL2
________________________________________________
5. Lenneberg
_____
E. Input Hypotheis.
CS
________________________________________________
6. Long
_____
F. Principled Approach
_____
NS
________________________________________________
NNS
________________________________________________
CPH
________________________________________________
Check your answers at the end of this article. If you did well, you are probably interested in this
field or you have, ‘been there, done that, and got the T-shirt’. If on the other hand, you did not
do so well, you are certainly not alone and probably feel like me that most theories are nothing
but long-winded rhetoric that don’t offer much by way of resolutions.
We would certainly be justified too as there are between 40 and 60-arguably closer to 80 by the
time this article goes to print- “ ‘theories’, ‘models’, ‘perspectives’, ‘metaphors’, ‘hypotheses’
and ‘theoretical claims’ in the SLA literature” and no agreement on any one (Larsen-Freeman &
Long,1992,p.288). The field as Omaggio-Hadley(2000) notes, is plagued more often by
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‘controversy than by consensus’(p.86).Kiwi Scott Thornbury (2008,p.4) in fact, whose facilitated
the MA Tesol program from Egypt to New York, humorously relates the following experience
with regard to SLA theory.
Recently I was teaching a course in SLA to a group of Masters students. About halfway in, after
we’d looked at the history of SLA theory from behaviorism through to cognitivism, one of the
students piped up: ‘How many more theories are we going to have to study, only to see each one
shot down?’ I had to admit that the history of SLA-with it rivalries and intrigues, attacks and
counterattacks-reads a bit like the Wars of the Roses.What, then, is the good of SLA theory? And
why the lack of agreement?
Fear not though, this article will in no way attempt to answer these questions, or provide any
painstaking analysis of each of these theories. Rather, it will limit its focus to just two, i.e. the
Input Hypothesis, and the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). The first, quite simply because it
appeals to common sense and does not require any profound understanding of the principles
underlying the theory and the second, because it not only makes use of rather unique evidence
in support of its claims but, together with the first, may be of interest and value to the Bruneian
context in that it provides a basis from which to increase the number of students with second
language(L2) proficiency or at the very least, just improve on the current levels of proficiency.
The Input Hypothesis
The Input Hypothesis according to Stephen.D.Krashen (1985, p.1), is a ‘central part of an overall
theory that consists of five Hypotheses’(p.1).The thrust of which, can be summarized in laymans
terms as follows:
Provided students are motivated to learn the target language, and they receive enough exposure
to comprehensible input in that language, ‘acquisition is inevitable’ (p.4).
Pedagogical implications are relatively straightforward then and no doubt already in force with
CfBT’s team of native speakers (NS) spread across the Bruneian context. Care needs to be taken
though, to ensure that the content or material presented is not only tailored to accommodate
the ability levels of the learners’ (i.e. comprehensible), but that it captures their interests
(Brown’s (1996) Principled Approach), and/or builds on their existing knowledge (Bartlett’s
(1932) Schema Theory).
Critical Period Hypothesis
Popularized by Eric Lenneberg (1979), the CPH suggests that children who are deprived of access
to language in the formative years, for whatever reason, will never go on to acquire language.
Two of the most famous cases documented to support the critical period claim are narrated
below.
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Victor
In 1799, a boy who became to be known as Victor was found wandering naked in the woods in
France. When he was captured, he was about 12 years old and completely wild, apparently
having had no contact with humans.Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, a young doctor accustomed to
working with deaf children, devoted 5 years to socializing Victor and trying to teach him
language. Although succeeding to some extent in developing Victor’s sociability, memory, and
judgment, there was little progress in his language ability. Victor responded only to sounds that
had meaning for him in the forest, such as the crackling of a nut, animal sounds, or the sound of
rain. He eventually spoke only two words, his favourite food ‘lait’ (milk) and his governess’s
frequent exclamation ‘O Dieu!’ (Oh God!).
Genie
Some two hundred years later, Genie, a 13 year-old girl who had been isolated, neglected, and
abused, was discovered in California. She had spent more than eleven years tied to a chair or
crib in a small, darkened room. Her deranged father had forbidden his wife and son to speak to
Genie and had himself only growled and barked at her. She was underdeveloped physically,
emotionally, and intellectually. She had no language.
After her discovery, Genie was cared for and educated by a number of educators and therapists.
She made remarkable progress in becoming socialized and cognitively aware. She developed
deep personal relationships and strong individual tastes and traits. Nevertheless, after 5 years of
rehabilitation and exposure to language, Genie displayed a larger than normal gap between
comprehension and production. She used grammatical forms inconsistently and overused
formulaic speech and routine speech.
[Adapted from Lightbown & Spada, 2006, pp.17-18]
Of the cuff, it would appear that the two cases above, despite their unusual nature, do provide
clear evidence in support of a CPH. There is however, a lack of consensus as to the exact nature
of this period in terms of its onset with researches such as Lenneberg (1979) and Bickerton
(1981) arguing for a period which begins at the age of 2 and others such as Krashen (1973),
suggesting that the period starts at birth. Based on the research of Lenneberg (1979) though,
who produced evidence to show that the two halves of the brain (left and right hemispheres)
become specialized for different functions around puberty-a process called laterization-scholars
confer that the brain is more plastic before this age and therefore allows for more processing.
After puberty, plasticity is lost and can result in a loss of an ‘individual’s ability to control the
articulators necessary in second language pronunciation’ (Larsen et al, 1992, p.164).In simple
terms then, advantage needs to be taken while learners are in primary school in order to
optimize L2 development and in doing so, maximize proficiency levels.
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Native-speaker versus Non-Native speaker
Of notable concern in the Bruneian context however, is the fact that exposure to native-speakerteacher (NST) input, (as far as my knowledge extends and I stand corrected) is limited to Pra and
Year 1 where most of CfBT’s primary team facilitate instruction. This creates a vacuum between
years 2 and 6 which constitute the bulk of the critical period and can as a consequence, derail
the desired outcomes for L2 learning. Albeit relatively young and more of a qualitative nature,
research into the NS versus NNS (non-native speaker) area reveals the following results as cited
by Llurda and Moussu (2008, pp.315-348).
In a study conducted by Reves and Medgyes (1994) on 216 non-native English-speaking
teachers, participants were found to feel constantly self- conscious of their mistakes. This selfdiscrimination according to Reves and Medgyes (1994), often leads to ‘poorer self-image, which
further deteriorates language performance, which, in turn could lead to an even stronger feeling
of inferiority’ (p.323).Similar findings were reported by Amin (2004),Braine(2004), Morita (2004),
and Canagarajah(1999,2005) while other studies by Dalton-Puffer,Kaltenboeck and Smit (1997),
Butler(2007), and Llurda(forthcoming),concluded that NNS’s of English supported the notion
that NS’s were ‘the best ESL/EFL teachers’(p.325).
Interestingly, these studies also revealed that the negative self-perceptions, low confidence, and
dependence on native-speaker teachers (NSTs) as the ‘ideal’ diminished the further up NNS’s
were facilitating instruction. In other words, secondary teachers not only perceived their overall
skills as higher than those of primary teachers, but they were also more critical regarding the NSNNS debate. It appears from these results too, that the primary setting again, is the shall-we say, ‘critical period’ in which to capitalize if we are to achieve or optimum L2 development.
As mentioned earlier, these studies, like most in this field, were context- bound and subject to a
number of variables which influenced results. There is thus, no absolute justification that any
results are specifically applicable to the Bruneian context .As Larsen-Freeman (1997) suggests,
SLA is complex and non-linear and just as a multiplicity of factors make it difficult to predict
weather accurately, so too do various elements involved in L2 learning.Yet, like with weather
forecasts, we do have to use the best knowledge we have at hand, as we seek to predict what
the possible outcomes in a particular learning context might be. In this vain, and based on the
research presented in this article, we tentatively put forward the following hypothesis:
A greater number of learners will attain L2 proficiency if they receive sufficient exposure to
comprehensible input from native speakers of the target language during their primary school
years.
The above hypothesis of course, implies a longitudinal study for anyone brave enough to invest
the time. As alluded to earlier, the NS-NNS dichotomy has not produced any quantitative
measure so the challenge exists and remains open even by way of a non-academic/formal
project between various stakeholders such as Cfbt, the MOE, as well as the treatment and
control groups selected for such a study. In the meantime, it would perhaps be a good starting
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point to ensure, as far as possible, that NST’s fill the primary schools and facilitate instruction
throughout and not just in Pra and Year 1.
To sum, we reiterate that the proposed solutions put forward by the field of SLA is not as
straightforward as some of the theories and hypotheses- including the one above -might
suggest. To date, even issues such as the very notion of proficiency, and/or what constitutes
bilingualism, or what the best method or approach to teaching a L2 is, are under debate in the
literature. The relative youth of this field too, about 30 years of age according to Schachter
(1998), means that there are very few theories that can be empirically verified. It is for this
reason that scholars and researchers have tended to use terms such as those suggested by
Larsen-Freeman and Long (1992). The one- best –way therefore, remains elusive, or shall-wesay, open for discovery. Until then, perhaps Clarke’s (1994,p.23) advice is best:
The key point…is for teachers to keep their own counsel regarding what works and what does
not work and to insist on an interpretation of events and ideas that includes, implicitly or
explicitly, a validation of their own experiences in the classroom .
Answers to activities
Provide definitions for the following acronyms.
L2
second language
UG
universal grammar
NSTs
native-speaker teachers
TL
target language
LL2
second language learning
CS
communication strategy
NS
native speaker
NNS
non-native speaker
CPH
critical period hypothesis
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Match the theorist to the correct theory.
1. Krashen
__E__
A.Socio- Educational Theory
2. Bartlett
__D__
Critical Period Hypothesis
B.
3. Brown
__F___
Interaction Hypothesis.
C.
4. Gardner
Shema Theory
__A___
D.
5. Lenneberg
Input Hypotheis.
__B___
E.
6. Long
__C___
Principled Approach
F.
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References
Bickerton, P. (1981).Roots of language.Michigan: Karoma.
Clarke,M.(1994).The dysfunctions of theory/practice discourse.TESOL Quarterly,28,9-29.
Krashen, S.D. (1985).The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New York: Longman.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997).Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition.
Applied Linguistics, 18(2), 141-165.
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M.H. (1992).An introduction to Second Language Research.
New York: Longman.
Lenneberg, E.H. (1979).Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley.
Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2006).How Languages are Learned (3rd ed.).Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Liurda, E. & Moussu, L. (2008). Non-native English-speaking English language teachers:
History and research. Language teaching.41 (3), 315-348.
Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Omaggio-Hadley, A. (2000).Teaching language in context (3rd ed.).Boston: Thomson
Wadsworth.
Schachter, J. (1998).Recent research in language learning studies: Promises and
problems. Language Learning, 48(4), 557-583.
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Old Fashioned Teaching
Modern Teaching
Focus is on the quality of the
teaching.
Focus is on the quality of learning.
Teaching by lecturing, telling,
copying, rote learning, and lots of
testing.
Teaching by demonstration, with
students actively involved in the doing
(hands on experience), and encouraging
risk taking, exploration,
experimentation, and self assessment.
One size fits all - closed tasks.
Individualised and open ended.
Focus on skill development and
acquiring knowledge, and committing
it to memory.
Focus on acquiring a range of skills and
strategies to locate, document and
retrieve information, using it to achieve
your purpose, solve your problem, or to
re-think your position.
The subject matter to be learned is
most important.
The learning experience for the child is
more important than the immediate
subject matter.
The teacher decides content prior to
meeting the learners, regardless of
their individual abilities or interests.
The teacher knows what outcomes are
required and involves students in
planning to achieve those outcomes,
beginning from their current knowledge
base.
The learner is dependent upon the
teacher for what, when, how, how
much, where to learn. It is the norm
to do only as much as required.
The learner is in control of his/her own
learning, having a degree of flexibility
and choice about the circumstances; is
generally more motivated and therefore
rehearses more, practices more, does
more, more often.
Students use technology to enhance
the presentation of their work.
Students use technology to acquire
information, enhance their learning, and
expand their ability to learn anything,
independently.
Teachers hold the power, and
maintain strict discipline over
students, teaching them to be quiet
and obedient. Students work in an
atmosphere of fear, with punishment
decided by the teacher.
Teachers involve students in setting up
their own classroom rules and
guidelines for behaviour, including
rewards and consequences. Students
work in an atmosphere of co-operation
and collaboration, knowing that
appropriate consequences for their
behaviour are already established,
agreed upon, and displayed.
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Emphasis on what to learn.
Emphasis on establishing a climate in
which students can learn best.
Many students play safe and actually
avoid learning because of fear of
embarrassment or failure.
All students are motivated to participate
and learn because there is an
acceptance of risk taking and learning
from mistakes.
Student's work is thoroughly marked
away from the student; a grade
and/or a comment is given; and
the student corrects his/her work in
own time. More errors equals more
work!
Student's work is 'marked' or
'conferenced' by the teacher and
student together, focusing on certain
elements only and deliberately ignoring
others. Teaching occurs as needed but
is focused on one or two elements
which the student is close to mastering;
and the student sets new learning goals
around this element.
Time lag between the doing and the
finding of errors.
Some students really succeed, most
students cope, but a few totally
under-perform and know that they
are failures.
All students have the opportunity to
achieve to their potential, with many
extending their learning beyond the
basic requirements, and no child is
made to feel like a failure at any time.
All students are taught the same
things at the same time and in the
same way.
Learning experiences are structured for
different learning styles. Learning tasks
are open-ended and allow the student
to work at their own level, with
appropriate outcomes negotiated for
individuals.
Some will be successful but some will
fail. That's the way it is!
Life is tough!
Learning experiences are set up in more
open ended ways so that every child
experiences success, every time!
Belief that students must be
motivated to learn by using
punishment for not succeeding; or
rewards such as ticks, stars, lollies,
praise, etc. for what they know or do.
We now know that every child wants to
learn, and that they are motivated by
recognition, or 'feedback' for their
effort. (eg. appropriate feedback
sounds like: 'You worked so hard on this,
and I can see that you are working on
improving your spelling, handwriting,
use of tenses, etc.')
These are external rewards and they
are always won by the same
students.
Note:
Not receiving these rewards is also
seen as a negative, compared to
what others receive.
This is 'intrinsic' feedback which is
natural or internal, as it recognises the
abilities within each individual to
maintain control over, and extend their
own learning.
http://www.raisingreaders.com.au/resources/Articles/moderntchng.htm
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Professional
Development
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CAMBRIDGE ON-LINE: A REVIEW OF
THE IGCSE CAMBRIDGE
EXAMINATIONS COURSE I
Wendy Pearson, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Husain, [email protected]
As a novice regarding on-line courses, I came to this with some reservations but in fact found it
straight forward to work through and easy to finish in the 20 hours Cambridge recommend for
completion.
The course is divided into 4 modules each subdivided into a range of tasks. Instructions are clear
although input from Cambridge to prepare you for each task is minimal. It seems they seek to
maximize teachers’ reflection and self analysis and encourage this further with the course
journal you are required to complete as you work through each stage of the course. You are also
encouraged to communicate with other learners also taking the same course in an on-line
forum.
As the course is relatively short and self explanatory this lack of direct input may not matter
although I did find it disappointing as I was hoping to learn something new. However, so long as
you have some knowledge of 2nd language teaching methodology you will be able to answer the
tasks. Having prior knowledge is also important as there is no feedback on your answers. Maybe
more feedback is provided on the tutor led on-line course: I opted for the self study version. It
seems it is important to realize that this course is purely an introduction to the structure of the
exam paper and not about teaching methodology.
What you do get from the course depends very much on your teaching background. People like
myself who are unfamiliar with the layout and marking criteria of IGCSE papers will find it very
useful. I f you have a back ground of EFL teaching and linguistics (as I do) the benefits are largely
in revising and revisiting what you already know. The answers to questions can be as involved or
as simple as you care to make them – especially in light of the fact that no feedback, as
mentioned before, is provided on what you write. If you were very new to language teaching ,
writing answers to tasks that require justifying choices made for classroom materials and
activities might be hard; I would have found this hard 20 years ago!
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The greatest benefit to me was the introduction it provided to the CIE website. This has some
very good resources for all teachers and students but is a hard site to navigate. It also requires a
password to enter certain areas, obtainable by enrolling on one of the on-line courses.
One thing that threw me was the task asking me to devise, teach and comment on the delivery
of a 5 hour scheme of work for an IGCSE class. As a form 5 teacher in the final sprint before “O”
level exams, this was impossible. I overcame the problem only after teaching had finished for the
5th years by team teaching a class with one of my colleagues. However, you need to be prepared
for this practical aspect of the course.
Overall this was a valuable experience giving me an insight into IGCSE, a sense of IT competence
and a pretty coloured certificate to add to my collection. I hope to do another course next year
CIE On-Line Teacher Support Website
CIE offers a number of exciting professional development opportunities during the year.
The topics of most interest relate to teaching IGCSE, Literature, Assessment for Learning &
Teaching and Assessing Skills. Some of these courses are on-line discussions which foreground
reflective practices while others are led by on-line tutors who co-ordinate inputs for associated
tasks and assignments.
To keep up to date with what’s on offer you need to access the CIE Teacher Support website. If
you haven’t already got a password which allows you access to this site please contact Dave
Laming ([email protected]) and he will arrange for one to be issued.
.
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CAMBRIDGE ON-LINE: A REVIEW OF
THE IGCSE CAMBRIDGE
EXAMINATIONS COURSE II
Kevin Sampson, CfBT, Anthony Abell College, [email protected]
I recently completed a University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) professional
development course focusing on the IGCSE-ESL examination. The six week course was delivered
on-line and tutor-led. The website introduces the course with these details:
Course objectives

To illustrate how the examination papers are marked.

To offer advice to teachers preparing candidates for examination.

To encourage the sharing of experiences of preparing candidates for examination.

To discuss assessment methodologies.

To reflect upon one's own approach to assessment in the light of the approaches of
others.

To attempt to improve the performance of students throughout their IGCSE E2L course.
Given the content of summative standardized examination protocols I was happily surprised that
the course began by asking participants to reflect on formative assessment:
Introductory Activity
Summative assessment is regarded by many as the assessment of learning. Formative assessment could
be regarded as assessment for learning.
There are three basic types of assessment: diagnostic, formative and summative. In English as a
Second Language learning, diagnostic assessment usually occurs in the form of a placement test.
Summative assessment is the primary means of recording students’ achievement at the end of a
section, a unit and a whole course e.g. the Unit Test, mock exams, indeed, the IGCSE
Examination itself.
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Formative assessment is perhaps the only type of assessment that we as teachers have a good
deal of control over.





What does formative assessment mean to you?
What type of formative assessment(s) do you use?
How often do you think formative assessment should be used?
How should the findings of formative assessment be fed back to students?
How appropriate is formative assessment in teaching and learning ESL?
The course was divided into 3 units of two weeks each arranged by topics: reading and listening
skills; speaking skills; extended writing skills. At the beginning of each unit participants were
provided with sets of files to practice their skills in marking the content area and compare their
efforts with official marker assessments. There was no specific demand to report these
experiences. Each unit required a short written commentary to be submitted to the tutor. For
example:
Unit 1 - Reflecting on Reading and Listening skills
Write about 500 words in which you reflect on the assessment of reading and listening.
You should consider your own approach to assessment in these areas, and you may like to
comment on some of the issues raised by your colleagues on this course.
You may also like to report any views that your students have presented about the reading and
listening sections of the examination paper.
These essays were not graded, but a certificate of completion is awarded based on providing a
written reflection for each unit and completing an on-line evaluation form about personal
experiences in the course.
The course discussion board was a lively venue for interacting with other teachers and the tutor.
Teachers from India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Zambia, UK, and Brunei shared classroom
experiences about preparing students to sit for the IGCSE-ESL examination. Some participants
were very active on the discussion board and others were passive, presumably reading but not
commenting. The tutor did very good work responding to direct questions about how the
examinations are marked (she is an official marker) and providing general suggestions about
classroom practice.
The course was not academic and there was no need to read or reference research literature. It
was designed as an in-service workshop to encourage pragmatic discourse about the
examination and in this it was very effective.
I spent about five hours each week interacting on the course discussion board, about five hours
in total working through the three units of marking practice, and about 12 hours writing the
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three essays. In my view this is a very productive way to satisfy a portion of the 100 hours per
year of professional development we are required to demonstrate.
If you have an interest it enrolling for
this course contact Dave Laming.
CIE On-Line – Get into it!
By participating regularly in the Teacher Community
forums at http://teachers.cie.org.uk/community/forum/
By visiting your own syllabus area at
http://teachers.cie.org.uk/qualifications
and adding (or viewing) Community Resources.
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CAMBRIDGE ON-LINE: A REVIEW OF
THE ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
ON-LINE, TUTOR LED COURSE
Anne Crowley, CfBT, MSPSBS, [email protected]
As a full time teacher, parent and spouse I have to juggle many aspects of these roles on a daily
basis, which consume an inordinate amount of my time. It has always been problematic finding
the most convenient time to ‘professionally develop’ as marking, report writing, extra curriculum
duties, attending long and interesting staff meetings, dropping off and picking up my daughter
from school, taking her here, there and everywhere, cooking dinner for my family, doing the ‘
Supa Save’ run again and again all seem to get in the way. However, that was until ……… my line
manager saved the day and posted information, via CfBT email, regarding the CIE professional
development courses that are available on-line. I immediately recognised this as being right up
my alley and without further ado informed my line manager that I was interested in doing the
‘in’ acronym at the moment AFL – Assessment for Learning. He was quite excited for me.
I dutifully registered for the course, which was very simple once given a password and name to
login to the CIE Professional Development for Teachers website. I chose this particular course as
I thought it to be most appropriate for the age range I teach (YR9). It was tutor-led, a ‘must’ if
you feel at all insecure about your ability to teach, or feel unable to assimilate new information
without guidance, particularly if you have been teaching for as long as I. There were a few
hiccups getting confirmation back from CIE that I was registered, but once confirmed then the
first unit of the course was sent without delay.
Participants were from various countries worldwide – China, India, Indonesia, Africa, Myanmar,
UK and of course Brunei and were people whose specialty subjects were just as wide and varied,
so we were not all ESL/EFL teachers. The course was divided into three units relating to AFL,
covering the six weeks. Each unit contained three to four tasks, which were easy to carry out and
at the end of each unit an assignment of approximately 500 words had to be submitted via
moodle, by a particular deadline. Throughout the course there were on-line discussion forums
pertaining not only to AFL, but also to other aspects or issues relating to teaching that anyone
wanted to raise. Participants were expected to post frequent comments on the discussion
forums and also expected to keep an on-line journal going, which only the tutor and yourself
were privy to. Resources for each task or assignment were available on-line and suggested web
links were given so that participants could read further about the topics.
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What I liked about this on-line course was that I could choose when and for how long during the
day or night I could access it. On average I spent about an hour a day, reading the resources and
doing the tasks, but I obviously spent longer doing the assignments. The tasks ranged from giving
definitions of formative assessment to ranking feedback, posting opinions and noting in the
journal. The assignments were certainly not arduous and could be easily related to my particular
teaching situation. One particular assignment called for me to use one of my classes that I teach
to implement a formative assessment lesson and then evaluate the results. The assignments
were not graded, but written feedback was very promptly given by the tutor and was positive in
tone. The only time I found it difficult trying to complete and submit an assignment was during
the height of the End of Year Exam period here in Brunei, when marking 200 compositions , 100
comprehension exams and writing 100 reports impinged on my time.
The course content certainly made me reflect upon my teaching and confirmed for me that what
I have been doing and am doing as a classroom practitioner is neither outdated nor stagnant,
despite my many years of being a teacher. It confirmed for me too, that there are areas of my
practice that I need to instigate to help my students further improve. There are components of
AFL which I intend to implement in the classroom which I view as being very valid, in particular
students taking ownership of their learning, students setting individual targets for learning and
for the teacher to give relevant and more constructive feedback. However, there were also
things that I found to be recycled ideas hidden beneath contemporary meta-language and
terminology. Pair work, group work and peer assessment are not new within the context of
EFL/ESL teaching, but I certainly got the impression from the discussion forums that these were
novel to some other participants on the course who were teachers of more content based
subjects. However, I am an experienced teacher and a less experienced colleague may well find
all the ideas imparted on the course to be original.
It was a learning curve for me too, with regard to the on-line facet of the course. It was obvious
to me that the ‘Facebook’ generation of participants was very much at ease ‘chatting’ and
opinionating on the discussion forums, while my contributions, although probably no less
opinionated, tended to be more formal in tone. I did find, for example, the ‘What made you
smile today?’ forum a bit ‘twee’ and unnecessary though.
Overall, being able to have the opportunity to professionally develop at my convenience was
definitely the bonus of committing to this on-line course. It is suitable for teachers teaching any
age group, but would particularly benefit those in secondary schools. The course content was
relevant and informative and well organized and I would definitely consider participating in
another CIE on-line professional development course in the future. For those teachers who may
be interested in finding out more about the courses available go to http://training.cie.org.uk
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Tropical English Teacher
Writing
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USING MODELS TO IMPROVE WRITING
Ian Stroughair, CfBT, SOAS College, [email protected]
What do I mean by models?
Models are essentially good examples of particular genres of writing that can be used as
teaching aids.
Why should I write models?
Firstly, I find that by responding to the types of writing tasks students are expected to
reproduce, I am faced with the same problems students encounter. Consequently, I feel that I
am in a better position to teach the various aspects of the genre having struggled with it myself.
The models that I also write are designed for my students rather than the examples given in
many textbooks which are focused on a more general audience.
Secondly, students often have very little awareness of what is expected by particular genres such
as a description or a speech. The model provides them with an example.
The aim of writing the models and the accompanying tasks is to make the process of writing
more transparent to the students.
What do students do with the models?
Ideally, I aim to produce activities for students that are largely collaborative and viewed as
problem- solving activities. I want students to work together verbalizing chunks of text as well as
being involved in self and peer correction.
At this point it would probably be best to provide you with some examples of the task that
students are involved in and the teaching/learning points that can be highlighted through the
construction of models
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Examples of Tasks, Models and Teaching/Learning Focus
Task 1: You recently witnessed an accident and have been asked to write a report about the
incident the police.
Include the following information:
•
Where and when the accident happened
•
How it happened
•
Who was involved in the accident
•
What you saw
•
What you did
•
Write between 200-300 words
Students must sequence the sentences into the correct order to produce a coherent report
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the same time, a yellow Toyota Corolla was passing the school gates.
By this time the police had arrived and were redirecting traffic.
The time was around 12:35.
The driver got out the car and immediately called the emergency services.
When I got back to the scene of the accident a large group of students had gathered
around Alif.
The aim of this report is to give details about the accident which occurred outside
SOAS College on 12th July 2008.
An officer was also taking a statement from the driver, Mr Been.
All of a sudden the ball was kicked across the road.
I trust that the information in this report will be useful.
The driver of the car slammed on the brakes but couldn’t to stop before hitting the
boy.
I was waiting at the school gates for my father to pick me up.
I ran quickly to the principal’s office to inform him about the accident.
The boy, Alif bin Mohammed, was thrown into the air before landing on the road.
A group of boys were playing in the school car park with a yellow tennis ball.
After a few minutes an ambulance arrived and Alif was rushed to hospital.Then I
I offered to make a statement too as I had witnessed the accident.
One of the boys ran between two parked cars after the ball.
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Here is the report in the correct order.
•
The aim of this report is to give details about the accident which occurred outside SOAS
College on 12th July 2008.
•
I was waiting at the school gates for my father to pick me up.
•
The time was around 12:35.
•
A group of boys were playing in the school car park with a yellow tennis ball.
•
All of a sudden the ball was kicked across the road.
•
One of the boys ran between two parked cars after the ball.
•
At the same time, a yellow Toyota Corolla was passing the school gates.
•
The driver of the car slammed on the brakes but couldn’t stop before hitting the boy.
•
The boy, Alif bin Mohammed, was thrown into the air before landing on the road.
•
The driver got out the car and immediately called the emergency services.
•
I ran quickly to the principal’s office to inform him about the accident.
•
When I returned to the scene of the accident a large group of students had gathered
around Alif.
•
After a few minutes an ambulance arrived and Alif was rushed to hospital.
•
By this time the police had arrived and were redirecting traffic.
•
An officer was taking a statement from the driver, Mr Been.
•
Then I offered to make a statement too as I had witnessed the accident.
•
I trust that the information in this report will be useful.
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Teaching/Learning points:
Introduction/Conclusion: stating the purpose of your report and ending the report suitably.
Relevant vocabulary (nouns/verbs): brainstorming activity done prior to the task
Verb tenses: Focus on use of past simple/continuous/perfect and passive…review these and get
students to identify the verbs and the reason for their usage.
Sequential information: discourse markers/time phrases (underlined)
Paragraphing: from scene to scene
Time (past tenses: past simple/past continuous/past perfect/past passive)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Task 2: Write a Description
Describe the first hour of a typical school day
Part 1
Part 2
A few students open their books and stare….
…. a reading book from the front desk.
We wait calmly for the first…
….the boys from their position on the first floor.
The teacher looks at the duty roster and orders…
….other boys are lined up.
Most of the time the class is really….
…when my dad drops me off.
One of the boys always has a…
….make their way to their classroom.
Some students are reluctant to collect…
….two or three boys to clean the room.
If he has an announcement to make, …
….quiet during the reading period.
The principal and his deputies survey….
…to class when the national anthem starts playing.
We normally sit around…
….a few boys sing along.
Most mornings some boys are on their way …
…the teacher has to raise his voice.
The latecomers arrive in the car park and quickly…
….piece of football news for the teacher.
One or two boys wash…
….lesson of the day to begin.
While the national anthem plays…
….their hands in their pockets.
Opposite, across the garden….
…into space or out of the window.
Some of them stand lazily with…
….in a group chatting.
Usually, I arrive around seven…
….their hands and faces.
Activity 1: Match phrase in Part 1 with their endings in Part 2
Activity 2: Organise the sentences into four paragraphs:
1: before the bell goes
2: during morning assembly
3: registration and reading period
4: the first lesson begins
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Answer
Paragraph 1
Usually, I arrive at seven when my dad drops me off.
Normally, we sit around in a group chatting.
The teacher looks at the duty roster and orders two or three boys to tidy the room up.
One of the boys always has a piece of football news for the teacher.
Paragraph 2
The principal and his deputies survey the boys from their position on the first floor.
Most mornings some boys are on their way to class when the national anthem starts playing.
While the national anthem plays a few boys sing along.
Opposite, across the garden, other boys are lined up.
Some of them stand lazily with their hands in their pockets.
Paragraph 3
If he has an announcement to make, the teacher has to raise his voice.
Some students are reluctant to collect a book from the front desk.
Most of the time, the class is really quiet during the reading period.
Paragraph 4
The latecomers arrive in the car park and quickly make their way to class.
We wait calmly for the first lesson of the day to begin.
Additional Activity
Students write another 10-15 sentences, providing additional information on the first hour of
the school day, inserting information into the relevant paragraph.
Teaching/Learning points:
Verbs: present simple (3rd person singular)/continuous/verb ‘to be’
Vocabulary: words connected with school
Adverbs of frequency: often, usually, sometimes etc.
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Follow up composition:
Describe the end of the school day/Describe a national celebration in your country/Describe a
wedding
Task 3: Letter of complaint
You recently bought an electrical item from a local store but were dissatisfied with your
purchase. Write a letter of complaint to the manager of the shop explaining why you are
unhappy. Include the following five points
•
Describe what you bought
•
Say when you bought the item
•
Say where you bought the item from
•
Explain why you are unhappy with your purchase
•
Explain what you would like the manager to do
•
Write between 200-300 words
Below is a model response to the task:
Work in groups to unscramble the sentences (they are in the correct order).
Dear Sir,
I am /to complain /on 25th February 2008. / for 499 dollars,/Sony television /in Gadong /from
Hua Ho Electrical Store/ writing to you / that I bought, /about a 36 inch/
I bought / On the day/ a model was tested /the television, /for me. /on display
was sharp /The colour / the sound/ was clear. / and
and decided / I was satisfied / to buy it. / with the product
I saw that / was delivered / However, / later the same day, /it was not / to my home, / the same
model. / when the television
I noticed / of the box / not silver / like the one / the set was black / tested in the shop. / When I
got it out
did not work. / the set in / but it / I plugged
had left. / the delivery men / By this time
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to get it/ several times / to work but / I tried / without success.
to your store / I returned with the television / The following day / and my receipt.
who sold me / to the shop assistant / I spoke / the television.
and that/ that the television /I wanted / or a full refund./ I told her /a replacement / did not
work
she was unable / the set had been tested / She told me / in the shop /to replace it or give me a
refund. /and that
the manager / to see / that you / and was told / were unavailable. / I asked
I have been / you resolve my problem / and demand that / before I have to / I feel that / take
legal action./ badly treated
Yours faithfully,
Answer
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you to complain about a 36 inch Sony television that I bought, for 499 dollars,
from Hua Ho Electrical Store in Gadong on 25th February 2008.
On the day I bought the television, a model on display was tested for me. The colour was sharp
and the sound was clear. I was satisfied with the product and decided to buy it.
However, when the television was delivered to my home, later the same day, I saw that it was
not the same model. When I got it out of the box I noticed the set was black not silver like the
one tested in the shop. I plugged the set in but it did not work. By this time the delivery men had
left. I tried several times to get it to work but without success.
The following day I returned to your store with the television and my receipt. I spoke to the
shop assistant who sold me the television. I told her that the television did not work and that I
wanted a replacement or a full refund. She told me the set had been tested in the shop and that
she was unable to replace it or give me a refund. I asked to see the manager and was told that
you were unavailable.
I feel that I have been badly treated and demand that you resolve my problem before I have to
take legal action.
Yours faithfully,
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Teaching/Learning focus:
Verbs: past simple tense, past passive, past perfect
Sequencing: time phrases
formal/firm tone
Conclusion:
I have only included three models with activities in this short piece in order to give an example
of how they can be used and how they can benefit students. In fact I have produced many more
which form the basis of my writing course for forms 4 and 5. I believe they are suitable for use at
O level and IGCSE as well as lower school. Other activities that teachers can use when writing
models include focusing on errors and separating two contrasting arguments. Some genres lend
themselves to models better than others. However, I do feel that most of my students have
benefitted from this approach.
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YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND: PEN PALS
Anthony Fuller, CfBT, SM Rimba, [email protected]
I had tried to set up a pen pal scheme once before but it wasn’t a huge success! I hadn’t factored
into my plans that schools have far too many holidays and northern hemisphere schools for
some strange reason don’t have their holidays at the same time as southern hemisphere ones.
How inconsiderate! So we would write to our friends in Colombia and England and after what
seemed like a lifetime we would finally get a reply. By that time we had forgotten what we had
been writing about. This is of course unsustainable and it meant that the programme collapsed.
So the first thing to consider is whether your holidays coincide a bit. Sticking to the same
hemisphere has its advantages here and there are still places within the same hemisphere that
are culturally different enough to make it interesting.
Having sorted that out I was determined to make a penpal scheme work this time in Brunei. The
next step was finding someone who was of a like mind and determination. I had two possibilities
in New Zealand in two different parts of the country. My rationale for trying this was to enhance
the work my Year 7s were doing in their Gateway books and to give them a chance to write to
others who were having a different educational experience. Making comparisons is a continuous
theme in the Gateway book. This was successful for one class but unfortunately just didn’t seem
to ‘take off’ for another.
To touch on the unsuccessful one first might help anyone wishing to attempt this to avoid
certain pitfalls. Firstly the other teacher must be committed to making the scheme happen. All
sorts of obstacles were put in the way of us receiving return letters via email and in the end the
first letter took longer than an air mail letter to be delivered by the postman on his little red
scooter. The other contributing factor to the demise of this particular scheme was the low level
of writing of the children who had English as their first language. When the letters finally arrived
I had difficulty deciphering them, let alone my 7F who were just coping with reading proper
English! I realize that this is a potential “teachable moment”, but not for thirty separate letters. I
apologized to my class and we moved on to something else.
But fear not dear diligent teacher, the other effort was a resounding success and this has
spurred me on to share my experiences. An old friend from Teachers College, and yes that is
going back to a time of chalk and slates, had just made contact through the magic of Facebook,
and it turned out we had similar sized classes who were of a similar age. Organizing her class to
write letters to mine wasn’t going to be a problem so I set about showing my class how to write
and giving them a simple format.
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In the first letter the writing was stilted and I found myself giving them many prompts and
encouraging them to finish. To avoid postal costs and speed up the process I scanned and
emailed the letters. In the meantime Juliet’s class were busily finding out what it meant to be a
Muslim so that when they wrote back they wouldn’t be crossing any boundaries. This they must
have done very well because in my role as censor I found nothing untoward and in fact they
were just really interested in what school is like for them. Juliet’s class also wrote back using the
same format of introducing themselves and asking questions but also replying to the questions
they were asked.
My class received their replies within a couple of weeks and they were thrilled. They shared
what each person had found out about their penpal in groups and then reported to the rest of
the class the really interesting bits. As we kept it boys writing to boys and girls to girls there was
some imbalance where two had to write to one but this didn’t seem to cause any real issues,
except when one of the girls said “Hi Guys” at the beginning of her letter and one of the two girls
she was writing to wrote back that she didn’t like being called a guy. We had to have a chat
about that. Interestingly they found out that one of their correspondents has grandparents living
in Labuan! But that wasn’t to be the biggest surprise.
Now they had some questions to answer and that gave us new topics to talk about as well as
how to answer questions. For the first few letters I got my class to draft their letters which I
corrected and write to criteria so I could assess their writing. After a while we moved on to self
and peer assessment. I would have to say that the peer assessment still needs some work as
they tend to be either too kind, or too obscure.
The next step was to see if I could get their overseas peers to assess their writing and so I set up
a project which had to be done on one A4 sheet and scanned and emailed to New Zealand along
with the assessment criteria. Their NZ peers carefully assessed their work and they got some
fantastic feedback. It was a real confidence boost for them. Juliet also did the same back for my
class later in the year, by sending poetry for my class to peer assess.
Part way through the year Juliet’s class went away on school camp and we had a holiday so the
correspondence died down a little. Then I received an email that one of their penpals was going
to be in Brunei on holiday and would be in Bandar briefly before flying out again. After much
discussion and changing of arrangements I picked up Cory and his mother from the Radisson and
took them to school. Cory’s Mum said he was shy and they almost didn’t come but I pointed out
that my class would out-shy him easily.
As I walked up the corridor with Cory and his curly blonde surfer hair I could hear the girls
screaming. It was like being the body guard for a rock star, except that as soon as we entered the
room they didn’t try to tear his clothes off, instead you could have heard a pin drop. The class
just stood there open mouthed. Teasing them a bit I asked who they thought he was and they
naturally assumed he was my son. When I said no they were completely bewildered. I told them
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that they knew who he was and that Fauzan knew him really well. Finally the penny dropped and
Fauzan squeaked “Cory.” At that point all you could hear was the sound of jaws hitting the floor.
Cory spoke well and showed them photos and brought them little gifts from New Zealand. He
told them that their penpals liked writing to them and did they have any questions? Of course
not! Cory and his Mum only had half an hour before they needed to get back and so the
obligatory photos were taken after much cajoling and the boys shook his hand. I left the room
with Cory and as we walked away the screams intensified. This visit certainly wasn’t in the plans
when we started writing but it definitely made a big impact on my class and especially the girls
who all of a sudden professed their undying love for Cory, and then for his classmates as they
pored over the class photo he had left behind.
So, the visit notwithstanding, I think this experiment has been a success. How do I measure that?
Well by the end of the year I was able to send their letters unedited as well as not having to
suggest topics to write. In their final exams there was a section which included a letter to a
penpal and those that chose this option wrote natural, flowing letters that showed genuine
interest in the recipient.
Both Juliet and I had told our classes that they couldn’t share facebook or email addresses at the
outset as that would defeat the purpose but in their last letters they were able to exchange
details and it was lovely to see how many genuinely wanted to keep in contact.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. Juliet and I are already planning next year, with some more
variations possibly including a wiki to enable video sharing so I can motivate them to speak
more. We are also looking at making it a three way conversation with a friend who has a class in
New York. He is worried his class’s English may not be up to it. Anyway as long as two of us have
the commitment then it will work.
Do you have any suggestions for more of this kind –
authentic English, moving in phases from controlled to free
provides an enormous range of benefits to students. Send
in your suggestions, tips or contacts to [email protected]
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TECHNOLOGY
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ICT Integration: An Introduction to
blogging
Terence Gallagher, CfBT, [email protected]
This article explores the benefits of ICT integration in an English as a second language classroom
in Brunei. The students involved in this study have varying abilities and range in ages from 12 to
15 years old. Most of the students have very little experience with ICT, besides playing games.
Through professional development initiatives and the development of a community of practice
in relation to ICT, teachers will find time to initiate pedagogical strategies that reach students
using ICT integration.
This paper describes the use of a weblog, or blog use to integrate English at Year 8. Blogs are a
popular communication tool introduced in the mid 1990s (Farmer, Yue, & Brooks, 2006: 263),
which basically present dated entries in reverse chronological order. Blogs does not need
sophisticated technical knowledge to create or maintain them (Bartlett-Bragg, 2003). Blogging
can develop higher order learning skills, active-learning centered pedagogy, authentic learning,
associative thinking and interactive learning communities (Farmer 2006).
Teacher issues
There is an apprehension from many teachers when it comes to ICT integration. This is due to a
number of factors including apathy, facilities, difficulty in classroom timetabling, training or inservice, knowledge of staff, plus a lack of role modelling by mentors.
One of the other problems with ICT integration is storage for students work. Many schools do
not have an internal server with enough hard drive space to store all of the students work, so
teachers can encourage students to bring in pen drives or save their work on an e-mail.
Unfortunately there are still many issues with this, because students often forget their pen
drives or even their passwords for e-mail accounts. Consequently many students have to restart
their projects from scratch taking up unnecessary lesson time.
One option that ICT teachers are developing in Brunei, which will assist teachers dramatically, is
a Sky Drive where students will upload their work to an on-line hard drive. This way each student
will be given an account and be able to access their work anywhere they can get on-line,
allowing them to extend themselves at home as well as at school.
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Student issues
A student’s socio-economic status can often have an impact on ICT knowledge. Although Brunei
is quite a wealthy country compared to its’ neighbours, many of the people of Brunei do not
have access to technology due to the high costs of internet and computers. There are also a
number of families that do not see a need for the internet, simply because it is not used in their
community.
Even though one generation is lost to technology it doesn’t always mean that the next cannot
learn. Students in remedial classes are often apathetic towards schooling, however once
students see the benefits in school they are often excited to learn more (especially when it
means communicating with their friends and playing games).
Preparations and Planning
In relation to ICT integration, it is imperative that teachers work in a collaborative community,
where they can build relationships with tother educators from different departments. Teachers
needs a good working relationship with the ICT teachers or at least the ICT technicians.
Most government schools in Brunei, have some access to computer facilities, but the availability
and access is usually limited. Even though this is sometimes the norm, it doesn’t mean that this
cannot change if there is a need, and administrators and Heads of Department can see the
benefit of ICT integration. With a little persistence and research, teachers may find there is more
access and availability of computers than they may imagine.
The design process
In the past ICT integration when teaching English mainly took the form of word processing. This
is still a vital skill and should not be overlooked; however the area of communication has a much
greater scope for learning in the English classroom.
Blogging is a wonderful communication tool, so therefore it stands to reason that it will be very
useful in teaching English. A class blog needs to represent the class, so it needs pictures, ideas
and work from the students. Input from students in relation to blogging will depend on their
experience, however as the blog is established and they are familiar with its features they will be
more likely to have input on the design.
One of the easiest ways to start a blog is with an introduction outlining the purpose and features
of the blog. It’s also an opportunity for a teacher to open discussion with students on the
possible uses of the blog. Uploading creative writing stories is a great way for students to share
their thoughts with others from not only the class, but the school community. Students can gain
a great sense of pride when they show their family and friends what they have been able to
achieve.
It is also advisable when setting up a blog to include links to other educational websites. This will
allow students to continue working even if they have completed the required task for the lesson.
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Where do I find a good Blog site?
There are many different blog sites around, but http://wordpress.com/ and www.blogger.com
are two of the easiest blogs to manage. An alternate education blogging service, with a safety
service, filtering and support can be located at http://edublogs.org/. It is an education blogging
service featuring over 605,000 blogs.
These blogs have simple instructions and even include tutorials on how to get the most out of
your blog. Creating a blog for the class is just the first step in role modelling for your students.
Once they have the skills necessary to work through a class blog, they will often explore ways to
make their own blog site.
How do I create a Blog?
Wordpress has one of the simplest set ups and can be completed with just a few clicks . Once
you enter the Wordpress homepage at http://wordpress.com/, press the ‘sign up now’ tab
which will take you to a page to set up your account. Fill in a username which is easy to
remember for your students (perhaps use the initials of your school, or the class name). Fill in
the rest of the details including the e-mail (where the comments will be moderated from), then
press ‘gimme a blog’. You will be shown the blog domain, which is the web address that students
can type to access the blog. Use your discretion on the privacy questions, but it is best to keep
the only for the local school community.
Once you have your blog, you can then begin to upload your posts. I started by welcoming
students to the site and giving them a simple introduction. You can access all this information
from your dashboard (control panel screen), which will be available the first time you log in.
The blog I used for my class is http://year8english.wordpress.com/. My blog can be used as a
template for other teachers hoping to set up a class blog.
ICT allows tremendous opportunities to share ideas and if a professional teaching community is
able to access information from each other it will be a very beneficial medium.
What should I put in my Blog?
A great way to start is to upload some creative writing stories or composition exercises that the
students have completed. In my case I had large classes and few computers so I used a
collaborative approach where students planned and wrote stories together in small groups. This
allowed students to work together and discuss ideas, which meant they had to do some planning
and preparation before they started.
Once I reviewed the stories, the students were then allowed to go onto a computer and enter
the story; taking turns to type and edit the story in a Word document. I then saved the work on a
pendrive and uploaded it to our class blog.
Blogging is also adaptable for project use and can be updated weekly with assignment tasks. I
designed a project where students had to plan a holiday overseas with a friend. They had to find
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flights, accommodation and design an itinery. The students found it fascinating when they used
Google Earth to find satellite images of their school, home and the destination they were
travelling to.
Video integration is also of great benefit to students, especially from secondary English
backgrounds. The visuals give a wonderful stimulus to writing and can add to the students
comprehension of a topic. Adding a short video to a blog or using a blog for comments on
movies assists in the introduction of new topics. I used Bear Grylls series, Man vs. Wild to
introduce chapter 8 in the Gateway series, which looked at the story of Benedict who travelled
to Guatemala on an expedition. Students then had a stimulus on which they could comment.
As a class page is established you can add pictures and videos of the class as they perform
different tasks or become involved in school activities. Before uploading pictures or video it is
advisable to seek permission from administrators and parents due to privacy.
How students can impact the process
One of the best features of a blog is the forum section. A forum is basically an area where the
viewer can comment on what they see on the blog. Their comment goes directly to the blog
moderator, who gives permission for a comment to be posted. These comments are then seen
by other classmates who can in turn reply once more.
Bartlett-Bragg (2003), describe how students who comment on blog sites feel free to comment
with no pressure to stay in line with focus questions. They have the ability to publish small,
unconnected pieces of knowledge that may suddenly have meaning for them and record their
learning that can revisited later. This in turn can allow for deeper learning to occur.
As topics are established on the blog, students are given more opportunities to post comments.
This can also be part of their assessment.
There are many add-ons or widgets for blogs which will allow different ways of responding to a
topic through pools or surveys, while adding variety and fun to a blog site. As teachers and
students knowledge increases, they can decide what to insert into the blog.
Evaluation
ICT integration is a very exciting prospect for many students and can increase motivation and
develop communication skills. Blogs are one pedagogical strategy using ICT, which can be easily
adapted with a little bit of knowledge. Teachers should seek out professional development and
produce discussion groups within schools to share ideas on the topic.
There are numerous education websites on blog use. Here are some blogs by educators with
articles on how to use them:
Will Richardson, Weblogg-ed learning with the read/write web, Connective Learning, LLC
http://weblogg-ed.com/
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George Siemens Elearnspace, , Athabasca University
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/
Pattie Bell Hastings Blogging across the curriculum, , Quinnipiac University, 2010
http://mywebspace.quinnipiac.edu/PHastings/bac.html
References
Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2003). Blogging to Learn. The Knowledge Tree. Edition 4, December, 2003.
On-line: http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition04/pdf/Blogging_to_Learn.pdf
Discovery Channel (2010) Man vs. Wild – Bear Grylls, Season 6 Episode 11, Produced and
Directed by Alexis Girardet, Diverse Bristol Ltd a Zodiac Entertainment Company for Discovery
Channel.
Farmer, B.,Yue, A. & Brooks, C (2007). Using blogging for higher order learning in large-cohort
university teaching: A case study. Proceedings ASCILITE, Singapore 2007. Pages 262,270. On-line:
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/farmer.pdf 1st March, 2008
Farmer, J. (2006). Blogging to basics: How blogs are bringing online education back from the
brink. In A. Bruns & Jacobs (Eds.), Uses of blogs (p. 91-103). New York: Peter Lang.
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USEFUL ELT SOFTWARE
Peter Muter, CfBT, SOAS College, [email protected]
An invaluable program I have used for many years is A2Z Word Puzzler which comes from a
small US based company called A2Zware .The software enables the user to create the following:

Crossword puzzles

Cryptograms

Word scrambles

Letter box puzzles

Word definition matches

Letter box puzzles

Word definition match puzzles

Tile box puzzles

Falling letter puzzles

Vocabulary quizzes and lists
The program uses random functions to create a unique puzzle each time. Puzzles can generate
an answer key and are able to be saved for future use. The user can create a vocabulary theme
such as "animals", "weather", "colours", etc and then build a word list based upon the theme by
keying in the words and definitions. Most of my "themes" are around 25 - 30 words long. These
can be exported as puzzles and keys to Word RTF files. In addition, it is also possible to add
pictures to the puzzle backgrounds.
I have found the program to be particularly useful for the following:

Improving student vocabulary

Producing spelling lists

Providing vocabulary scaffolding for composition, comprehension and summary
activities.
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T o some extent the program is able to automate many tasks that were previously a
considerable chore to produce.
In addition, an ancillary "little brother" program is also produced by A2Zware called Flash 'n
Bingo. This is an independent program to Word Puzzler but it is able to share the same word lists
to generate either flash cards or word bingo. I have only used the program up to now to
produce word bingo cards. The software couldn't be simpler to use once your word lists have
been set up. Simply choose your word list theme name, decide how many bingo cards you need
to produce and press a button and the word bingo sets are created in an instant. The user then
only needs to print them off for use with a class.
*****************************************************************************
The world's average school year is 200 days per year.
In the US, it is 180 days; in Sweden 170 days, in Japan it is 243 days.
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Flash 'n Bingo is particularly useful as and end of class activity aimed and reinforcing and
practicing vocabulary introduced at an earlier stage in the lesson. In my experience, students
enjoy this fun way of improving their vocabulary.
Both programs are available for trial down load at www.a2zware.com .
Later after evaluating the software the cost of each program is:
A2Z Word Puzzler
US $24.95
Flash 'n Bingo
US $19.95
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[LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES]
Lessons and
Activities
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Library Activities
Kim Geddes, CfBT, SOAS College, [email protected]
Activity 1
1) Draw a map of the library and label the following:
a. Librarian’s desk
b. Tables and chairs
c. Magazines and newspapers
d. Non-fiction section
e. Fiction section
f. Computer
g. Book shelves
h. Reference
(8)
My Library Map
2) What time is the library open?
3) How many books can you take out at one time?
4) How do you get a library card?
(1/2)
(1/2)
(1)
Mark
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Activity 2
The Dewey Decimal System
Melville Dewey was an American book lover and librarian who invented the Dewey Decimal System in
1873. The Dewey Decimal System divides all knowledge into ten basic groups and gives each group a
separate number.
All schools and public libraries use the Dewey Decimal System for shelving Non-fiction books. You can be
sure that Non-fiction books in other libraries will have the same Dewey number as the ones in your library.
This system is used in most libraries all over the world.
The Dewey Decimal System
000-099
Works
General
(Reference)
400-499
Languages
100-199 Philosophy 200-299
Religion, 300-399
Beliefs, Mythologies Sciences
(Community,
Government)
500-599 Pure Science 600-699
(Math, Geology, etc) Science
Technology
800-899
Social
Applied 700-799
Sport,
and Recreation and Fine
Arts
Literature 900-999 Geography,
History, Biography
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1)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Match the Dewey number to the Dewey category: (Use a ruler to draw lines) (2 )
401
678
029
523.2
e.
f.
g.
h.
Pure Science (Math, Geology, etc.)
General Works (Reference)
Applied Science and Technology
Languages
2) Put the following Dewey Decimal numbers in the right order as you would find them on the
library shelves. (5)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
796.34
796.8
796
796.56
796.10
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________
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[LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES]
3) Find a book in your library from each of these Dewey categories, write the
Dewey number and title of the book: (The first has been done for you)(8)
a. 800-899 Literature- 822.33 Macbeth by William Shakespeare
b. 400-499 Languages
_________________________________________________________________
_________________
c. 500-599 Pure Science
_________________________________________________________________
_________________
d. 000-099 General Works
_________________________________________________________________
_________________
e. 700-799 Sports, Recreation and Fine Arts
_________________________________________________________________
_________________
4) Find the Dewey categories that are covered by these Dewey numbers:
(The first has been done for you) (5)
a. 400- Languages
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
523 ___________________________________________________
628____________________________________________________
920____________________________________________________
796.33_________________________________________________
821 ___________________________________________________
20
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Activity 3
It’s A Beautiful World!
In the Non-fiction section of your library you will find reference shelves with encyclopaedia and
atlases that you will need for this activity.
1) Use an atlas to find a map of the World
2) Write down the name of one country in Asia
3) Use an encyclopaedia to complete the questions below for your Asian country
(1)
1) Name of the Country:
________________________________
________________________________
2) Capital City:
(1)
________________________________
________________________________
3) Currency used:
________________________________ (1)
________________________________
(1)
4) The country’s population:
___________________________________
___________________________________
5) One of the languages spoken in the
country:
___________________________________
(2)
___________________________________
6) Four special things visitors can do(4)
when they come to this country:
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
10
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Activity 4
Interviewing Characters
We all have our favourite characters from special books that we loved reading, such as Harry
Potter or Willy Wonka. Wouldn’t it be great to actually meet them!
1) Select your favourite character and write in their name in the space provided below
2) Answer the questions listed below
1) My favourite character is:_______________________________________________________(1)
2) What is the name of the book that your favourite character appears in?
________________________________________________________________________________(1)
3) Why did you choose this character?
______________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________(1)
a. Four questions I would ask this character in an interview would be:
(Use the words given to start off your questions) (1 mark each)
b. Why___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
c. When__________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
d. Who___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
e. Where_________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4) Which author created this character?
_________________________________________________________________________________(1)
Mark
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Activity 5
Spot light on the Librarian
Listen to the librarian talk; write down the answers to the following questions:
1) What is one main job of a librarian?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
2) What training does a librarian get?
____________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________(2)
3) What do you enjoy about being a librarian?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
4) What is your favourite book?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
5) What are the favourite books that our students take out?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
6) Where do the books in the library come from?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
7) What is one very important rule of the library?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
8) What happens to old or torn books?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
9) When will the library be getting new books?
____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________ [2]
10) What is one improvement you think that this library needs?
________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ [2]
20
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Activity 6
Interviewing an Author!
Often when we read a book we wonder what the author was like, and what influenced them as
they wrote the story.
1) Select your favourite author and write in their name in the space provided
2) Answer the questions below
1) My favourite author is:__________________________________________________
2) This author’s best book is:
__________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3) If I had a chance to interview this author, I would ask these three questions:
(Use the words given to start off your questions) (2 marks each)
a. Why________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
b. What_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
c. Who_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4) Where in the library could I possibly find the answers? (2)
__________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5) List two books which provide information about your favourite author. (2)
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
10
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Activity 7
Researching Poetry
Everyone knows and loves poetry. Poetry can be funny or sad. Poetry can be about people,
places, animals and things.
1) Locate the poetry section in your library in the Non-fiction shelves (821-827) find a book
of poetry and select a short poem you enjoy.
2) Copy it out neatly in the space provided below.
3) Write the poet’s name and the name of the book in the bottom of the space. Answer the
question.
(Title)
(Poet) ____________________________
I like this poem because :__________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(5)
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Activity 8
Treasure hunt
Using the clues below, identify what these things are in the library
1. A place where you put your bag:
___________________________________________________________________[1]
2. The Borneo Bulletin is a...?
___________________________________________________________________[1]
3.
The Dictionary is a: (tick one ☑)
☐ a reference book or ☐a Fictional book [1]
4. The famous writer who wrote “Romeo and Juliet”:
___________________________________________________________________[1]
5. What are non-fiction books?
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________ [1]
Find and write the title and author for:
6. A non-fiction book:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________[1]
7. A reference book
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________[1]
Take a look around...
8. How many tables are there in the library:
_____________________________________ [1]
9. How many classes can be in the library during one period:
_____________________________________ [1]
10. Describe your library
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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Activity 9
Tell others about the library
Design a poster to advertise the school library.
Make sure that your poster has the opening and closing hours of the library as well as the library
and location. Use the framed box below.
Mark scheme: Tick which applies ☑
☐ Poor
☐ Satisfactory
☐ Good
☐ Very Good
☐ Excellent
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Activity 10
True or not true?
Non-fiction books are true books. Go to the non-fiction section of the library.
Select a book on a famous person and answer the following:
1. What is the person’s name?
______________________________________________________________________(1)
2. Why are they famous?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ (1)
3. Complete the following mind map based on your chosen famous person:
(5)
Height?__
___
Education?
•________________
Weight?__
__
Dislikes
Where do
they live?
•i)
•ii)
Appearance
?
• Face:____
________
________
________
_
• Build:____
________
Nationality
________
? ________
________
____
Hobbies/Intere
sts
•i)
•ii)
•iii)
Family?
Age?
•____________
____
7
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[POETRY]
CfBT Education Trust
Research Reports
All reports are available free of charge from our UK website: www.cfbt.com
1. Effective early childhood education programmes: case studies (2010)
2. An exploration of the processes and outcomes of coaching (2010)
3. Tackling childhood obesity within schools: lessons learned from school-based
interventions (2010)
4. An international perspective on integrated children’s services (2010)
5. Worldwide provision to develop gifts and talents (2010)
6. Learning from international links between schools: an overview of what works (2010)
7. Young gifted and talented: journeys through Australia, China, South Africa and the
United States of America (2010)
8. Action research in Abu Dhabi (2010)
9. Instinct or reason: how education policy is made and how we might make it better (2010)
10. Extended services: ensuring sustainability using the social enterprise model (2010)
11. An investigation into the skills needed by Connexions Personal Advisers to develop
internet-based guidance (2010)
12. Neuro-linguistic programming and learning: teacher case studies on the impact of NLP in
education (2010)
13. Investigating critical learning episodes: a practical guide for continuing professional
development (2010)
14. Is initial teacher training failing to meet the needs of all our young people? (2010)
15. Financing for all: how to include fragile & conflict-affected states in the education FTI
16. Education’s hardest test: scaling up aid in fragile and conflict-affected states (2010)
17. Student integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a study of the UWC in Mostar (2010)
18. Lesson study: enhancing mathematics teaching and learning (2010)
19. Learning to learn in Further Education: literature review (2010)
20. How effective are bullying prevention programmes for children with special educational
needs and/or disabilities? (2010)
21. Baseline primary education research in Angola (2010)
22. Language and education: the missing link (2009)
23. School governors and the new partnership arrangements (2009)
24. Developing a gifted and talented strategy: lessons from the UK experience (2009)
25. Effective teaching and learning through Active Citizenship Project (2009)
26. Disabled parents’ involvement in their children’s education: an examination of good
practice (2009)
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 112
[POETRY]
Tropical English Teacher
HUTAN MAKAN
Rob Goldspring, CfBT, SM SMJA. [email protected]
Are the people of the land,
Or the land of the people?
Can all our human exploits
Shape the environments that surrounds,
Or does what surrounds shape us?
Living beside the Ocean,
Intentions come and go like the tide.
Living beside the Desert,
Intentions drift away like sand on the wind.
And living beside the Jungle??
Intentions are slowly eaten away
By the creeping vegetation and constant sapping humidity.
Slowing down to the pace of the jungle,
Perspectives change and there is no longer the question Of shaper and shaped Instead there is a
realization that there is a subtlety Beneath the illusion of everyday life, A subtlety that
permeates every facet of an environment, From the smallest seed to the highest tower From the
simplest idea to the grandest concept
And here in this jungle island
The paths meander amongst giant buttress roots And trailing liana vines, Sometimes the path
leads to a village Sometimes to nowhere And sometimes the path leads you to the river Where
the crocodile awaits….
The Jungle may be sleepy
Yet it is not a place to sleep walk in…
Be aware, be awake,
Because before you know it
You may know the truth of the jungle saying Hutan Makan – the jungle eats!
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 113
[MY SCHOOL]
Tropical English Teacher
Is that an academic graduation cap on top of two water buffalo tusks?
My School
Submit your entries to Tropical English Teacher to tell us a bit more about ‘your school’. What
makes its unique? What could other schools learn from your school? Who are some of the most
outstanding teachers or students? Every school is special in its own special way – why don’t you
share the secrets of your school with Tropical English Teacher ?
A few photos of your school or your students showing readers what makes it unique would be
very welcome.
Tropical English Teacher Vol 2 #4 December 2010
Page 114