T&P Funiber Tefl

Assignment - TP

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT: TASKS AND PROJECTS

GENERAL INFORMATION: This assignment must be done in groups and has to fulfil the following conditions: -

Length: between 8 and 10 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if there are any-). Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman. Size: 11. Line height: 1.5. Alignment: Justified.

If for some reason you cannot do the assignment in groups, you will have to do it individually (notice that individual assignments will be penalized. The maximum score a student can get is 8 / 10). The individual assignment must have a length between 8 and 10 pages approximately (without including cover, index or appendix –if there is any). The assignment has to be done in this Word document and has to fulfil the rules of presentation and edition, as for quotes and bibliographical references which are detailed in the Study Guide. Also, it has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the Study Guide. Sending it to the teacher’s e-mail is not permitted. All the members of the group have to send the assignment. In addition to this, it is very important to read the assessment criteria, which can be found in the Study Guide. The assignment mark is 100% of the final mark.

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Assignment - TP

Assignment:

Look at the project from It’s Magazine available in the Assignment materials section (at the same place where you can find this paper): Material 1. a. Analyse this project according to the criteria laid down by Ribé and Vidal, Fied-Booth and Legutke and Thomas for project work. b. How would you need to adapt this project for use with a group of learners with which you are familiar? (You need to clearly specify the teaching context, and rationale for the adaptations you would make, as well as specifying the adaptations themselves).

Important: you have to write your personal details and the subject name on the cover (see the next page). The assignment that does not fulfil these conditions will not be corrected. You have to include the assignment index below the cover.

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Assignment - TP

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT: TASK AND PROJECTS Names and surnames: Login: Group: Date: March 27th, 2015

INDEX

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Assignment - TP

INTRODUCTION............................................5 RİBÉ AND VİDAL’S CRİTERİA ANALYSİS FOR ‘THE MUSİC PROJECT´ 6 Steps of the Project..........................................6 Create an appropriate classroom environment.......................6 Do basic research around the topic:..............................6 Report to the class...........................................6 Give feedback ............................................7 Put it all together...........................................7 Present the project..........................................7 FRIED BOOTH CRITERIA ANALYSIS FOR “THE MUSIC PROJECT....7 Carrying out the project......................................8 Teacher’s role..............................................8 Learners’ role..............................................8 LEGUTKE AND THOMAS CRITERIA FOR ‘THE MUSIC PROJECT’ ANALYSIS................................................9 ADAPTING THE PROJECT..................................10 Teaching Context..........................................10 Avaılabılıty of the objective of the project.........................11 Motivation...............................................11 Chronologıcal applıance of the project............................12 CONCLUSION............................................12 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................13 WEBOGRAPHY..........................................13

INTRODUCTION Tasks alone do not guarantee the realization of a communicative classroom. The need is … the larger framework of projects in which they can unfold their inherent potential for learning through communication. (Legutke and Thomas, 1991:69)

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Assignment - TP

Teaching a language with projects constitutes one of the most currently used approaches in ESL and EFL. The project itself refers to tasks in general and the importance of the social context in which they are carried out, as well as many other important factors that set the scenery for a task to be carried out successfully, achieving the majority if not all the goals proposed at the very beginning of the class or even the academic year. As it is one of the main focuses of attention nowadays regarding the Communicative Approach, there are numerous definitions to refer to a task. But the most common one is that which expresses that task is a language activity in which there is a focus on meaning over form. (Chapter 1, Tasks: what are they? Funiber Material). This type of task is often referred to as a communicative one. According to Skehan (1998: 96), it is difficult to decide when an activity deserves to be called a task or not due to the two underlying characteristics of tasks, avoidance of specific structures and engagement of worthwhile meanings. For this assignment, we were required to analyze The Music Project from It’s Magazine in the light of the criteria laid down by experts in the educational field such as Ribé and Vidal, Fried-Booth and Legutke and Thomas, taking into account very practical guidelines within specific frameworks for project works. It is worth pointing out that both teacher and learners have a valuable role throughout this project. Whereas projects comprise an important out of class work element (Tasks and Projects, Chapter 5) which promote learner’s autonomy, the teacher’s role is still of high importance as a “coordinator of the learning process”. And this role is seen all through this project in which the teacher acts as a coach to help students between 19 to 21 years old keep focused on the learning outcome as the fun activities help them develop their learning skills. Thus, this project gives continuity and progression reassuring students’ confidence. All in all, the ultimate goal of applying The Music Project with this specific group of students is to help them learn through social practices, in other words, through communicating. PROJECT ANALYSIS “The music prepares brain for higher forms of thought." Robert Lake(2002) Ribé and Vidal help us to identify task generations, according to those definitions given by the authors, we can classify the ‘Music Project’ from IT’S Magazines and the ‘Project work with advanced classes’ as a third generation task, since it involves communicative development, cognitive development and global personality development. The ‘Music Project’ from IT’S

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Assignment - TP

Magazines collects students’ likes and abilities towards musical instruments, musical genre likes and social abilities enhancing creativity and thoughts. RİBÉ AND VİDAL’S CRİTERİA ANALYSİS FOR ‘THE MUSİC PROJECT´ Steps of the Project: The steps described on their book Project Work Step by Step (1993) showed us a clear idea of the musical project and let us verify if its layout and design are properly arranged. Create an appropriate classroom environment: The Music Project was broadly planned to facilitate students build up their skills through their personalities. The activities are presented so they are greatly motivating, despite their differences on language and background. Meanwhile ‘project with advanced classes’ tends to contextualize students by means of reading in order to identify the impact that the final of the product could have in their society. Create a general outline of the project: The final product of the Musical Project is to organize a band, as we can see on Step 2 of the unit. This activity promotes communication, negotiation of meaning and cohesion among students. Long(1981). On the other side, ‘Project work with advanced classes’ aims to produce a guide for the disabled tourist which was finally done. Do basic research around the topic: Students are asked to write a song in step 5b. For this, they need to do some research and as input the teacher shows students some lyrics which they identify. In the ‘Project work with advanced classes’ we can see the commitment in the reports that should be submitted and the amount of interaction and negotiation of meaning the members should make in order to organize information. Report to the class: This step of the project was weakly developed because students have barely few opportunities to show their findings and there is poor control over the progression of the project or observing the actions so students could make the necessary adjustments. The same happened with ‘Project work with advanced classes’ since the aim was a tangible (written product) so we could not identify any section that implied socialization.

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Assignment - TP

Give feedback: There is no evidence about feedback given by the teacher or received by the students, The project shows weakness because students interact poorly. It might be more successful if students could get the necessary comments and suggestions to implement in their work, as well as feedback on their needs and advancement on the project. As a suggestion, there should be a clear and solid plan to give feedback to students (standard form) so all the ones participating in the project can have understandable criteria of feedback. Totally different from ‘Project work with advanced classes’ in which students received feedback not only from the teacher but also from different radio stations, tv studios newspapers and organizations, all those who were sent a copy of the booklet . Put it all together: The project has two final products, which makes complicated to determine this stage. The initial product consists on forming a band.(Step 5).For the second part of the general result, (Step 6). Students form a fan club. They learn all the necessary to achieve the goal: What fan clubs are, how to write letters to other fans etc. The taken as a whole, the final product is not seen yet. At the end, the project suggests a music knowledge game, but there is no final result or a model of it. However, in ‘Project work with advanced classes’ all the ideas were organized in smaller groups in order to check written language, draw the maps and arrange the typography and with the help of the teacher motivating and encourage students to end up the activities, all that information could be organized with the help of a typist and a photographer. Present the project: The Music Project does not show a final product or presentation as an indicator of students¨ achievement. The only evidence of the process is what students present on each individual task and it is not clearly stated. No final results are shown. ‘Project work with advanced classes’ achieved the final goal of producing a guide for disabled tourists. Assess and evaluate the project: The project does not present any tool to evaluate students, such as checklists or follow up charts which might show a real progress of students` progress. We can talk more of an assessment section in ‘Project work with advanced classes’ by means of sending copies to different media in order to analyze the public reaction and usefulness but no evaluating tools were driven in it FRIED BOOTH CRITERIA ANALYSIS FOR “THE MUSIC PROJECT” The Music project, from our point of view, seems not to follow Fried Booth`s criteria as ‘Project work with advanced classes’ did, since it develops most of the activities in class and disregards the out-of the class tasks, on the other part ‘Project work with advanced classes’ was 7

Assignment - TP

most of the time developed outside class. Fried Booth (1986) establishes three main stages for full-scale projects: Classroom planning: In this stage students can plan through the whole project what kind of band they want to have, instruments to play, they are allowed to create their CD cover and type of album. Meanwhile in this part, the ‘Project work with advanced classes’ has a continuum used of controlled activities like reading magazines and newspapers related the disabled people in the city of Bath . Carrying out the project: The Music Project was successfully delivered due to the collaborative work of the teacher and students. One advantage of working in groups relies on the fact that students are able to share ideas among them. As a result, students achieve the goals stated in the project, which include getting information from each other, sharing personal information about likes, hobbies and favorite singers and musical groups in order to reach the final goal. Another benefit of the group work relies on peers’ correction reinforcing interaction and improving language deficiencies. Last but not least, the role of the teacher was also decisive in all the process ever since he /she was able to improve any complicatedness learners might have and provide them the opportunity to find a solution in order to achieve the goals and perform the task successfully, but in ‘Project work with advanced classes’ is clear how the outside classroom research must be taken immediately and the four skills are used in an integrated way as suggested by the author. Teacher’s role: Fried Booth explains the role of the teacher in the project work as a “participant, a coordinator when necessary, a figure in the background evaluating and monitoring the language being used” (Fried-Booth, p.38). As we have observed on the Musical both project, especially on ‘Project work with advanced classes’ the teacher plays the role of controller, guiding students to develop the activities and promoting students ‘autonomy in order to complete the task. The teacher establishes the rules about the project giving students time to research on the topic and encouraging them to use the language. He/she also promotes students organization, how to verify new grammar structures and vocabulary related to the subject matter, how to find information on internet and especially as an encouraging person that enable students to finish what they began. Learners’ role: The collaborative work of students following the teacher`s instructions made the development of the task a successful process. Learners participate actively asking and answering questions regarding the group goal which is to form a band. The most constructive 8

Assignment - TP

aspect about the learners `role is that all the steps in the process contributes to their language improvement since they are practicing the language and interacting within the groups. Other advantage that learners faced on the project was that they were given the possibility to discuss their points of view in order to support their arguments and state different positions that lead to an agreement. LEGUTKE AND THOMAS CRITERIA FOR ‘THE MUSIC PROJECT’ ANALYSIS According to Thomas and Legutke’s experimental cycle based on EXPERIENCE PREPARATION, EXPERIENCE, REVIEW AND MAKING CONNECTIONS, we perceive how this cycle encourages students to feel confident with an important role given in the group, as we could see in the ‘Music Project’ step 2, roles that need to be taken by the student seriously, however, we as teachers, need to be aware of our role of facilitators without leading an absolute sense of independence to our students which is not suitable for the group’s ideas development and organization of the tasks. When students move around this Legutke & Thomas’ experimental cycle, i.e the ‘Music Project’ the cooperativism and students awareness of their important role in the project increases as well as the need for knowledge improvement, a clear example of this could be the crucial factor in ‘Music Project” related to the fact they have to record and find their fans which helps students to find the sense of improvement mentioned by the authors, that sense that is difficult to reach with first generation tasks. The sense of independence that students felt in the project at one point helps them to do what they are supposed to do . Legutke and Thomas argue that project work is particularly effective in promoting learner autonomy which is very important in this language learning process. Moreover, projects implies cooperative work, since group members have different abilities, likes and opinions that ends up in bigger and complete ideas helping all the group to reach the final goal as we could see in both the ‘Music Project’ from IT’S Magazines and the ‘Project work with advanced classes’ . In this sense Legutke and Thomas mentioned: The cooperative group... can be characterized as the nourishing ground for self-empowerment of the individual. (1991:235) In spite of the fact, there are some disadvantage aspects for shyer students or introverted ones, since they could be even more silent or less communicative in the target language and it would be even more difficult for the teacher to monitor or those students’ output, especially if they work with extroverted students. The Music Project in this aspect does not guarantee that those shyer students get enrolled in a real communicative activity since drawing posters and the album image can be used as an escape activity for acting out in the group performances. We as teachers need to bear in mind that learners need to be taught for a specific purpose instead of 9

Assignment - TP

being taught for a senseless reason, our aim should be helping them to learn by means of an experiential learning sequence in order to reflect on their actual and future language progress thanks to their new findings, in that way they can use their affective-intellectual and physical faculties so The experimental cycle proposed by Thomas and Legutke reach its teaching and learning objective. ADAPTING THE PROJECT Teaching Context: “Teaching is not only about the content. You must consider the context of each class. Understanding your audience (i.e. first year students, graduate students, language learners) and how your work needs to be presented (i.e. a large class, a seminar course, online learning) is vital to teaching and learning.” We work with students from 19 to 21 years. We work in institutions of higher education committed with teaching and learning of different careers including: agriculture, commerce, systems, livestock, and tourism. We have an average of 7,500 students.To start this project, we have selected students of fourth year of Tourism, Trade and Systems careers, whose level of English is high intermediate. They are dynamic and believe that this activity will help them to develop their writing, listening and speaking skills. This group of adolescents who are eager to learn, and who in spite of having their learning styles and difficulties are always interested in improving their English levels. Sometimes it is necessary to maintain that eagerness motivating them with something interesting, attractive and through which they can have contact with their everyday life and see that they can use the language for something useful. Adapting the project The educators of adolescents should be "scholars" of the usages and customs of their trainees; because in this stage it will be possible to consider a true rapprochement. This does not imply in any way to become an adolescent or "be the adolescent" to gain the sympathy of the students. Roles are always teacher-student, they can have a certain friendship and confidence but they are not friends. "The Music Project", from “Its Magazine”, is an example of the steps you must follow to organize a band. We as teachers socialized this project with students and we call a competition to discover new voices, and local talents to perform songs, play an interpreting a musical instrument and lyrics. We analyze carefully the steps proposed in "The music Project" for the integration of a musical band, that is: Choose an instrument, form a band, Press release, choose a music style, write a song, get a deal, sign a contract, make a record, from disc to DAT, Music survey, Star to fan club, The Fame Game. First, The Music Director was recruited, second, the pop music was selected in English as the genre for the band. Third, fifteen 10

Assignment - TP

students were selected and finally, the following instruments were chosen: drums, saxophone, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, trumpet, violin, drums, and two singers. The Music Director agreed with students to practice in a classroom two-hour session, three times a week. Avaılabılıty of the objective of the project The main objective of this project is to promote the use of the English language, through writing, interpretation and dissemination of the songs. Communicate with other adolescents and become celebrities. We as teachers and The Music Director will work to make them understand the social meaning and importance of this musical group, in addition, the writing and reading will appear as something that follows us through the week, in this way students will not feel the pressure but feel motivated. On the other hand, it is important to highlight that practicing daily the students will feel more self-confident; they start to hold conversations only in English, and encourage the use of language to other young people through music. They investigate world-famous singers’ life; also promote the transfer of the language and strategies learned in the classroom inside of real-life contexts. In addition, we find students’ cultural interests and hobbies as we can see the project handles world music; the main point of these tasks is that they show learning more efficiently if the learners are aware of how and why they are learning; the teacher can also increase students’ motivation and develop knowledge in a sequence of progressively complex tasks. It is a welloriented project in which the teacher acts as a coach to help students understand the rationale behind the project, has a special role of coordinating what they will be producing because of students´ need to understand who their audience is and the expected learning outcome. Motivation: Since our students have some difficulties managing the language, we must make the students feel and see the goodness of their classes involving this music project. We suggest that teachers prepare the tasks taking into account students’ age, language level and interests in order to maintain their level of motivation. Many students feel ashamed of speaking in front of others so working in groups can stimulate their confidence. “Accentuating the positive with plenty of praise and positive feedback which may increase the frequency of desired behavior.” (Ann Marriner-Tomey, 2004:95) Regarding the task where students have to do research, we find useful to adapt the task showing students videos with subtitles instead of having them read the material provided. This can lower the affective filter of the students as well as their lack of confidence. “Sincerely delivered positive feedback in a classroom, seen by students as a validation of their own personal autonomy, critical thinking ability and self-fulfillment, can increase or maintain intrinsic motivation.”

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Assignment - TP

(Brown, 1993:143) Learners also need to be given opportunities to get or maintain a high level of motivation during language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment. Chronologıcal applıance of the project The learning of several instruments and the singing classes for the vocalists will commence in the month of May, when the students started their regular classes. They will practice four hours a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday in the evening. Then, in future the Music Director shall organize musical performances, both within and outside the university. The permanent training in a foreign language will lead the students to acquire a more intense domain of the English as a second language and improve their skills such as talking, writing, reading and memorizing texts. This musical project will be maintained even when the students graduate from University and will be renewed every year. CONCLUSION From our point of view, “The Music Project ” represents a very useful tool to develop students’ language skills before they finish their studies. The project is well-organized, showing clear instructions, step by step, and has a logical sequence. This type of project helps teachers and students to work actively and joining forces to achieve the goals. The teacher can work as a guide, giving instructions and monitoring the whole process, and students are the ones in charge of following instructions, interact with the group and share relevant information for the task. Another important aspect is related to the benefits of cooperative work that can be reached by means of these projects developed in the classroom. We conclude that “ The Music project” allows students to increase their talents and self-confidence too, since each student is in charge of a special task according to their capacity and abilities for doing it. This third generation tasks enhance students´ autonomy and responsibility with others and their learning process. In addition, we believed that the evidence is overwhelming; the inclusion of "The Music Project" as a critical element in the academic curriculum of the universities and colleges is motivating and complementary to the training of young people, because it can enhance the academic outcomes and impact positively on the intellectual, personal and moral development of theirs. The important point is that the specific interpretation taken will be determined by the different views that teachers have of teaching-learning process, how they believe second language acquisition is best facilitated, and the approach to language teaching that they subscribe to either implicitly or explicitly (1997:167-168).

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Assignment - TP

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Brown, H. D. (1980) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. 4th Edition: Harlow: Longman. 2. Burden, R. and Williams, M. (1997). “Psychology for Language Teachers”. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 3. Campbell, R. (1996): “The Music Project”, from IT’S Magazines. 4. Fried-Booth, D. (1982): “Project Work with Advanced Classes”, in ELT Journal Volume 36/2 January, pp. 98-103. 5. Lake, R. (2002) Enhancing Acquisition through Music. The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching, Volume VII– 2002–03. 6. Legutke, M. & Thomas, H. (1991). “Process and Experience in the Language Classroom”. Longman. Essex. 7. Long, M. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics 4, pp. 126-141. 8. Marriner-Tomey, A. (2004). Guide to nursing management and leadership. 7th ed. St. Louis: Mosby. 9. Ribé, R. & Vidal, N. (1993). “Project Work Step by Step”. Heinemann. Oxford. 10. Ribé, R. & Vidal, N. (1995). “La Enseñanza de la Lengua Extranjera en la Educación Secundaria”. Longman. Madrid. 11. Ribé, R. & Vidal, N. (1995). Project Work Step by Step. Heinemann. Oxford. 12. Skehan, P. (1998). “A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning”. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 13. Tasks and Projects. Course Materials. FUNIBER (2014). WEBOGRAPHY 1. http://presencias.net/indpdm.html?http://presencias.net/educar/ht1016c.html March, 20th, 2015 http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/topics/teachingcontexts.htm .March 20th,2015

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