Workshop title: Raising students' attainment in English :Introduction In the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, attainment is defined as: success in achieving something .or reaching a particular level Raising students' attainments in English is one of the many concerns of teachers of English in our schools. It is something we should do every day to encourage our students to improve their competence in English .(accuracy and fluency) and to gain confidence in using it beyond the classroom context Like in any other subject of the school curriculum, students in the English subject are always in need to be provided with the opportunities and the activities that can help them raise their attainment and make progress while learning the 4 language skills. Effective English teachers can have an impact on the process of raising their students' level through reflecting on their work and searching for the ideas and solutions that will help students overcome some of the difficulties that they might face in improving their command .of English
:The purpose of the workshop .To discuss the different solutions that can help raise the students attainments in English -1 .To discuss the impact of teacher-centered or ‘didactic’ teaching on the students' language development -2 To decide on some general guidelines that set forth the different interactive techniques to raise the -3
.students' attainments in English
First session Explaining Top-Down Teaching & Bottom-up Teaching
Top-Down A top-down teaching style focuses on providing students a large view of a subject, immersing them in the big picture without explaining the components that make up the subject. For example, in English as a Second Language class, a top-down approach would begin by immersing students in all aspects of learning English immediately, including writing, reading and pronunciation. Students would not be taught the intricacies of vowels, nouns and pronouns first, instead they would be plunged into the totality of learning English and then gradually learn the building blocks that make .up the English language
Bottom-up Unlike a top-down teaching approach which takes a macro view of a subject first, a bottom-up teaching approach begins with the component parts of a subject, and gradually builds up to the whole. For example, in an ESL class, a bottom-up approach would begin with things such as phonics, letters, vowels and syllables, which are the building blocks of language. It's only after students have mastered these specific rules and systems that they move on to speaking and .reading
Distinctions Top-down and bottom-up teaching methods have the same learning objectives, but different ways of achieving them. Top-down teaching is concerned with motivating students to learn through direct interaction and immersion, and allowing them to find meaning in a subject by applying their own experiences. Bottom-up teaching is more instructor-driven and focuses on the minutiae of a subject as a way of decoding and simplifying each component through repetition and .memorization
Considerations Because top-down teaching emphasizes instruction through context and relies in part on a student's background and experience to acquire knowledge, it may not provide the same level of specific subject skills as a bottom-up teaching approach. Conversely, though a bottom-up teaching approach will strengthen a student's grasp of a subject's fundamentals, it's lack of emphasis on learning within the context of a larger whole may limit its effectiveness. For example, students who learn the specific meaning of a word may not understand how the meaning of that word .changes based on the culture where the word is used
(Questions to prompt discussion and spark ideas ) Can you think of some examples that show how pupils can put the language they learn in a -1 ?certain lesson to a good use
How can we help our students improve their knowledge and practice of the English -2 ?Alphabet
How can cognitively undemanding tasks help students improve their English such as -3 ?coloring in a picture, watching a video, greeting or introducing oneself
Do you think that the Total Physical Response (TPR) is helpful to raise the students' -4 attainment? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzG-oD59Ybw
?What is the active role of the teacher in raising the students' attainment -5
Second session
Explaining Guided Discovery for Language (Instruction (PDF document (Questions to prompt discussion and spark ideas)
?How can we make the students learn through games -6
Do you think the internet has an effect on students' attainment? How can you make use of -7 ?it
How can Bloom's taxonomy be used to enhance students' learning and attainment in -8 ?English subject
Guided Discovery for Language Instruction. How can this method help raise the students -9 .attainment in English? Please download the attached document
If you are given the chance to design your own method of raising students' attainment, -10 which methods are you going to combine together depending on the students' needs, the ?context of instruction and the aims of the teaching
Do think that applying achievement tests at the end the school year will help improve the -11 ?students' attainment
The End