Teaching Writing - Weeks 9-10 - Frameworks for Text Exploitation and Task Design

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Weeks 9 and 10 of the course Teaching Writing for the Bachelor's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IIC 2023. Today we are having a class that is double the normal length to make up for the class we did not have on July 1sth. Today we will explore two text exploitation frameworks for writing, review a range of activity types related to Nation's four strands model and we will also review the seventh creation you made for this week and preview your next lesson planning task.

Today's Goals:

• Demonstrate the features of your textbook adaptation / exploitation activity.
• Experience a TDA lesson and an Idea's Grid activity sequence.
• Discuss two of Nation's frameworks for activity design. 

Guiding Questions:

• How can I adapt textbook materials to provide better writing opportunities for students?
• How can text exploitation frameworks help me incorporate writing in meaningful way?
• How can the Four Strands and the Four Task Types frameworks broaden my repertoire of instructional techniques for writing?

Task 1: TDA Demo - Nasty School

You will participate in a demo lesson following the Text-Driven Approach. Follow the teacher's instructions and enjoy the activity sequence as a student. Later you will analyze what happened in the sequence from a materials design perspective.

• Introduction: You are going to hear a poem about children behaving badly in school. Before you listen to the poem, discuss these questions with your partners:

• What are some rules that kids typically have to follow in school?
• What are some ways that kids misbehaved when you were a student?

• Listen and Read: You are going to hear the first part of the poem called “Nasty School” by Shel Silverstein, a poet who was very popular with children when I was young. As you listen, imagine you are a 3rd grader in this elementary school. Try to visualize the answers to these questions. (CLICK HERE to access the poem)

• What are you wearing?
• What and who do you see around you?
• What are you thinking and feeling?

• Share some of the images that came to your mind. Did you ever do any of the behaviors mentioned in the poem?

• Now you are going to hear the second part of the poem where you will hear about what students learn at Nasty School. As you listen, imagine you are a naughty child in Nasty School. Visualize yourself doing these naughty things.

• Discussion: Discuss the following questions with your partners:

• What do you think of the poem?
• What is an image that stays in your mind related to the poem?
• Why do you think this poet was popular with children?
• Do you agree that it is sometimes fun to break the rules?
• Some people think that one of the primary functions of school is to teach children to control their impulses and learn how to be obedient. Do you agree with this perspective?
• What role should school shave in the formation of values and good behavior in society?

• Writing: Now you are going to write your own poem about one of the following imaginary schools. Choose your school and write a brief poem discussing what happens in this school, how students behave, and what they learn to do. CLICK HERE and go to your section of the document.

• Pleasant School: A utopian school where children learn to be model citizens

• Tico School: An academy where foreigners learn to think and behave like Costa Ricans

• School of Life: A school where children learn essential non-academic life skills that will prepare them for the real world

• Speaking: Re-read the first part of the poem with your partners and then read the roles information below to participate in an improvised roleplay with your group members.

• Student A: You are Johnny, a very misbehaved 3rd grader. You have been very disruptive in class for several months. You are a good kid but being naught is just so fun. Now it is time for the semester parent-teacher conference. You know that your teacher is going to tell your parents about all of the bad things you have been doing. Try to minimize your behavior to avoid punishment from your parents.

• Student B: You are Johnny’s mother or father. You know your son can be a little hyperactive but you think he is a good kid. Now it is time for the semester parent-teacher conference. Ask the teacher questions to find out how Johnny has been behaving.

• Student C: You are Johnny’s teacher. His terrible behavior has made your job a nightmare for the last six months. Now it is time for the parent-teacher conference. You want to explain to Johnny’s mom or dad all of the bad things that he has done and get their support to help him change his behavior.

• Language Focus: Now let's take a moment to look at the poem again. What do you notice about he verbs after the word "how"?

• Finish this sentence about you: "In school I learned how to ..."

• Let's Try: Let's go back to the school poems document and complete the final task as a group.

• Group Document: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Exploring the Text-Driven Approach

Now that you have learned about the structure of the Text-Driven Approach, discuss the following questions with your partners. CLICK HERE to view the lesson plan. 

• How did the text influence the activities that occured at each stage in the lesson?
• What language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing) were addressed in the lesson sequence?
• Tomlinson says that texts and tasks used in class should be cognitively (intellectually) and affectively (emotionally) engaging for students in order to provide the ideal conditions for langauge development. Where you cognitvely or affectively engaged by the text or any of the tasks? If so, how?
• TDA depends on finding or creating texts with a high degree of potential engagement, what are some kinds of texts that your learners would find engaging? Why?

Task 3: An Alternative View of Textbooks

CLICK HERE to view a sample unit from a textbook series called Searching that was developed for Norwegian elementary school children to be used with a Text-Driven Approach. Skim the unit and discuss these questions.

• What do you notice is different about this textbook compared to the standard EFL textbook?

• The activities and tasks of a TDA lesson are inspired by the text itself and the teacher should use their creativity to develop their own activities to help students make a personal connection with the text. Choose a text and tell your partners what you could have students do in the following sections.

• Readiness Activities: Learners think about something personal which will help them connect with the content of the core text.

• Experiential Activities: Learners link the images and thoughts from the readiness activities to the text when first experiencing it.

• Intake Response Activities: Learners develop and then articulate personal responses to the text. These are not comprehension questions. They are interpretation and opinion questions.

• Development Activities: Learners develop the text by continuing it, relocating it, changing the writer’s views, personalizing it, responding to it, etc.

• Input Response Activities: Learners focus on a specific linguistic, pragmatic, discourse, genre or cultural features of the text in order to make discoveries about its use.

• Additional Development Activities: Learners revise what they wrote or said in the first developmental activities as a result of the discoveries they made in the input response activities.

Task 4: Exploring Axbey's PWP Cycle

CLICK HERE to access the dialogue and follow the teacher's instructions. 

Task 5: Activity Type Demo - Textbook Adaptation / Exploitation Activity 

Nearly every week of this course you will submit a unit writing activity creation in order to build a portfolio of writing activity types. 

• Characteristics: What does textbook adaptation /exploitation involve?
• Example: What activity did you create?
• Strengths: In what ways are is textbook adaptation / exploitation beneficial?
• Challenges: What potential limitations or challenges are associated with this?

• Additional Considerations: CLICK HERE

Task 6: Reading Response - Helping Learners Write

Let's take a moment to discuss these questions related to your assigned reading for this week.

• Concept Review: A few weeks ago, we looked at six orientations that have been proposed to describe the ways that L2 writing instruction has been conceptualized. Each has its own focus, method, and potential limitations which means that most teachers will find themselves incorporating multiple orientations in their lessons. Can you remember the focus, method, and limitations of these six orientations?

• Focus on Langauge Structures

• Focus on Text Functions

• Focus on Creative Expression

• Focus on Writing as a Process

• Focus on Content

• Focus on Genre

• Nation's Four Strands: The chapter started with a brief consideration of Nation's Four Strands Model and how it applies to writing instruction.

• What is your overall impression of the four strands model? What is your understanding of the purpose of the model and what each strand refers to?

• Meaning Focused Input

• Meaning Focused Output

• Language Focused Learning

• Fluency Development

• What are some specific ways that the four strands can be applied to the teaching of writing?

• Four Task Types for Language Instruction: On page 95 Nation writes, "These four kinds of tasks are called experience taks, shared tasks, guided tasks, and independent tasks. One way to look at each of these types of tasks is to see their job as dealing with the gap which exists between learners' present knowledge and the demands of the task." Like the four strands, this framework can equally apply to all language skills. What do each of these tasks types refer to and how do they bridge that gap?

• Experience Tasks

• Shared Tasks

• Guided Tasks

• Independent Tasks

• The Four Tasks Applied to Writing: CLICK HERE

• Final Quotes: These quotes from the conclusion of the chapter help summarize the purpose of the two frameworks presented (the four strands and the four task types). What stood out most to you about this chapter?

• "The aim in describing the four kinds of tasks is to make teachers aware of the possible approaches to dealing with the gap between the learners’ knowledge and the knowledge required to do a task, and to make them aware of the very large number of activities that can be made to help learners. When teachers are able to think of a variety of ways of dealing with a problem, they can choose the ones that will work best in their class.”

• “The job of these tasks is to help learners gain mastery over the language, ideas, language skills and types of discourse that are the goals of their study.”

Task 7: Lesson Plan 2 - Process Writing Plan

Let's finish today's class by previewing your secong lesson planning assignment. 

• Assignment Guidelines: CLICK HERE

References: 

Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. Routledge.