tesol2015mwispanel_crossing
TRANSCRIPT
MWIS Academic Session TESOL 2015
Publishers obviously aim to produce excellent books which will satisfy the needs of their users but their need to
maximize profits makes them cautious and conservative and any
compromise with the authors tends to still be biased towards perceived
market needs rather than the actual needs and wants of the learners.
(Tomlinson, 2014)
Publishers obviously aim to produce excellent books which will satisfy the needs of their users but their need to
maximize profits makes them cautious and conservative and any
compromise with the authors tends to still be biased towards perceived
market needs rather than the actual needs and wants of the learners.
(Tomlinson, 2014)
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Crossing into Crossing into New Materials Writing TerritoryNew Materials Writing Territory
MWIS Academic Session • TESOL 2015 2
Steve Jones
Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Jayme Adelson-Goldstein
Lighthearted Learning, Northridge CA
Eric Roth
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Christina Cavage, ModeratorSavannah College of Art and DesignSavannah, Georgia
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WHO ARE WE?
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Sources of informationfor this preliminary study
• A small number for interviews with practitioners in higher ed and adult settings
• A small number of interviews with publishing and program decision-makers
• A small (but growing) set of survey responses
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What we’re not claiming
“I'm concerned about the validity of your data using this survey instrument. Please make sure to state that when/if you present any ‘findings’”.
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OUR AGENDA
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OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
How do publishers and authors set the
teaching agenda for ELT materials?
How do publishers and authors set the
teaching agenda for ELT materials?
ReflectReflect ShareShare
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Surveys Focus groups
(regional, national, international)
School site interviews with school coordinators & teachers
Classroom observations
Phone interviews with survey respondents
Shaping the Agenda
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Sales rep reports (national and global)
Research company’s surveys & focus groups
Review of research in professional journals
Web research on ELT trends and funding
Competition analysis
Website analytics
Shaping the Agenda
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THOUGHTS FROM…
Pietro Alongi Publishing Director, Pearson Education Jeff Krum Associate Publishing Director, Cambridge University Press
Sharon Sargent Publisher, Oxford University Press
Pietro Alongi Publishing Director, Pearson Education Jeff Krum Associate Publishing Director, Cambridge University Press
Sharon Sargent Publisher, Oxford University Press 11
How does the publisher view research?
Sharon Sargent
We keep the research ‘present’ during writing, editing, and production (and digital testing) [by not being] afraid of what we may uncover.
Every project at Oxford has a research plan from the very beginning.
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How does the publisher view research?
...much in the way a GPS will redirect you if you take a wrong turn (or two) along the way.
• an ongoing process
• a feedback loop
• continuously informs the
creation of the product• confirms the project is going in the right direction
Pietro Alongi13
Ideals • Change • Academia
Distracted Students • Underfunded Programs
Market Research-what works
-doing the best you can
with what you have-the way English “is actually taught”
How does the publisher view research?
Academic Research
- best practice
- theory- the way English “should be taught.”
Jeff Krum 14
VISION
DNA
VIRTUOUS
CIRCLE
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“Whatever you decide is a gamble, but when your work is research-based, then it’s an educated and well-thought out gamble.” - Sharon
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Tomlinson’s Framework
Collection of texts that engageDevelopment of practice materials
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RESEARCH VS THE REAL WORLD
“Names” in the field approached to be the face of the book but without
the ability to impact the content of the book as much having their name
on the book implies to the users.
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RESEARCH VS THE REAL WORLD
The “BETA” concept
“We’ll fix it in the reprint”
“We’ll fix it in the next edition.”
“It’s easy to go in and make the fix digitally.”
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Multilevel
Writing paragraphsfor beginners
Blackline masters
Complex text
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Authorial AnecdoteAUTHOR CAMPAIGN: teach paragraph writing in low beginning text
Academic Research Market Research
Paragraph writing at the beginning level is appropriate and
needed.
Teachers of low-beginning learners say learners are not ready to write paragraphs.
RESULT: No paragraph writing in level 1
Do you have any materials that help
beginning-level learners write paragraphs?
A few years later…
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Open Educational ResourcesOER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits sharing, accessing, repurposing—including for commercial purposes—and collaborating with others.
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Open Educational Resources
OpenOpen
Free
OER
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At the heart of sustainable change is developing and helping people to build up an “inner resilience” that guards them from experiencing every change that comes their way as disruptive.
Jennifer Vanek Open Educational Resources:
New Technologies and New Ways of Learning
Minnetesol Journal
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A CONSIDERATION• The size of the gap between authors’
conception and teachers’ use relates to how much staff development is provided when programs or teachers adopt a book
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OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
What are explicit and implicit assumptions
embedded in materials?
What are explicit and implicit assumptions
embedded in materials?
ReflectReflect ShareShare
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Assumptions
•What are they? (still under study)•Are they valid? (requires study)•If not, what alternatives would their adjustment lead us to?
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Assumption
Materials must postulate a level of background knowledge of all potential students on each content topic.
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What alternatives exist?
•Create meta-materials that help teachers assess and then build background knowledge specific to their students’ needs.
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Assumption
Materials must not include content about certain sensitive topics.
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What alternatives exist?
•Examine the need for self-censorship.•Create materials that assume there is student access to uncensored content.•Develop national versions of materials
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Assumption
Materials play a role in professional development for untrained or inexperienced teachers.
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What alternatives exist?
•Produce separate professional development materials be developed, on various “levels,” for teachers.•Should a flexible menu of materials include choices about “levels" for teachers as well as students?
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Assumption
There is a specific order in which activities should be organized, based on a theory of learning.
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What alternatives exist?
• Materials that do not assume which activities are done outside of class and which are done in class, and allow teachers to choose the order and setting.
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Assumption
Materials must provide a fixed set of presentations and activities to meet the curricular needs of programs.
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What alternatives exist?
• Make available a flexible menu of materials from which teachers (and students) could select, reflecting personal styles, interests, sensibilities.
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Assumption
Students are tech-savvy and have access to technology that allows them to interact online.
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Assumptions• Materials must postulate a level of background knowledge of
all potential students on each content topic.• Materials must not include content about certain sensitive
topics. • Materials play a role in professional development for
untrained or inexperienced teachers.• There is a specific order in which activities should be
organized, based on a theory of learning.• Materials must provide a fixed set of presentations and
activities to meet the curricular needs of programs.• Students are tech-savvy and have access to technology that
allows them to interact online.
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OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
How do English teachers add,
subtract, change, and ignore textbooks to
meet student needs?
How do English teachers add,
subtract, change, and ignore textbooks to
meet student needs?
ReflectReflect ShareShare
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Textbooks
• Textbooks remain a double edged sword.
• Many contexts lead to many teacher responses in post-method ESL/EFL classrooms.
http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/z7c/axj/z7caxjpTA.jpeg
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Graph showing increase in ELLs in Globally.
• By 2000 – 750 million English as
Foreign Language Speakers.
– 350 million English as Second Language Speakers.
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revolutioninlearning.wordpress.com
ESL and ELLs Statistics• An estimate of over 1
billion people are learning English worldwide.
• http://esl.about.com/od/englishlearningresources/f/f_eslmarket.htm
• That’s approximately the population of US + Mexico + Canada --- doubled!
www.commerce.gov
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http://worldpress.org/images/maps/world_600w.jpg
English Classrooms Differ
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Context Counts: Few Major Publishers and Many More English Classes and Teachers
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Seeking Teacher Responses to Textbook Challenges
http://johnkyo.deviantart.com/art/No-Originality-192662864
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Survey Results and Highlights
• 65% chose their own textbooks• 100% modified the textbook
material • 80% alter the time for
assignments• 74 % restate directions • 65 % expand on directions• 60% provide additional directions
for multilevel classes• 45% read author introductions• 45 % skip materials due to time
constraintswww.nicwebdesign.com
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Question # 3 Summary
• Who made the decision about the adoption of this material?
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Adaptions and Modifications
• Modifications included:• Skip chapters • Modify the chapters.• Refocus material • Rearrange chapters• Create new materials to augment chapters• Find additional materials to supplement
textbooks
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Question # 2 Summary
Answer Choices Responses
integrated skills 40.00% 8
composition/writing 15.00% 3
reading 5.00% 1
grammar 10.00% 2
oral communication 20.00% 4
listening 20.00% 4
other 25.00% 5
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English Teachers Feel Free to Go Beyond Author’s Intentions and Structures
• 55% ignore • “I prefer to adapt material to fit the needs of the learners.
This may mean that the organization of the content, etc. will be changed in some way, perhaps expanded upon or removed. As a result, the author's intent may be less relevant. That said, I do later look through these sections for new ideas and information.”
• “Quite honestly, I find most textbooks, at this point in my career, not particularly well written, at least those with an older copyright. Corpus data is rarely included, vocabulary isn't correlated with the academic work list, critical thinking skills are rarely incorporated, and explanations are often convoluted. I use the text as a springboard to deeper activities and tend to generate most of my own materials.”
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Solutions for Teachers; Applications for Material Writers
• “Begin with the end in mind.” – Ancient Greek proverb• Consider classroom context • Focus on student needs and wants• Consider explicitly encouraging adapting ESOL
materials to better fit actual students in class• Build flexible, stand-alone assignments • Provide a range of recommended time for assignments• Deploy authentic, outside materials to supplement
textbook gaps and limits
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English Teachers Want Some Autonomy From ESOL Textbooks
“I am not a page-turner; I’m a creative educator.”
Katherine C. Guevara 54
Moving away from this…

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to more of this…

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Continuing the Conversation: Web Resources
• Tuzi, F, “Adopting & Adapting Textbooks for an ESL Curriculum”. YouTube. YouTube, LLC, 5 June 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq9ywxu6Wao
• Tuzi, F, “Adopting A ESL Textbook in ESL Curriculum”. YouTube. YouTube LLC, 17 July 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPuV3utKKe8
• Terrell, Shelly, TESOL Institute, American, “10 Ways to Adapt a Course Book into your Classroom”. YouTube. YouTube LLC, 20 March 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OTB8sJe-nE
• Like Them or Not: Making Textbooks Work for you. Caraveo, Priscilla, Guevara, Katherine, 2013.
• http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej26/f1.html• http://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski• House, Dayna, “Adapting the English Textbook to Students Needs”. 3 December
2012http://www.slideshare.net/EmbajadaEEUUenArgentina/adapting-the-english-textbook-to-students-needs
• eHow Contributor, “How to Adapt Textbook Activities in an ESL Class”, 2015.http://www.ehow.com/how_4481192_adapt-textbook-activities-esl-class.html
• Xerri, Daniel, “Experimenting with Dogme in a Mainstream ESL Context”, 25 July 2012http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/viewFile/19189/12673
• Pinard, Lizzie, “2 Simple ideas for adapting your course book” 30 November 2014.http://reflectiveteachingreflectivelearning.com/2014/11/30/2-simple-ideas-for-adapting-your-course-book/
• "Innovation in ESL and EFL Textbooks." Innovation in ESL and EFL• Ferlazzo, Larry. "Do's & Don'ts For Teaching English-Language Learners." Edutopia. N.p., 12 Mar.
2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.• Roth, Eric H. "Why Are So Many EFL Textbooks So Bland, Boring, and Culturally Tone Deaf?"
Compelling Conversations. N.p., 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.• teachingasleadership.org/.../HistoryofESLandBilingualEducation.doc, Date and Author Unknown.• revolutioninlearning.wordpress.com• http://worldpress.org/images/maps/world_600w.jpg
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Acknowledgments
• Pricilla Caraveo• Barry Griner• Katherine C. Guevara• Danny Hackin• James Polk• Survey Respondents• USC Center for Scholarly Technology• Mark Treston• Brent Warner
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Thank You!!Questions, Comments
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Contact Information• Christina Cavage, [email protected]• Jayme Adelson-Goldstein,
• Steve Jones, stjones@gmailcom• Eric Roth, [email protected]
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