Understanding Learners

and Facilitating Learning:

What Teachers Need to

Know

TESOL 2011

New Orleans

Denise E. Murray

Macquarie University

MaryAnn Christison

University of Utah

THE WORLD OF ENGLISH

Learners of English

“Within the space of a few years, there

could be around 2 billion people learning

English in many different contexts round

the world.” (Graddol 2006, p. 100)

Whose English? (Kachru 1986)

Expanding circle

Outer circle

Inner circle

WARM-UP ACTIVITY

Overview of session

• Warm-up activity

• Group explorations

– Classroom data

– What teachers need to know

• Overview of volumes

– Contents

– Who it is for

– Features

EXPLORE VIGNETTES. READ

VIGNETTE AND ANSWER THE

QUESTIONS.

Task 1 and 2

Who is this for?

• Teachers with different

– Contexts

– Levels

– Purposes for learning

Focus of volumes

• What English language teachers need

to know and be able to do for their

students to learn English

WHAT DO YOU THINK

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHERS NEED TO KNOW?

IN GROUPS, CREATE A LIST

OF TOPICS.

Task 2

CONTENT OF THE

VOLUMES

Part I: Identity and Setting

Part II: Language awareness

Part III: Learning

Part IV: Professionalism

What English Teachers Need to Know

Volume I: Understanding Learning

Part I: Identity and Setting

1. Learner identities

2. The world of English

3. English language teaching around the world

4. The cultural context

5. Learning about identity and setting

Part II: Language awareness

6. The sound system

7. The system of words

8. The sentence system

9. Beyond the sentences: Spoken and writtenlanguage

What English Teachers Need to Know

Volume I: Understanding Learning

Part III: Learning

10. Theories of learning

11. An introduction to second language acquisition

12. Second language acquisition and second

language pedagogy

13. Learning theories in the classroom

Part IV: Professionalism

14. Sustaining professionalism

What English Teachers Need to Know

Volume I: Understanding Learning

What English Teachers Need to Know

Volume II: Facilitating Learning

Part I: Planning

Part II: Instructing for Learning

Part III: Assessing for learning

Part I: Planning

1. Planning curriculum

2. Planning lesson content

3. Planning activities and managing classroom

interaction

4. Selecting and adapting materials

What English Teachers Need to

Know

Volume II: Facilitating Learning

Part II: Instructing for learning

6. Teaching young learners

7. Teaching adolescent learners

8. Adult immigrants and refugees

9. Workplace literacy

10. Integrating language and content

11. Exploring one’s own instruction

What English Teachers Need to

Know

Volume II: Facilitating Learning

Part III: Assessing for learning

12. Formative and alternative assessment

13. Large-scale assessment

14. Program evaluation

What English Teachers Need to

Know

Volume II: Facilitating Learning

Features

• Situated in current research

• Sample data

• Classroom vignettes

• Activities/tasks for interactive reading

– Explore

– Reflect

– Expand