GIVING FEEDBACK ON THE WRITTEN WORK
OF TEENAGERS
Opracowując i wdrażając system monitorowania efektów własnej pracy zauważyłam, iż pewnych trudności przysparza mi sposób poprawy prac pisemnych uczniów. Z tego powodu zdecydowałam się poszerzyć swą wiedzę metodologiczną w tym zakresie i na jej podstawie opracowałam cykl lekcji dotyczących właśnie sposobów poprawy prac pisemnych uczniów w wieku dwunastu i trzynastu lat, tak aby ta korekta pomogła im w dalszym rozwijaniu zarówno umiejętności pisania, jak i krytycznego podejścia do własnych wypowiedzi.
Ze względu na to, iż ewaluacja prac pisemnych jest postrzegana jako jedno z bardziej subiektywnych i pracochłonnych zadań stawianych przed nauczycielami języka obcego, a także zniechęcających młodzież do rozwijania tej umiejętności, jest ona często spychana na margines procesu uczenia. Zdając sobie jednakże sprawę z faktu, iż w dobie komputeryzacji sztuka sprawnego i poprawnego posługiwania się słowem pisanym jest niezbędna do codziennej komunikacji, nauczyciele powinni zwrócić szczególną uwagę na rozwój tej umiejętności, a także wybrać procedurę jej poprawy, która dostarczyłaby uczniom namacalnych dowodów ich postępów. To natomiast w konsekwencji wpływa korzystnie na motywację, oraz zaspokaja potrzeby psychologiczne uczniów.
Poszerzyłam swą wiedzę w dziedzinie ogólnych lingwistycznych i psychologicznych rozważań dotyczących błędów, problemów z ich definiowaniem, pojmowaniem i źródłami błędów, a także psychologiczną charakterystyką uczniów w wieku dwunastu i trzynastu lat. Skoncentrowałam się również na metodologicznym analizowaniu błędów. Uwzględniając tę wiedzę przygotowałam pięć szczegółowych planów lekcji, które przeprowadziłam w klasach piątych oraz szóstej. Każda z lekcji zakończona jest ewaluacją prezentującą wnioski z przeprowadzonych lekcji oraz praktyczne porady dla nauczyciela. Przygotowany cykl lekcji pozwolił na efektywne i ciekawe przeprowadzenie lekcji z uczniami w wieku dwunastu i trzynastu lat. Młodzi ludzie reagowali entuzjastycznie na proponowany typ ćwiczeń, który pozwolił im spojrzeć na kwestię poprawy błędów z innej perspektywy. Zrozumieli oni, iż wskazywanie potknięć i niedociągnięć w pracach pisemnych nie jest celem samym w sobie, lecz ma prowadzić do doskonalenia umiejętności pisania. Proponowane podejście do poprawy błędów wpłynęło również korzystnie na rozwinięcie umiejętności wysławiania się w formie pisemnej tych młodych ludzi, gdyż skupienie się na określonym zakresie błędów, czy też zachęcanie do samooceny zwiększyło świadomość uczniów podczas samego procesu pisania, jak i poprawy ewentualnych błędów. Rozważając natomiast wpływ doświadczenia związanego z analizą sposobów poprawy błędów, jak i przygotowaniem i przeprowadzeniem przedstawionych w części praktycznej lekcji na moja pracę jako nauczyciela, muszę jednoznacznie stwierdzić, iż mój warsztat pracy został znacznie wzbogacony. W konsekwencji doprowadziło to do efektywniejszego przeprowadzania lekcji związanych z pisaniem.
LESSON PLAN 1
"The auction"
LEVEL: pre-intermediate
GROUP: 16 students
AGE: 12 years old
TIME: 45 minutes
OBJECTIVES:
- to present the way of correcting pieces of writing
- to practise looking critically at a piece of writing
- to practise correcting errors with the use of correcting symbols
ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE:
- Ss have a general knowledge of English at pre-intermediate level
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS:
- some weaker Ss may be unwilling to take part in the activities during group and pair work
- Ss may switch into Polish
- if the pace of the lesson is too slow, T may not manage to introduce all the planned exercises
SOLUTIONS:
- T will monitor Ss during these kinds of work
- T will act as a resource and motivator
- the last activity – preparing the table- will be set for homework
MATERIALS:
- realia - artificial money (appendix 1.1)
- handout with the exercise – choosing the correct answer (appendix 1.2)
- handout with sentences and correction symbols (appendix 1.3)
- handout with a correcting exercise (appendix 1.4)
- table with the correction code (appendix 1.5)
- A-2 paper to make the table of correction symbols
- felt pens
LESSON STAGES
WARM-UP
AIMS:
- to involve Ss in the lesson
- to activate Ss` background knowledge
TIME: 5 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T – Ss, Ss – T, S-Ss
PROCEDURE:
T says that each kind of errors has its correction symbol, and the symbols form the correction code. He/she invites Ss to suggest the correction symbols. Ss discuss the matter and they write their propositions on one side of the board.
PRACTICE
AIMS:
- to practise looking critically at a piece of writing
- to practise communicative skills
TIME: 9 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T – Ss, Ss – Ss, Ss-T
PROCEDURE:
T divides Ss into four groups. Each group is provided with $20 (appendix 1.1), which will be used to `buy` sentences during an auction. T administers handouts with different sentences (appendix 1.2) - each group gets one copy. Ss` task is to read the sentences from the table – they have got five minutes to decide and tick whether they are correct or not. After that the `auction` starts and the groups are supposed to `buy by auction` the sentences which they consider correct. The minimum cost of each sentence is $1.
CORRECTING ACTIVITY
AIMS:
- to practise correcting errors
TIME: 8 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T – Ss, S-Ss,
PROCEDURE:
Ss read the corrected sentences (appendix 1.2) aloud and the whole class checks the correctness of the sentences once again. The incorrect sentences are corrected by Ss. T monitors Ss and gives hints. Then they check which group has invested their money in the best way; Ss from this group are rewarded with good marks.
PRESENTATION
AIMS:
- to present the way of correcting pieces of writing
TIME: 10 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T – Ss
PROCEDURE:
T says that the correction symbols which Ss suggested during the warm-up activity are proper and interesting but s/he wants to present the most common correction code. S/he writes on the other side of the blackboard the incorrect sentences and highlights the errors by underlining them with coloured chalk and writing symbols in the margin (copy of the sentences and correction symbols – appendix 1.3).
FURTHER PRACTICE
AIMS:
- to practise correcting errors with the use of the correcting symbols
TIME: 8 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T –Ss, S-S, Ss – T, Ss - Ss
PROCEDURE:
T divides Ss into pairs and distributes handouts with sentences (appendix 1.4) among Ss – each pair gets one copy. The sentences have similar types of errors to the ones from the presentation section. The pairs are supposed to correct the errors by underlining them and writing the same correction symbols as the ones that have been presented earlier. After they have finished they check if the activity was done correctly.
FOLLOW-UP
AIMS:
- to sum the lesson up
- to maintain Ss` interest
TIME: 5 minutes
INTERACTION PATTERNS: T – Ss, Ss-Ss
PROCEDURE:
The whole class prepares a table with the correction code, which is based on the sentences from the further practice task. The table (appendix 1.5) is placed on a wall in the classroom.
EVALUATION 1
The main objectives as well as the aims of the particular lesson stages were achieved. The lesson aimed at looking critically at a piece of writing in order to foster the ability of correcting errors with the use of correction symbols and in this respect the objective was fully accomplished. The fulfilment of the activites gave the students a great confidence boost as they realised that they were able to deal with correcting errors in written work.
The first part of the lesson raised the students` interest, activated their background knowledge and truly encouraged them to work. The learners` personal output was more than the expected one, and what might be considered to be surprising was the fact that the students were excited to propose their suggestions of the correction symbols. While doing the warm-up activity the students were also very creative and introduced many interesting proposals for the correction code. The practice stage was particularly appealing to the young people as it involved a kind of competition between the groups. Moreover, the use of realia (artificial money) and the competitive character of the exercise enhanced the students` motivation not only to find the correct sentences but also to `buy` more sentences during `the auction`. It is also worth pointing out that apart from looking critically at a piece of writing, the teenagers had the opportunity to practise communicative skills and had to cooperate.
The main goal of the correcting activity was also achieved. The students willingly corrected the sentences as they were curious if their choices during the practise part were appropriate. In spite of the fact that the exercise was quite difficult, the students` engagement caused that the task went smoothly and without hitches. Bearing in mind that both positive and negative assessment should be available to the learners, I decided to reward with good marks the group of students that `invested` their money in the best way. The presentation stage seemed to be clear for the students as during the further practice they managed to correct errors by underlining them and writing the correction symbols that were presented earlier.
The most difficult aspect of the lesson preparation was the time planning as it was not certain for me how much time I should devote to each activity. Especially the time during the practice stage (`the auction`) was troublesome to plan, because the level of proficiency in the class is slightly differentiated and the groups could act out at various pace. However, it turned out that the lesson proceeded in an organized fashion and the activities were appropriate for the time frame allotted for the lesson. What is more, the solutions to the anticipated problems seems to be properly chosen as they managed to overcome the difficulties.
To sum up, the lesson plan was engaging for the stated class and the activities clearly led to the attainment of the objectives. Since the whole lesson was based on error correction, it is possible to use the syllabus with learners at different levels but for more advanced students it would be advisable to choose more complex sentences and extend the range of correction symbols (e.g. wrong form, meaning is not clear, concord).
Dominika Chowaniec
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