EFL in the Classroom-II (5662)
March, 2011
ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q.1
What do you mean by the term dramatization? What are the advantages and disadvantages of
dramatization? Devise two activities to teach speaking skills through dramatization.
By dramatization we mean presenting a character or emotion through speeches or actions rather than directly stating
it, allowing the reader to infer more about the nature of the character. Other words that may define dramatization
are: pretending, drama, drama techniques, dramatic activities, role-play, simulation, etc. William Shakespeare
claimed that
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
(As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143)
Advantages of dramatization:
Drama provides an excellent platform for exploring theoretical and practical aspects of the English language. The
improvisation aspect of drama gives students opportunities for developing their communicative skills in authentic
and dynamic situations. By using drama in the English classroom, we can use English with our students in many
useful ways. Drama has the potential of making the learning experience fun for the students and even memorable
because it is interactive and visual.
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One of the main advantages of dramatization is the participation of the students; all the players
involved are active. There is maximum activity. They do it under productive pressure.
There is a fluent interaction in the target language. It adds to the communicative ability of the
speaker. Gestures vary to a certain extent from one language to another.
The assimilation of a whole range of pronunciation and prosodic features in a fully contextualized
and interactional manner.
Drama brings literature to life. It makes us learn human nature.
Dramatization in TEFL involves giving students opportunities to use language in an imaginative and
creative way, so that they develop skills of fluency and appropriacy.
It creates interest and motivation in the students to learn and know things.
to learn the target language.
Disadvantages of dramatization
 It can be time consuming. Covering a syllabus in this way might be a problem.
 It can be difficult to organize with large classes and small areas available.
 It has the capability of ignoring the skills of reading and writing.
 It can lead to discipline problems if the teacher is chaotic.
The Activities
Dramatization is itself encouraging in making student to speak. Your speaking capabilities depend on your initiative
to start speaking. Dramatization is a powerful teaching tool to reach our students. It has been personally observed
by attending regular classes of IELTS for two months, that those students who couldn’t speak English in the initial
days of the course were almost fluent at the end. The reason why such results produced was the pattern of the class,
student’s interest, and the teacher’s role. In our schools students do not have such pressures, they rarely take
initiatives and the teachers have large syllabus to cover. In such cases, dramatization proves to be quite helpful.
“Drama activities can be used to provide opportunities for the students to be involved actively. The activities
involve the student's whole personality and not only his mental process. Effective learning can be achieved when
the student involves himself in the tasks and is motivated to use the target language.” Dr. Munther Zyoud / Al Quds
Open University
Activity 1, is like a game in which dialogues are exchanged. This game is a useful teaching technique since it can
create a true communicative situation and combine the language practice in fun ways. Someone knows something
and others must find out what it is. Each team chooses from an object or animal/bird or eatable vegetable/fruit
Students are divided into groups according to the strenght of the class. Each member of the group individually asks
questions with the limit of 20. If one group thinks about an object the other must find out what it is. It is
compulsory that each member of the group questions. The other group must answer in yes or no only. Time limits
will be set. The group guess right with less number of questions will be awarded more points. Such questions can
be asked “is it available in stationary?”. This activity can be conducted at an earlier level where students can not
think at once and form dialogues.
Group A
Is it an eatable thing?
Is it a fruit?
Is that fruit is called the king of fruits?
The answer is Mango
Group B
Yes
Yes
Yes
This was quite simpler. Lets try more time with a bit difficult example this time
Is it an eatable thing?
Is it a fruit?
Is it a vegetable?
Is it an animal?
It is bigger than my 3 year old nephew?
Is it a sea animal?
It is comparatively cheaper in price than other seafoods?
It is Lopster?
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Activity 2, students are assigned roles to play. All the students are well aware of the novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
All of them liked the story as well. But it seems that they didn’t like the idea of performing on it as it is. So the
teacher asked them to dramatize the novel on whatever they remember, without opening the books. Students can
make their own dialogues but story should be the same. Such an activity will make them better speakers and give
them idea to manage words according to the situation.
Characters are divided into two groups, within 5 seconds the member of the other group must speak. A conversation
can also take place within a group as well. Mrs bennet, Lydia, Jane and Bingley are in one group while mr bennet,
Elizabeth, Darcy, Collin.
Mrs Bennet: I am so happy that we can avail the opportunity of marrying Mr. Bingley with one of our
daughters.
Lidia
(Smiling) O mama is he single, is he handsome?
Mrs Bennet Mr. Bennet you should visit him as soon as possible!
Mr Bennet
ok ok I will
Mr bingley
Darcy you can dance with Elizabeth she is also quite agreeable
Mr Darcy
not handsome enough to tempt me
Mr Bingley miss Elizabeth do you dance
Elizabeth
only if once partner is barely tolerable
Darcy
can I ask you to end my agony. Do me the honor of excepting my hand.
Elizabeth
I do not understand
Darcy
marry me
Elizabeth
I cannot marry a man who is responsible for my sister’s break up!
Darcy
Are you laughing at me? Are you rejecting me.
….
And such dialogues continue among the students. It will be observed that initially they will mumble a little
while speaking their dialogues but after some time they will be quite fluent.
Q.2
a.
What is assessment? What is its importance in testing?
A dictionary defines assessment as measure: evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent,
or significance of. Assessment in schools is generally considered of students being assessed by means of tests.
We all know that examinations are part of any educational process. Without tests the student cannot be promoted to
the next level. But very few believes that their could be a better way of evaluating students than examinations,
which is precisely a test of their memories. ‘The underlying aim of all assessment is an attempt to get to know
something more about other people.’ In a classroom, evaluation and assessment is constantly going on all the time
between students and teachers and all fellows around.
Assessment importance in testing: A teacher will give a trial test to see if the student is ready to undertake a
certain task. For instance before taking paragraph writing test from the students, the teacher gives multiple choice
questions as which words are appropriate in which circumstances e.g. has, have, had or nevertheless, whereas etc.
Depending on student’s performance, the teacher either continues with the practice or he gives the test. Here are
few benefits of assessment in testing.
 Education authority’s assessment of the course would result in precision and to the point which lead to
subsequent improvement in students.
 Teacher’s assessment for the things to teach would lead to students better performance.
 Education authority’s assessment of the teachers.
 Teacher’s assessment of students performance to see their progress.
 Education authority’s assessment of students for selection purposes.
 Student’s own self assessment to his previous results.
b.
Explain continuous assessment with reference to both formative and summative assessment in detail.
Continuous assessment
Continuous assessment includes tests taken within the normal teaching period as part of an annual or the final
assessment. Continuous Assessment divided into two parts. The first part explains the main concepts of assessment
and the importance of carrying out continuous assessment. It also explains the difference between exams and
continuous assessment. The second part describes practical ways in which to carry out continuous assessment of
learners in the classroom.
Summative Assessment: Summative assessment is aimed at understanding and improving learning at the
completion of students' studies. At the end of the session to analyze if he can be send to the next level. It involves
gathering and interpreting evidence of student learning at the end of a program. It is taken periodically to determine
at a particular point in time what students know and do not know. Many associate summative assessments only with
standardized tests such as state assessments, but they are also used at and are an important part of district and
classroom programs. Here are some examples of summative assessments:
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End-of-unit or chapter tests
End-of-term or semester exams
Scores that are used for accountability for schools and students (report card grades).
The key is to think of summative assessment as a means to judged, at a particular point in time, student learning
relative to content standards. Although the information that is gleaned from this type of assessment is important, it
can only help in evaluating certain aspects of the learning process. Because they occur after every few weeks,
months, or once a year, summative assessments are tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of programs, school
improvement goals.
Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. It is designed to give students feedback on their
progress towards the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes rather than assessment for
marks or grades which are not given to students. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the
information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment
informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made.
These adjustments help to ensure students achieve targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame.
Although formative assessment strategies appear in a variety of formats, there are some distinct ways to distinguish
them from summative assessments.
Formative assessment helps teachers determine next steps during the learning process as the instruction approaches
the summative assessment of student learning. A good comparison for this is the road test that is required to get a
driver's license. What if, before getting your driver's license, you received a grade every time you sat in the car to
practice driving? What if your final grade for the driving test was the average of all of the grades you received
while practicing? Because of the initial low grades you received during the process of learning to drive, your final
grade would not accurately reflect your ability to drive a car. The grades you received will not provide guidance to
improve your driving skills. The same is for classroom instruction, learning, and assessment.
If students are not involved in the assessment process, formative assessment is not practiced to its full effectiveness.
Students need to be active. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning
is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. The difference lies in what teachers actually do with the
information they collect. How is it being shared. It's not teachers just collecting information on student learning; it's
what they do with the information they collect. Here are some of the instructional strategies that can be used:
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Q.3
Criteria and goal setting: Establishing and defining quality work together, asking students to participate in
establishing norm behaviors for classroom culture, and determining what should be included in criteria for
success are all examples of this strategy.
Observations
Questioning strategies should be embedded in lesson planning. Asking better questions allows an
opportunity for deep thinking. Such an activity expands learning.
Self and peer assessment: When students have been involved in criteria and goal setting, self-evaluation is
a logical step in the learning process. With evaluation, students see each other as resources for
understanding and checking for quality work against previously established criteria.
Student record keeping helps students better understand their own learning. It also helps them, beyond a
"grade," to see where they started and the progress they are making for learning goal.
Lesson plan provides the course of action for teaching in the classroom. What are the eight steps, which
should be followed for the execution of a good lesson plan? Explain.
As a teacher it is very important to plan a lesson to deliver best to the students within the appropriate limits of time.
The lesson plan is about what you would say, display, and ask, what would be the possible responses of the class
and how you will act to it. Plan A is if the students understand which is much easier than the plan B. and this is if
the students do not understand. Often the situation goes against our expectation. And for this reason we teachers try
to make appropriate lesson plan, not only to be just to our students, but also helping them with the difficulties they
face. Make sure it includes the eight essential components of a strong, effective lesson plan and you'll be on your
way to achieving every teacher's goal: measurable student learning.
The eight steps which should be followed for the execution of a good lesson plan are given below
1. Objectives and Goals The lesson's objectives must be clearly defined and in lined with educational standards. In
the Objectives section of your lesson plan, write precise and delineated goals for what you want your students to be
able to accomplish after the lesson is completed. Be Specific. Use numbers where appropriate. Following questions
can be observed to define lesson’s plan objectives.
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What will students accomplish through the lesson?
To what level students perform a given task to see if its acceptable.
How will the students show that they understood and learned the goals of lesson? Make worksheet, group
work, presentation, illustration, etc if needed.
By thinking clearly and thoroughly about the goals of your lesson, you will ensure that you are making the
most of your teaching time.
2. Anticipatory Set
In the Anticipatory Set section, you outline what you will say and/or present to your students before the direct
instruction of the lesson begins. The purpose of the Anticipatory Set is to:
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Provide continuity from previous lessons, if applicable
Hint at familiar concepts and vocabulary as a reminder and refresher
Tell the students briefly what the lesson will be about
Awaken the class's appetite for the subject at hand
Briefly expose the students to the lesson's objectives and how you will get them to the end result
To write your Anticipatory Set, consider the following questions:
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How can I involve as many as students as possible, activating their interests for the subject matter to come?
How should I inform my students of the lesson's objective in a friendly manner?
What do the students need to know before they can delve into the lesson plan?
You can also engage in an activity or question-and-answer session to start the lesson plan off in a
participatory and active manner.
Examples:
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Ask the class contribute to a discussion of what they already know. Write a list on the blackboard of the
characteristics they name, while prompting them and offering ideas and comments as needed.
3. Direct Instruction
Direct Instruction can include reading a book, displaying diagrams, showing real-life examples of the subject
matter, discussing relevant characteristics, watching a movie, etc.
When determining your methods of Direct Instruction, consider the following questions:
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What materials (books, videos, visual aids, etc.) are available to me for this lesson?
What relevant vocabulary do I need while teaching my students during the lesson?
What will my students need to learn in order to complete the lesson plan's objectives?
How can I engage my students in the lesson and encourage discussion and participation?
Avoid standing in front of your students for talking at them only. Get creative, hands-on, and excited about
your lesson plan, and your students' interest will develop.
4. Guided Practice
Under teacher’s supervision, the students are given a chance to practice and apply the skills you taught them
through direct instruction. In the Guided Practice section of your written lesson plan, outline how your students will
demonstrate that they have grasped the skills. The students should be able to perform the task and be held
accountable for the lesson's information. The Guided Practice is neither individual nor cooperative learning.
5. Closure
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In the Closure section, outline how you will wrap up the lesson by giving the lesson concepts further
meaning for your students. Closure is the time when you wrap up a lesson plan and help students organize
the information into a meaningful context in their minds. A brief summary or overview is often appropriate.
Another helpful activity is to engage students in a quick discussion about what exactly they learned and
what it means to them now. Clear up the confusions in the students mind. Reinforce the most important
points so that the learning is solidified for future lessons. You can discuss new things that the students
learned.
6. Independent Practice
Through homework assignments or other independent assignments, your students will demonstrate whether or not
they absorbed the lesson's learning goals. Through Independent Practice, students have a chance to reinforce skills
and synthesize their new knowledge by completing a task on their own and away from the teacher's guidance. The
practice can be based on observations during Guided Practice, and activities that students complete on their own? It
should be made such that the learning is not forgotten. Independent Practice can take the form of a homework
assignment but it is also important to think of other ways for students to reinforce and practice the given skills.
7. Required Materials and Equipment
To determine what supplies are required to help your students achieve the stated lesson objectives. In the Required
Materials section, consider what items will be needed by both the instructor and the students in order to accomplish
the stated learning objectives? Also visual, audio, etc. Keep in mind that modeling and the use of hands-on
materials are especially effective in demonstrating concepts and skills to students. The Required Materials section
will not be presented to students directly, but rather is written for the teacher's own reference and as a checklist
before starting the lesson.
8. Assessment and Follow-Up
The lesson doesn't end after students complete a worksheet. The assessment section is one of the most important
parts of all. This is where you assess the final outcome of the lesson and to what extent the learning objectives were
achieved. Learning goals can be achieved through quizzes, tests, independently performed worksheets, cooperative
learning activities, hands-on experiments, oral discussion, question-and-answer sessions, or other concrete means.
Once the students have completed the given assessment activity, the teacher must take some time to reflect upon the
results. If the learning objectives were not adequately achieved, teacher will need to revisit the lesson in a different
manner. Student performance informs future lessons and where teacher will take your students next. Quiz, test.
Q.4
Differentiate between objective tests and subjective teats. Write about three kind of objective tests which can
be used by the language teacher keeping in view their utility to teach language. Answer with examples.
In very simple words an objective test finds what was done, or what actions were established. A subjective test
finds out why. Subjective is based on opinion.
Objective is based on verifiable fact. So usually within the given situation only one answer is correct. Hence who
ever marks to any, awards the same marks for similar choices. There would be no possibility of marking wrong
marks. As these tests are easy to correct, they can e difficult to construct. There are different types of objective test
available but here are only three mentioned.
1. true false test
true false test are the most common and it helps in identifying. But in this test there is 50 percent chance that the
student may gives the right answer even if he don’t know the answer. Hence it importance cannot be denied.
For instance, in our tefl books, summary is given after each chapter. Sometimes the summary is in the form of
true and false statement. The reader have to identify whether the statement is right or wrong.
2. completion
That is another interesting type of objective testing. Facts are to be matched. The two things are matched with
each other by something. It can be opposite words meaning. Date and the occasion associated with it etc. here is
an example gives.
Aisam ul Haq
Swimmer
Imran Khan
Squash
Kiran Khan
Tennis
Amir Khan
Politician
Jhangir Khan
Boxer
3. multiple-choice tests
Multiple choice tests are the best known of the objective tests and are most useful. They can be constructed to
test any level of students. They are easy to mark. The difficulties in these tests are their construction and they
are quite lengthy. Its pattern is such that a question is asked with given choices from which only one is correct.
Using this method in learning assessment is very useful. The question that has been asked should be worth
asking in the first place and the options should tax the student’s mind. One thing should be tested at a time for
instance, she asked the teacher
 What is the meaning of dramatization?
 What was the meaning of dramatization?
 What were the meanings of dramatization?
 What the meaning of dramatization was?
Here is another example, This type of objective test item can force test takers to discriminate amongst statements
with varying degrees ofcorrectness.
1.
Matching
2.
True false
3.
Multiple choice
4.
Completion
Q.5
Pictures are good source of authentic material. How pictures can be used for teaching writing skills?
Devise at least three activities to teach writing skills in the classroom.
Authentic material is taken from real-life language situations, which is for general purposes for instance
news paper, journals, magizine, etc. While on the other hand non-authentic materials is that which is written
especially for language teaching, and would probably never be uttered by a native speaker.
Pictures activate prior knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and misconceptions. Pictures then create a bridge
between the student’s schema and the new learning. Pictures provides a common knowledge background.
Regardless of subject matter, there are pictures that address it. Pictures help to create a shared schema, in
any subject, for the classroon community. Pictures activate visual thinking. Words create pictures in the
minds of good reader. Pictures teach poor reader this skill.Since fiction picture books so successfully
employ story elements (plot, character, setting, conflict), a steady diet of picture books will increase a
child’s reading comprehension. Nonfiction picture books tie complex ideas and vocabulary to illustrations.
Defining unknown words through context becomes easier when pictures provide the reader with clues.
“English language skill has four components, i.e.; listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Of the four
skills, writing, is a skill which is used to communicate indirectly, without face to face interaction.” From a series of
research, it has been proven that the writer uses series picture as the media to make learning writing easier because
it has many chronological illustrations. Thus they can make many interesting stories by that. By using a picture, the
attention of students will be more focused, so pictures can create their inspirations, their wishes to know the content
of the message of that picture and they can write it in a composition. Pictures can trigger the student’s creativity
through various languages. In addition, pictures have some powers; pictures are able to clarify a problem. It means
that by seeing the clear pictures, the students will understand more about the topic being taught.
Activity1
Split students into groups and give them a picture each. The picture shows a typical village of Pakistan. It shows the
‘koo-aa’ from which the ladies are taking out water. There are trees whose leaves are bent to one side which shows
the direction of the wind. The sinking sun was visible behind the mountains. Let them spend a lesson looking at and
discussing the picture and then brainstorming words and phrases that the picture inspires. Help them by moving
around the class during this time and asking them open questions. For instance, ‘who do you think lives here? What
is causing those turning of trees? What is on the other side of that mountain? Groups share their ideas with the rest
of the class.
Activity2
This activity will help to provide students with inspiration and a starting point for their writing. Have a bag that can
not be seen through. Fill the bag with a variety of objects. If you are working with a small group, pass the bag
around and have each child take an object. Ask questions related to the object. Who it belongs to? Where was it
made? Does it have anything unusual? Can you relate this to some unusual event. Ask any question that will make
students think deeply and become inspired. let students write about a character that owns the object, or a character
who is hunting for the object. If working with the whole class, have two or three students take objects from the bag
and use them as a basis for a whole class brainstorming session along the same lines as the group session.
Activity3
  : / :D :* :[ Draw different mood signs and ask students from what mood they belong right now. Who is the
cause of such a mood and if you feel like doing something in reverse. Such an activity would also make students
find their inner selves. Such activity is useful to develop the habit of writing on daily basis.
References
 The Benefits of Using Drama in the ESL/EFL Classroom (n.d) retrieved (3.24.2011) from
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Boudreault-Drama.html
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Catherine Garrison & Michael Ehringhaus (n.d) retrieved (3.24.2011)
fromhttp://www.nmsa.org/publications/webexclusive/assessment/tabid/1120/default.aspx
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Beth Lewis. (n.d) top 8 components of a well-written lesson plan. Retrieved (3.24.2011)
fromhttp://k6educators.about.com/od/lessonplanheadquarters/tp/8_steps_lp.htm