Comprehensive Exam
November 13, 2014
Congratulations! You made it this far, and now you can show off some stuff that you
know. Take three hours to do this. Incorporate theories and authors as much as possible.
Also feel free to include experiences and reflections in your writing. Do as much as you
can, but at three hours, call it day, and take a well-deserved breath.
Enjoy!
Question # 1
You are preparing to enter the classroom as a second language teacher. You are given a
curriculum you must fulfill, but you’re free to design the activities that will meet the
curriculum goals. To inform your choices, you reflect on your knowledge of first and
second language acquisition. Consider the following questions:
Which theories of language acquisition do you ascribe to? How do these theories
influence your choice of activities?
What factors or variables affect second language acquisition that are not factors in first
language acquisition? How do these factors affect your teaching?
How will you be sure to address the various components of the language system in your
activities?
What activities can you plan that will foster the various aspects of literacy – functional,
cultural, and critical?
First and foremost I would find out what level I would be teaching. Hopefully as
I peruse the book and look at the syllabus I will get a feel for the suggested learning
outcomes- not just what is listed but what is inferred. Often times the outcomes are
vague. I need to fully understand what these students can actually manage (how much
language do they really comprehend) so I know what I can create. I believe no matter
what curriculum a teacher is given it is ultimately up to her to create a learning
environment where the appropriate connections surface. I am an advocate of Jim
Cummins. He said that no teaching can occur where there are no connections. It is up to
the Professor to create a learning environment where the students can feel safe to interact
among themselves, the environment, and the teacher. For learning to occur I need to be
ready from day one to procure that safe heaven for my students.
To make sure Krashen’s Affective filter is as low as possible I would begin my
first class by meeting them at the door as they walk in. Since many universities have role
sheets with the student’s pictures on it, I would try to guess their names as they walk in.
This always provokes some humor as all teachers make mistakes with these mug shots
because, frankly, those photos look more like a picture of someone’s dog instead of the
student. It would add humor to the classroom- an essential element to lower the affective
filter.
Another scheme I would use is the circular classroom. Since I have an acting
background it is not difficult for me to use the classroom as a stage, and detect how
certain settings are best for the lesson I am intending to teach. The first day merits a
good warm-up where we all get to know each other. The circular seating fulfills this
objective. I would probably use a warm-up I learned while in school in Professor Lucas’
class: students write three things about themselves, crunch the paper and throw it in the
middle as I instruct each student to read one and try to guess who it is. In this manner I
can also use the activity as an authentic assessment tool. I did this in the class I am now
teaching at BCC and immediately I realized my class was definitely NOT level three but
an incredible mix of levels with some very low. Even as the students read I was able to
gauge their comprehension and language level. Also, the first day of class is to make
sure students understand the target language is the only language permitted.
Once I find out my student’s level of English I would implement Krashen’s i + 1
and Vygostsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Theory in my lesson plans. For
example, since I believe as Vygostsky that scaffolding is critical in learning, and essential
for second language learning, I would create activities that seem a little harder than the
learners are accustomed to, but I would help my student’s attain them. For example,
since I want them to “hear” themselves I would first create a reading where a certain
sound they are struggling with appears. I would pair them and we would review the
paragraph in class. The groups could tape each other and as they listen to themselves and
their partners I would go around the class helping them with their pronunciation. As
homework then they would have to record the assignment once again.
Another way to use this activity also is to have them write an excuse of why they
are late to class. In this manner the activity can be replicated but using authentic
language.
I always take into account the difficulty a student can encounter when learning a
second language. The first language is learned almost by instinct as the child does not
“think” but imitates thus acquiring the first language. No monitoring (Krashen) is
involved. It occurs naturally and in a natural order (Krashen). This is what Gee states is
our Primary Discourse, and adds that once a learner enters school, if the Secondary
discourse (school) is a different language a whole set of paradigms and parameters come
into play as a power struggle begins. At home the child knew her place and was accepted
as part of her family. At school now, a secondary Discourse begins with a whole new set
of rules which she has to comply in order to learn how to be accepted into this new power
play.
My heart really goes for our English Language Learners as they enter the
classroom expecting to really learn and integrate into American society. They not only
have to contend with these paradigms in the Secondary Discourse, but a strong part of
this discourse is also the cultural literacy they have to understand, and learn to play with.
Unfortunately so many get lost in the power struggle. That is the reason I make it a point
to include in all my activities as much authentic language as possible, and as much
cultural literacy and critical literacy as possible. For example, in my last class I had to
teach the sounds of English. The schwa, and the array of phonic symbols this implies.
Knowing the importance of this, but also understanding I am dealing with young men and
women who are not fifteen but ranged from twenty to fifty years old, I wanted to create a
system where they learned, but at the same time, found meaning and purpose in learning
this.
It is very difficult to teach a sound out of context by sheer repetition. How much
can you repeat? Every time we got to the workbook, there it was… another word, and
another mistake. Krashen says some people have such a high monitor when learning a
second language that it interrupts their capacity to “flow,” and have free uninterrupted
discourse in that language. I saw this during the activity. Though I created a game where
I gave them sounds in a word, they had to find others who had the same sound in their
words. The final activity was creating a sentence. Each group wrote it on the board. This
activity gave them some meaningful context to remember the sound. It is apt to
remember though that a sound in a language other than your first language takes time to
assimilate. Each class they remembered sentences but when a new word that had that
sound appeared they were at a loss. So I took the activity one step further. I had them
create a “Conversation with a Vowel” activity.
Following Vygostsky’s work in ZPD I first modeled the activity. They had to
create a story with certain vowels, and “act it out” to the class. They had to write clearly
ten words they used on the board with phonics. They also had to review the sounds and
words with the class, and create the story in a dialogue format. The stories were so
creative. Well, some were kind of simple, but although each group had different levels,
they all managed to work together and they learned! At the end they could identify all
the sounds.
Creating activities to teach critical, functional and cultural literacy in a classroom
is also important and a factor that I take into account when creating activities for a
classroom and when elaborating my lesson plans. The reason why I stress so much use of
authentic language during the activities, role-plays, and all the gamut of crazy dramatic
things I make the students do, is because the textbooks do not address these issues.
Though I have noticed a chance in academic material lately more appropriate to second
language learners, and their diverse backgrounds, there is still a lack of meaningful
context for our students.
I always explain to my students how important the value of their own language
is, not only for their knowledge, but for their children’s future. They must be educated
about this topic, and as their Professors we must prepare them for the life they will lead
out of our classroom. They should be able to be able to identify critical literacy issues
such as how textbooks are full of upper class white writers or how the books lack writers
from their countries. They should be able to have the opportunity to read about authors
from their countries, their culture and learn about meaningful subjects pertaining to their
native language and culture.
I encourage my students to present their final teaching on a subject that is
important to them. One of my students brought a teaching on her country- Colombia. As
I am a strong proponent of feedback, on that occasion I had my students do their teaching
twice so I could provide help and in this manner increase their chances of obtaining an
excellent grade. I told this specific student to teach us about Colombian authors, painters,
and “bring us pictures.” She invented a beautiful Power Point which she used at certain
points during the presentation- I always stress a Power Point is a visual that does not
substitute your presence. The point is she presented her country (Colombia) to the class
as more than coffee and a map
Cultural literacy is one area I never forget so I would definitely incorporate this
into any class I prepare. I used a film in my class the other day called “The Lost Boys of
Sudan.” This is a film about one thousand young boys who were displaced because of a
civil war in Sudan. These young were refugees for ten years taking care of each other
with no parental guidance whatsoever. When several of these boys reached adulthood
they were allowed to immigrate to this country. One of them said, “a man without a
culture is like a man without a country.” A powerful message that made my student’s
think. Teaching cultural literacy also involves how some words can be misunderstood
because a language is not as always without hidden meanings. Pragmatics deals with this
area. When preparing classes I always include sections where we discuss “an idiom a
day.” I also include debates where we discuss how many times different cultures have
the same idiom but are spoken differently.
Functional literacy is extremely important. It is so sad to see that the functional
level of the typical undergraduate in a university in the United States is at eighth grade as
the last report I read for my literature review states. As educators we must strive to
include reading in our classes as it also helps vocabulary acquisition and writing skills.
Without this literacy our students cannot fare well in the outside world and much less get
access into college.
Cummins states that CALPs takes from four to seven years to learn. Reading is an
integral part of this academic language our students must learn. Adding functional
literacy can take the form of reading parts of a book, having the students write what they
understood, pairing them so each can edit their paragraphs while I walk around helping.
Another fun way to do this is to have them do parts of play. We read the play as a class,
and select parts to perform. I have also wondered about using the flipped classroom
approach for second language learning. The students could read material before they get
to class and then we could debate in the class and write our thoughts about the reading.
It is also important to note that some students may have a low competency
literacy level in their native language, which is a real detriment when learning a second
language. Literacy in L1 transfers to L2 so when I design classroom activities or lesson
plans this issue also comes into play. If the student is not literate in his native tongue a
teacher is very limited in how to expose him to literacy in a second language.
To conclude, I would have to say that creating lesson plans and activities for an
English language class takes time. As an educator you have so much to take into account;
the level of literacy of your learners, their language proficiency, the affective filter, and
the class time. Yet, I do not believe the target language can be taught efficiently without
meaningful language interaction among the students. Teaching a language is so much
more than teaching grammar with a book, it is teaching a culture, a way to function in
that culture, and a way to survive in it so the learners can prosper and succeed.
Please continue onto the next page.
Question # 2
Imagine that you’re in your second week of a semester and are teaching an ESL class.
Your supervisor comes to you and asks you your thoughts on including a new student in
your intermediate academic speaking class because this student’s current teacher
doesn’t think this student belongs in the current course.
The student scored rather high on the TOEFL and, as a result, is expecting to enroll in a
mainstream school next semester. To assist you in your deliberations, the current teacher
gives you a first draft of an essay assigned during the first week of this 12-week
semester:
I have looked for a house for two weeks, but I have not found an
appropriate house yet. There have three kinds of houses. One is efficiency:
the price is about $350-400. Two is one-bed room; the price is about $400550. Three is two-bed room: the price is about $650-750.
I must consider several factors. The first is money, my budget is below
$350, I am not a rich woman. The second is location, I must take shuttle
bus to go to school, I wish the apartment is close to the campus or
convenient to take shuttle bus. The third is the good roommate, if I live in
two-bed room apartment, I must share the house with the other person.
The forth is that environment must be safe.
There are four kinds of reasons. The first, the rent is expensive, it’s about
$300-500. This year, the rent increases about $50/month, it grows so fast.
There are many people to move in Miami from other states recently, so the
estate increases unreasionablely, it results the high rent.
The second, the traffic is not convenient. There are a few shuttle buses to
drive at weekend. If you have not a car, it can result many
unconveniences. For example, if you want to go to school at weekend, you
must wait long time, but if you live in an apartment close to the campus,
the rent is high.
The third, there are so many FIU students looking for houses. There are
almost 35000 students to study in FIU, most of them come from other
states and foreign contries, the apartments are not enough to supply those
students. The needs are always over the demands.
The last, it’s difficult to find a good roommate. After I considered several
factors which are the rent, traffic, and roommate. Finally, I decided to rent
2-bed room apartment, because it is cheep, but I can’t find a roommate
now. So, looking for an appropriate house is not easy.
So now . . . here are the questions!
a) Discuss conceptually the data you have: the writing sample and the TOEFL score.
What considerations regarding testing, from numerical analyses to more
culturally-based considerations might you make?
b) What can we be sure of regarding this student’s English ability, based on the data
given to you? (This data includes both the writing sample and the TOEFL score.)
c) What information do we wish we had in order to make a more informed decision?
d) Why might your colleague’s recommendation have merit? Why might it not?
e) Regardless of whether you agree or not, your supervisor moves this student into
your class. And guess what! The company sponsoring this student’s study wants a
report of this student’s progress at the midpoint of the semester and at the end.
What kind of assessment plan can you design that will accurately indicate the
student’s progress over the semester? (Be sure to address expectations the
sponsoring company might have.)
Looking at the student’s paper I can draw many conclusions. The manner
of the Discourse (it’s tone and “voice” pattern) belong to a student who has a
strong analytical and mathematical background with robust cognitive skills but
not too apt at expressive vocabulary. With just this knowledge it is easy to guess
the student probably is Chinese.
Why do I say this? Chinese culture is very intent on preparing its students
cognitively. Children in a Chinese family have the sole responsibility of doing
well in school because to them school continues at home. It is not rare to find a
child doing homework in the dining room table while the mother cooks and all the
family participates in helping the child.
Contrary to American children who can’t wait for the bell to ring to leave
school and have fun, in Chinese culture studying is part of being a child. Extra
curricular activities are not more important than school or education. In this
culture teachers are highly respected and students aim to please their teachers at
all times. The number one priority of a child is to study, get good grades and go
to college. Because of this phenomenon it is not rare to find Chinese students
getting high-test scores in standardized tests but doing poorly in a “real” writing
composition or in the colloquial usage of English.
Let’s examine the test further so I can pinpoint the mistakes that verify
this person’s culture and identify ways to address them in a class. One big factor
that tells us that this person must be Asian is the “list form” of the writing. Notice
how everything is written like a list. “The first is money, my budget is below
$350, I am not a rich woman, the second is location, I must take a shuttle bus to
go to school.” Chinese are very rational people. They are not emotional as
Americans or people from the West so Chinese convey meaning by word order.
So in the above example the order was “first money, then budget, then location,
etc.”
Every sentence this young lady wrote is followed by a reason. This lack of
correct punctuation- using commas instead of periods- signals that in her mind,
the end of a sentence signals the completion of a thought. Chinese write in
symbols and each symbol indicates a situation or a thought.
Another very common mistake with Chinese is the use of the article “the”
to signal a specific thing or person. Browsing the document we can find numerous
examples of the use of this article: “The third is the good roommate, I must share
the house with the other person” (instead of another person). Since in Chinese
plural is determined by the context and not something written, this concept is
foreign to them. Their language use of singular or plural or specific, is discovered
through intonation.
Chinese do not use adjective clauses, modals, tenses (by voice inflection
in their language), and their word order is different.
Because American society values standardized tests and measures
knowledge based on the scores of test, it is not uncommon for Chinese students to
excel in grades but this does not mean these students are college ready. Most of
these students need a complete, and full review of English Usage and grammar
before attending a university.
WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU WISH YOU HAD IN ORDER TO MAKE A
MORE NFORMED DECISION?
Not only is identifying the culture of an English Language Learner
important in order to place him or her in the correct English level, but it is also
critical to take time to have a one on one interview beforehand with the learner as
well. Many times a student may test well but is not fluent in spoken English. This
is a detriment to a classroom in a Higher Learning Institution where many of these
students are offered scholarships to teach in graduate school. It is not uncommon
to find undergraduate students complaining because they do not understand these
graduate assistants.
WHAT KIND OF ASSESSMENT CAN YOU DESIGN THAT WILL
ACCURATELY INDICATE THE STUDENT’S PROGRESS OVER THE
SEMESTER?
I would have the students create journals. Before the end of each class the
learner would have to write what he learned. He would have to make sure his
grammar is correct and re-write it when it is not. Another good way to measure
these students is to change their evaluation format. Since these student’s excel in
test taking, I would test them through presentations. After each unit taught they
would have to give a mini-presentation to the class. Of course, this method would
entail using this same assessment for all the class so this learner does not feel
singled out.
Having these students memorize speeches of American public speakers is
another way to make them become aware of their incorrect English pronunciation
and intonation. This method called “the Mirroring Technique” is a very efficient
way to help change the speaking patterns of these students. Since their language
lacks the emotion and intonation present in the English language, these students
will find this exercise very useful. It will also be very demanding because
Chinese students are not expressive so it will be difficult for them, but prove
worthwhile in the long run.
≈
1
CGG criterion
reflective inquirer
(FIU CF)
student and teacher
creativity (C6)
art, music, poetry,
movement, story
telling (C8)
methodology (G1)
theorypractice
(G4, N/T3a)
humanitarian
sense, creativity,
and humor (GT1,
GT2)
sense that all Ss
can learn (GT7)
approaches
Is aware of four
principal skills for
managing foreign
language growth
for students.
Shows minimal
awareness of
concepts,
research, and best
practices to plan
classroom
instruction.
Demonstrates
knowledge of a
few teaching
strategies and
techniques for
developing
language.
meets
Demonstrates a high
level of competence in
helping ESOL students
acquire and use
English in listening,
speaking, reading, and
writing for social and
academic purposes.
Applies concepts,
research, and best
practices to plan
classroom instruction in
a supportive learning
environment for ESOL
students.
Incorporates activities
involving art, music,
poetry, movement, and
story telling.
Knows, manages, and
exceeds
Offers as a priority the
ability to help ESOL
students navigate their
own way through their
own language learning.
Demonstrates
creativity in helping
ESOL students acquire
through art, music,
poetry, movement, and
story telling.
Involves students in
creative use of their
new language, using
humor.
Ensures intrinsic
motivation by fostering
respect and
acceptance.
2
3
Makes some
attempt to
incorporate
activities involving
art, music, poetry,
movement, and
story telling.
implements a variety of
teaching strategies and
techniques for
developing and
integrating English
listening, speaking,
reading, and writing,
and for accessing the
core curriculum.
mindful educator
(FIU CF)
international
connections (C4)
interactive
technology (C7,
GT3, N/T3c, N/T4c)
contributions of
student language
and culture (GT5,
N/T2a)
global sense of
caring (GT8)
Is aware of
concepts,
principles, and
theories related to
the nature of
culture.
Understands and uses
the major concepts,
principles, theories,
and research related to
the nature and role of
culture in language
development and
academic achievement
that support individual
students’ learning.
steward of the
discipline (FIU CF)
theoretical base
(C1, N/T1b, N/T5a)
two-way
bilingualism (C5)
making content
accessible (G2,
G7, N/T4b)
linguistic
elements among
languages (G3,
N/T1a, N/T3a)
immigrant issues
(GT4, N/T2b)
gender issues
(GT6)
Is knowledgeable
of their native
language system.
Indicates
awareness of
materials or
resources used for
language teaching.
Is aware of
traditional
assessment
measures.
Indicates
awareness of
differences
between first and
second language
acquisition.
Shows awareness
of cross-cultural
differences.
Treats second
language learners
similarly to first
language users in
content-related
exercises.
Is familiar with a wide
range of materials,
resources, and
technologies, and
chooses, adapts, and
uses them in effective
ESL and content
teaching.
Knows and uses a
variety of performancebased assessment
tools and techniques to
inform instruction.
Cites relevant research
appropriately.
Incorporates
knowledge acquired
during the course of
study.
Demonstrates
understanding of
language as a system.
Understands and
applies concepts,
theories, research, and
practice to facilitate the
acquisition of a primary
and a new language in
and out of classroom
settings.
Knows, understands,
and uses knowledge of
how cultural groups
Matches current
theories to
international
experiences.
Is able to incorporate
new technology into
these answers in ways
pertinent to second
language learning.
Indicates development
of effective
performance-based
assessment
techniques.
Is able to demonstrate
extensive language
comparison as a
means of making
effective in-class
activity choices,
connecting linguistic
considerations with
development of course
exercises.
Shows how to make
quick decisions
regardless of
technologies available,
including classes
without any resources
to full-fledged
technologically
advanced classrooms.
Is able to use personal
experiences based on
and students’ cultural
identities affect
language learning and
school achievement.
Serves as effective
English-language
models, using formal
writing, including
attention to grammar
and punctuation.
Knows and uses a
variety of language
proficiency instruments
to inform their
instruction and
understand uses for
identification,
placement, and
demonstration of
language growth.
Demonstrates
knowledge of history,
research, and current
practice in the field of
ESL teaching and
apply this knowledge to
improve teaching and
learning.
both own and former
student anecdotes
while tying them
directly to crosscultural theory and
considerations.
Is able to create
impromptu measures
of assessing students
in terms of their
language proficiency.