Support
through scaffolding
In order to build up students’ language competence as well as confidence,
the lesson was conducted in small teaching steps, through which, necessary
language input was provided and language skills were practised. All pedagogical
moves in the lessons were task-oriented with the ultimate objective to enable
students to complete the final task (i.e. design fashion for their teachers).
Careful scaffolding was built into the design of the unit; lessons were built
on one another, addressing the language patterns and skills that students
needed for accomplishing the final task.
Through
the lessons, students’ language competence was enhanced through
the support of scaffolding. In Lessons 1-2, students were taught the
vocabulary of colours, patterns and materials. After they had mastered
these adjectives, they were taught to put them together in the correct
order. When they were able to handle this, they continued to learn to
give reasons for their likes and dislikes (Lessons 2-3). These then formed
the building blocks for paragraph writing (Lessons 3-4). Students put
all they had learnt in the previous lessons together to describe the
features of two of their favourite school uniform designs and explained
the reasons for their preferences. This, again, provided an opportunity
for the students to practise the language necessary for the project presentation.
Clear
structure of lessons
The lessons were mainly structured in the form of “input, practice and
output”. For example, in Lessons 1-2, adjectives of colour, patterns
and materials were taught with the aid of PowerPoint slides; students then
practised the pattern of expressing likes and dislikes together with the vocabulary
learnt. At the end of the session, students labelled the clothes (given by
the teacher) with the vocabulary learnt in the session. Similarly, in Lessons
3-4, students were taught ‘the order of adjectives’ and to explain
the reasons of their preferences (input). Then, they worked in pairs to describe
some given fashion items and express their preferences with reasons (practice).
After that, they were given similar exercises in written form as individual
homework (output).
Classroom
interaction
The lessons were conducted through different patterns of interactions. Even
when the teacher was teaching vocabulary and sentence patterns, she did not
lecture; instead she involved students in the process through active elicitation
(T <-> Ss) (see examples in Lessons 1-2). Interactions between students
were active too since they were given plenty of pair and group work throughout
the lessons (Ss <-> Ss).
Tangible
outcomes of lessons
There were tangible products in each session:
a) Lessons 1-2: Labelled clothes;
b) Lessons 3-4: Description of fashion items and expression of preferences;
c) Lessons 5-6:
Two written paragraphs describing students’ favourite school uniform
designs;
d) Lessons 7-8: Interview questions and a plan for their project;
e) Lesson 9: Presentation of project results.
Integration
of four language skills
The unit addressed also the integration of language skills. As indicated in
the unit plan, students were involved frequently in the practice of speaking,
listening and writing, though reading was not emphasized in this unit.
New
attempts
Process writing was attempted in Lessons 5-6. Students were guided to review
their friend’s writing with the help of a checklist. With the peer comments,
students were given time to re-write their paragraph.
Project
work was also attempted in Lessons 7-9. Lessons 7-8 served as a good
example of how project work should be guided. Although the project was
only a mini one, the teacher provided clear steps for students, guided
them to devise interview questions and allocate jobs among group members.
Such guidance was essential especially for a junior secondary class who
had little experience in carrying out independent project work.
Summary
In brief, this unit is an example of a series of highly-structured lessons
with a task-oriented focus. This also shows how teachers provide scaffolding
to students in order to enable them to accomplish the task; through that,
students’ language ability and organization skills are enhanced. Many
student-teachers often assign to students one task after another without
offering much help. They are often criticized as testing the students rather
than teaching them. The possible consequence of which is that capable students
will be able to complete all tasks without the need of a teacher while the
less capable ones gain nothing but more frustration. This unit shows how
teachers can help to build up students’ competence so that everyone
in the class will enjoy the success of learning through the process of accomplishing
the task(s).