DELTA

Reflection and Action

Assignment

Maya Georgieva-Ozden
May 31st, 2013
Istanbul TR054

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:1

Table of Contents
Part 1 ....................................................................................................................................................3
Beliefs: ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Strengths: .................................................................................................................................... 3
Weaknesses: ................................................................................................................................ 3
Action Plan: ................................................................................................................................ 4
1. Giving Concise and Clear Instructions ........................................................................... 4
2. Transformation of teacher-centered lessons into more learner-centered lessons .............. 5
3. Diversifying Feedback Techniques ................................................................................. 5
Bibliography 1:............................................................................................................................ 6
PART 2 .................................................................................................................................................7
Key Developments ...................................................................................................................... 7
Weaknesses ................................................................................................................................. 7
Action Plan.................................................................................................................................. 8
Student-centered lessons .................................................................................................... 8
Phonology.......................................................................................................................... 8
Bibliography 2 ............................................................................................................................. 8
Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................................. 9
Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................................. 9
Appendix 3 ................................................................................................................................ 10
PART 3 ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Key Developments .................................................................................................................... 11
Evaluation ................................................................................................................................. 11
Positive Points: ................................................................................................................. 11
Points to Consider: ............................................................................................................12
My Beliefs ................................................................................................................................. 12
Action Plan................................................................................................................................ 12
Phonology.........................................................................................................................12
Student-centered Lessons ..................................................................................................12
Professional development .................................................................................................13
Bibliography 3:.......................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix 3 ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix 4 ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Appendix 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Appendix 6 ......................................................................................................................................... 18

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:2

Part 1

Beliefs: Commented [Sally1]: When you get to the last section put a
cover and contents page on this.
 Learners need as much comprehensible input as possible to be able to learn and make
comprehensible output (Krashen cited in Thornbury, 2009). It is input that triggers acquisition. Commented [Sally2]: Nice belief and I know you will say word
count, but it would be even nicer to know where it came from ? Your
 Personal belief: learners benefit from extra-curricula activities such as picnics and outings language learning experience ? reading ? teaching ?

where they communicate with the teacher in L2 in a relaxed way. They practise the language
outside the classroom. They have fun and they experience L2 in real life. Commented [Sally3]: Is this something you are able to do at
Bahcesehir ?
 Vocabulary should be prioritized over grammar. I have recently read Thornbury's post on
“accommodation” (Thornbury, 2013) and have realized how important it is to make yourself
understood even if your sentences are ungrammatical because communication is the sole
purpose of a language. Commented [Sally4]: Nice to read about things you have
discovered and are now interested in

Strengths: Commented [Sally5]: Nice and clear

 Establishing and maintaining a friendly contact with my students. I almost always get a very
positive feedback from my students who claim they feel relaxed and positive in my classes.
 Generating interest in discussions and motivating even the most silent ones to take part and
share their opinions. I guess this is a result of my own talkative nature and also my belief that
learners need to speak in L2 so that they feel confident and gain experience with the language.
 Presenting new material through visuals and prediction techniques.
 Diversifying the activities so that the learners feel motivated and curious throughout the lesson.

Weaknesses: Commented [Sally6]: Equally clear – I like the fact that you
include some things that you have noticed unaided along with the
tutor provoked points.
 Giving instructions. I often forget small but significant details in my instructions, which
sometimes result in a chaos or lack of understanding among the students. I guess I lack some
knowledge on how to be concise and clear.
 Giving feedback . I tend to give teacher-centered feedback, which is, I guess, my favourite
technique. I often do not let students work autonomously while correcting their mistakes.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:3

 Consequently, my students often do not pay attention during the feedback sessions because they
are not involved, so they often do not learn from their mistakes.
 Minimal use of the white board. I have the habit of using PPTs in the lessons because I like the
colour and variety they bring to the lesson. However, I have noticed that students take notes
when I write on the board and are somehow more engaged in those lessons which have made
me think about my overreliance on PPTs. Commented [Sally7]: Somewhere there is research that proves
we retain better what we write down with a pen (not a keyboard a
 Teacher-centered lessons. As my tutor has noticed, I tend to be the center figure, the authority in pen). I must dig it out. I guess my beef with PPT is they get a pre
packaged lesson where if you are doing it in the moment you can
adapt it to them better.
some lessons, which can make my students over-dependent on me. In other words, I sometimes
forget to train them for real-life, where they need to make the decisions about their words and
structures alone.

Action Plan:

1. Giving Concise and Clear Instructions Commented [Sally8]: Like the chart – it works well for you.

What When Data collection

Peer's suggestion to ask a student Use a few times next week Ask a co-teacher to come and
to repeat my instructions already observe my classes to check the Commented [Sally9]: Do you like this one ? did they ? I guess I
have to wait for the middle section to find out. Are you keeping a
application of the new technique. journal ?

Peer's suggestion to give the Try once in three weeks after Give a questionnaire to the
instructions through mimes, trying first the idea above. students and check how much Commented [Sally10]: I think this will only work with some
things. (though probably more effective when it does work).
gestures or to write those on the they like it or/and understand the
board rather than saying them. instructions

My idea is to do some further The following two-three months Note down ideas in my notebook
reading on how to give for further reference Commented [Sally11]: Good – then you will have some new
things to try in the next section.
instructions from:
 “Teaching Practice” by
Roger Gower, Diane
Phillips & Steve Walters
 “Teach English” by
Jeremy Harmer

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:4

2. Transformation of teacher-centered lessons into more learner-centered
lessons
What When Data collection

Tutor's suggestion to have Try a few activities in two weeks Video record my lesson to Commented [Sally12]: But what …

students work/discover more on analyze later how effective the

their own through pair and group pair and group work was. Commented [Sally13]: Useful, but then you have to find time
to watch it back
work rather than me doing all the
work for them. To give more
responsibility to the Ls.

Peer's suggestion to let students Try the technique a number of Prepare a quiz on items I thought Commented [Sally15]: Interesting thought – if you have time to
apply it the results will be worth seeing.
research and consolidate over an times over the next month in a pure teacher-centered lesson
idea (grammar rule or a set of and items I thought in these
vocabulary items) before I learner-centered lessons to find
provide the information for them out which items the students Commented [Sally14]: Like this idea – used to do this
sometimes for lexis when I was in a university context
have memorized/learned better.

My decision is to: Experiment with the new ideas  Write down ideas in my
 research Dogme over the coming four months notebook Commented [Sally16]: Choose one of these and make it your
experimental
 observe other teachers  conduct a survey among
 read Kris Van Den my colleagues on
Branden successful techniques
 read Dave Willis and from their practice
Jane Willis (in
Carter&Nunan 2012:173)
on task-based teaching

3. Diversifying Feedback Techniques Commented [Sally17]: There is also an article up on the

Moodle somewhere listing lots of different techniques.

What When Data Collection

Tutor's suggestion to have Apply immediately  Ask the students whether

students first correct in pairs or they like this new

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:5

groups and then with me. To approach
encourage them to help each  Video record the lesson to
other, to be engaged and to learn check how successful
from their mistakes students cooperate.

Jeremy Harmer's idea (2007:146, Try every now and then in the Ask a colleague (s) to apply the
149) to use charts with error coming months same technique in their classes as
symbols for written work well to check effectiveness
correction and to use recordings
of students' own dialogues to
discuss mistakes on spoken
language.

Peer's suggestion to distribute Try towards the end of the Keep a record of the number of
handouts with the answer key for academic year after students students who have effectively
students to correct alone at have learnt how to be more used the self-correction
home. To promote autonomy and independent technique to check how
self-responsibility in learning popular/useful it is.

Bibliography 1:
1. Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 2007
2. Roger Gower, Diane Phillips&Steve Walters, Teaching Practice, A Handbook for Teachers in
Training, 2005
3. Jeremy Harmer, Teach English, 2001
4. Kris Van Den Branden, Task-based Language Teaching, 2009
5. Ronald Carter and David Nunan, The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of
Other Languages, 2012
6. Scott Thornbury, A-Z blog, http://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/
7. Scott Thornbury on Dogme,28/02/2010 http://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/d-is-
for-dogme/
8. Scott Thornbury on Krashen's theories, 27/12/2009
http://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/k-is-for-krashen/

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:6

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:7
PART 2

Key Developments
In the past few weeks, my instructions became “neater” (tutor's opinion after LSA 3). Below is an
overview of my actions and the results:
 I read Harmer (2001:4) and became more aware of my instructions (clarity of the message,
number of words, sentences, etc.).
 I tried my instructions on colleagues to check how much time I need and how clear and concise
I am. My colleagues helped me to adjust my language when it wasn't level-appropriate.
 I administered a survey (Appendix 1) among 50 students who had to answer two simple Commented [Sally18]: Nice to start involving them - think
about asking for more open ended reactions in some way next ?
questions. The message for me was to use simpler and fewer words.

Giving feedback has improved as well:

 I did some research into “recast, elicitation, repetition, metalinguistic feedback”
(Lightbown&Spada, 2006:127). I tried these in my lessons and could see that recast and
repetition work well while the metalinguistic feedback sometimes confused the students.
 I asked a colleague to observe two of my lessons and fill in a worksheet (Appendix 2) to check
whether I differentiate oral feedback techniques according to my focus: accuracy vs. fluency
(Hamer, 2009:144).
 I followed my tutor's advice to let students correct first in pairs. I distributed a questionnaire
(Appendix 3) to find out whether they enjoyed and learnt better in this way and indeed most of
the answers were positive.
 I used error symbols charts for written feedback (Harmer, 2007:146) and also asked a colleague
to use the same charts with her class. In both cases, we concluded that the technique is
successful because our students spent more quality time correcting and analysing their mistakes. Commented [Sally19]: I used to find that the lazy ones didn’t
do it but the hardworking ones got really good at it (always the way).
 I also started distributing answer keys regularly. As a result, my students seem more engaged
and cooperative when they work in groups to check the answers. Commented [Sally20]: I’ve always liked this technique better
than teacher centred sequences, though there are odd times when it
doesn’t work so well (when you need them to tell you why).

Weaknesses
2. Still teacher-centered lessons. According to both tutors, LSA 1 and LSA2 were rather teacher-
dominated. According to one of the tutors, if I manage to leave my students more “unguided”
and if I give them more autonomy, I would “make a giant leap in my professional
development”. I will prioritize this weakness in the coming 8 weeks. Commented [Sally21]: Think longer term too – we can’t
change big things overnight.
3. Giving feedback. I have only recently started to experiment with prompting, recast, etc. I feel I
need more time and practice to learn and apply all the theoretical knowledge I have gathered. Commented [Sally22]: Some times your confidence with
something makes it work better for them (so more time is always a
4. Phonology. In LSA 2and LSA 3, I had to focus on phonology (connected speech and intonation good plan).
respectively). It was the first time for me and it caused huge stress and great pleasure at the
same time. So, I consider phonology as my personal crusader's march. Commented [Sally23]: I love it when people develop those.

Action Plan

Student-centered lessons
Even though my lessons have not become student-centered yet, I have started working on improving
Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:8
them already.
 I am currently doing a lot of reading on task-based learning.
 I observed a co-teacher who gave a purely task-based lesson and I found it quite entertaining.
 Theoretically, I am now aware what a task-based lesson should look like.

In the forthcoming 8 weeks:

 I will read Jane and David Willis, Kris Van Den Branden to get a profound understanding of this
approach.
 I will plan and administer a 45-min lesson. I expect to do so around 20/05/2013. Commented [Sally24]: I’m guessing this is your experimental
 I will prepare a questionnaire for my students to check whether they enjoyed the lesson, to help
me decide how often I should use tasks in my lessons.
 I will observe other co-teachers and collect data through interviews on how often they use task-
based learning and whether they prefer it to teach language systems or skills.
 I will visit Jane Willis' website for practical ideas to incorporate in my lessons.

Phonology
In the following 8 weeks:
3. Since I am really weak in this area, I need to start with some extensive reading on phonology.
For the purpose, I will read Gerald Kelly and Peter Roach.
4. I will put more emphasis on stress and pronunciation in my lessons. I will start doing so from
24th April when the new classes start.
5. I will find practical, yet fun drills and rhymes to practise in the lessons. Commented [Sally25]: The trick is little and often – just
incorporate bits
6. Unfortunately, I cannot record my students to evaluate their progress but I may keep a separate
register to write about my students' progress. Commented [Sally26]: Why not start a teaching log / journal ?
7. I will make and administer a questionnaire around 20th May to understand whether the students
feel more confident when they speak, whether they notice any improvement in their
pronunciation, etc. Commented [Sally27]: Try having one of the questions open
ended and see what you get
Word count: 747 words

Bibliography 2
 Carter, R.& Nunan, D. (2012). The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages. CUP.
 Harmer, J. (2001). How to Teach English. Longman.
 Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.
 Kelly, G. (2000). How to Teach Pronunciation. Longman.
 Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learnt. OUP.
 Roach, P. (2012). English Phonetics and Phonology. CUP.

 Van Den Branden, K. (2009). Task-based Language Teaching. John Benjamins Publishing.
 Willis, J. (2004). A Framework for Task-Based Learning. Longman.
 Willis, D. & Willis, J. (2007). Doing Task-based Teaching. OUP.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:9

Appendix 1

Questionnaire to check how well students understand my instructions

Choose Y (yes) if you agree with the statement or N (no) if you disagree with the statement

 I always understand what I must do when the teacher gives instructions. Y/N
 I don't understand the instructions of the teacher because:
9. she speaks too much Y/N
10. she doesn't give an example/model Y/N
11. she doesn't ask a student to repeat her instructions Y/N
12. she uses difficult words Y/N

Appendix 2

Focus on accuracy
During the lesson, the teacher:
asked the student to repeat his/her wrong sentence, so the student could correct him/herself alone.
Eg:
2. repeated the wrong sentence with a questioning intonation to show the student that something
was wrong so s/he could correct him/herself
Eg:
3. mimed and made facial expressions to make the student realize that something was wrong, so
s/he could correct it on his/her own.
Eg:
4. used reformulation to correct the student's mistake by not overtly stating it.
Eg:

Focus on fluency
During the lesson, the teacher:
1. intervened gently in the activity when communication broke down
Eg:
2. kept noting down students' mistakes, which she addressed at the end of the lesson.
Eg:
3. wrote both correct and incorrect sentences on the board and let students decide which one is
which.
Eg:
4. dealt with the mistakes discreetly, without pointing to the students who actually made the
mistakes.
Adapted from Harmer (2007:144)

My colleagues' observations from both lessons:

Focus on accuracy
During the lesson, the teacher:
1. asked the student to repeat his/her wrong sentence, so the student could correct him/herself

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:10

 alone. Yes
Eg: Student: Teacher can you open the computer?
Teacher: Can I….? Can you say that again please?
2. repeated the wrong sentence with a questioning intonation to show the student that something
was wrong so s/he could correct him/herself Yes
Eg: Student: They didn’t let me to go out.
Teacher: They didn’t let me to ↑go out?
3. mimed and made facial expressions to make the student realize that something was wrong, so
s/he could correct it on his/her own. Yes
Eg: N/A
4. used reformulation to correct the student's mistake by not overtly stating it. Yes
Eg: Student: Last night I gone with my cousin to the cinema teacher.
Teacher: Ah good! You went to the cinema in Cevahir, didn’t you? Which movie did
you watch?

Focus on fluency
During the lesson, the teacher:
1. intervened gently in the activity when communication broke down Yes
Eg: Can you think of any more examples?
2. kept noting down students' mistakes, which she addressed at the end of the lesson. Yes
Eg: N/A
3. wrote both correct and incorrect sentences on the board and let students decide which one is
which.
Eg: Teacher wrote on the board:
Everyone prefer football than other sports in Turkey
Everyone prefers football than other sports in Turkey
And asked:
‘Which one is right? Why?’
4. dealt with the mistakes discreetly, without pointing to the students who actually made the
mistakes. Yes
Eg: as above

Appendix 3
Questionnaire to get feedback from students about pair correction
Choose T (true), F (false) or DN (don’t know) for the questions below
 When the teacher writes the answers on the board, I often copy them without understanding
why those are the correct answers. T/F/DN
 When I discuss the possible answers with a friend, before the teacher writes them on the board,
I feel less stressed to say what I think. T/F/DN
 When I discuss the possible answers with a friend, before the teacher writes them on the board,
I understand better why the answers are correct. T/F/DN
 I like working with a partner when correcting mistakes. T/F/DN
 I don’t like showing my answers to other students because I feel embarrassed.
T/F/DN
 I don’t like discussing mistakes with a partner because the teacher always gives a different
answer from ours. T/F/DN
Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:11
PART 3

Key Developments

In the past weeks I have taught a few less teacher-centered lessons. My LSA3 (speaking focus) was a
good example of a more student-centered lesson (tutor' comment – Appendix 6). Here is an overview of
my other actions:
 I administered a TBL lesson on 25th May, which fulfilled successfully its objectives and was
well accepted by the students ( Appendix 1).
 I did a lot of reading on TBL and gained more awareness of different teacher's roles – the
moderator, chairperson, adviser (Willis, 2004:40)
 I have found interesting TBL lessons on Willis' website. Their lesson plans and commentaries
have helped me a lot to understand how TBL works in practice. Commented [S28]: If you can get hold of a copy of the Dave
Willis book Rules, Patterns and Words it is a really interesting read.
I have also progressed a bit in incorporating pronunciation into my teaching.
 I started using the pronunciation activities in the coursebook regularly and since I am Commented [S29]: As good a way of starting as any – I learnt
how to teach in the early days by following the books (there was
introducing them mostly as a 'let's have some fun' activities, most students enjoy them. much else to read on those days).

 I have tried several activities (chains and drills – Appendix 2) (Kelly, 2001:77), some of which
were really enjoyable.
 I administered a survey on 23rd May among the students (Appendix 3), which showed that more Commented [S30]: Nice that you seem to have got in the habit
of asking them what they think.
than half of the students enjoyed the activities and would do them again.

Evaluation

Positive Points:
 Reliable survey results. Having done the surveys anonymously and at a time I wasn't in the
classroom have promoted reliable data collection.
 The data from the students seem to be objective (Appendix 4). There was some criticism as
well, which proves that the students did not feel the pressure to only praise the teacher.
 Variety of methods (tutor's feedback -Appendix 6). I utilized various methods such as peer
observations, interviews, surveys, etc. so the information could be double-checked.

Points to Consider:
 Feedback from peers was not always objective. Since I asked only my friends to come and
observe, they did not really criticize much, so I guess the data is not 100% reliable.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:12

  Creating questionnaires was not so simple – some of the questions were either vague or
repetitive and did not contribute much to the data collection. Commented [S31]: People have written whole books about this
– it takes time and testing to write a good survey
 Audio or video recordings would give more reliable data. Currently, my institution does not
allow to record the students.

My Beliefs
 I still believe that comprehensible input is important. However, my students' persisting
difficulties to communicate in L2, make me agree with Swain's “comprehensible output”
hypothesis too i.e. the importance to produce language (Carter&Nunan, 2012:90).
 I have started to believe in the importance of pronunciation to convey meaning. As Kelly writes
(2001:11), a mistake in the pronunciation of even one phoneme - “soap” rather than “soup” - Commented [S32]: Stress is just the same – try shifting the
stress in importance and see what happens
can lead to unpleasant misunderstanding in real life.
 I have realized the importance of becoming aware of my classroom experiences (Edge, 2001:6). Commented [S33]: Nice quote, nice statement
Before, I would conclude that certain teaching ideas were only good in theory but never in
practice (TBL for example). I was proven wrong both about TBL and pronunciation.

Action Plan

Phonology
There is still so much to be done! Commented [S34]: Me too – that’s the thing about
development, once you see how interesting it is, there are always lots
 I have found a few interesting activities (Roach, 2012:185), which I am planning to use when of different things you want to investigate / work out

appropriate (Appendix 5).

 I will organize a whole experimental lesson on pronunciation around mid July. I still need to
read about the three different types of lessons (integrated, remedial or practice) (Kelly, 2001:14)
before I can select the sample for the lesson.
 I still want to find a richer source of practical activities to be used at advanced levels. If not, I'd
enjoy learning how to create such.

Student-centered Lessons
 After TBL, I got motivated to experiment with other approaches. I remember a session when
my tutor demonstrated a Dogme lesson, which I really enjoyed and never tried, something I am
thinking to do in the near future.
 Learning more about Dogme is my long-term objective. I'd like to try and incorporate it in my
teaching as well.
 I will try different TBL procedures – Willis vs. Nunan (2006:35)– to become really experienced
in the method so that my biggest problem - teacher-centered lessons – is resolved for good.

Professional development
 Creating and utilizing check lists (Richards, 2012) i.e. which teaching techniques I use within a
lesson to help me better reflect on my teaching style. Commented [S35]: Think about working them into some kind
of journal format or web page – make it into an on going project
 Trying to “stay alert” and “make sense of what is going on” in my classroom (Edge, 2001:5) to
objectively decide on new techniques to deal with challenges in the classroom.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:13

Word count: 749

Bibliography 3:
 Carter, R.&Nunan, D. (2012). The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Other Languages.
CUP.
 Harmer, J. (2007). The Parctice of English Language Teaching. Longman.
 Edge, J. (2001). Search and Re-Search. English Teaching Professional. Issue 20. July 2001.
 Kelly, G. (2001). How to Teach Pronunciation. Longman.
 Nunan, D. (2006). Task-based Language Teaching. CUP.
 Richards, J. (2012). Towards Reflective Teaching. The Teacher Trainer – Back Articles.
http://www.tttjournal.co.uk/index.php?page=back_articles
 Roach, P. (2012). English Phonetics and Phonoly. CUP.
 Willis, J. (2004). A Framework for Task-based Teaching. Longman.
 Willis-ELT. (2013). Task-Based Teaching. Free Lesson Plans to Download. http://www.willis-
elt.co.uk/taskbased.html

Appendix 1
Questionnaire for the students about the TBL lesson – taken from the experimental
lesson
Look at the questions below and answer with YES, NO or DON'T KNOW
Question YES NO DON'T
KNOW
I enjoyed speaking in English with my friends
I enjoyed working in groups
I liked the fact that the teacher did not interfere with our group
discussion
I liked that we talked about something real and different from
the usual
I think the teacher must correct us more.
I think the lessons must start with grammar so we are less tired
and more focused
I enjoyed discussing grammar with my classmates
I really liked doing so much on my own. I now feel I know a
lot.
The discussion with my friends helped me understand why I

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:14

make mistakes with the comparative forms
I want to have more lessons like this one

Evaluation – taken from the experimental assignment

Objective 1: According to my colleague, most of the students were focused on the task. They were
willing to cooperate and they used L2 throughout the task cycle. She noticed that even students who
would normally show no interest in the lesson, were engaged in the group work. There was less focus
on accuracy compared to usual lessons.

Objective 2: Most of the students gave a positive answer. I was curious to find out that two of the boys
who never do anything in the lessons, enjoyed the different format of the lesson and being shocked by
the change decided to participate to see what will happen (one-to-one informal communication). More
than half of the students said that they felt motivated and confident because they worked together.

Objective 3: I could see how much more the students used their dictionaries or asked one another
about the meaning of words or grammar structures. I managed to have such student involvement only a
few times before, usually when I organized a competition with some really tempting awards.
Approximately half of the students said that they could understand and correct some of their mistakes
in the preparation stage. I was also glad to hear some really good reports, almost free of grammar
mistakes, something that almost never happens in my PPP lessons.

Objective 4: Almost the whole class stated that they enjoyed the 'teacher-free' group work. Six
students, out of twenty, were dissatisfied with the inductive approach to grammar. Half of the class
enjoyed talking about something so different from the usual academic topics. Sixteen students said that
they would like to have such lessons more often.

Appendix 2

1. Practice of minimal pairs – good for my students, who even at B2 level, still cannot pronounce
“paper”and “pepper” correctly.
Drill the following utterances chorally and individually:
Pass me the pepper and the paper.
I've lost the letter later.
They won't let us in if we're late.
(Kelly, 2001:19)

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:15

I did that as choral repetition, then boys against girls, then faculty X against Faculty Y, etc.

2. Chaining – really useful when I thought If clause-3 two weeks ago since many students have
problems with pronouncing and recognizing the contracted forms (would vs. had) and would
often use “would” for both.
Front Chain: Back Chain:
If I'd seen him, …....told him
If I'd seen him, I would've...... ….....would've
I would've.............. ….....would've told....
I would've told him..................... I would've told him
If I'd seen him, I would've told him. If I'd seen him
If I'd seen him, I would've told him.
(Kelly, 2001:17)
3. Stress – to show the change in meaning when the stress is on different words
Do the dialogues:
Student A Student B
I'd like a big, red cotton shirt Here you are. A big, red cotton skirt
No, I said a big red cotton shirt Here you are. A big red nylon shirt.
No, I said a big red cotton shirt Here you are. A big blue connot shirt
No, I said a big red cotton shirt Sorry, I haven't got one.

Student A Student B
It's a pity you weren't at the party. I WAS at the party.
Did you say you were at the barbecue? I was at the PARty.
Did you say Enrico was at the party? I was at the party.

(Kelly, 2001:78)

Appendix 3
Questionnaire for the students to check how much they liked/disliked the activities
above
Questions Yes Mostly Yes Maybe Mostly No
(100%) (80%) (50%) No (100%
(80%) )

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:16

1. Do you enjoy the pronunciation exercises?
2. Do the pronunciation exercises help you
speak more like a native?
3. Would you like to do such exercises more
often?

4. Which activity did you like most? Why?

 The drill with “pepper” and “paper”
 The sentence building
 The dialogues (shirt – skirt)
…..............................................................................................................................................................
….............................................................................................................................................................
5. Which activity did you like least? Why?
 The drill with “pepper” and “paper”
 The sentence building
 The dialogues (shirt – skirt)
…..............................................................................................................................................................
…...............................................................................................................................................................
6. Do you think pronunciation is important to learn English better? Why?
…..............................................................................................................................................................
….............................................................................................................................................................
7. Is it important to use English with correct pronunciation when talking to people in real life?
…..............................................................................................................................................................
….............................................................................................................................................................

Appendix 4

Survey Results:
Questions 1-3
Most of the students chose the “Mostly Yes” answer for everything. Later when I had a friendly chat
with them about the results, they told me that sometimes they were not in the mood to repeat after me,
other times they felt slightly embarrassed to do so because they thought these were activities for small
kids and this was the reason why they didn't give the 100% Yes answer.
It was clear from the results that the majority would enjoy doing such activities in the future as well.
There was, however, a small number of students (4 or 5) who chose the Mostly No answer. It would be
interesting to see whether this answer might change when I use other activities.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:17

Questions 4-5
The most liked activity (70 % of the class) were the dialogues (Appendix 2, activity 3). Students wrote
that:
 They sounded like Mr. Bean so it was funny.
 They could understand why it was important to say the words correctly
 They could pretend to be British
 the second dialogue sounded as if it were taken from their own real life
There were about 5 students who said that they did not like any of the activities because those were
childish and they could not see how these activities could help them pass the exam.

Questions 6-7
There was a big variety of answers here.
 The above 5 people restated their opinion by saying that pronunciation is not important when
studying in the prep school of a university in Turkey.
 About 10 students said it was really important when travelling abroad though they do not think
it can help them pass the proficiency exam of the university.
 Some of the above 15 students (4 or 5) thought about their future career and wrote that it would
be really important if someone works for an international company.
 Another group of 4 students was convinced that pronunciation was important both for study and
real-life purposes because there are also spoken exams in the school as well as paper
presentations in the faculties,where good pronunciation matters.

Appendix 5
1. Practice of the '-ed' suffix of past simple – listen and repeat
packed /pækt/
bagged /bægd/
dropped /dropt/
robbed /robd/
grabbed /grabd/ (Roach, 2012:182)

2. Stress marking – repeat the word and mark the stress before the stressed syllable
enemy /'enəmi/
collect /kə'lekt/
capital /'kæpitl/

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:18

profit /'profit/
entertain /entə'tein/ (Roach, 2012:185)

3. Stress marking – to adapt and use when teaching a group of adjectives together (describe your
personality, the best design, etc.)
When you hear the number, pronounce the adjective with the correct stress, then mark the stress '
before the stressed syllable
easy /'i:zi/
complete /kəm'pli:t/
major /ˈmeɪdʒə/
alone /əˈləʊn/
early /ˈɜːli /
heavy /ˈhevi/ (Roach, 2012:186)

Appendix 6
1. Tutor's report after LSA 3

Comment
You delivered a lesson that was appropriate to the needs and level of the learners. They were kept on task, were
interested and engaged and were always doing things that contributed to the whole. All were encouraged to
participate. 6a/b
Your role varied as the different stages varied.

(Delta5aOctober2010)
2. Tutor's feedback after R&A middle section

Comment
This is well-written and sensible laid out Maya. A nice mix of immediate and longer term and lots of
variety both in what you intend to do and in how you intend to evaluate those changes.
…............................................................................................................................................................

You have generated a good range of things to try out to address these different areas. Again, good to see
you drawing from variety of sources (ideas of colleagues, reading and tutor input).
…...............................................................................................................................................................

You are clearly aware of the need to gather data to evaluate how effective any changes you might make
actually are. You actually seem to have included one of almost everything it is sensible to do.

Maya Georgieva-Ozden DELTA, Module 2:19