An evidence-based teaching TESOL blog

Teaching English Fluency

8/2/2018

Defining fluency in language is not easy, however, in spite of this, teachers still need to be aware of what it is and how we can help our students develop it.

To learn more, please watch the following presentation specifically aimed at helping EFL and ESL teachers understand a little bit more about how we can tailor classes and activities to help our students develop their language knowledge and performance in our quest to help them become more fluent in English.

I hope you enjoyed the talk and can see how knowledge (i.e. grammar, syntax, vocabulary, etc.) and performance (i.e. speed, tone, intonation, rhythm, naturalness, fluidity, etc.) conspire to give us fluency.
Thanks for reading

Josh
Keep English Real!

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Tips For EFL Teachers: Helping Our Students Learn

6/8/2018

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Understanding how to help our students learn a language more effectively and efficiently should be a goal for all language teachers. Therefore, in this post I am going to provide a list of research-based tips aimed at helping teachers help their students learn a language with more efficacy.

The following tips should help you develop strategies that can best facilitate language development for your students (or for yourself).

Tips For EFL Teachers!!!
1. Formulaic expressions and sentence structure drills can help students build confidence with using the language. This being true, it is important that beginner level students be afforded the opportunity to not only learn some basic expressions, but also be able to access and use them when needed (this is where drills come in handy).

2. It is important to get the level of input right. In short, for language learning the input should be easy enough to understand, but challenging enough to facilitate learning. To increase fluency, teachers are encouraged to select materials that are within the reach of their students, or even slightly below the student’s current level, and then have them focus on speaking fluency (i.e. correct speed, correct intonation, free from errors, and smoothness of speaking) or listening skills (i.e. the ability to understand and process in real time). Finally, if the level is too hard for your students then you run the risk of students not understanding, and consequently, not learning.

3. Have students focus on the general meaning of the text (i.e. spoken words or reading passage) instead of specific words. This will help them gain the ability to understand. In addition, there should be portions of your class devoted to encouraging students to focus on communication as opposed to accuracy. This is because language is a communication tool – and students need to master this skill, not just focus on syntax and lexis. .

4. When you teach a class, try to provide copious amounts of examples. Examples allow students to hear and/or see what they are learning, thus aiding implicit understanding. Of course explicit instruction is important, but just teaching grammar rules is usually not enough to facilitate language development. Examples and interaction with the examples solidifies the rules and allows students to get a feel of how a certain structure or lexical item is used.

5. Aim for the development of implicit knowledge (and the ‘feel’ of English). This can be achieved by having your students engage and interact with the language for enjoyment and communicative purposes. Encourage your students to watch, listen to, and read English materials that are at their current level (or below). This reduces the cognitive load and allows students to develop deep levels of implicit knowledge. Also, don’t forget to encourage your students to talk and interact as often as possible.

6. Staying motivated is one of the biggest challenges facing English language learners. Teachers need to really focus on having fun, engaging, and interesting classes. They also need to understand the benefits of helping their students develop robust mental images of how they will use English, and who they will be in English, once they master this new skill. Finally, teachers need to be aware of how both internal and external motivation is important to language learning.

7. Effort Equals Results! If you want to be a good teacher, then you need to make an effort (feel free to watch my TED talk on teaching and education).

8. Get your students reading! Reading is often a lot easier for students than listening as it allows the student time to process the information. This being true, reading is often a great way of helping students develop their vocabulary, as they can look up each word in a dictionary and then write it in a diary with example sentences.

9. Keep your lessons interesting and relevant. (I think this is pretty self-explanatory.)

10. Have fun and take responsibility. You must take charge and inspire your students. No one likes a boring class void of care. So don’t be that go-through-the-motions teacher – because that teacher makes the rest of us look bad.

Please click on the link to watch the slide show I have prepared – 10 Tips Language Teachers Should Know.

Thanks for reading

Josh
Keep English Real!

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Get Real! / LESSR - The Keys To Success

11/30/2017

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Joshua Wedlock / 조쉬 웨드락

Hello,
In this post I will be discussing the five factors I mentioned in my TEDx talk about success in more detail. My speech, entitled Get Real, examined the following five factors: locus of control (통제 소재), engagement (참여), self-awareness (자기 인식), self-efficacy (자기 효능감), and responsibility (책임감)

Get Real! – A TED talk by: Joshua Wedlock / 조쉬 웨드락

LESSR - The Five Predictors of Success

Locus of control 통제 소재
In most cases success or failure is a direct consequence of one’s actions or inactions. Those who blame external forces for their failures are often less successful than those who see results as a direct consequence of their actions. (성공 또는 실패를 정의하는 것은 그 원인이 내부(내 탓)에서 오는지 아니면 외부(환경탓)에서 오는지에 따라 성공의 여부가 달라진다.)

People can either attribute their successes and failures to things they have control over or to forces outside of their control. This continuum places external control at one end and internal control at the other.

People who develop an internal locus of control believe that they are responsible for their own success. Those with an external locus of control believe that external forces, like luck or chance, determine their outcomes.

It has been found in study after study that those with a more internal locus of control achieve greater levels of success (not just in education, but in a broad range of fields). This being the case, it is very important to take steps to help your students develop an internal locus of control.

Get real about what really contributed to your success or failure!

Engagement 참여, 관심을 보임.
You must care about what you do and why you do it. The more you are engaged with something the more chance you have of being successful at it. (관계/일에 있어서 내가 관심을 가지는 정도가 성공의 여부에 많은 영향을 미친다. 관심을 기울이는 만큼 더 많이 하게 되어있기 때문에.)

Engagement is caring about what you do and why you do it. Engagement is being (willingly) involved with the task or activity. Engagement is emotional investment. Engagement is having a sense of agency (선택 의지) and being self-empowered.

Those who are engaged in something, especially students, tend to do better at school and are often more emotionally content. In the workplace, engagement has been linked to success in several key areas (e.g. increased levels of job satisfaction, more opportunities for promotion, an enhanced feeling of belonging, etc.).

With all of the benefits that being actively engaged in tasks, relationships, studies, jobs, hobbies, and conversations (etc.) can bestow upon people, isn’t it time we started to help our students see the benefits and the power of engagement?

Get real about being engaged and caring about what you do!

Self-awareness 자가 인식, 자가 인지
Being self-aware allows you to honestly address any weakness or self-limiting beliefs you have. It also allows you to develop confidence in your strengths. Being self-aware is important for both professional and personal success. (자신의 약점과 장점에 대해서 정확하게 알고 있고, 그것을 일과 개인의 삶에 적절하게 사용하는 것이 성공에 있어서 중요한 요인이 된다.)

In the field of education being self-aware is of the utmost importance to those who desire to be the most effective educators they can be. However, the benefits of self-awareness are not limited to the field of education. Self-awareness has been listed as one of the key factors responsible for success both professionally and personally.

The research suggests that knowing yourself is one of the keys to becoming more effective in what you do. This is because knowing yourself helps you mitigate your weaknesses and play to your strengths. It allows you to question the beliefs and assumptions that underlie your decision making process (both professionally and personally), and then allows you to implement steps to overcome any self-limiting beliefs and challenge any false assumptions you may possess.

Helping our students learn to become more self-aware is one thing a teacher can do to help our students reach their full potential.

Get real about knowing yourself!

Self-efficacy 자가 효능감, 자신감
You must believe you can accomplish a task! Believing you can achieve a task, regardless of setback or hardships, is an important skill to develop if you want to be successful. (내가 무엇을 반드시 성취할 수 있다는 것을 확실하게 믿고 그 과정 안에서 어려움이 있더라고 계속해서 밀고 가는 것은 성공에 있어서 중요한 요소이다.)

Self-efficacy can be defined as one's belief in their ability to succeed in a specific situation or to accomplish a specific task. One's sense of self-efficacy effects how one approaches goals, tasks, and challenges.

The basic idea is that you must believe in your ability to complete a task or get something done. If you have a firm belief in your ability to accomplish something then you are more likely to take steps to ensure you achieve your task or goal.
Having a strong belief in yourself helps you persevere through hardships and see setbacks and mistakes as just part of the process.

Get real about trusting in your ability and committing to the task!

Responsibility 책임감, 책임지려하는 의지
You must take responsibility for your actions and inactions if you want to achieve great results. You must also take responsibility for your mistakes and for making sure you are trying your best to achieve your goals. (행동이나 일에 있어서 반드시 책임을 지고, 실수를 했다면 그것을 인정하는 것이 목적을 달성하는데 있어서 중요한 역할을 한다.)

Success is closely linked to how much responsibility a person takes for their actions. However, not only do you have to take responsibility for you actions, but you have to take responsibility for your inactions.

To facilitate success it is important to understand the difference between having responsibility and taking responsibility. In short, those who take responsibility (by being proactive) often achieve greater levels of success. For example, as teachers we have the responsibility to teach our students, however many teachers don’t take the responsibility to do this in an effective or engaging way. They choose to cruise by and do the bare minimum. They choose not to take on the responsibility of being the best teacher they can be. They have the responsibility to teach, but they don’t take responsibility to do it well.

So regardless of your position or task, take responsibility for doing it to the best of your ability. Take responsibility for mistakes and learn from them. Take responsibility to learn from others with more experience or knowledge than you. Take the responsibility to help others. Take the responsibility to be proactive in your pursuit of success.

Get real about taking responsibility for you actions!

Thanks for reading.

Josh
Keep English Real!

Note: Success (성공) is a dynamic concept that means different things to different people. For this article, the term success can be defined as achieving a certain goal or completing a certain task in a way that meets or exceeds one’s expectations.

Success is achieving the goals and outcomes that you wish to achieve.

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Learning outside of the classroom

10/13/2017

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Hi Everyone,

I want to start this blog by reiterating two things many teachers and educators already know:

1) Engaging children with fun and interesting lessons makes learning so much easier.
2) Encouraging children to learn and develop outside of the classroom helps foster a love of learning, increases self-confidence, and helps build grit.

With this being true, I want to do a short post on: Learning outside of the classroom!

Explorative play and experiential learning activities outside of the classroom have the potential to positively impact the lives of young people. Whether it be setting up a lemonade stand, planting flowers, playing make-believe, or even creating YouTube videos, these types of learning experiences help lay the foundations for shaping a child’s growing knowledge, confidence, self-awareness, and personal identity. On top of this, this type of play and exploration has been shown to help children develop grit, creativity, communication skills, and teamwork skills – all skills that will serve them well in the future.

And if that is not enough, children who engage in explorative play and experiential learning activities outside of the classroom often achieve better grades at school, have greater levels of physical fitness and motor skill development, have increased confidence and self-esteem, display enhanced leadership skills, and are often more socially competent and environmentally responsible than their non-playing and non-experimenting peers.

This being the case, isn’t it time for parents and teachers to bring ‘playtime’ back? Isn’t it time to encourage our kids to experiment with tasks and activities (suited to their maturity and experience levels) and let them learn by doing? Yes, that’s right! It is that time!

Learning outside of the classroom in action.

Check out this video by Jenny – a perfect example of a young person learning by doing.

I think she learned (or is learning) the following:

1) Communication skills
2) How to edit a video and use a camera
3) Researching skills (I am sure she looked up what other YouTubers do to make cool videos)
4) Grit (I am sure she had to redo certain sections – not giving up until the task was complete.)
5) The power of social media (I am sure she is learning more about the power of social media.) and how to use it for the right reasons.

I am sure Jenny learned many other things too, many of which won’t become apparent until later in life when she draws on these skills to help her at school, university, or in her profession.

In closing I would like to just say this - Let the children play, create, and experiment, it’s good for them!

Thanks for reading,

Josh
Keep English (and Education) Real!

References/Further reading:.

Malone, K. (2008). Every Experience Matters: An evidence based research report on the role of learning outside the classroom for children’s whole development from birth to eighteen years. Report commissioned by Farming and Countryside Education for UK Department Children, School and Families, Wollongong, Australia.

Gopnik, A. (2012): Let the children play, it's good for them. Smithsonian Magazine.

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Josh Wedlock at TEDxDongdaemun

9/11/2017

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Hi everyone,

Sorry I have been away for a while – I was preparing for my TEDx talk at TEDXDongdaemun (Get Real! - A TEDx Talk by Joshua Wedlock / 조쉬 웨드락). The talk, which took place on September 9th, was based on almost two decades’ worth of experience either helping people get fit or learn English.

The thing I wanted to share with you from this experience is really very simple – never stop challenging yourself.

As teachers we often encourage our students to grow, to try new things, to take on new challenges, but when was the last time you took on a new challenge or pushed yourself a little out of your comfort zone?

As we all know, teachers can often teach best by leading by example – so no matter what that challenge is I dare you to embrace it. Embracing the challenge will help show your students that you are also trying to learn and grow.

For me this talk was not only a goal, but it was also a challenge. It was challenge to get up in front of 100 or so people and talk about myself. It was a challenge to get up in front of 100 or so people and present an idea (an idea worth spreading) that will be judged by others. It was a challenge to get up in front of 100 or so people that I didn’t know and engage in a dialogue with them.

But I did it! (Go me!)

Anyway, I will add the link as soon as it becomes available on YouTube or the TED website.

Thanks for reading,

Josh
Keep English Real!

Search terms:Get Real. Josh Wedlock. Joshua Wedlock. TEDx Dongdaemun. Tedxdongdaemun. Josh Wedlock ted talk.

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Teaching English Fluency

Tips For EFL Teachers: Helping Our Students Learn

Get Real! / LESSR - The Keys To Success

Joshua Wedlock / 조쉬 웨드락

Learning outside of the classroom

Josh Wedlock at TEDxDongdaemun

Josh's ESL Blog

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Teaching English Fluency

Tips For EFL Teachers: Helping Our Students Learn

Get Real! / LESSR - The Keys To Success

Joshua Wedlock / ​조쉬 웨드락

Learning outside of the classroom

Josh Wedlock at TEDxDongdaemun

Josh's ESL Blog

Archives

Categories

Joshua Wedlock / 조쉬 웨드락