Appendix I English Language Institute General Best Practices

• 1. Explain the purpose/language focus of the activity so that students understand the purpose/focus and how it connects to other class content and activities:
  • • for example, the purpose of this prelistening activity is to identify what you know about the topic before you listen to the lecture.
  • • for example, the purpose of this activity is to practice using indirect questions in a conversation with a partner.
• 2. Use visual support when teaching new points, eliciting and/or providing information/answers/examples in order to:
  • • attend to auditory and visual learners
  • • support sound/symbol correspondence
  • • ensure accuracy of information/answers/examples
• 3. Focus on the targeted skill when planning or implementing a lesson (i.e., writing in writing class, listening in listening class, etc.).
• • for example, do not spend an entire listening class on vocabulary prelistening - include some listening.
• • for example, when explaining the writing process, be sure to do some writing.
• 4. Encourage students to work though language or knowledge gaps rather than always filling in the gaps for the students. For example:
  • • encourage circumlocution in speaking
  • • ask students to correct errors based on correction feedback
  • • ask students what they heard/read/know that is related to a topic/question when they cannot “answer” a question
  • • elicit answers to students’ questions from other students
• 5. Provide positive and negative feedback during or after activities, especially when practice is focused on accuracy.
• • for example, positive: Yes, that’s correct.
• • for example, negative: No. That’s a good guess but not correct; Recast

• 6. Maximize student interaction with the language:
  • • for example, ask students to read directions
  • • for example, ask students to define key words before reading/ listening
  • • for example, use pair/group work
  • • for example, minimize teacher talk
• 7. Model directions, activities, homework, etc. as needed, but in particular when something new is introduced.
• 8. Adjust your level of teacher talk, especially directions, explanations, and feedback, to the level of the class to maximize comprehensibility; perhaps:
  • • rate
  • • complexity
  • • vocabulary, including idioms

Appendix II Level 3 Horizontal Articulation

Level 3 Listening

Speaking

Reading

Text(s)

■ Hartmann and Blass, 2000. Quest 1: Listening and Speaking in the Academic World, McGraw-Hill

Goals

• • Build listening comprehension of conversational American English
• • Introduce effective listening comprehension strategies
• • Develop fundamental academic note-taking skills

Objectives (Objectives continued)

• • Apply pre, while, and post listening comprehension skills (e.g., predict, infer, summarize)
• • Guess vocabulary meaning from context
• • Recognize meaning from tone of voice

■ Baker and Goldstein, 1990.

Pronunciation Pairs, Cambridge Univ. Press

■ Rost, 1998. Strategies in Speaking, Longman

• Increase awareness of American pronunciation of English vowels and consonants

■ Develop fundamental oral language skills that will prepare students to participate in:

• social discourse

■ class discussions

■ individual and group oral presentations

• Introduce discourse strategies

Pronunciation:

■ Utilize pronunciation illustrations and explanations

■ Aurally discriminate phonemes in limited contexts

• Produce phonemes in controlled speech with increasing accuracy

■ Ediger and Pavlik, 2000 Reading Connections: Intermediate (RC-1)

■ Rogerson et al., 1988. Words for Students of English Vol. 4. Michigan Univ. Press

■ Newbury House Dictionary of American English). Newbury House.

■ Develop the ability to read and comprehend simplified and abridged texts in English on topics of general interest with reasonable speed and efficiency

■ Increase vocabulary to a level that permits high intermediate reading

■ Introduce reading strategies for different purposes.

■ Use an English language dictionary with skill

■ Do exercises and participate in discussions to demonstrate comprehension of simplified and easier authentic texts.

■ Apply specific pre-reading strategies

■ Apply specific strategies to identify the main idea of a paragraph.

■ Scan material for specific information

(Continued)

Leve 3

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Exit criteria

Grading policy

• • Identify main ideas and supporting details
• • Apply introductory note-taking skills (e.g., outlining, using abbreviations)
• • Construct questions about listening text content

■ Identify definitions, comparisons, reasons

■ Distinguish textual relationships

■ Identify a speaker’s point of view

Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better.

• • Students with grades below C- may exit into Level 4 at the discretion of the student advisor in consultation with their Listening 3 teacher & supervisor and/or a Michigan test score at the Level 4 placement level.
• 60% Listening comprehension exercises from Quest 1 and other materials
• 30% Note-taking and quizzes from Quest 1 and other materials
• 10% Participation

Speaking:

■ Produce target grammar structures in spoken English

■ Build on practiced phrases and model expressions in spontaneous speech

■ Recognize formal and informal spoken English

■ Prepare and present formal and informal speeches and presentations

■ Participate in class discussions

Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better.

• • Students with grades below C- may exit into Level 4 at the discretion of the student advisor in consultation with their Speaking 3 teacher & supervisor and/or a Michigan test score at the Level 4 placement Level.
• 20% General in-class speaking activities
• 40% Impromptu speeches, seminar speeches, and panel discussions
• 30% Pronunciation practice 10% Participation

■ Do exercises to determine the organization of a text

• Write short answers that summarize the text to answer questions.

■ Recognize and use new vocabulary from the textbooks

■ Use context cues to understand word meaning

■ Make inferences from reading material

■ Use an English dictionary to find, pronounce, spell and use words

Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better.

■ Students with grades below C- may exit into Level 4 at the discretion of the student advisor in consultation with their Reading 3 teacher & supervisor and/or a Michigan test score at the Level 4 placement Level.

70% Reading skills exercises and tests 20% Vocabulary exercises and quizzes 10% Class Participation

Activities

Activities

Supplemental Activities (optional)

Intensive reading component

■ Short articles from FYI

■ Abridged or edited for ESL learners

■ Some articles from publications aimed at K-12

■ Equal in emphasis in the curricula with extensive reading

Extensive reading component

• Graded readers

■ Tom Sawyer

■ Frankenstein

■ Tale of Two Cities

■ Read as a class

• • Two per term
• • Equal in emphasis in the curricula with intensive reading

■ Clips from movie videos to accompany the graded readers.

• • Teacher may, with approval of the curriculum supervisor, choose additional texts for students to read and work with in class.
• (Continued)

Grammar

• • Fuchs, Bonner Sl Westheimer 2000. Focus on Grammar: An Intermediate Course for Reference and Practice, Longman
• • For simple sentences and the principal parts of speech, students will. . .
• • Develop grammatical accuracy in speaking and writing
• • Develop spoken and written fluency in communicative situations
• • Improve listening comprehension
• • Develop ability to identify and understand the target grammar structures in reading texts
• • Develop ability to monitor own errors in speaking and writing
• • Use target grammar structures in focused practice for accuracy
• • Use the target grammar structures in communicative activities with a partner or a small group
• • Write short (3-5 sentences) paragraphs or dialogues using the target grammar structures appropriately and correctly

■ Understand the grammar structures in listening passages

■ Identify the grammar structures in short passages in the textbook

■ Recognize and correct errors of the target grammar structures in the textbook passages and the student’s own speech and writing.

Exit criteria

Grading policy

Grammar

Structures

Covered

Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better.

• • Students with grades below C- may exit into Level 4 at the discretion of the student advisor in consultation with their Writing 3 teacher Sc supervisor and/or a Michigan test score and writing sample at the Level 4 placement level.
• 50% Compositions and revisions outside of class
• 40% Other writing assignments 10% Class participation

■ Intro to parts of complete sentences

■ Punctuation following logical connectors

■ Opinion structures

■ Adverbs of frequency

■ Modals - may & might in generalizations

■ Expressions of quantity

■ Connecting clauses with and, but, so

■ Comparison structures

■ Contrastive connectors

■ Conditional Sentences (real)

■ Present tense verbs

■ Generic articles and nouns

■ Adjective clauses (subject relatives in restrictive relative clauses)

■ Past tense verbs

■ Prepositional phrases in descriptions

■ Pronouns of interactive communication (we vs. you)

■ Indirect speech

Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better.

• • Students with grades below C- may exit into Level 4 at the discretion of the student advisor in consultation with their Grammar 3 teacher Sc supervisor and/or a Michigan test score or cumulative test score at the Grammar 3 level.
• • 55% Written work (tests 40%, HW and written quizzes 15%)
• • 20% Listening work
• • 15% Speaking accuracy
• • 10% Participation

■ Verb tenses:

■ Present: simple, perfect and progressive

■ Past: simple and progressive

■ Future (he going to and will)

■ Modals: present - by function

■ Adjectives and adverbs (including comparatives/ superlatives)

■ Gerunds Si infinitives

■ Nouns and articles, basic uses

Activities Writing Skills covered in the text chapters assigned

■ Organizing ideas from general to specific

■ Supporting generalizations with examples from personal experience

■ Extended comparison and contrast

■ Cohesion devices

■ Writing a definition

■ Supporting a definition with examples, comparisons, and opinions

■ Past time narratives

■ Chronological organizers

■ Description

■ Using details for support

■ Writing a survey

■ Summarizing information

Supplemental

activities

(optional)

Students should:

■ Read the introduction and explanation before class

■ Participate in grammar explanations with the teacher at the beginning of each new grammar point

■ Do written homework and study mistakes

■ Pay attention to grammar as they speak

■ Actively participate in grammar practice with the teacher, a partner or a group every day

■ Do recorded speeches in the lab

■ Take quizzes and tests and study the teacher’s corrections

■ Keep an error progress chart