Learning Reflection in Seminar in English Language Teaching Course

             Seminar in English Language Teaching Course is searching for information concerning English language pedagogy and problems in teaching and learning English. In this course I got many knowledge both moral and academic knowledge  such as Global English, ESL and EFL learning context, English language in ASEAN context, ICT, and CLT etc. 

What did you learn in this class?

Global English 

        

   The term Global English refers to the use of the English language as a common means of communication across cultures-a lingua franca. Also known as International English and Common English.

ESL and EFL learning context

•            English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) require two different strategies for teaching for a number of reasons. Most people don’t know the difference between the two and don’t consider the difference when they set out to teach English. It’s important to know what each one is so that the different needs of the students can be met.

          EFL is where the teacher teaches English to students in a country where English isn’t the native language. For example, a Chinese student learning English in China would fall under this category.

• 
  

      On the other hand, ESL is where English is taught to students in a country where English is the primary language. 

English language in ASEAN context

   This lesson I learned about similarities and differences of English language in Asian context. 

Classroom learning context

   I leaned about factors affecting English language teaching and learning in higher education. It divide into three factors; students, teacher and environment.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

        I learned about the meaning of ICT and focus on how to apply in the class.

21st century skills

       I learned about learning and teaching in 21st century skills. What skills in 21st century and the implication. 

What did you find easy?

          For me, learning and teaching in 21st century  is easy lesson for me because it is the topic that I present in classroom, so I understand about it. Learning and teaching in 21st century is easy to apply in teaching in the classroom. Moreover, I think that group working is easy to learn because every can help each together. 

What did you find difficult?

      

          For me, I think the vocabulary in this researches and articles are the problem for me because some words I never seen before and don't meaning. 

How did you solve the problem?

             

         My the main problem is vocabulary skill. I solve this problem by trying to discuss with my friends and often ask my friends if I don't understand. For vocabulary, I solve my problem by looking for the meaning from the dictionary websites such as Cambridge dictionary.

What are your attitudes towards the lesson?

      This course makes me have to read many books, articles and researches. But, it makes me know that this course is very useful for me in my teaching in the future. I believed that this course is not difficult if I focus and concentrate with it. Moreover, I am happy to learn with Dr. Usa Noytim again before she is a good teacher for me. She teaches me everything such as the contents in text, moral, be punctual, and being the good model. Finally, I would like to thank you her that she give the knowledge to me.
      

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 14th Week

     For this week, I felt very worried because I had a final examination of this course. Before testing teacher summarized our lesson about sociocultural and other lesson to all of us again. Teacher summarized about Sociocultural, Zone of proximal development, scaffolding and implication in classroom. 

    Then, It was time to test. I felt very excited. The exam had 2 items. Teacher asked about;

1. Sociocultural and scaffolding
2. Skill in 21st century

    After testing, I known that a focus of the test is implication, it isn't the recognizable test. Fortunately, this test I can write in Thai.

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 13rd Week

       Today, I learnt about Sociocultural Theory in many topics; 

1. What is Sociocultural Theory?

      Sociocultural theory is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live. This theory suggests that human learning is largely a social process. By Kendra Cherry

2. What is scaffolding according to Vygotsky?

           A scaffold is a temporary framework that is put up for support and access to meaning and taken away as needed when the child secures control of success with a task. A construct that is critical for scaffolding instruction is Vygotsky's concept, when students are given the support they need while learning something new, they stand a better chance of using that knowledge independently.

          I think this lesson is very importantg lesson. Scaffolding is very useful for teaching students in the classroom. So, we should understand and apply it in teaching.

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 12nd Week

           Today is Saturday, but I had presentation in this course. The topic of seminar divided into 7 topics; 

1. Roles of English in ASEAN Community: the implications
    for Teaching and Learning
2. Factors Affecting English Language Teaching and
    Learning
3. Problems of English Language Teaching and Learning in
    Thailand
4. ICT Enhancing English Language Teaching and Learning
5. Communicative Language Teaching: Strengths and
    Constraints
6. English Language Teaching and Learning for 21st Century
    skills
7. Developing Thai Students' critical Thinking Skills.

     My group got the topic which is about English Language Teaching and Learning for 21st Century skills. We divided our presentation into 3 parts.

1. Framework for 21st century learning
2. The 7 roles of a teacher in the 21st century
3. 5 essential 21st century teaching strategies

    I presented in topic of 5 essential 21st century teaching strategies.

     Here are 5 of the most important teaching strategies 21^st century teachers should have in today’s classroom.

1.Teaching Strategies to Be Able to Teach to All Learner

2. Be Able to Implement Technology

3. Be Able to Foster Student Relationships

4. Be Forward Thinking

5. Be Able to Embrace Change

        For today I got more information from each group. I thought that this presentation is very useful for me because it made me to understand in the lesson and could apply in my teaching in the future. 

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 11st Week

              Today, I had a seminar in English teaching course in the morning. Teacher assigned us to make a group of 6-7 people and then we had to discuss on the topic named The end of CLT : a context approach to language teaching by Stephen Bax.

What is CLT?

        Communicative Language Teaching(CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach

         Then, teacher explained about Stephen Bax's point of view about CLT, Context approach and Communicative language teaching VS Context approach. 

          For me, this topic was very interesting and I learned that no method is perfect, so effective teachers should use various methods in their teaching.  

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 10th Week

       

           Today is Tuesday, I had a seminar in English teaching class in the morning. First, teacher assigned us to make a group of 6-7 people and discuss the research which is about current trends issues in English language education in Asia by Yeon Hee Choi.

                 This research has surveyed current Trends and Issues in English Language Education in Asia, that is, 16 nations including Hong Kong and Taiwan (total 18 regions). The results of the survey reveal commonalities and diversity across Asian regions in the following aspects:

• the starting grade
• class hours
• national curriculum
• textbooks
• the medium of instruction
• the use of computer
• university entrance examination
• teachers
• tertiary English education
• problems and concerns

           English language education in each Asian nation/region seems an outcome of diverse factors including political environment, social and individual needs, and resources (e.g., teachers and computer). 

The findings from the survey raise five key issues to be resolved:

• the amount of time allotted for English language education
• the use of English as the medium of instruction
• centralization or decentralization
• teachers
• the nation-wide university entrance examination

        After that, the representative of each group presented their discussion in front of the classroom. Then, teacher taught us about 21st century skills.

      Finally, the difficulty of this lesson is a variety of vocabulary and meaning of sentences. Therefor, I had to practice my skills more and more. Moreover, I should prepare myself to read the article or research before.

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 9th Week

         Today is Tuesday, I had a seminar in English teaching class in the morning. First, teacher reviewed about ICT Enhancing English Language Teaching and Learning by asking the questions. For example, what is ICT? 

       Then, teacher asked us to make a group of 6 people and discuss the article about CALL.

       

        Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is often perceived, somewhat narrowly, as an approach to language teaching and learning in which the computer is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a substantial interactive element. 

       There are three important phases of CALL;

1. Behavioristic CALL (focus on drill and practice)
2. Communicative CALL (focus on using form in real
    situation)
3. Integrative CALL ( multimedia and internet)

        After that, the representative of each group presented their discussion in front of the classroom. Then, teacher summarized the article to us again. Then, teacher assigned homework for us to read the research about current trend and issues in English Language Education in Asia for next week.

             For this lesson I got more knowledge about CALL because the teacher gave us many researches about  CALL. Moreover,  the language in the researches are not easy to read and understand. So, I tried asked some information that I didn't understand from my friends.

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 8th Week

          For this week, I had midterm examination. I was very worried with it. Before the beginning of midterm examination teacher taught us about ICT in language teaching.

        

What is ICT?
        ICT or Information and Communication Technologies is technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums.

Next, we had midterm test. The test was divided into 3 items. In my opinion, this test was difficult because time was limited and I had the problem about spelling words.

For ICT, I think this topic is very important topic for me because nowadays most teacher use ICT in their teaching such as, using Blogger in learning.  

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 7th Week

            For this week, teacher described about  factors affecting of English teaching. From studying this topic, I learned that there are many factors affecting English Language Teaching ;

1. The factors about students, it can be divided into 3 factors

• For young children, they respond to see, hear and touch. They need of individual attention from teacher. Teacher has to provide the activities because they have short attention.

• For adolescents, they like challenges so, teacher has to provide the activities to respond their need and improve creative thinking.

• For adult learners, they focus on the topic that they learn. They use their experiences to help in learning. They can control themselves in class. Teacher has to provide the activities about analyzing and make situation to solve the problems.

2. The factors about teachers;

• Teacher’s beliefs
• Teacher’s ability in using English
• Teacher’s method and styles
• Teacher’s use of teaching and learning material

3. The factors about learning environment;

• Learner beliefs
• Social expectations
• Cultural demands
• Family background
• Achievement
• Physical condition

4. The implication for English teacher;

• Teachers should make lesson materials relevant with the lesson for increasing student's interest.
• Teachers try to create variety of activities to give chances for students to improve their English skills.
• Teachers should have interesting teaching styles.
• Teachers need to give time for students to do communicative activities.
• Teachers must have skills for management in the classroom.
• Teachers should give instructions clearly.
• Teachers must improve themselves all the time.

Finally, I learned that being a good teacher we should aware about the problems in the classroom and the ways of solving the problem. I think that the most important thing of teaching is the teacher. 

Seminar in English Language Teaching (2nd Semester) : 6th Week

          This week, Before teacher started to teach new lesson, she described about learning and teaching in 21st century. 
          

          Skills in 21st century

• -Creativity and Innovation
• -Critical Thinking
• -Communication
• -Collaboration

       Then, the teacher described about "Classroom Learning Contexts: teacher's descriptions"

       There are 3 sample classroom in this paper; an English Lesson in Malaysia, an English Lesson in Mozambique and an English in China. The teacher asked us to discuss these sample classroom. There are 6 topics ; use of space, use of time, language data, resources, interactions and atmosphere. After that, representative of each group presented their work in front of the class. Then, the teacher asked us answer her questions.

1. Give comments in each classroom
2. Which classroom do you like most? Why?
3. What are strength and weaknesses of each classroom?

        Then, the teacher asked for volunteers to shared their ideas in front of class. For my group, we liked English class in Mozambique because the students had many chances to learn and practice their 4 skills altogether. The teacher wanted students to think their ideas and it's learning whole class style, but disadvantage is noisy.

          Next, the teacher described the abstract of articles "Factor Affecting English Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education" and assigned us to read this article.

            Today, I could speak English more and more although I had some mistakes when I spoke. I felt good and be more confident when I learned this course.