On TESOL'79: the Learner in Focus
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 208 683 FL 012 601 AUTHOR Yorio, Carlos A., Ed.: And Others TITLE On TESOL '79: The Learner in Focus. INSTITUTION Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. PSI, DATE 79 NOTE 366p.; Selected persap from the Annual Convention of Teachers of Engliskto Speakers of Other Languages (13th, Boston, MA, February 27-March 4, 1979). AVAILABLE FROM TESOL, 202 D.C. Transit Building, Georgetown University, washington, DC 20057 ($13.00). EDRS PRICE MF01 PlusqPostage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Achievement Tests; Bilingual Education: Bilingual Students: Cloze Procedure: Curriculum Design; *English (Second Language); English for Special Purposes: Individualized Instruction; *Instructional Materials: Intelligence Tests; Language Proficiency: Language Usage; Material Development; Morphology ( Languages); Reading Comprehension; Second Language Instruction; Speech Skills: Standardized Tests; Student ilacement; Syntax; Teacher Education; *Teaching Methods; Technical writing; lest Bias; Testing: writing (Composition) IDENTIFIERS Coamunity Language Learning: English for Science and Technology; Indirect Speech; Politeness; Silent Way (Gattegno): Speech Acts: Suggestopedia ABSTRACT Selections include Strevens' discussion of teaching for different circumstances, Morley's discussion of new developments in teaching materials, Swain's overview of research in bilingual education, Shuy's, Oiler's, Bernal's, and Rosier's respective discussions of test bias, and Rivers', Hines', Scovel's, and Taylor's explorations of the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, and Community Language Learning. The section on curriculum design implementation includes reports on language teaching materials by Candlin and Breen and developing language use .:mats by Jones. Papers on testing include explorations of bias in language placement examinations by Farhady, bias in reading comprehension tests by Mohan, and alternatives to and scoring procedures for use on cloze tests by Mullen and Alderson, respectively. Focus on new approaches to training ESL nonspecialists, ESL teachers, and TESL students is provided by papers by Cott and Dubin, Newfield and Webb, and Clarke and Seward, respectively. Tapers focusing on TESOL research include discussions of learner social and linguistic behavior by Cathcart, Strong, and Fillaore, politeness by Scarcella and by Walters, indirect speech acts by Carrell, questions by Crymes and Potter, oral and written syntactic relationships by Vann, composition skills by Arthur, and the relationship between syntactic skill and writing quality by Kameen. (JK) ****************************A41***************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be aade * * from the original document. * ***4141****411011********41$0***********####41*****414.****4141***t#41*****1011*****4141 I 14\ CO *4) OCO r\J On TESOL '79 The Learner in Focus U.S. DEPARTMENT OF IIDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) TESOL The dowasent has beenreproduced as received, froli, the person or organization I ,Tames ALah's originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESO CES docru f Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC " men( do not necessarily representofficial NIE position or policy Edited by Carlos A. Yorio Kyle Perkins and Jacquelyn Schachter 0 ho Cs1 Selected papers from the Thirteenth Annual Convention of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Boston, Massachusetts February 27March 4, 1979 Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Washington, O.C. 9 ti 4 "riglit 40 1979 by the Teachers of E to Speakers cf Other Languages ashington, D.C., U.S.A. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 1.1rary of Congress Catalog Card No. 80-50151 Additional copies available from: TESOL 455 Nevils Building Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057 V 4 3 Preface This is the last ON TESOL volume of the 70's. During this decade the TESOL profession has seen profound changes which have affected all facets of our work. These new trends have madeus look at the student and the teacher in a different light, from a different perspective. As is almost alwaysthe case in education, these changes have been gradual, and often subtle. Thoseof us who have been involved in TESOL fora number of years, however, look back at the first classes we taught, the first materials we used, the conferenceswe att;nded, the journalswe read, _and 'find that the entire fasts has changed. The 70's constitute an era of many questions and fewanswers. It is the. questions, however, that have made our task fa:Alinating and challenging. These questions have a common core: how do people learn second languages? We now feel that that we teach and houtwe teach should revolve around that still =answered basic question. Consequently, most ofus try to be- non - dogmatic about matters of method and technique becausewe feel that until the answer - is found, flexibility and open-miadedness are the only sensible alternative. Butt teach we must, and while we wait for linguage learning research to provide us with the final solution, we in- the classroom,are also focusing on the learner:a, We carefully consider their needs and goals, their likes and -Stew theirstrengths and w'eakneises. Asa result, second' language teaching` Is mush more learner-centered than it was tenyears ago. ,ON TESOL 79 attempts to capture this shift in focus by concentratingon- the main issues of this past decade: second language acquisition research,new trirnds in teaching and crarriculum design,current concerns in testing, and novel approathes to teacher training. Each one of the plenaries in Part I, presents a perspective ofone of the major areas of concern. Peter Strewn: shows the enormus diversification which has resulted from a narrower focus on the learner: ESL, EFL, ESD, ESP,EAP, EST, etc. Joan Morley discusses the "new frontier* in the development of teething materials. Merrill Swain gives usan overview of research in bilingual education. Darlene Larson's panel (,Roger Shuy, John 011er, Ernest Bernal, and Paul Rosier) deals with the important issue of bias intesting. Finally, Wilga Rivers, Mary Hines, Tom Scovel, and Barry Taylor explore three teach- ing methods which have come to our attention in the last decade: The Silent Way, Suggestopoedia, and Qiunseling Learning/Community Language Learn- Post II, Curriculum Design and Implementation, deals with issues that bear directly upon teaching. Part III covers most of the testing issues theft have concerned us this put decade: bias, clue procedures, and the design ofnew tests. Part IV, Teacher Preparation, focuses onthe teacher as learner and shows the need for new approaches to training.Finally, Part V, Research, contains papers that explore several areas of interest toteachers, curriculum designers, materials developers, and researchers: communicativecompetence, discourse analysis, and research in the area of writingskills. Space limitations have made it impossible for us toinclude more of the many excellent papers presented atthe Boston Conference. We trust that this selection, however, reflects the concerns of the profession atthis time of transi- tion and change, and we hope that this volumewill contribute to developments in the 80's that will answer some ofthe queitions raised. C.A.Y. K.P. I.S. 7.. , 5 iv Table of Contents On TESOL*'79:' The Learner in Focus PREFACE iii L PLENARY ADDRESSES Differences in teaching fordifieientcircumstances or the te4cher as chameleon Peter Strevens 2 Materials development: Thenew frontier, not by chance but by design loan Morley 12 Bilingual education. Research and its implications....MerrillSwain 23 Testing Panel What makes test a four letter word?: Viewpointson bias in stindardized testing Darlene Larson 34 What makes language test in expletive:Tests, test selection, and test use Ernest M. Bernal, Jr. 35 Intelligence, achiever -nt,competency, or language? John W. Oiler, Jr. 40 The role of standardized tests at the schoollevel Paul Rosier 55 Three kinds of hiss,in standardizedtesting Roger W. Shut' 80 Methods Panel An exploration of new trends in second languageteaching: The silent way, suggestopaedia, Counseling learning- community language learning Wilga M. Rivers 87 Explorations of new trends in language learning: The silent way Mary Hines 71 A- review of sugkestopedy Thomas Scovel 75 Exploring community language learning Barry P. Taylor 80 CITIMICULUM DESIGNAND IMPLEMENTATION Evaluating, adapting an41 innovating languageteaching materials Chriitopher N. Candlin and Michael P. Breen 88 Frequency: A criterion- for syllabus development Jani Turano-Perkins109 et Contents Developing a format for working on language use with language learners Marilyn Martin-Jones117 ESL speaking skills in the elementary bilingual 131 classroom. Anna Uhl Chamoi Teaching ESL technical writing with the personalized system of instruction Gayle L. Nelson and John B. Keenan142 --Rhetorical com ce and EST discourse George R. Hepworth148 III.TESTING ISS ES Test bias in language placement examinations Hossein Farhady162 Cultural bias in reading comprehension -tests Bernard Mohan 171 Evaluating bilingual competence: tin experimental innovative test J Donald- Bowen and Sandra Plann178 An alternative to the doze test jai Karen A. Mullen187 Scoring procedures for use on doze tests: Charles, Alderson193