Instructional Design for ELT PDF

1 Table of Contents Foundations of Instructional Design............................................................................................3 Learner Analysis..........................................................................................................................11 Learner Needs.............................................................................................................................34 Understanding Lesson Aims, Objectives, and Outcomes.........................................................40 Teaching Models.........................................................................................................................46 Selecting and Adapting Teaching Materials..............................................................................62 Developing Classroom Activities...............................................................................................66 Assessing Learning.......................................................................................................................76 Creating your lesson plan...........................................................................................................84 2 Foundations of Instructional Design People have been instructing each other since people have existed. Showing an infant how to speak; explaining to an apprentice how an axe head is forged; guiding a daughter’s hands as she attempts to make a clay pot—humans have been teaching each other for a long time. Instruction can be a casual event. It can be as simple as answering a question such as, “How did you do that?” Instruction can also be carefully planned. It can encompass a course of study that concludes with students receiving a diploma or certificate marking the achievement. Guiding Questions: How do you define education, instruction, and teaching? Are instruction and teaching the same? How did the discipline of Instructional Design develop? What are some benefits of using Instructional Design in the classroom? Which models are commonly used in instructional design/development? Why is the ADDIE model considered a systems approach? 3 Education, Instruction, and Teaching Education, in general, refers to the formal and informal processes of teaching and learning aimed at developing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and understanding in a specific domain (Richards & Schmidt, 2010). It encompasses both instruction and teaching, as well as informal learning experiences. Education is not limited to schools or classrooms; children begin learning from birth through interactions with parents and others. Formal education later builds on this by helping them develop mentally, physically, emotionally, morally, and socially. Instruction as Broader than Teaching (in Instructional Design): Formal education involves instruction, which includes all deliberate steps planned by teachers to help learners achieve educational goals and objectives (Eisner, 1964). While instruction and teaching are often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings. Teaching as part of instruction focuses on facilitating learning through discovery, guiding, mentoring, and interacting with students. It typically begins when the teacher enters the classroom to implement a lesson plan. In contrast, instruction begins much earlier, when teachers first consider their learners' needs and design their courses accordingly. Instruction encompasses the entire planning process, which includes not just teaching but also key elements such as: Needs analysis: Identifying what learners need to learn. Learner analysis: Understanding learner characteristics (age, background, motivation). Task analysis: Breaking down tasks for learners to perform. Test items: Designing assessments to measure learning outcomes. Materials selection: Choosing resources for delivering content. This form of instruction provides a comprehensive framework for teaching, much of which occurs before any actual teaching in the classroom. Relationships Between Education, Instruction, and Teaching in Instructional Design Instruction Within Teaching (in Classroom Practice): On the other hand, during classroom practice, instruction can also refer to specific moments when a teacher gives directions or explanations, such as teaching a grammar point. Afterward, the broader act of teaching includes engaging students in interactive activities, offering personalized feedback, correcting errors, and facilitating discussions to deepen understanding. Teachers also adjust lessons based on student performance, encourage peer-to-peer interactions, and offer 4 additional support or clarification when needed, creating a dynamic and responsive learning environment. Conclusion: In instructional design, instruction is broader as it involves the entire process of creating effective learning experiences. In classroom practice, instruction refers to specific actions like explaining content, while teaching includes a wider range of interactive and supportive activities. This dual perspective shows how instruction can sometimes encompass more than teaching and, at other times, be a part of the teaching process. A Historian’s View of Instructional Design One of humanity’s earliest forms of instructional design may have been the ritual dances and cave paintings depicting hunting techniques, used to teach potential hunters how to stalk and bring down animals. This form of instruction, driven by creativity and inspiration, persisted for millennia. The systematic study of instructional design, however, is relatively new. Historically, scholars like Comenius (1592–1671) contributed to instructional design by planning the use of visual aids in teaching. His Orbis sensualium pictus (The Visible World Pictured) was the first illustrated textbook intended for children (Heinich, Molenda, Russell, & Smaldino, 1996). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, education remained closely tied to religious teachings, with clergy often serving as teachers (Berliner, 1993). Before World War I, a key goal of education in the U.S. was ensuring literacy for reading the Bible. At the turn of the century, John Dewey called for a linking science between what is known about how people learn and the practice of delivering instruction (Dewey, 1900). This idea laid the groundwork for instructional design, as the field of educational psychology began to emerge with the founding of the American Psychological Association in 1892. By 1915, scientific methods were applied to educational problems, giving rise to instructional design as a discipline. Educators began to focus not only on lesson content but also on how to organize and present information based on learners’ needs and abilities. Testing became a tool for assessing both student knowledge and the effectiveness of instruction. As a linking science, instructional design draws from fields like cognitive psychology and communication to improve instructional methods. According to Smith and Ragan (2005, p. 4), instructional design is "the systematic and reflective process of translating principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials, activities, information resources, and evaluation." An instructional designer’s job is to create something that enables a person or group of people to learn about a particular topic or develop or improve a set of skills, or to encourage the learner to conduct further study. The “something” created can take many forms: a lecture, a multimedia 5 presentation, the curriculum for a year’s study, a piece of computer software, an in-person demonstration, or a test preparation booklet. The list is almost endless. The Benefits of Instructional Design As a learner, you may have experienced courses where: The content was too difficult or not engaging. The activities felt dull and disconnected. The tests seemed unfair because they didn’t reflect what you were taught. 6 These problems often stem from poor planning by instructors. Instructional design helps avoid such issues by ensuring effective course planning and delivery. Here are key benefits of instructional design for teaching English: Clear Learning Objectives: Helps teachers create well-defined aims and objectives, making it easier for learners to understand and master the material. Relevant and Engaging Activities: Enables the development of activities that are aligned with the learning goals and engage students actively. Effective Assessment: Supports the creation of evaluations that accurately measure the knowledge and skills learners are expected to acquire. Learner-Centered Content: Ensures that the content is tailored to the learners’ needs, levels, and abilities, avoiding material that’s too difficult or irrelevant. Consistency in Teaching and Testing: Aligns teaching content with assessments, so students are tested on what they have been taught. Efficient Use of Time and Resources: Leads to better use of instructional time, cost- effectiveness, and improved overall learning outcomes (Piskurich, 2006). Instructional Design/Development Models As scholars and practitioners have examined the process of developing, delivering, and evaluating instruction, they have devised several models to explain the process. Probably the most popular approach to designing instruction is to follow some variation of what is essentially a three-step process. 1. Assess learners’ needs and analyze the situation to determine what instruction is necessary and what steps need to be taken to deliver that instruction. 2. Develop relevant materials, and then produce and implement the instructional design. 3. Evaluate the results of the instructional design to determine whether the needs have been met. The ADDIE Model One of the most widely recognized models for instructional design is ADDIE, an acronym for five key actions: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. Here’s a breakdown of the steps for general instructional design professionals: 1. Analyze needs. 2. Design instruction. 3. Develop materials. 4. Implement the instruction. 5. Evaluate and revise. 7 While this is the basic ADDIE model, for classroom instructional design, a full needs assessment is often skipped. In many cases, curriculum requirements are pre-determined at a broader community or political level, and teachers focus instead on analyzing learners and contexts, rather than conducting an extensive needs analysis. Steps in Instructional Design In this adapted model for classroom use, instructional design begins with analyzing the situation— learners, context, and tasks. After identifying the gap between the current and desired learning outcomes, objectives are set, and a plan is created to meet those objectives. Instructional materials and activities are developed based on this plan, then implemented in class. Evaluation follows to determine if the learning goals were met, and any necessary revisions are made. Based on the results of the evaluation, the situation may be analyzed again and the whole process may be repeated once more. This cyclical approach allows for continuous improvement. A Systems Approach ADDIE is a systems-based model, viewing instruction as a structured activity involving interconnected components like the curriculum, teacher, learners, materials, and assessment. While these components aim to support learning, they need to function in harmony for success. Misalignment, such as poorly defined objectives or assessments that do not reflect learning goals, may not be apparent until issues arise later in the process. Teacher’s Role in Instructional Design Modern teacher education aligns with this model by emphasizing that teachers are not mere implementers of a pre-set curriculum. Teachers must analyze their specific teaching context and their learners' characteristics and needs. They are also expected to adapt materials, manage feedback and learner errors, and evaluate student progress to ensure objectives are met. 8 In this context, classroom-level instructional design is referred to as lesson planning. Teachers typically handle this process themselves but may seek input from others at different stages. The Systems Approach Model for Designing Instruction Another well-established and respected model for instructional design/development that provides guidelines and procedures applicable to a wide variety of specific situations is the Systems Approach Model for Designing Instruction. It is a classic example of performing an instructional design task systematically (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2015). The Instructional Design for Teachers (ID4T) Model The Instructional Design for Teachers (ID4T) model (Carr-Chellman, 2016) is a simplified instructional design framework based on the Dick, Carey, & Carey (2015) model. It consists of nine key steps: 1. Write instructional goals: Clearly define what learners should know, do, or feel by the end of the lesson. 2. Write learning objectives: Break down the instructional goal into specific, measurable objectives. 3. Write test items: Develop assessments that accurately reflect the objectives, focusing on measuring learning rather than tricking learners with tricky questions. 4. Analyze learner characteristics/prerequisites: Understand learners’ current knowledge and skills to identify necessary prerequisites. 5. Select materials/texts: Choose appropriate texts, images, audio, and other materials that support the learning goals. 6. Select and design activities: Create activities that align with the learning objectives and prepare learners to meet the instructional goals. 7. Select or develop media/technology: Identify or create media and technology tools that will support the learning activities and integrate them into the lesson. 9 8. Implement the plan: Carry out the lesson, ensuring adequate resources (time, budget, support) for successful execution. 9. Evaluate and revise the instruction: Assess the effectiveness of the instruction, using student assessments and other feedback to refine the teaching approach. Connecting Process to Practice Activities 1 After reading the chapter, how has your thinking about education and designing instruction changed? 2 Write a brief letter to a friend or family member who is not a professional educator or instructional designer, explaining what you are currently studying. In the simplest possible terms, describe instructional design. 3 As a novice instructional designer, which aspects of developing instruction do you consider to be inherently artistic? Which aspects of developing instruction do you consider inherently scientific? 4 Consider your own experiences as a teacher. What model can you develop that illustrates your own instructional design process? 10 Learner Analysis Guiding Questions: What should the teacher know about the learner? Which one is a better language learner, a child, a teenager, or a grown-up? How do you learn better, by seeing and reading, by listening, or by doing something? 11 The Learning Pyramid Studies show that varying your study methods and materials will improve your retention and recall of information, and enhance your learning experience. The “learning pyramid”, developed by the National Training Laboratory, suggests that most students only remember about 10% of what they read from textbooks, but retain nearly 90% of what they learn through teaching others. The Learning Pyramid model suggests that some methods of study are more effective than others and that varying study methods will lead to deeper learning and longer-term retention. Lecture The Learning Pyramid suggests that “Lecture” is one of the most ineffective methods for learning and retaining information. Lecture is a passive form of learning where you simply sit back and listen to information being spoon fed to you by your teacher or professor. Attempting to acquire information and gain understanding only through lectures is not the most effective way of learning. However, auditory learners tend to find lectures more stimulating and 12 educational than students who have non-auditory learning styles. Lectures are most effective when students arrive to class prepared, actively participate in class discussion, and take good notes. Reading While more effective than Lecture, Reading is still one of the less effective methods for acquiring and retaining information, according to the Learning Pyramid. However, if you are a visual learner, reading textbooks will likely be a more effective learning method for you than for students with non-visual learning styles. Audio-Visual The Learning Pyramid suggests that Audio-Visual learning methods only lead to a 20% retention of information learned. These methods may incorporate various audio-visual learning/teaching tools including videos, sound, pictures, and graphs. The effectiveness of audio-visual learning methods are enhanced when combined with other, more active forms of study. Demonstration Demonstration usually involves the teacher or professor providing students a learning task that they can observe. Within the structure of the Learning Pyramid, Demonstration is the first of the seven study methods that involves active learning. Demonstration tends to offer students less ambiguity than passive study methods and leads to fewer misconceptions and greater understanding. Discussion Discussion, or “Group Discussion”, is a cooperative learning method that relies on students interacting and studying material with other students and instructors. Discussion Groups are intended to stimulate student thinking, and increase participation and engagement. Discussion is also an active study method that can lead to greater retention of information and material studied, and higher academic achievement. Discussion can occur within a classroom setting or by forming a study group. Practice (by) Doing Practice by doing, a form of “Discovery Learning”, is one of the most effective methods of learning and study. This method of study encourages students to take what they learn and put it into practice – whereby promoting deeper understanding and moving information from short-term to long-term memory. Practice by doing makes material more personal, and thus more meaningful to students. Teach Others The key to subject mastery is teaching it to others. If you’re able to accurately and correctly teach a subject to others, you’ll have a very good mastery of the concepts, and superior retention and recall. 13 The most common form of teaching others is Peer Tutoring. However, the best place to teach others is in a study group. One of the main activities that should occur in an effective study group is peer to peer teaching, where each group member takes the opportunity to teach the other group members the course material being studied. Situation Analysis According to the principles of instructional design, before beginning to create an instructional design, teachers need to conduct a situation analysis. This includes understanding learners and their needs (learner analysis), their current levels, as well as their lacks and wants (needs analysis), the content they will teach, and the tasks learners are expected to complete (task analysis). Based on these insights, teachers can then proceed to design their instructional plans. According to the current view of learning, learners are regarded as active organisms that come to the learning scene with diverse backgrounds which can influence the result of instruction. Among the important initial tasks of a language teacher is to identify and analyze learners' characteristics including their age, attitude, learning style, intelligence, motivation, and linguistics background. Gagne, Briggs, and Wager (2005) believe the goal of learner analysis is to reduce a large number of learner characteristics into a limited set of general characteristics. This will make designing the instruction an easier and viable task for the teacher and instructional designer by taking a diagnostic teaching approach (Brown & Green, 2016). Age Age is one of the factors which is commonly believed to have an important role in language learning. Children are generally believed to be better language learners and many people think the sooner the onset of second language learning, the better the results will be. The concept of Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) popularized by Lenneberg (1967) also is one of the proofs which show the advantage of younger learners over the older ones. According to the CPH, there is an optimal period for language learning during which the task of learning a language is easier and demands less effort. This period starts at the age of 2 years and ends in puberty i.e., around the age of 13. This time range is viewed as a window of opportunity for language learning. However, research has shown that the major privilege of children over adult learners is picking up the pronunciation or phonological aspect of the language, and adults because of their cognitive development can take more benefit from formal instruction and can do better in learning abstract concepts (H.D. Brown, 2014). 14 Task 1. Jean Piaget (1896-1980), the Swiss psychologist, is one of the most famous psychologists who studied the cognitive development of children. He believed that children go through four main stages in their cognitive development. After watching the video clip on Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, try to complete the table. Stage Age Capabilities range Sensorimotor stage 2-7 Concrete operational stage 12 and up Which stages in Piaget's theory correspond to critical period of language learning? 15 Piaget's 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained Birth to 2 Years Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage: Know the world through movements and sensations Learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening Learn that things continue to exist even when they cannot be seen (object permanence) Realize that they are separate beings from the people and objects around them Realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them 2 to 7 Years Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage: Begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects Tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others (Egocentrism) Getting better with language and thinking, but still tend to think in very concrete terms 16 7 to 11 Years Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage: Begin to think logically about concrete events Begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example Thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete Begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle Age 12 and Up Major characteristics and developmental changes during this time: Begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems Begins to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning Begins to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information Task 2. The following are the characteristics of learners of different age groups (Harmer, 2012, 2016). With your partner decide to which age group of learners they belong. Characteristics Young Adolescents Adults Learners (Teenagers) (Children) Can engage with abstract thoughts Learn best through play and other enjoyable activities Have views about what they like and dislike Use language skills without analyzing why or how they use them Can solely work with the spoken word without the need for the physical world Experience intense emotions They cannot concentrate on the same thing for a long time Like bright and colorful classrooms 17 Like to know the reason for what they are asked to do Have expectations about the learning process Their understanding comes mainly from seeing and hearing and touching Have clear purposes for language learning Can be critical of teaching methods Have a need for individual attention from the teacher They like variety in activities and get bored with activities that last too long Worry about their inability to learn a new language More likely to miss lessons Attitude Learner attitudes toward the language being taught, the people whose language is being learned, and the attitude toward the learning task are of paramount importance. A positive attitude toward the language and the learning task can significantly facilitate learning and motivate learners to overcome difficulties. Conversely, negative attitudes toward the target language or culture, often arising from indirect exposure through television, movies, books, news, etc., can lead learners to form internal barriers to learning. Task 3. The following are some statements from the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (Gardner, 2004). Read the statement and circle the box which is true about you. 1 means it is less true about you and 5 means it is highly true about you. Statements SD D N A SA 1 I wish I could speak many foreign languages perfectly. 1 2 3 4 5 2 Learning English is really great. 1 2 3 4 5 3 Studying English is vital as it helps me be more at ease with people who 1 2 3 4 5 speak English. 4 I have a strong desire to know all aspects of English. 1 2 3 4 5 5 I wish I could have many native English-speaking friends. 1 2 3 4 5 18 6 I prefer watching TV programs dubbed in our language rather than with 1 2 3 4 5 subtitles. 7 I would get nervous if I had to speak English to a tourist. 1 2 3 4 5 8 Studying foreign languages is not enjoyable. 1 2 3 4 5 9 Knowing English isn’t really an important goal in my life. 1 2 3 4 5 1 I would rather spend my time on subjects other than English. 1 2 3 4 5 0 Reverse the scale for items 7 to 10. That is, change 1 to 5, 2 to 4, 4 to 2, and 5 to 1. Do not change 3. Now, add up the numbers you have circled. If you have a score less than 30, it means you have a less positive attitude toward English/English learning and if you have a score higher than 30, it means you have a more positive attitude. A higher score indicates a more positive view. Learners' attitudes toward the target language and people and culture are under the influence of several factors. For the younger learners, family plays a key role. If the family bears a positive attitude toward the language and the speaking community of the language, children will also develop positive views. Peers also have an impact on children's attitudes. For older learners, the roles of friends and people around get precedence and can influence their attitudes more, compared to the effect of the family. If classmates and the community around view learning a language as a prestigious and worthy activity, these learners will develop more positive attitudes toward the language and learning it. But if the people around and society, in general, do not value learning a new language, this may also affect learners' attitudes and consequently their motivation (Harmer, 2016). This may lead to learners' demotivation and spread of a norm of mediocrity as Dornyei (2007) calls it, where the dominant atmosphere of the class prevents learners from trying for excellence in learning. Task 4. The following scenario, adopted from Richards (2017), describes an EFL classroom. Read the scenario. Suppose you are the teacher of this class. How do you react? What has been wrong? Pair up with a partner and compare answers. A private institute in an EFL country offers an intermediate level conversation course. The teacher in the course makes extensive use of fluency activities, including pair and group activities, role- plays, songs, and games, and discussion activities. These activities are thought to reflect the current view on second language acquisition. However, the learners are very critical of the program because they cannot see the point of many of the classroom activities they are asked to take part in. They say, "We don't come here to clap and sing". Learning Style Another characteristic of learners to take into account while designing instruction is their learning style. The learning style of a learner is the way they naturally prefer to learn things and therefore learn better if the materials are presented to them in that way (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, 2011). Most people who insist that teachers should take students' learning styles into account believe that each person has an individual and idiosyncratic way of receiving and processing 19 information. One famous classification of learning styles is the VAK model. VAK stands for the three learning styles of Visual style, Auditory style, and Kinesthetic style. Visual learners learn best when they see something. Pictures, diagrams, charts, films, and realia are helpful for teaching such learners. Auditory learners prefer to hear something to learn it. Kinesthetic learners, on the other hand, are those who prefer physical experience through touching and feeling and being active, moving around and using their hands. Task 5. Read these statements about learners and match them with the appropriate learning style (Welling, 2009). In addition to the three learning styles described above, learners may be classified into individual or group learners and reflective or impulsive learners. Group learners would like to take part in group activities and learn best when they are interacting with others. Individual learners, on the other hand, prefer to work on their own and prefer individual tasks and activities (Richards, 2015). Reflective learners are those who take time to think and then do an activity. They are slow but accurate. Impulsive learners, on the other hand, answer quickly but inaccurately. 20 Task 6. Go through the list of activities in Task 1 again. This time decide if each activity is appropriate for group, individual, reflective or impulsive learners. How Can Learning Styles Be Effectively Utilized? The scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of learning styles remains relatively weak. There are a few assumptions regarding learning styles that lack strong empirical support. First, the notion that an individual's learning style can be accurately and reliably measured remains unproven. Second, even if learning styles could be effectively identified, there is little evidence to suggest that adapting the learning experience to those styles leads to improved outcomes. This is partly due to the complexity of learning, where multiple factors such as prior knowledge, context, and task difficulty play significant roles. Nevertheless, despite the current limitations, there are still valuable insights to be gained from the ongoing discussion around learning styles. Not everyone learns in the same way. Incorporating a variety of approaches into the learning process can be beneficial. Doing so not only makes the experience more engaging but also provides multiple memory triggers. Additionally, varying learning styles helps counter the effects of habituation, where learners may become disengaged with repetitive methods. We are more alike than we are different. With the exception of certain physical disabilities, everyone benefits from a mix of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning approaches. You may want to vary the learning approach depending on the subject being learned. Although there is limited evidence supporting the customization of learning to an individual learner's style, some research indicates that it is beneficial to adapt the instructional method to the content being delivered. At the very least, it is prudent to align the teaching approach with the nature of the task. "You wouldn’t want your car mechanic trained via audiobook, right?" Styles of Classroom Participation In addition to their learning style and on that basis, learners may also differ in their tendency to take part in classroom activities. Depending on whether leaners are relaxed or anxious, risk-taking or risk-avoiding, playful or serious, confident or insecure, and fuzzy-focused (not needing clear outcome for activities) or black and white (needing unambiguous clear outcomes), Richards (2015) classified learners into six types of classroom participation style. These groups of learners include task-oriented learners, social learners, dependent learners, phantom learners, isolated learners, and alienated learners. 21 Task 7. Read the following descriptions of different groups of learners and try to guess what style of classroom participation they belong to. These learners need constant support and guidance to complete asks. They do not often favor group work and would like the teacher or other learners to tell them if they are successful learners. These learners are not easily controlled and may create discipline problems in the class. They make learning difficult for others and need close supervision. These learners prefer to interact and work with others. They may talk a lot in the class and they often ask for assistance from others. These learners are often alone and do not take part in group activities. These learners are competent learners who are active and aim for high levels of performance. They can do tasks successfully. These learners do not pose problems for teachers or the class. They work steadily on tasks but rarely initiate conversations or ask for help. Task 8. How do you think the teacher should treat each group of learners described above in the class? Discuss your answers in a group. Intelligence Intelligence traditionally was defined as the ability to solve linguistic and logical-mathematical problems (Brown, 2014). This view of intelligence, however, has been criticized by psychologists and researchers who have proposed more recent theories of intelligence such as the multiple intelligences model by Howard Gardner (1983). Gardner believes that the concept of intelligence has many dimensions. Therefore, only those who can solve linguistic, logical, and mathematical problems in a short time-span should not be regarded as intelligent people. Gardner initially posited that there are seven types of intelligence including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Later, he has added other dimensions such as naturalists and existential intelligence to the multiple intelligences model (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). According to this model of intelligence, all people have all types of intelligence but one (or more) is stronger in them (Harmer, 2016). The basic idea behind multiple intelligence activities is that people learn using different types of intelligence. For instance, spelling can be learned through typing which uses kinetic intelligence. Task 9. Here are the descriptions of various types of intelligence. Read the descriptions and match them with the types of intelligence. 22 Description Type of intelligence 1. the ability to form mental models of the world a. Logical/mathematical 2. a good ear for music b. Interpersonal 3. the ability to understand oneself and apply one's talent c. Naturalist successfully 4. the ability to use language in special and creative ways d. Linguistic 5. having a well-coordinated body e. Intrapersonal 6. the ability to be able to work well with people f. Spatial 7. the ability to understand and organize the patterns of nature g. Musical 8. the ability to think rationally h. Bodily-kinesthetic Task 10. Teaching based on multiple intelligences enables teachers to give support to learners with diverse intelligences through involving them in various kinds of activities that may match their dominant intelligences. Below you see comments by some teachers on how they take multiple intelligences into account while designing activities for their English classes. Read these comments 23 and then with your partner think and talk about activities you can design for your language class to match different kinds of intelligence. Motivation Another characteristic of learners which makes them different from each other is their level and type of motivation. Motivation is the thoughts and feelings which make us want to and continue to want to do something and which turn our wishes into action (Spratt, Pulverness & Williams, 201 1) Brown (2014) maintains that motivation explains the success or failure of many learning tasks, and there are countless studies and experiments in human learning which have shown that motivation is a key to learning in general. Dornyei (2005) also believes that without ample motivation, even competent individuals cannot accomplish long term goals, and appropriate curricula and good teaching by themselves cannot ensure student achievement. Task 11. What were your motives when you decided to learn English? Learners may want to learn a new language for different reasons. For children and very young learners, it might be only the curiosity to see what learning another language is. Some learners may also just enjoy learning a new language. These people are said to have intrinsic motivations. That is to say, they want to learn for no external reward. The act of learning the language is rewarding for them. But as learners grow, they may have different objectives and aims to achieve through learning the language. For example, they may want to learn a new language to take a trip to a foreign country. Or for adults knowing another language may facilitate their job promotion. Such people are said to have extrinsic motivation. Some learners may not want to learn a language and see no reason for doing it. They are said to be unmotivated. Some may start the learning task with strong motivation but gradually lose their motivation due to different factors. Such learners are described as demotivated learners. Sometimes, learners may join a language class because of extrinsic motivation, but become intrinsically motivated as the experience of the learning becomes enjoyable for them (Harmer, 2007). Not All Extrinsic Motivation is Created Equal Self-determination theory, conceived by the researchers Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, is probably the dominant model for motivation right now. They talk about a continuum of motivation: 24 By their definitions, only the final motivation is intrinsic. Deci and Ryan associate intrinsic motivation with activities that are worth doing for their own sakes—things that are enjoyable or satisfying, even if there are no other people involved. At the opposite end of the spectrum, fully extrinsic motivation is entirely external. People are only seeking a reward or avoiding a punishment. In between, they list extrinsic reasons that have to do with our sense of social relatedness. This is when you do something because it will please other people, makes you feel part of a group, or supports your sense of identity. In the context of English learning, a student may initially be motivated by external factors, such as a school requirement or pressure from parents—examples of fully extrinsic motivation. Over time, this motivation may shift to a more socially driven form of extrinsic motivation, as the student begins to learn English to connect with peers or become part of a gaming community. Eventually, the motivation could become intrinsic, as the student discovers personal enjoyment in using English for playing massive multiplayer online games and engaging with international players, finding the activity rewarding in itself. How Do You Deal with Each Type? Depending on what type of learners you have, there are strategies that you can use to improve the learning experience. Design strategies for teaching intrinsically motivated learners include: Saying “Thank you” to the learning gods. It will significantly ease your work. Making sure your learners have time to work on their own problems. You may have some standard activities or challenges that everyone needs to do. However, greater progress is made when learners engage with challenges that are personally meaningful. Leveraging your learners as teachers. Those with intrinsic motivation learn a lot on their own, and will learn even more if they share that knowledge. This approach exposes other students to different ways of applying the concepts or skills being learned and reduces the burden on you as the sole source of information, which means both you and your learners win. 25 Design strategies for teaching extrinsically motivated learners include: Having them tell you. Begin by having your learners explain why a topic is useful or important. If you provide the reasons, they might be resistant or skeptical. However, if they generate the reasons themselves, they are likely to be more receptive. Avoiding extensive theory and background. You may find academic content fascinating, but extrinsically motivated learners would rather stab themselves in the eye with the free pen. Focus on practical examples and challenges that directly connect to real-life situations, as this approach is generally more effective for all learners. If you have a lot of background information that does not clearly serve a purpose, it is best to remove it or move it to an appendix or resource section. Using interesting hypothetical problems to awaken their intrinsic motivation. By presenting learners with an engaging challenge or puzzle to solve, you can help shift their extrinsic motivation toward a more intrinsic drive, such as the satisfaction of solving a problem or completing a task. However, it is important to ensure that the challenge is genuinely "interesting to them." Your Learners Want to Not Feel Stupid When a successful game designer talks about game design, they say, "My job as a game designer is to make the player feel smart." The same is true for learning designers. Your job is to make your learners feel smart, and, even more importantly, they should feel capable. It is fine to challenge your learners—this is not about making it easy for them. Things that are too easy can feel tedious and unsatisfying for learners. But you do not want to have your learners feel shame about what they do and do not know. Instead, you want to give your learners a safe path into the material. 26 Task 12. The following is a list of motivating and demotivating factors (Démyei, 2001) for learners. Read the list and decide whether they are Motivating (M) or demotivating (D). Teachers’ commitment to teaching Inadequate school facilities Placed in the right level Experience of failure or lack of success Positive attitude toward the foreign language Compulsory nature of the foreign language study A negative attitude toward the community of the foreign language spoken. Interest in the target language culture A feeling of control and responsibility for learning (autonomy) Encouragement and support from others Compare your answers with a partner. Then discuss how teachers can remove the demotivating factors. The following is a list of strategies suggested by Dornyei and Csizer (1998, p. 215) to make the classroom a more motivational environment: 1. Set a personal example with your own behavior (i.e., be motivated as a teacher yourself) 2. Create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom (i.e., try to prevent anxiety in yourself or the learners) 3. Present tasks in an interesting way which makes the tasks seem achievable to learners. 4. Develop a good relationship with the learners 5. Increase the learners' self-confidence about language learning (i.e., help learners feel they can be good at learning a language) 6. Make the language classes interesting 7. Promote learner autonomy 8. Personalize the learning process (i.e., make the course feel relevant to the learners' lives) 9. Increase learner's awareness of their goals (i.e., what they want to achieve) 10. Familiarize learners with the target language culture 27 Task 13. Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams (2005, 2011) listed the following activities by the teacher. Read the list and decide which of the 10 suggestions by Dornyei and Csizer they aim at? Each activity may relate to more than one suggestion. A. Reading with the class a story about social networking sites because you know many of them love using these sites. B. Encouraging learners to meet some first language speakers of English C. Only teaching 10 new words in one lesson rather than 20 suggested in the coursebook D. Giving learners a test, which is quite easy for most of them E. Giving a demonstration of a role-play the learners are going to do. F. Teaching with enthusiasm and interest G. Presenting the language to the learners in small bits that they are able to learn easily. H. Talking to learners after class about the problems in their last homework, and how they can make better progress I. Encouraging and praising learners, even weak ones J. Making sure your lessons are varied and well-paced K. Your learners love doing crosswords- you find another one for them to do. L. Asking learners which of four tapes they would like to listen to in the next lesson M. Giving learners reading texts about working in an English-speaking country N. Returning homework as quickly as possible and including helpful advice on it. Linguistic Background and Level of The Learners Another characteristic of learners which is of great importance is their linguistic background and proficiency levels. It is often believed that a homogeneous class where all students are nearly at the same level of language knowledge, gives the teacher a better chance to plan for an instruction which suits all members of the class. In private language institutes, learners take a placement test upon entering the institute and their level is determined. The placement tests are usually based on a publication or the book which is taught in the institute. Based on the results of the placement test, advisors or administrators decide which level of the book is appropriate for the learner. However, more recently the levels offered by the Common European Framework of Reference (CFER) are taken into account by the leading ELT publishing companies and each book is usually labeled to show which of the six levels of the CEFR it belongs to. The CEFR includes six levels of Al (breakthrough), A2 (waystage), B1 (threshold), B2 (vantage), C1 (effective operational proficiency), and C2 (mastery). Learners at Al and A2 levels are described as basic users, those at Bl and B2 as independent users, and those at C1 and C2 as proficient users (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). There are can-do statements for each level of the CEFR which describes the capabilities of 28 the learners at each level. However, in order to orient learners, teachers and other users within the educational system for some practical purpose, a more detailed overview of the CFER is necessary. Table 1 is a draft for a self-assessment orientation tool intended to help learners to profile their main language skills, and decide at which level they might look at a checklist of more detailed descriptors in order to self-assess their level of proficiency. The self-assessment grid in Table 1 illustrates the levels of proficiency described in the CEFR. It presents 34 scales of listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing activities. The difficulty of a learning experience is actually a derived value based not only on the complexity of the content but also on the prior knowledge of the learner: In the above diagram, the difficulty is represented by the area where "The Learner's Knowledge" and "The Complexity of the Content" overlap. This refers to the idea that difficulty arises when the content is challenging but still within the learner's grasp. Here is the reasoning: The rest of the blue circle represents content that is too complex for the learner, meaning it is beyond their current understanding or capabilities. If the learner's knowledge does not overlap with the content at all, it might be too advanced or completely incomprehensible, making it more than just difficult—it could be impossible for them to engage with or learn from. The rest of the yellow circle represents knowledge the learner already has, meaning there is little to no challenge, so it is not considered difficult for them. Difficulty is the point where the content is challenging but still something the learner can tackle with effort. It is a balance between what they already know and the complexity of the new content they are trying to learn. That is why the overlap is highlighted as difficulty—it is the "just right" zone (the "zone of challenge") where learning is difficult but achievable. For a novice jogger, the learning experience you need to provide would include: Lots of structure and guidance For a proficient recreational runner, you would include: Some practice of new concepts 29 The expert marathoner would want: Somebody to hold out the bananas and water and then get the hell out of the way! Unfortunately, a single learning design is frequently expected to accommodate many different levels of learners. This means that all the things you built into the learner’s journey to support novices (careful guidance, lots of practice, slowly helping them build their mental model before adding in content) are pretty much guaranteed to make the expert absolutely nuts. Similarly, the learning environment in schools is far from ideal. Students are assigned to different classes not based on their language level and proficiency. So, the English classes might sometimes be extremely heterogeneous where some learners may be beginners with no background in English and some at upper-intermediate or even advanced levels with years of experience of learning English in institutes. Such classes are described as disparate or mixed-level classes (Burn, 2010). Whole groups of learners are often subjected to the same learning experience due to budget constraints or convenience. If this is unavoidable, consider the following suggestions: Don’t make them hate you. Do not make every aspect of the learning experience mandatory for all learners. Instead, offer certain parts of the classroom experience as optional or assign them as take-home activities. Consider pull versus push. Novice learners may be unaware of their knowledge gaps, while experts usually have a clearer understanding of what they need. Trust experts to seek out the information they require by ensuring that it is easily accessible and relevant. The pull approach allows learners to access resources, lessons, and reference materials as needed, promoting independence without forcing them to engage with all content. Leverage their expertise. Recognize that these individuals possess valuable knowledge. Explore ways for them to contribute, such as coaching novice learners or sharing their experiences to enrich the learning journey for others. This involvement can enhance their engagement with the material while benefiting novices. Embed some of the novice information. For example, if you provide vocabulary support for novice learners in an e-learning program, consider offering this vocabulary as rollover text rather than explicitly stating it in the main content. This approach ensures that novices have access to necessary information without hindering the progress of more knowledgeable learners. Task 14. At school, it is not often possible to place students based on language levels. What will you do if you find that there are students of different levels in your class? Discuss and compare your answers in a group with your partner. Task 15. Based on the documents of the Iranian Ministry of Education, at the end of the lower- level secondary schools or junior high schools, learners are expected to reach the A2 level of the CEFR and at the end of the higher-level secondary schools or high schools, they are expected to reach B2 level. Read the descriptors of each level of the CEFR once again, and then talk to some learners and teachers at these schools. Do you think students can achieve these levels? 30 Table 1. Common Reference levels - Self-Assessment Grid UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING WRITING Listening Reading Spoken Interaction Spoken Writing Production I can recognize I can understand I can interact in a I can use simple I can write a short, familiar words and familiar names, simple way provided phrases and simple postcard, for very basic phrases words and very the other person is sentences to example sending concerning myself, my simple sentences, prepared to repeat or describe where I holiday greetings. I family and immediate for example on rephrase things at a live and people I can fill in forms concrete surroundings notices and slower rate of speech know. with personal when people speak posters or in and help me details, for example slowly and clearly. catalogues. formulate what I'm entering my name, trying to say. I can nationality and ask and answer address on a hotel simple questions in registration form. areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics. A1 I can understand I can read very I can communicate in I can use a series of I can write short, phrases and the highest short, simple simple and routine phrases and simple notes and frequency vocabulary texts. I can find tasks requiring a sentences to messages relating to related to areas of most specific, simple and direct describe in simple matters in areas of immediate personal predictable exchange of terms my family immediate needs. I relevance (e.g., very information in information on and other people, can write a very basic personal and simple everyday familiar topics and living conditions, simple personal family information, material such as activities. I can my educational letter, for example shopping, local area, advertisements, handle very short background and my thanking someone employment). I can prospectuses, social exchanges, present or most for something. catch the main point in menus and even though I can't recent job. short, clear, simple timetables and I usually understand messages and can understand enough to keep the announcements. short simple conversation going personal letters. myself. A2 31 I can understand the I can understand I can deal with most I can connect I can write simple main points of clear texts that consist situations likely to phrases in a simple connected text on standard speech on mainly of high arise whilst way in order to topics which are familiar matters frequency every travelling in an area describe familiar or of regularly encountered day or job-related where the language experiences and personal interest. I in work, school, language. I can is spoken. I can enter events, my dreams, can write personal leisure, etc. I can understand the unprepared into hopes and letters describing understand the main description of conversation on ambitions. I can experiences and point of many radio or events, feelings topics that are briefly give reasons impressions. TV programs on and wishes in familiar, of personal and explanations for current affairs or topics personal letters. interest or pertinent opinions and plans. of personal or to everyday life (e.g., I can narrate a story professional interest family, hobbies, or relate the plot of a when the delivery is work, travel and book or film and relatively slow and current events). describe my clear. reactions. B1 I can understand I can read articles I can interact with a I can present clear, I can write clear, extended speech and and reports degree of fluency detailed detailed text on a lectures and follow concerned with and spontaneity that descriptions on a wide range of even complex lines of contemporary makes regular wide range of subjects related to argument provided the problems in which interaction with subjects related to my interests. I can topic is reasonably the writers adopt native speakers quite my field of interest. write an essay or familiar. I can particular possible. I can take I can explain a report, passing on understand most TV attitudes or an active part in viewpoint on a information or news and current viewpoints. I can discussion in topical issue giving giving reasons in affairs programs. I can understand familiar contexts, the advantages and support of or against understand the contemporary accounting for and disadvantages of a particular point of majority of films in literary prose. sustaining my views. various options. view. I can write standard dialect. letters highlighting the personal significance of events and experiences. B2 32 I can understand I can understand I can express myself I can present clear, I can express myself extended speech even long and complex fluently and detailed in clear, well- when it is not clearly factual and spontaneously descriptions of structured text, structured and when literary texts, without much complex subjects expressing points of relationships are only appreciating obvious searching integrating sub- view at some length. implied and not distinctions of for expressions. I can themes, developing I can write about signaled explicitly. I style. I can use language flexibly particular points and complex subjects in can understand understand and effectively for rounding off with an a letter, an essay or television programs specialized social and appropriate a report, underlining and films without too articles and longer professional conclusion. what I consider to much effort. technical purposes. I can be the salient issues. instructions, even formulate ideas and I can select style when they do not opinions with appropriate to the relate to my field. precision and relate reader in mind. my contribution skillfully to those of other speakers. C1 I have no difficulty in I can read with I can take part I can present a clear, I can write clear, understanding any ease virtually all effortlessly in any smoothly-flowing smoothly-flowing kind of spoken forms of the conversation or description or text in an language, whether live written language, discussion and have argument in a style appropriate style. I or broadcast, even including abstract, a good familiarity appropriate to the can write complex when delivered at fast structurally or with idiomatic context and with an letters, reports or native speed, provided linguistically expressions and effective logical articles which I have some time to get complex texts colloquialisms. I can structure which present a case with familiar with the such as manuals, express myself helps the recipient an effective logical accent. specialized fluently and convey to notice and structure which articles and finer shades of remember helps the recipient literary works. meaning precisely. If significant points. to notice and I do have a problem I remember can backtrack and significant points. I restructure around can write the difficulty so summaries and smoothly that other reviews of people are hardly professional or aware of it. literary works. C2 33 Learner Needs Guiding Questions: Can all learner needs be fully addressed within a pre-determined curriculum, or do you think certain needs inevitably fall through the cracks? How can teachers balance these competing demands? Should teachers prioritize students’ personal interests in the classroom, or focus strictly on the curriculum’s “musts”? Where would you draw the line? Imagine you’re a new teacher in a classroom. What would be your first steps to understand your students’ needs? Would you lean toward a formal or informal needs analysis, and why? Do you believe that a needs analysis is essential before every class, or are there situations where it might be unnecessary? How do you think familiarity with the learning environment affects this decision? Instruction includes all activities planned by the teacher to help learners achieve instructional or educational goals and objectives. Instructional design is the process teachers use to facilitate learners’ progress in knowledge, attitudes, or skills, which are articulated as objectives in cognitive, affective, or psychomotor domains. Teachers as instructional designers determine the specific changes intended for the learner. To make such decisions, teachers conduct a needs analysis or needs assessment. Needs analysis allows teachers to assess the learner's current level, identify essential knowledge or skills learners require to meet curriculum standards and objectives (musts), and address the gap between the learner’s current ability and the desired proficiency level (lacks). Needs analysis also explores learners' personal interests or preferences, which may not be outlined in the curriculum but represent what they would like to learn (wants) (Nation & Macalister, 2010). In the context of language learning, where developing communicative ability is the primary goal, younger learners and even teenagers often lack specific individual reasons for studying another language. Therefore, "can-do" statements from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) are used to define the expected learning outcomes. However, learners may have varying preferences for activities in the classroom that help them learn the language. Task 1. Identifying Learner Wants One purpose of needs analysis is to understand what students hope to achieve and why (Harmer, 2016). In pairs, discuss techniques you can use to discover learners' wants. Share your ideas and brainstorm ways to effectively gather insights into student interests and preferences. Informal and Formal Needs Analysis The primary purpose of needs analysis is to help the instructional designer identify the specific problem(s) that instruction should address. Often, the teacher or instructional designer is already familiar with the learning environment and has some basic understanding of the context. In these cases, an informal needs analysis—such as casual conversations or interviews with learners, or 34 observing them in the first few sessions while they perform classroom tasks—can provide valuable insights into learners’ needs and the instructional focus. However, when the teacher or instructional designer is entirely new to the setting and lacks background knowledge about the learners and their needs, a formal needs analysis is required. This approach involves structured methods to accurately identify the instructional requirements. Conducting a Formal Needs Analysis A formal needs analysis involves four key phases (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2006): planning, data collection, data analysis, and reporting. Phase I: Planning In this phase, the audience is defined by gathering detailed information about the learners. For example, in Iran's junior and senior high school EFL classes, understanding students’ proficiency levels, learning backgrounds, and the challenges they face in mastering English can guide the analysis. After determining what data to collect (e.g., skill gaps, interests), the method of collection—such as interviews, questionnaires, or analyzing classroom texts—is chosen. Phase II: Data Collection Here, data is gathered from the learners, ideally involving all students. However, if qualitative methods like interviews are used, sampling may be necessary. For instance, interviewing a representative group of students, parents, or other educators can provide insights into students’ struggles with grammar, vocabulary, or comprehension. Stakeholder input, like that from school staff, may also be useful to understand external factors affecting language learning. Phase III: Data Analysis After collecting the data, it is analyzed to categorize learner needs, such as academic requirements, personal motivations, and professional aspirations. In Iran's EFL context, needs might include fluency for future job opportunities, better listening comprehension, or increased vocabulary for exams. These needs are then prioritized based on factors such as the frequency of responses, the number of students impacted, and the resources available to address them. Phase IV: Compiling a Final Report The final report summarizes the process and findings, providing the teacher or instructional designer with a clear understanding of the prioritized needs. In the context of Iranian state schools, this report can help justify instructional changes to school administrators, emphasizing the necessity for additional support or resources, such as more advanced language materials or supplementary training for teachers. Task 2. Formal or Informal Needs Analysis? Read the following situations and decide if the teacher should conduct a formal needs analysis, an informal needs analysis, or if no needs analysis is necessary. Be prepared to discuss your reasoning with the class. 35 Situation 1: Hassan’s New Teaching Assignment Hassan is starting his first teaching job this year at a junior high school in a village far from the city. Although he has received his teaching certificate, he is unfamiliar with the students’ backgrounds and abilities, especially since he doesn’t know if their previous teacher was trained in English or had another specialty due to teacher shortages. While he knows students across the country are required to study from the same Ministry-published textbook, he is uncertain about his students’ specific needs and starting points. Situation 2: Reyhaneh’s New Class of Adults Reyhaneh has years of experience teaching teenagers at various language institutes but has been assigned an adult class this term. Her students come from diverse age groups and professions, ranging from young adults to older individuals. The supervisor mentioned that the previous teacher did not meet the students’ expectations, which led to dissatisfaction. Because of Reyhaneh’s strong track record, she has been entrusted with teaching the class this term. Situation 3: Reza’s Training Course Design Reza, a newly employed teacher and Ph.D. candidate in English Language Teaching, has extensive experience in private language schools. The city’s educational office has requested that he design an in-service training course to help update other teachers on recent developments in language teaching techniques. Task 3. Review the following methods for conducting a needs analysis at the classroom level (Harmer, 2016; Scrivener, 2014). As a classroom teacher, check the options you find most practical and useful for your class. Pair up with a partner, compare your chosen methods, and discuss the reasoning behind your choices. Discussing students’ needs directly with them. Providing a list of activities and asking students to rank them by preference. Asking students to write about their expectations for the course. Presenting students with course-related statements and inviting them to modify these as they see fit. Administering questionnaires to students at different stages of the course (before, during, and after). Having students complete sentences like “In class, I enjoy working on…”. Inviting students to write a letter to the teacher on topics such as “Your hopes for this course.” Seeking students’ input on what they think would be most beneficial to focus on in the next session. Observing students as they work on language tasks during class. 36 Spratt et al. (2011) identify three types of learner needs: personal, learning, and professional. Personal needs vary based on factors like a learner's age, gender, interests, personality, and cultural background. For instance, young learners often need individual attention and frequent praise from their teachers. They also benefit from activities that allow movement to release energy. Learning needs depend on learning style, previous language-learning experiences, and learning goals. Tactile learners, for example, require hands-on classroom activities, while auditory learners benefit from conversations about lesson topics. Professional needs refer to what learners aim to accomplish with the language in the future. Teachers should focus on addressing the personal and learning needs of children and teenage students, as they generally lack specific professional goals. Adult learners, however, often have professional needs that teachers must consider. For instance, some adults may need to learn English for travel or to read scientific reports for their careers. Task 4. Consider the following descriptions of three language learners and the unique needs each of them presents, along with potential strategies their teacher might use to address these needs. Aida is a sociable 5-year-old preschooler who enjoys interacting with other children and playing with them. Although she attends a weekly two-hour English lesson in her preschool, she doesn’t enjoy watching Walt Disney cartoons in English, as she finds it frustrating to watch something she cannot understand. Iman is in eighth grade and doesn’t enjoy English class because he prefers to study alone and focus on preparing for exams, specifically the University Entrance Exam. In class, his teacher emphasizes learning conversational English through role-playing and dialogues, which Iman finds unappealing. Zahra is a university student who needs to read a substantial amount of English material for her master’s program, but she struggles with unfamiliar vocabulary. Adding to her challenge, a professor recently assigned her to write and present a research paper in English at an international conference in Tehran next term. In many language-learning contexts, the general curriculum, including the textbook and activities, is pre-determined by individuals other than the teacher. However, findings from a needs analysis may suggest that a different approach would better serve the students, potentially prompting the teacher to deviate from the prescribed plan. In such cases, teachers have several options: they can either adhere strictly to the original plan or introduce modifications, ranging from minor to more substantial changes. Scrivener (2014) outlines various options available to teachers in these situations, noting that the chosen course of action often reflects the teacher’s attitude. Review the following table of options and consider what you would choose to do. 37 Responsiveness Option Level Take no account of the needs analysis data. Continue with the course as if Least the data hadn't been collected. Review the data, but decide that your original course plan is likely to achieve something very close to the desired outcome, so continue the original plan. Continue with the course as before, but allow the data to influence small aspects of how you help or deal with individuals in the class. Continue with the course as before, but add in a limited number of extra activities, lessons, or variations to satisfy some stated needs or for certain individuals to do as homework (or in class). Replan the course, much as before, but aiming to cover the material in faster time (or drop elements) in order to add in a large number of extra activities or lessons to satisfy some stated needs. Replan the course to incorporate substantial elements of the needs alongside relevant elements from the original plan. Put the original course plan to one side and base a new course plan entirely Most on the needs analysis data. Exit Slips for Informal Needs Analysis: CROWN Sample Completed Table (by a student) CROWN Student Response C: Communicate what you learned "I learned how to say hello, introduce myself, and say today. goodbye in English." R: React to what you learned. "I thought it was fun to practice conversations with my classmates. I didn’t realize how many different ways there are to greet someone in English!" O: One-sentence summary. "Today, I learned to start and end conversations politely in English." 38 W: Way(s) to use what you "I can use this when I meet new friends or if I talk to learned. someone from another country. I think it will also be helpful when I travel someday." N: Note how well you did today. "I think I did okay. I remembered most of the greetings, but I had trouble with saying goodbye. I need to practice that part more." 3-2-1 Reflection Model 3 Things Learned/Found 2 Questions or Difficulties 1 Thing to Try Next Interesting Time/Practice More 1. I learned how to say hello 1. How do I remember the 1. Practice saying goodbye in English. different ways to say phrases to feel more goodbye? confident. 2. I found it interesting that 2. Why are there different there are many greetings. greetings for different times of day? 3. I learned to introduce myself and say goodbye. How useful do you find these exit slips for identifying learner needs? What would you change or add if using any of these methods with real students? Summary Needs analysis is the process of identifying why learners are studying a new language and what they need to achieve. Learner needs can be categorized into wants—what learners would like to learn, lacks—the gap between learners’ current abilities and the target level, and musts—the essential knowledge learners require to function effectively in the target environment. Needs are also classified as personal needs, learning needs, and professional needs. Personal needs vary according to age, gender, interests, personality, and cultural background. Learning needs depend on factors such as learning style, previous language learning experiences, and learning goals. Professional needs are related to what learners will do with the language in their future careers. Needs analysis may be conducted formally or informally. When little is known about learners and their needs, a formal needs analysis, often using questionnaires and interviews, is appropriate. If teachers are somewhat familiar with the learners’ contexts and needs, an informal needs analysis, such as through observation or informal discussions with learners, may suffice. 39 Understanding Lesson Aims, Objectives, and Outcomes Guiding Questions: What are aims and how are they different from objectives? Why is it important to state the aims of a lesson? How are aims and outcomes different? Do teachers have aims apart from teaching the learners? After analyzing the learners, the situation, and the tasks, and identifying the needs of the learners, the teacher, acting as the instructional designer, should identify the aims and goals of the lesson they are about to teach. Identifying and stating the aims is a crucial responsibility for the teacher and, as Harmer (2016) suggests, it may even be the most important part of lesson planning. This is because aims provide direction for all other decisions the teacher makes and determine the types of activities both the teacher and students should engage in during the lesson. An important consideration when identifying and stating aims and goals is the distinction between a lesson and a unit. A lesson is defined as “a unified set of activities that cover a period of classroom time usually ranging from 45 to 120 minutes” (Brown, 2007, p. 164). In other words, a lesson comprises what the teacher intends to teach in a single session. This differs from a unit, which is a separate section within a textbook. One unit in a textbook may encompass multiple lessons. Main Aims and Subsidiary Aims As stated in other units of this book, instruction is designed to bring about changes in learners’ knowledge, skills, or attitudes. In mainstream education, an instructional goal is a general statement of the purpose of instruction (Brown & Green, 2016). In English Language Teaching (ELT), these goals are often referred to as main aims, describing the primary learning outcomes expected of learners by the end of a lesson (Spratt et al., 2011; Thornbury & Watkins, 2007a). The main aim is the most important aim, e.g. the teacher’s main aim in a lesson could be to teach the present perfect in the situation of travel. For instance, the main aims of the Welcome section in Prospect 1 (Khadir Sharabian et al., 2020) include: Developing an initial positive attitude toward learning English Reviewing English words commonly used in Persian As another example, the main aim of the “Get Ready” section in Lesson 1, Saving Nature, in Vision 1 (Alavi Moghaddam et al., 2020) may be stated as: "By the end of the lesson, students will understand the importance of saving nature and will know what they can do to help." In addition to the instructional goals, or main aims, and based on them, instructional objectives, or subsidiary aims, are often established. An instructional objective or subsidiary aim is more specific 40 than a main aim, detailing the language or skills learners need to be able to use in order to achieve the main aim of the lesson. The subsidiary aims of the Get Ready section, as previously mentioned, are for students to review some previously learned words and to learn new vocabulary related to saving nature. Subsidiary aims can be categorized as linguistic aims, skill aims, or communicative aims. Linguistic aims focus on helping learners use grammatical forms or lexical items accurately. For instance, "to enable learners to use the present perfect tense with ever and never accurately" is a linguistic aim. Skill aims focus on developing specific language skills, such as reading, writing, listening, or speaking. For example, a skill aim might be "to improve learners' ability to listen for key details in a conversation". Finally, communicative aims focus on enabling learners to use language to fulfill a communicative purpose. For instance, "to enable learners to talk about and compare their past experiences" is a communicative aim (Thornbury & Watkins, 2007b). Task 1. The following are some main aims and subsidiary aims. Read and decide which ones are the main aims and which ones are subsidiary aims. A Students will be able to predict what someone else will say on the phone. Students will get familiar with the conventions of telephone conversations. Students will be able to request information over the phone. B Students will be able to control and direct their eyes to locate a specific word, number, letter, etc. Students will be able to locate a specific word or its synonym/antonym in a text. Students will develop scanning skills to answer various reading questions. C Students will be able to speak about their hobbies and ask about other people’s hobbies. Students will be able to use ‘do’ and ‘does’ to ask questions about other people’s hobbies. Students will be able to use Wh-questions to ask about other people’s hobbies. Students will be able to use the simple present tense to talk about their hobbies. D By the end of this lesson, learners will have a clearer understanding of the use of imperative forms. By the end of this lesson, learners will have had practice in listening to and giving instructions. 41 Task 2. Review the subsidiary aims from Task 2 and determine whether they are linguistic aims or communicative aims. Good aims are C L E A R Here's a mnemonic to help you remember the characteristics of good lesson aims. If you can remember the word CLEAR, it will help you. Good aims are: Clear And not only to you. Learners, too, must know what they are trying to achieve. Too many aims will mean that the lesson loses focus. Both the teacher and the Limited learners will lose a sense of purpose. A good lesson plan will also make it clear how the aims will be achieved. For example, instead of The students will have learnt 10 new words to describe emotions. Explicit it would be more helpful to state The students will understand the positive and negative aspects of these words and use them accurately and meaningfully in personalized contexts. Aims need to be realistic in terms of the level of the learners, the amount of material and the time available. Achievable If aims are too ambitious, learners will be discouraged because there will be no sense of progress. If aims are too low, learners will get bored and wonder what use the lesson is. Relevant Whatever the aims, the skills and knowledge you hope the learners will acquire have to be things they need. Subsidiary aims should be stated as specifically as possible to define what the learner should be able to do as a result of instruction. Heinich, Molenda, Russell, and Smaldino (2002) believe a well-stated objective should include the Audience, Behavior, Conditions, and Degree. These ABCD elements of objectives or subsidiary aims help the teacher maintain a clear teaching purpose, enabling them to assess learners’ achievement of the aims and the success of the teaching activities at the end of the lesson. In stating subsidiary aims, the teacher should describe: Audience: who the learners are, Behavior: what is expected of learners and what they should be able to do as a result of instruction, Conditions: the circumstances under which learners will perform, Degree: the standards for acceptable performance. 42 Main Aim/Outcome Example: "By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to narrate past events and actions in progress using the past continuous tense to provide context in storytelling and descriptions." Subsidiary Aim Example: "By the end of the activity, intermediate learners will be able to use the past continuous tense accurately to describe past events. Given a picture prompt, they will produce at least three sentences with 80% accuracy in grammar and vocabulary during a pair practice." In Lesson 3 of Vision 2, a subsidiary aim of the grammar section could be: "By the end of the lesson and after practicing conditional sentences type 1, the learner will be able to write five conditional sentences with the correct form of verbs in both the if-clause and the main clause." Or, "By the end of the lesson and after practicing conditional sentences type 1, the learners will be able to talk about their plans for the weekend using conditional sentences with the correct verb forms in both clauses." A main aim for these sub-aims could be "By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to understand and use Type 1 conditional sentences to express possible future outcomes in response to specific conditions, both in written and spoken communication." Two points about stating objectives or subsidiary aims are important to emphasize. First, the term 'behavior' in the ABCD model should not be interpreted strictly in the behaviorist sense as only observable actions. Rather, it can include cognitive processes involved in achieving the objective. Second, main and subsidiary aims should specify what learners will be able to do after instruction, not what the teacher will do or what the activities will involve. As Anderson et al. (2001) put it, "In life, objectives help us to focus our attention and our efforts; they indicate what we want to accomplish. In education, objectives indicate what we want students to learn; they are 'explicit formulations of the ways in which students are expected to be changed by the educative process' (p. 3)." For example, statements such as "familiarizing learners with the form and uses of the present perfect tense" or "students will read a text which includes the present perfect tense" are not well- stated aims. To clarify, some make a distinction between aims and expected learning outcomes (or simply outcomes). Some educators prefer to reserve the term "aims" for what the teacher plans to do and "outcomes" for what learners will be able to do by the end of the lesson (Farr, 2015). Stage Aims and Personal Aims In addition to the main aims and subsidiary aims, which describe what students are expected to achieve by the end of the lesson, teachers often set objectives or aims for each specific stage or activity within the lesson. Stage aims are typically stated in short, clear phrases that reflect the purpose of a particular stage or activity. These aims can be framed in terms of what the teacher intends to do or what the students are expected to do during that part of the lesson. 43 For example: An activity in one stage of the lesson might involve "showing students pictures of various holiday destinations and asking them to talk about their last holiday." The stage aim here could be "to contextualize the topic of holidays," which is expressed from the teacher’s perspective. Another activity might be "Students predict what a story will be about based on its headlines." The stage aim in this case might be "to read for gist and to check predictions," which is stated from the learners' perspective. The key point is that main aims, subsidiary aims, and stage aims—whether framed from the teacher's perspective or the learners' perspective—are all ultimately about what learners are expected to be able to do by the end of the lesson. For this reason, some scholars, such as Farr (2015), prefer to use the term "outcome" instead of "aim" to underscore the importance of focusing on what learners will be able to accomplish. Task 3. Match the Stage Aim with the Activity 1. Students compare and contrast two photographs of landscapes and explain which one they prefer and why. 2. Students mingle and use a worksheet about ambitions for the future to play ‘Find someone who…’. 3. Students use the Internet to research the food, dress, and customs of a country of their choice. 4. Students listen to their partners and prepare to report their opinions back to the class as fully as possible. 5. The teacher shows students a photograph of a famous castle and asks what they know about it. Stage Aims: a. To give freer practice of question forms with future tenses. b. To give practice in listening for detail. c. To generate interest in the topic. d. To focus on the accuracy of pronunciation. e. To test the ability to express opinions coherently. f. To practice research skills. Despite outcomes or other aims that focus on what learners need to learn, personal aims or developmental aims (as they are sometimes called) refer to what teachers aim to improve or develop as a result of teaching the lesson. These aims focus on the teacher's own professional growth. For example, a teacher may set a personal aim to improve their ability to group learners effectively during a lesson or to enhance their use of technology when teaching writing. 44 Summary The identification and clear statement of aims is a critical aspect of lesson planning, as it provides direction for all other decisions a teacher makes during the lesson. Aims help determine the type of activities both the teacher and students will engage in, shaping the overall structure of the lesson (Harmer, 2016). In English Language Teaching (ELT), main aims refer to the primary learning objectives, which focus on what learners should be able to achieve by the end of the lesson. Beyond the main aims, subsidiary aims are more specific objectives that focus on the language or skills learners need to use to accomplish the main aim. These subsidiary aims can be linguistic aims (e.g., mastering a specific grammatical structure), skill aims (e.g., improving reading or speaking skills), or communicative aims (e.g., using language for a specific communicative purpose). Moreover, teachers may also set stage aims, which are specific to each stage or activity within the lesson. These can describe what the teacher intends to accomplish in a given activity or what learners are expected to do during that phase. Teachers may also set personal aims, which focus on their own professional development, such as improving their classroom management or integrating technology into their lessons. In conclusion, well-defined aims (main, subsidiary, stage, and personal) guide the teaching process and help ensure that both the learners and the teacher have clear expectations and goals for the lesson. 45 Teaching Models Guiding Questions: How should the teacher start the lesson? What steps does the teacher take in teaching a lesson? Does the type of lesson (grammar or reading, for example) influence the way the teacher presents the lesson? In designing instruction, teachers should first analyze learners' needs and the tasks they are expected to perform in the classroom or real life. From these analyses, clear aims should be stated to ensure both teachers and learners understand what needs to be achieved by the end of the lesson. Clear aims guide classroom activities, aligning efforts to achieve learning outcomes. Key principles for lesson design include: Receptive skills should precede productive skills. Language awareness a

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