How to do statistics for your research study

I came across a very interesting blogger which deals with SPSS... click HERE

David Nunan Articles

I found those articles of David Nunan interesting to read ... HERE

writing a literature review

I really like this video which explained how to do the literature review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vw1-rljpuQ

Assessment tool of language learning

3-Describe an assessment tool that you and your students feel comfortable with. Explain why?

   Assessment tools are diverse and multiple. Tests, quizzes, observation, self-assessment, peer-assessment and interviews are prominent tools or methods of assessment. For me, I prefer to utilize most of them. On other words, to assess my students' language achievement, I try to integrate most, if not all, methods of students' language performance assessment. We all ,as teachers, know that assessing students' language achievement is very complicated. So, there is no one tool or method to be considered as perfect. If I just rely on tests to measure my students' language proficiency, I will not obtain the clear vision for the students' language achievement. I won't depend only on tests because they do not give an accurate picture of an individual's proficiency.

   Measuring students' proficiency by tests alone is also not fair for students. For instance, some students can converse well and participate in the class actively. But when it comes to tests, they get confused because of many variants such as  test instructions, fear of being tested, or having fatigue…etc.

By the end, they don't do well on the exams. We, as teachers, should integrate or complement tests with other kinds of formative assessment.

   Utilizing our direct and indirect observation is very important in assessing our student's achievement. Students, who are considered high achievers and get low marks on a certain test, their marks should be raised and that based on our observation of their excellent performance and active participation during classes.

   Interviewing students is also  essential for assessing students' language proficiency. Especially to assess the students' language performance. While I interview my students, I discover their speaking ability and what are their speaking weakness. 

Giving students quizzes and dictation activities are also essential and very beneficial for assessing students' ability of language use.

  From my experience in teaching, I find out that students are very comfortable when they have interviews, quizzes and dictation activities along with tests. And such methods give me a full picture of my students' language abilities.     

 To conclude my answer for this question, I strongly believe that  integrating a range of different assessment procedures are necessary in language learning assessment. 

Teaching philosophy

My philosophy of teaching

   My definition of teaching is the way of conveying all handy experiences to students which is done by teachers.

  Since the students are not equal in their learning styles or don’t share the same qualities of each others, thus, individualizing teaching must be emphasized. We must teach our students in a way that treat them as independent individuals. 

As we have learned from our program of TESOL that “no method is suitable and perfect for teaching “. So, I completely agree and strongly emphasize the eclectic method for teaching English as a foreign language.

 For me, integrating methods is very helpful to deliver my teaching message accurately and effectively. In integrating methods, we as teachers can satisfy all students with their individual differences and intelligence styles. I also, emphasize the use of drama as an important strategy. It’s been working extremely well with my students. I barely use translation in my teaching sessions because it impedes minds to think well when it comes to learning a new language especially with false beginners.

Implementing the dramatic way, as a very prominent strategy of eclectic method while delivering my lessons, is very worthwhile. 

My students enjoy learning and find it more interesting when I use actions and acting with my speech. I can observe that during my lessons. I also hand out questionnaires to my students assessing such method. The results are very satisfying. Consequently, I find out that the way I follow is a very interesting one.

To conclude; I’d like to recommend teachers of English as a foreign language to try this method. I’m pretty sure that they will find it comes in handy. 

"Teaching perfect pronunciation"

Pronunciation is an important element or component of any language. Therefore, as teachers we should pay careful attention to such factor. we, the teachers of English language should master the system of pronunciation because our students see us as the perfect models and the important sources of language performance. I am writing about this topic for several reasons. the most necessary one is that of implanting a good , if not perfect, pronunciation habit that students can follow. we have to know that "well begun is half done".

teaching pronunciation Video.