Curriculum and Evaluation in TESOL - Free Essay Example

Introduction The option of applying strategic techniques in the analysis of problems of the curriculum and the educational process involves a form and style of approach and execution of the curricular. Today, the originality and modernity of the methods for teaching a second language depend on the oral and communicative practice of the language and the practice of grammar. For that reason, it is transcendental to implement the study of the norms and principles that regulate the structure and use of a language, as well as the grammar, that leads to the improvement in the communication and a deeper knowledge of the second language.. Program overview To begin with, the objective of the Masters in Science Program in Teaching English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL) is to train their students to meet the growing demand for qualified educators with cultural competence who can respond to the particular linguistic needs of students with little or no English proficiency (Burns, 2005.  p.3). They will be involved in real activities with the faculty that incorporates new technologies, pedagogical sound, methods of practice and research that are used in this growing field. The TESOL Program has been designed to train students to integrate language acquisition and education with a broad understanding of cultural diversity and special student behavior. The student of the TESOL Program will have to learn special methodologies and interventions that improve the learning of English based on the fundamental concepts of education based on TESOL. Also, the core of Special Education offers the advantage of being able to identify specific behavioral and emotional difficulties for children. The TESOL program has been made to fit the itinerary of each person, thus allowing the study at its own pace (Ho, 2002. p. 284). This flexibility means that you can continue your career at the same time you get a degree. The faculty is formed by a group of teachers who impart knowledge based on true experiences.   Cultural and linguistic diversity continues to become a reality in society, and this requires more professionals teaching a second language. The program offers English courses for students whose native language is not that language finds employment in public and private schools, colleges, government agencies and other institutions of higher education. It is convenient to add that the professionals who integrate the English teachers in educational institutions, we need to know the hypotheses and theories that we cite here, with the aim of making a stop along the way, reviewing and questioning our educational practice (Richards, 2001 p.145).   We must be aware that times have changed: the new generations demand a methodological transformation that leaves behind the traditionalism of education and that converts classrooms into centers of pedagogical interaction, where students and teachers contribute and complement their knowledge (Ho, 2002. p. 285). The TESOL curriculum consists of a series of interacting elements. According to the different conceptions and definitions of curriculum that are assumed, varies a number of elements that are indicated. The concept of curriculum or curriculum has evolved, so it has several definitions.  In order to visualize how the curriculum has changed, we present some representative definitions of different moments and different conceptions. This means that one of these definitions, for example, the most traditional, includes only four elements: objectives, contents, activities, and evaluation, leaving aside context, environment, etc.   In spite of the variety of definitions, in almost all cases the following are considered as common elements: objectives, contents, learning experiences, actors, methodological strategies, and resources (Mickan, 2012 p. 16). In the present case, because of the breadth of the concept of curriculum, other elements that are not present in the authors planning shoul d be added: actors, sociocultural context, evaluation and school environment. As educators and trainers of children and adolescents, the knowledge, analysis, and reflection of these theories can give us the guideline to broaden the horizons in our educational practice and invite us to intervene. Within this reflection, we will make conscious those theories that intuitively were present in the constituents of our practice and that, somehow, produced significant learning in the students (Burns, 2005.  p.3). The task is not easy; the intervention requires a great openness and conviction, and a real desire to find the means and strategies that help us to innovate our way of proceeding in the classroom. Moreover, we cannot ignore the importance of meaningful learning for the appropriation of knowledge. In this sense, it is necessary to know the evolutionary process in which the student is and to design learning strategies that favor the acquisition of a second language, in this case, English. It is essential that teachers are willing to train, update and question our teaching practice to interact with students through attractive and interactive learning strategies. Also, these strategies lead to a truly effective and efficient process of learning the English language. We are aware of the importance of equipping classrooms in public and private schools for the management of audio-visual materials, which are auxiliary resources in the process of learning a language, since the new generations are, by definition, visual and auditory (Richards, 2001 p.138).   This could mean a high cost, but with a computer, a projector and a pair of speakers, as well as ingenuity and creativity, we can create dynamic and interactive environments to make our students have contact with the language and open their reception channels from an early age. This concern, shared by the Ministry of Education in establishing non-discrimination in its guidelines, aims to impact English language learning in all communities. The reliability of curriculum syllabus programs is of sufficient theoretical and practical relevance to support the conceptual basis of the professional model necessary for the exercise of a profession in a given context. The execution of the educational process of the subject programs differs in each academic year, and depends on the characteristics of curricular designs, firstly because it is a theoretical model that responds to a retrospective and theoretical study that sketches a vision of a new strategy for the formation of a professional that will solve problems of the society (Ho, 2002. p. 287). The improvement of the Educational Teaching Process of the course syllabus, derived from the methodological and scientific methodological work of the teacher, from the discipline, year and career groups, and from the institutional strategies of didactic and pedagogical at the national level, in the training of human resources. Likewise, this analysis suggests a model that introduces the four differences individuals believed to have the greatest influence on acquiring a second language. These include the variables of intelligence, aptitude for languages, motivation and anxiety situation. It may seem impossible, but drawing the students attention and maximizing their skills is paramount during the process of teaching English. In this context, TESOL teachers who receive international students to train in English in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, seek to respond to the needs of todays students by challenging them and taking them through methodologies that attract their attention and allows them to develop their full potential. With this group it is necessary that the typology of teaching-learning strategies used and directed to the development of motivation is aimed at helping students, in order to overcome different obstacles in the training process (Richards, 2001 p.126).  In fact, it is fundamental to reinforce them to maintain their attention, mainly endowing with meaning the act of learning from experience and its projection in everyday life.  It cannot be forgotten that in normal situations, people learn if they are encouraged. In essence, TESOL acknowledges that second language learning is perceived as a necessity by adults; concern that is reflected, in particular, in the case of the English language.  Thus in the Spanish context, in a study carried out on the continuous training of workers, languages are demanded by almost 30%, with emphasis on English (Burns, 2005.  p.6).   In fact, more and more citizens experience different problems in the digital society linked to work, communication or the search for information as a consequence of the lack or lack of command of the English language.  This means that, although more resources are now available, especially those associated with information and communication technologies (ICT), it is still difficult for teachers to teach a foreign language and for students to develop skills functional. This analysis includes aspects such as the linguistic gains of students, the ups and downs of collaborative work between teachers and the professional development processes that emerged from this innovative practice. We report here the analysis of teaching experience from the perspectives of teachers. It is intended to show how teaching English based content (joined Content-Based Teaching), a component of teaching English for academic purposes, in offering courses of various undergraduate programs. In this article, we will review the existing literature, present the particular study and propose some conclusions about limitations and possibilities. The basic cycle of a study plan in a curriculum not only occupy disciplines that provide basic knowledge and skills linked to those of the specific basic sciences and those of the profession. These are concurrent with disciplines of general formation that endow the student of knowledge and scientific skills essential to that level of their training that are essential for the solid development of the personality of the professional. The mastery of the curricular strategy assumed in the basic cycle of a curriculum is fundamental for the analysis of problems of the educational process. In this sense, TESOL affirms that teachers have for several years verified that their students are not sufficiently prepared to follow education, and more specifically, that they have great difficulty in controlling and evaluating their learning strategies. Consequently, times of change must be assumed by all, basic and education, and in this context, teaching and learning strategies play a key role in ma king the necessary adjustments. Before any learning, with the young and adult students, it is important to agree on the aims that are intended to be achieved, since through co-involvement it can promote a greater predisposition and, consequently, improve the results. Also, in teaching a foreign language with this group, it is essential to minimize the importance of possible failure, to train them to fit the anguish and difficulties. On the other hand, they need to be helped to identify reliable and appropriate sources of information to achieve the highest degree of efficiency possible. It is also important to consider their learning style, limitations, and expectations to try to reinforce them in the face of obstacles. Often learning a foreign language does not require the same method and curriculum components with the whole group. Although young people and adults can learn a second language, they may find themselves in unfavorable circumstances or be marked by the unpleasant experience of the past, necessitating a differentiated didactic treatment and methodology. In this sense, there is the suggestion that working with groups in compensatory programs leads to the application of specific strategies. Among other factors, the acquisition of learning in this group is negatively conditioned by the shortage of time, work problems, personal and family, beliefs and memory capacity (which could be less agile). When learning a language, the attitude or disposition that the person present is key and, likewise, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is substantial. Therefore, in teaching the English language with young people and adults, the teacher has to encourage the classroom group from the beginning, promoting the generation of a climate conducive to stimulate the desire to learn, also explaining its everyday use as well for their academic and professional development. The generation of a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom, which makes it possible to disinhibit young people and adults to prevent them from withdrawing or embarrassing, by speaking or asking to promote better communication. This can be increased if the teacher encourages the development of interactive activities, based on the integration of various didactic resources and if he/she manages to make them aware of the progress in learning the foreign language. Another essential characteristic for motivation to be successfully consolidated is through the combination of practices and resources that are very varied and innovative so that students do not lose their attention; as well as establishing congruent links between academic training and life experience. Therefore repetitive and mechanical activities should be avoided as they lead to monotony or boredom and can cause apathy or demotivation. Education seems to remain on the sidelines, although in all phases of thought is attributed a priority and fundamental role. The introduction of these new concepts as cognitive skills and strategies in teaching, in schools, is still minimal. Instruction of this curriculum seems to remain immersed in an earlier stage, without the least incidence of the new culture of learning. Even though there is no single way of defining learning, it accepts, implicitly or explicitly, the definition indicating that it is a more or less permanent change from practice. This way of conceptualizing finds support among specialists because of its operative nature; both the practice and the change of behavior are quantifiable, also, establishes a functional relationship between the execution and the practice. However, it leaves out the nature of learning processes. This is the point of divergence between psychological approaches. For some authors, the presence of the variables of execution and practice is enough to explain and plan to learn, but for others it is precisely that invisible central core of learning that is interesting to learn to introduce qualitative improvements in learning and, thus, the expected changes in the education system are achieved (Pennycook, 1989 p.90). When speaking of providing a linguistic explanation for the teaching English, it tends to be confused with the explanations and theoretical descriptions of the language. But, certainly, linguistics is not only to recognize syllables or morphemes or to analyze isolated sentences, identifying subject and predicate; or distinguish whether a sentence is simple or compound; or teach every one of the norms of spelling, accentuation, and punctuation presented separately and fractioned. This position (which many call linguistics) is referred to the traditional grammar or to what has here been called teaching as a linguistic system. This analysis proposes a teaching regarding meanings and linguistic use in communicative contexts. This model refers to the fact that, in the act of teaching, all aspects of the process are taken into account: people, context, situation and intention of communication (Gray, 2002 p. 51). It proposes a functional, globalizing, contextual and integrative teaching, ra nging from maximum to minimum elements; and, above all, contextual: that goes beyond the text. A teaching that is contrary to the position that has been considered until today in the classroom, away from reality and reducing it to the printed sign enclosed in the text. Teaching cannot go from the particular to the general. It is not possible to continue with the teaching of minimum elements (letter-syllables) until reaching maximum elements (sentence-text), to teach to read and to write (Pennycook, 1989 p.90). On the contrary, teaching should start from maximum elements to minimum elements: one must go from the complete text to the syllable or the letter and also take into account the situation and the context. It should be emphasized that linguistic study should focus on discursive units that are not limited to the context of the word and the sentence, considering that these are not the nucleus from which children elaborate their communicative acts, since children construct finished texts (Gray, 2002 p. 56). In the linguistic aspect, it must be taken into account that the spoken language and the written code are two different modalities that converge in a common interest: the effectiveness of the communication and the development of the language. As a result, the phonetic and phonological traits of a student’s speech should not be reflected in writing since they may disturb the learning of writing and cause subsequent writing problems. You should not write as you speak or speak as you type. The teaching of the mother tongue and second languages are proposed regarding meanings and use, rather than teaching as a linguistic system (Pennycook, 1989 p.93). Attention should also be paid to the development of reflection on the mother tongue, which includes grammatical reflection and textual comprehension and production, which must be closely linked; also aspects of communication regarding verbal and nonverbal, linking the cognitive processes of acquisition and development of language wit h the processes of reading and writing. This leads children to develop, later, in the contexts of production and understanding. Conclusion In this perspective, TESOL teaching curricular should be considered the teaching of the mother tongue in significant contexts. Then the teaching of writing and reading their mother tongue based on language in use. The second medium language of the L1 translation should not be taught, either orally or in writing. It must be learning from communicative situations. The teaching must start from meanings, contexts and communicative situations to get to the phonetic, morphological and syntactic part of the language, prevailing the development of communicative competence that includes linguistic competence.