Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Fall 2019

Report on Interaction with a Second Language Learner

Objectives:
The purpose of this project is to give you first-hand experience with a second language learner so
that you can link the theories that you are learning about in this course to a real learner. It should
give you insights into the learner’s language capabilities, his or her characteristics, and the
strategies he or she uses.

I encourage you to find a conversation partner, rather than simply meeting with a friend, but if you
do decide to work with someone you already know, you should make it clear to this person that he or
she needs to commit to at least 5 hours over a period of 5 to 6 weeks and that the meetings will
focus on the learner’s language learning. You should make the meetings fairly structured. If you
would hesitate to offer a friend tutoring help or corrections, or to ask your friend questions about
his or her attitudes or capabilities in English, then it would be better to work with someone you do
not know as a friend.

You will be expected to meet your tutee at least 4 times for 1 hour throughout the semester. If
you can, you may want to record these sessions. You may appreciate being able to go back over what
you have done to reflect on it. Your tutee may appreciate having this information to refer to as
well. I will check in on your progress throughout the semester and will offer you materials and
guidance.

Meeting One: Take the first meeting to get to know your tutee. Ask him/her what he /she would
like to work on. Identify 1-2 “priorities” as a way to narrow down what you plan to cover during your
tutoring sessions. Create a plan for what you will cover during your remaining sessions. You may
want to do the placement test at this first initial meeting or schedule a separate one. In any case,
give yourself several days between completing the test and the actual first class. You need time to
carefully study the answers and errors from the placement test and your interview notes in order
to select course material and a provisional syllabus. Please see me if you need help in determining
the level and materials for the tutoring.

Tutoring Sessions: During these sessions, you should implement your lesson plans. At the end of
each session, ask your tutee for some feedback. Consider this feedback as you prepare for the
next session. You might ask your tutee to respond to the following questions: Is there anything
that you still do not understand fully from this session? What did you find most valuable and least
valuable in this session? What did you like most/least during the session? You might want to
prepare a written form for reflection or go over the experience verbally.
 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Fall 2019

Post-Tutoring Reflections
After each tutoring session (ideally immediately after the session), please take some time for you
to reflect on the session in writing. Here are some questions to ponder. You do not need to restrict
yourself to these only. You may come up with your own questions.

How do you feel the session went? The good and the bad of it.
How did the tutee respond to your activities?
Were in your opinion the activities and materials selected effective or not? Why?
How do you feel about your ability to explain concepts to your tutee and respond to his/her
questions?
Were there any surprises (bad or good)?
Did this session help you gain insights into your tutee or your understandings of the subject
matter?
What would you differently if you were to have the same session again?
How did your tutee’s feedback affect how you will approach the next session?

To repeat: You should not feel limited to these questions but may have questions that emerge from
your own experience.

Final Tutoring Reflection Paper

After you have finished all your tutoring sessions with your tutee, you should re-read your weekly
reflections and write a final post-tutoring reflection paper. The focus of this paper should be on
what you have learned from the experience. To repeat: You should focus on what you learned from
this experience not only what you did.

The final tutoring reflection paper should be analysis of the experience and should include the
following 6 parts:

1) A profile of the learner (age, sex, nationality, L1 and other FL, current English level
proficiency, linguistic background, academic background, prior English learning experience and
details of it, language learning goals, particular language problems, expectations from this
experience, and information about the learning styles and strategies that seem to work best for
the person). Not all of this information will come up in general conversation, so you may want to
devote some time to exploring these ideas with your learner. You will want to consider what the
learner’s needs are and decide which needs are most relevant for you to address. What does the
learner think are the most useful ways for him/her to improve the L2?

2) The paper should give an overview of what you did or accomplished with the learner. This
overview should be focused on what you have observed and learned about the language learning of
your partner. If you were tutoring for specific skills, then you should note the linguistic areas that
 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Fall 2019

you worked on with the learner. You should attempt to be specific about the particular challenges
the learner faces in using the second language. If you bring any language learning materials to the
meetings, describe and evaluate them. Were they effective? Why (not)? What strategies did you
incorporate for teaching grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation? How were errors corrected? Did you
use L1? If so how often? This section should also address problems, difficulties and worries that
may have come up during the experience, as well as strategies employed to overcome these issues.
You may include the topic of time management (time and activities planned vs. what really
happened). How did you assess your tutee’s progress (through homework assignments, review
activities, or general observation and his/her feedback?)

3) Finally, the paper should include a reflection on your own participation and learning- your
reaction to the whole process: your expectations vs. the reality, your tutee’s expectations vs. the
reality, your motivation, the dynamics of the tutoring sessions, possible misconceptions you may
have had about EFL teaching that you no longer have, etc. You might consider the following
questions as guidelines:
What have you learned about what can be accomplished in a limited time frame?
What have you learned about developing tutoring sessions that are connected?
What have you learned about explaining concepts in a student-friendly way?
Were there any particular high points or low points during your tutoring assignment?
Did you see evidence of your tutee's language development throughout the semester? If so, what
did it look like? If not, can you speculate on why not?

What new insights do you now have about ESL learners, ESL teaching, and second language learning
in general that you did not have before you began this tutoring assignment?
Did you feel confident about providing help to the learner in some areas more than others?
Were you ever uncertain about how to provide specific help? Where did you find resources to use
with the learner?
What did you learn from the experience? What was the most valuable insight you got from the
experience?

4) Include a reference list citing the literature you used during the whole process (textbooks, web
pages, activities, dictionaries, resource packs…).

5) As an appendix A to the paper, please include the placement test (written and oral part) as well
as notes you took from this part of the experience.

6) As an appendix B to the paper, include the lesson plan and the (informal) “field notes” that you
took after each meeting with your tutee. Here you’ll want to jot down when and where you met, for
how long, and what the objectives (or topics of conversation) were for that meeting. You’ll also want
to note your impressions. These notes will be important for you as you put together your final
 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Fall 2019

report, and they will provide me with more details as I evaluate your project. Consider the
questions addressed in the above sections. Please structure this part as follows:
Class 1: lesson plan
copy of lesson from SB, TB + every extra activity/resources used
field notes
post-tutoring reflection
tutor’s reflection

Class 2: lesson plan

copy of lesson from SB, TB + every extra activity/resources used
field notes
post-tutoring reflection
tutor’s reflection, etc.

Important note
This paper is your opportunity to show what you have learned about second language acquisition in
our course and to demonstrate that you can apply those ideas to a real-world interaction. You do
not need to do extra “research” to write the report, but an important requirement is to refer to
concepts, theories, and/or methodologies specifically to demonstrate how you applied the concepts
from the course to your analysis. That means you need to use the terminology from the course, and
you need to include specific references to researchers we have discussed. For example, concepts
like contrastive analysis, critical period, instrumental/integrative motivation, learning styles and
strategies, aptitude, comprehensible input, affective filter, interaction hypothesis, communicative
teaching methods, techniques, principles, or differing purposes for learning languages might be
appropriate in your discussion.

Evaluation criteria
 Report includes a profile of the learner, a discussion of what you did with the learner, and a
reflection on your own participation.
 Report includes an appendix with informal field notes
 The explanations are detailed, informative, and focus on the language learning of the
partner.
 Report includes substantial references to terminology, concepts, methods, and theories
discussed in the class.
 Research is referenced accurately and included in part 4 of your paper. (You may either use
APA or MLA citations.)
 Errors in grammar or spelling detract from the professionalism of the report.

Deadline: December 20th 2019 by 2 p.m.