Unit 4: The Six Principles of TESOL

Section 4.1: Introduction

Essential Knowledge and Skills

 Teachers will be able to describe some theories of learning, L1 acquisition, and SLA and explain
some relationships between them.
 Teachers will be able to give some examples of how the theories work in the real world (either
examples found in this unit or preferably their own examples).
 Teachers will be able to analyze some commonly held beliefs about SLA using the theories they
have learned.
 Teachers will be able to evaluate their own beliefs about SLA, telling how they may need to
change and why.

Introduction to “The Six Principles of TESOL”

In this unit, we will be looking at the Six Principles of TESOL that have been
developed by TESOL International. As TESOL International is a widely recognized
leader in the field of TESOL, they have developed these principles to provide
consistency across the field. We will look at the reasoning behind creating and putting
the principles in place, what the principles are, and how they can facilitate your own
planning and teaching.

Key Terms

 comprehensible input–language input that can be understood by the student in spite of not
knowing all the words and language structure.
 scaffold–the process in which a teacher models or demonstrates a concept and then provides
support to the student that allows them to work with the concept independently.
 comprehension check–when the teacher evaluates student understanding of a concept that allows
the teacher to modify or adjust their instruction based on student understanding.
 proficiency levels–preset levels that describe what language students can do with language
(reading, writing, listening, speaking) in real world scenarios.
 feedback–when the teacher provides information to the student regarding their performance that is
intended to reduce the gap between their current production and the production goal.
 collaboration–when members of an educational community work together in an inclusive manner
to facilitate student success in the classroom.

Journal Reflection
Section 4.2: What Does the Research Say?
Research History
 Over the past few decades, education has made measurable
improvement by drafting standards and principles to guide practitioners, researchers,
and policymakers. Though they may have a limiting factor to the practitioner, they
provide guidance and direction for anyone in the field of education, from parents to
policymakers and everyone in between. They also provide consistency between
vested organizations within the growth and development of the field of TESOL.

The challenge in developing principles is to take what the often abstract ideas and
suggestions of research and what theorists say are best practices and bring them to the
classroom level in a way that makes them helpful to the teacher and the student. As
Mahboob and Tilakaratna (2012) have identified, it is considering all the factors that
contribute to student learning to create meaningful learning experiences for those
teachers. Principles will also reveal to the reader what the general philosophy of
education and learning theories that an educational organization subscribe to and
therefore expect their teachers implement in their classrooms and teaching.

In addition to guiding your teaching, the principles we are utilizing can guide you in
both assessing your students, yourself, and your ongoing professional development.
Though the principles will not create an assessment for you, they can be utilized as a
checkpoint as you create and implement student assessment. Is it relevant, fair and
reliable? Is it meaningful and helpful to you and your students? As you grow and gain
experience as a teacher, you can refer back to the principles and reflect on where you
are doing well and where you might want to focus more time and energy (ASCD,
2000).

The principles that we are using to guide us in the development of this training
program were developed by TESOL International. Limited to only six principles, they
are easily accessible to you, the teacher-practitioner and will guide you in all aspects
of teaching. We will take a closer look at each principle in the following sections.
Section 4.3: The Six Principles of TESOL
Principle 1 – Know Your Learners

In Principle 1, you are asked to get to know your students. While this first principle
may seem obvious to you, there are times that we need to state the obvious. This goes
beyond the basics of their name and age and grade level. As a language teacher, it is
beneficial for you to learn more than the most basic of information. Depending on
your teaching situation, you may already know where they are in their educational
journey as they are still in the first 12 years of their educational journey. If you are
teaching at a university or learning center, then you will need to elicit this information
from your students. Beyond that, what is their English language level? You may have
been given a proficiency level, but your students are far more than a proficiency level

number and educational level.

As you make your own evaluation of their proficiency level, also take time to find out
what other knowledge and interests they bring to your classroom. Discover what some
of their gifts and talents are outside of the classroom. Depending on the age level of
your students you may even conduct a brief personality analysis to discover more
about how they respond to other people and a variety of situations. By taking time to
learn more about your students interests, you can use that information to guide your
decision making in the lesson planning process or when selecting supplemental
materials to bring into the classroom.
What Does this Look Like in the Classroom?

What does this look like in the classroom? You can take time to create your own
interest inventories, surveys, and ice-breaker activities or you can do a quick search
online for “get-to-know-you” types of activities that other teachers have created. Take
into consideration your students age and language level as you make your either
create or choose something already created.

Examples of Interest Inventories and Ice-Breaker

Activities
Principle 2 – Create Conditions for Language Learning

In Principle 2, you are asked to consider how you can create the best conditions for
learning. What does that mean? By creating a comfortable classroom experience with
motivating or engaging posters, displaying student work, and creating things like a
word wall, you are only beginning to create those learning conditions. This goes
beyond what is seen to what is expected of students.

Students who are experiencing success in learning can often point to a teacher who
first has set the expectation that all students will experience success. These same
teachers will structure classroom experiences in order that all students experience
some level of success each time they attend class. Students also know that their
teacher has set high expectations for them each time they meet together. They also
have clearly communicated the high expectations to their students in a way that
students can communicate back what is expected of them each time they meet.

This principle also builds on Principle 1,

as knowing your students can better help you to plan instruction that will enhance and
support your student’s motivation to learn. When you are able to incorporate your
students’ interests, they will become more engaged in the learning process. This will
also motivate your students to participate in the learning process. If you have engaged
in learning an L2, you know that there are times of tedium and boredom, a teacher
who is able to engage and motivate you through those boring moments is a teacher
who recognizes their role in creating good learning conditions.

At this point, you might be wondering what this might look like in the classroom.
How do you motivate students? How do you engage them in learning when they only
want to go outside and play or put their head down on their desk and take a nap?

We have already mentioned one way to motivate students. Allow them to experience
legitimate success. Which takes you to your lesson planning and design. Are you
creating activities that all your students can access and engage in meaningfully? Even
in a mixed level class, this is possible through scaffolding, which we will further
study in later units. One way to scaffold is giving students sentence starters or parts of
a dialogue that they complete with their own ideas. A second way is to break larger
activities or assignments down into smaller chunks with achievable deadlines. For
example, you might want your students to create a dialogue based on a real life
situation. Rather than assigning the end product and giving them an extended period
of time to accomplish the dialogue, you might set smaller steps for students to
complete that lead them to the final product.
Scenario 1
Scenario 1 Analysis
Principle 3 – Design High-Quality Lessons for Language Development
In Principle 3, you are reminded of the need for creating and designing lessons that
will further develop your students language development. When considering the
elements of a high-quality lesson, we are looking at two elements of lesson design,
comprehensible input and scaffolding. As mentioned in this and other previous
units, comprehensible input is using language that your students can understand. We
have looked at scaffolding as the teacher modeling for the student and then providing
appropriate support to the student that allows them to complete the activity
independently. We will take a quick look at what that means within the context of
Principle 3.

When considering comprehensible input, there is much that comes into play. There is
the careful selection of the language that you use in introducing an activity and giving
instructions for that activity. You want to rely on high frequency, and therefore well-
known, vocabulary words. Using multiple modalities by speaking, modeling, and
putting the information in writing for students, is structuring towards success with an
activity. In all of those modalities, you want to use simple instructions and may find it
necessary to repeat them orally several times as well as presenting them in writing.
Finally, modeling what you expect from students better ensures success on their part.

Sc
affolding works hand-in-hand with comprehensible input as it begins with
comprehensible input, the simple and repetitive language, as well as modeling and
providing visual or written examples. Scaffolding then goes on to provide other kinds
of support to students. Visual aids, audio that they can replay as many times as they
want, picture or multilingual dictionaries, and even simplified, translated summaries
of key information. An additional factor to scaffolding is modeling and
demonstrations, especially when you are working on helping them to understand the
difference between academic registers and social registers. In addition, it is a good
practice to bring in models or samples of what you would like to see them produce. If
you are working on writing a short story, bring in short stories written by students.
Sometimes, you may not have actual student samples to share with your current
students and may need to ask around or do a little search for real student work
samples to share with your classes.

The final factor to remember with this principle is communicating clear instructions to
your students. Included in giving clear instructions is communicating and being
consistent with your students in your classroom management expectations and daily
routines. These are instructions and expectations for students that they will need
reminders of on a frequent basis. Whoever remembers exactly what the rules are the
first or even the tenth time they are told? When you give instructions to students,
make sure that they are simple and follow a consistent pattern. In an upcoming unit,
we go into more detail on the variety of ways to give instructions effectively.

Scenario 2
Principle 4 – Adapt Lesson Delivery as Needed

Principle 4, reminds every teacher that they are constantly thinking on their feet in
real time as they act and react to student responses to a lesson in order to make
adjustments in their lesson delivery. While it is equally valuable to jot down quick
notes of what to go back to the next time you meet with your students, it is equally
important that you are making adjustments during a lesson in order to meet student
needs at that very moment.

How do you adapt lesson delivery? How do you know what to adapt? The answer to
the first question is frequent and ongoing comprehension checks. This goes beyond
 the overused and ineffective, “Do you understand?” This is reading their facial
expressions and body language. This is asking questions such as:

“Where were they going?”

“How many cookies did they eat?”

“Is the mother happy or sad?”

When your students are able to answer these lower order thinking questions quickly
and easily you can confidently move forward in your lesson to the more challenging
activities. When they are not able to answer these types of questions quickly or
accurately, that is an indicator that you need to circle back and repeat or reframe the
most currently introduced information.

We have established the need for comprehension checks. How do we conduct

frequent and useful comprehension checks? If you were to ask 10 experienced
teachers how they conduct comprehension checks, you would probably receive at
least 10 different ideas or suggestions. It is important that you have at least three
different ways to check for comprehension as you begin your teaching career. Time
and experience will help you to expand, as well as refine, your strategies for checking
comprehension. Here are a few examples of ways that you can check comprehension:

 Ask for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down based on simple questions. A visual cue reduces the anxiety
level for your student and allows for a more honest response.
 Red Light-Green Light cards that students can place on their desk or flash on a monitor. As they

are working on something in a small group or

independently, and you are monitoring the classroom, a green light means they are on task and do
not need assistance. A red light means they need you to stop and help them with something.
 Technology has generated a wide variety of quick quiz tools that you can
use. Quizlet and Kahoot allow you to go in and create different kinds of quiz questions. Students
can use a handheld device or laptop computer to participate. You get instant feedback on the
number of accurate responses from students.

Now that you have done a comprehension check, what do you do with that real-time
information of your students understanding?

 If everything indicates that they are good and understanding the current material, keep moving
forward.
 If you have one or two students that are showing a certain level of frustration with the learning,
make a mental note to check with them individually.
 If more than two or three students are struggling, this means you need to pause and you circle
back to the information or materials, either repeating or practicing in a different way.

 It might mean you need to add some visual support such as: showing a picture or drawing of a
vocabulary word, or writing out the directions.
 You can effectively take advantage of the group dynamic by allowing translation of a keyword or
ask them to turn and tell their neighbor what to do next.
 Be sure to conduct a comprehension check for a second time. Sometimes, students need a little
more time to process the information on their own or with a classmate.

Principle 5 – Monitor and Assess Student Language Development

Principal 5 reminds us of the need for ongoing student assessment. This is a two-part
process for both the teacher and the student. As the teacher, you need to interact with
your students in order to monitor their language usage and development. In addition,
you need to provide feedback to your students so they can learn to monitor themselves
and grow in their own language usage.

What does it mean to monitor your students' language usage? This can happen in
several ways.

 It might be you interacting one-on-one or in a small group setting with your students.
 It might be an informal conversation before or after class.
 It might be a more formal conversation during class that you participate in.
 It may be pair or small group work that you are monitoring by observing.

 You remove yourself from the conversation in order to listen and take note of how they are using
the target language.
 It would be helpful to use a clipboard or a handheld device to make notes either on areas to
address with the whole class or noting improvement of specific individuals or areas of language
usage.

Students also need and require ongoing specific and effective feedback. Feedback is
when you identify a specific error to correct or what they are doing well. To be most
effective, the feedback needs to be age appropriate, language level appropriate, and
specific to what you are currently working on. As you get to the unit on feedback, you
will discover more ways to monitor your students and adapt your lesson delivery. We
will pause only to reflect on the impact that lesson adaptation had on your own
educational journey.
Scenario 3
Scenario 3 – The Reflective Teacher’s Response
Principle 6 – Engage and Collaborate Within a Community of Practice

We end with Principle 6, that shifts the focus from you engaging with your students to
you engaging with the greater professional community. There are times when you
may feel as if you are all alone in a desert, you really are not as there are a number of
 ways for you to connect with others teaching the same age level, the same content
area, and in the same setting.

Teachers who excel in their profession, collaborate with each other. What do we mean
by collaboration? You may find yourself teaching a new age level or language level
that has you experiencing more frustration than success. Look around you and find a
more experienced teacher who would be willing to co-plan with you or mentor you
through your frustration to a place of success. At the same time you are working with
a more experienced teacher, look around you for a teacher who has less experience
than you and invite them into a mentoring relationship. In the best of designs, you are
receiving from someone who has more and you are passing along to someone who has
less.

Teachers should also be engaging in their own professional development. This course
is a form of professional development that is intended to prepare you for teaching
English in China. Although we cover a lot of ground in this course, it is only the
beginning of your journey to understand TESOL and teaching in China. Throughout
this course, you will find references and resources from articles and websites where
you can further expand your knowledge and understanding of specific research or
strategies available to you. You might decide to become an expert in this field which
will require you return to school for a graduate or postgraduate degree. Another
option is to attend and participate in various TESOL conferences. This allows you to
meet the experts in this field or to gain a better understanding of the theory, research,
and methodology of TESOL. Ask any teacher who excels in their teaching and they
are most likely participating in some sort of regular professional development
activities that range from reading peer reviewed articles, becoming members of a
teaching organization, going back to school for a certificate or degree, and mentoring
those who follow in their footsteps.

Section 4.4: Essential Knowledge and Skills

Essential Knowledge and Skills

 Teachers will be able to identify and give a brief explanation of the Six Principles of TESOL.
 “Know Your Learners”
 “Create Conditions for Language Learning”
 “Design High-Quality Lessons for Language Development”
 “Adapt Lesson Delivery as Needed”
 “Monitor and Assess Student Language Development”
 “Engage and Collaborate Within a Community of Practice”
 Teachers will be able to explain how they can use the principles to inform their lesson
planning and teaching.

 Teachers will know how to set and include high expectations of participating and learning.
 Teachers will be able to know how to plan for scaffolding.
 Teachers will be able to know how and where they can adjust their teaching in a lesson.

 Teachers will know how to apply elements of the six principles in creating high-quality
lesson plans.

 Teachers will have several techniques and activities to use to get to know their students.
 Teachers will know how to set good and high expectations for students.
 Teachers will know how to give comprehensible input and scaffold for students.
 Teachers will know how to check comprehension and adjust their teaching.
 Teachers will know how to monitor and give feedback to students.