:::Teacher's Lesson:::
There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.
But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.
Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners...he is a joy to be around."
His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."
His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."
Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class."
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.
Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.
Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children..
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one her "teacher's pets."
A
year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came.. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer -- the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.
The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.
They hugged each, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."
2008년 6월 15일 일요일
Marginal Glosses
Marginal glosses are a standard feature of foreign-language readers. The few data-based studies on them, however, provide evidence that challenges their effectiveness.
:::Background:::
Genette groups glosses along with other elements such as the title, preface, and illustrations under the rubric"paratext." The function of the paratext is to facilitate the reception and consumption of the actual text. The practice of glossing dates from the Middle Ages, when a scripture verse, for example, would be surrounded by notes smaller than itself. It was then common for the gloss to occupy much more space than the text itself. In the sixteenth century, marginal glosses explicating specific segments of a passage were first utilized ; in the eighteenth, notes were moved to the bottom of the page.
Genette devotes and entire chapter of his lengthy essay to an analysis of the function of glosses in a fictional text, read in the first language. This investigation was limited to those glosses which are intended as aids during-reading in a foreign language.
Glosses are commonly used in foreign-language readers. Textbook writers maintain that glosses are necessary for fluent reading of a foreign-language text.
Glosses from eleven college French readers published from 1942 until 1988 were examined (Appendix). The table provides suuch information as how an item in the text is signaled as being glossed and what the editors tell the user about how and why they glossed the text. The almost half century represented by the readers in the table shows very little evolution in gloss format. The indication of a glossed term remains in 1988 as it was in 1942, a superscripted number. Notes are positioned at the bottom of side of the page.
:::Background:::
Genette groups glosses along with other elements such as the title, preface, and illustrations under the rubric"paratext." The function of the paratext is to facilitate the reception and consumption of the actual text. The practice of glossing dates from the Middle Ages, when a scripture verse, for example, would be surrounded by notes smaller than itself. It was then common for the gloss to occupy much more space than the text itself. In the sixteenth century, marginal glosses explicating specific segments of a passage were first utilized ; in the eighteenth, notes were moved to the bottom of the page.
Genette devotes and entire chapter of his lengthy essay to an analysis of the function of glosses in a fictional text, read in the first language. This investigation was limited to those glosses which are intended as aids during-reading in a foreign language.
Glosses are commonly used in foreign-language readers. Textbook writers maintain that glosses are necessary for fluent reading of a foreign-language text.
Glosses from eleven college French readers published from 1942 until 1988 were examined (Appendix). The table provides suuch information as how an item in the text is signaled as being glossed and what the editors tell the user about how and why they glossed the text. The almost half century represented by the readers in the table shows very little evolution in gloss format. The indication of a glossed term remains in 1988 as it was in 1942, a superscripted number. Notes are positioned at the bottom of side of the page.
2008년 6월 13일 금요일
:::Burning Question:::
Q1) In traditional Korean English learning classrooms, a large amount of class time is being spent for more teachers’ eliciting (stimulus/input) than students’ emitting the language (response/output). Is this the same case you experienced as a student? If so, what can you, as a teacher , do to change this pattern?
When I look back on my school days, A teacher dominated the classroom. They spoke most of the time, led activities, and constantly passed judgment on student performance.
As a teacher, I'll provide to the students a "student-centered" environment. In this environment, students will be given choices and be included in the decision-making processes of the classroom. I'll share a control of the classroom and students are going to be allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own. Their diverse thoughts and perspectives are going to be a necessary input to my class.
When I look back on my school days, A teacher dominated the classroom. They spoke most of the time, led activities, and constantly passed judgment on student performance.
As a teacher, I'll provide to the students a "student-centered" environment. In this environment, students will be given choices and be included in the decision-making processes of the classroom. I'll share a control of the classroom and students are going to be allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own. Their diverse thoughts and perspectives are going to be a necessary input to my class.
2008년 6월 11일 수요일
Reading Attitude
Reading attitude is a complex theoretical construct. It is defined in various ways, for example, "a system of feelings related to reading which causes the learner to approach or avoid a reading situation" or "a state of mind, accompanied by feelings and emotions, that make reading more or less probable".
According to an extensive and in-depth review of literature by Reeves, there is considerable agreement among contemporary researchers that reading attitude is defined by three components: cognitive (personal, evaluative beliefs), affective (feelings and emotions), and conative (action readiness and behavioral intentions). This tri-component view is most explicitly stated by Mathewson, and these components can also be identified in other major models dealing with reading attitude, such as those of McKenna and Ruddell and Unrau. Attempts to understand students' reactions to reading by using this tri-component model have now been reported.
The present study focuses on two of the three components of reading attitude: cognitive and affective. The reason for not including the conative component is due to the difficulty of operationalising it in the context in which the study was conducted, where, even if L2 (English) books and texts have become widely available, their availability cannot compete with L1 (Japanese) books and texts. The conative component pertains to actions and behaviors which may promote or hinder reading. For example, "going to a library frequently", which is one of the possible statements representing the conative component, would represent the L1 conative component, but it would not represent the L2 component, because not all libraries have English books, or even if some do, the collection is likely to be relatively small.
As mentioned above, the present study intends to investigate both L1 and L2 reading attitudes, and for this purpose, it attempts to construct an instrument that measures both L1 and L2 reading attitudes in a similar manner. Due to this constraint, the study focuses on cognitive and affective components, two of the components that are regarded as constituting reading attitude.
According to an extensive and in-depth review of literature by Reeves, there is considerable agreement among contemporary researchers that reading attitude is defined by three components: cognitive (personal, evaluative beliefs), affective (feelings and emotions), and conative (action readiness and behavioral intentions). This tri-component view is most explicitly stated by Mathewson, and these components can also be identified in other major models dealing with reading attitude, such as those of McKenna and Ruddell and Unrau. Attempts to understand students' reactions to reading by using this tri-component model have now been reported.
The present study focuses on two of the three components of reading attitude: cognitive and affective. The reason for not including the conative component is due to the difficulty of operationalising it in the context in which the study was conducted, where, even if L2 (English) books and texts have become widely available, their availability cannot compete with L1 (Japanese) books and texts. The conative component pertains to actions and behaviors which may promote or hinder reading. For example, "going to a library frequently", which is one of the possible statements representing the conative component, would represent the L1 conative component, but it would not represent the L2 component, because not all libraries have English books, or even if some do, the collection is likely to be relatively small.
As mentioned above, the present study intends to investigate both L1 and L2 reading attitudes, and for this purpose, it attempts to construct an instrument that measures both L1 and L2 reading attitudes in a similar manner. Due to this constraint, the study focuses on cognitive and affective components, two of the components that are regarded as constituting reading attitude.
The Reading Process
Reading is an interactive-constructive process in which readers comprehend, interpret, and respond to text according to what they already know. Effective readers "have personal expectations about what they will get from a selection, and they bring those expectations to bear as they read by predicting and testing their predictions. They actively create meaning by constructing, or generating, relationships between what is within the text and what they already know" (Hennings, 1994, p. 456). See the diagram that follows.
In both the cognitive and affective positions, many factors affect the meaning that readers make of the text. Reading comprehension is influenced by the reader's world knowledge, linguistic knowledge, text structure knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge.
2008년 6월 10일 화요일
What Would I Like To Read?
:::S Korea beef protesters detained:::
South Korean police have clashed with demonstrators in the capital Seoul during protests over government plans to resume US beef imports.
They fired water cannon and arrested more than 200 of the protesters, who say the move does not protect consumers against mad cow disease. 
At least 20,000 people gathered in Seoul for the latest in a month-long series of rallies on the issue.
Polls say the popularity of President Lee Myung-Bak has plummeted.
The worst clashes occurred when some protesters tried to march toward the presidential residence, the Blue House.
Police deployed water cannon in three areas to try to disperse the crowds. Dozens of people were hurt.
Washington deal
Seoul's beef market was closed to US imports in 2003 after the first US case of the disease was found in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state.
Under a deal reached with Washington in April, Seoul agreed to accept all cuts of US beef from cattle of all ages.
Other US trading partners such as Japan still will not do so because of concerns over mad cow disease and its deadly human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The deal was announced during a visit to the US by President Lee, and was described by his critics as a move to please Washington.
Reports say the reaction to the deal has taken him by surprise.
Mr Lee took office in February on a wave of popularity, vowing to improve the economy.
Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is one of the ways of teaching reading. According to Richards and Schmidt, "extensive reading means reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding of what is read."
Thus, although there are variations in the ways in which an extensive reading programme is administered, extensive reading programmes share the basic tenet that students read a relatively large amount of texts compared with what is called intensive reading, which usually involves a slower reading of a relatively small amount of materials and often with translation exercises, particularly in a foreign language situation. In extensive reading programmes, students read relatively simpler materials than in intensive reading programmes, and they are not usually required to demonstrate understanding to a degree as detailed as they would in intensive reading programmes. Instead, students are expected to read a large amount of texts while enjoying reading. Extensive reading, as partly mentioned above, "is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading".
A considerable amount of research has been undertaken to examine whether extensive reading has beneficial results. Gains in various aspects of learners' abilities, such as general linguistic proficiency, reading, writing, vocabulary, and spelling, have been investigated. Positive effects of extensive reading on learners' affects, such as motivation and attitude, have been reported. Although there have been some criticisms of research methodology, and the results concerning the effect on learners' development have not always been clear-cut, researchers and educators involved in L2 instruction have become increasingly aware of the importance of extensive reading.
The previous studies on extensive reading were mainly interested in its effects on learners' development. The present study takes a different approach in terms of the cause-effect relationship of included variables. Previous studies treated extensive reading as a possible cause and other factors as the effects. In the current study, learners' performance in extensive reading is treated as the effect, and learners' attitudes towards reading in L1 and L2 are treated as possible causes.
Thus, although there are variations in the ways in which an extensive reading programme is administered, extensive reading programmes share the basic tenet that students read a relatively large amount of texts compared with what is called intensive reading, which usually involves a slower reading of a relatively small amount of materials and often with translation exercises, particularly in a foreign language situation. In extensive reading programmes, students read relatively simpler materials than in intensive reading programmes, and they are not usually required to demonstrate understanding to a degree as detailed as they would in intensive reading programmes. Instead, students are expected to read a large amount of texts while enjoying reading. Extensive reading, as partly mentioned above, "is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading".
A considerable amount of research has been undertaken to examine whether extensive reading has beneficial results. Gains in various aspects of learners' abilities, such as general linguistic proficiency, reading, writing, vocabulary, and spelling, have been investigated. Positive effects of extensive reading on learners' affects, such as motivation and attitude, have been reported. Although there have been some criticisms of research methodology, and the results concerning the effect on learners' development have not always been clear-cut, researchers and educators involved in L2 instruction have become increasingly aware of the importance of extensive reading.
The previous studies on extensive reading were mainly interested in its effects on learners' development. The present study takes a different approach in terms of the cause-effect relationship of included variables. Previous studies treated extensive reading as a possible cause and other factors as the effects. In the current study, learners' performance in extensive reading is treated as the effect, and learners' attitudes towards reading in L1 and L2 are treated as possible causes.
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