UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CÓRDOBA

FACULTAD DE LENGUAS

Concurso por Antecedentes y Oposición

Coordinador del Ciclo de Nivelación
Sección Inglés

Plan de Trabajo
(Res. HCD 228/07 art. 4)

Proyecto: Formación de Recursos Humanos para el Ciclo de

Nivelación

María Belén Oliva

2008

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 Título del Proyecto:

Implementation of Language Training Workshops for

Introductory Course Staff

Inicio del proyecto: Octubre 2008

Duración total prevista: 3 meses

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 Proposal: Implementation of Language Training Workshops for
Introductory Course Staff

Presentation of the problem

Introductory Course (IC) teachers are recruited by means of an interview in which
they have to demonstrate their pedagogical skills, academic knowledge of the course
contents and also their knowledge of the specific bibliography needed to become part of
the staff. This implies that even if the evaluation of the candidates is satisfactory, some
points may go unnoticed considering the time available in an interview.
JTPs and profesores adscriptos in first year have the chance to go over the points
they once studied as undergraduate students while they are observing classes during the
year, but IC teachers may have no teaching experience in the different areas even if they
are capable of doing the job.
In view of all this, I believe that the new members of the IC staff (excluding JTPs
and profesores adscriptos in first year) should be given the possibility to internalize and
consolidate the points they would be teaching throughout the course by attending a few
workshops conducted by teachers who are or have been teaching this course or are
familiar with the IC contents.
Having training workshops for language, grammar and phonetics teachers can
solve the problem of having teachers who have to face a group pf university students
and are completely inexperienced. The workshops will be delivered entirely in English
and the main aim is for participants to perfect the particular grammar, phonetics and
language points that they will be teaching to their own IC students.

General Objective
1. empower IC teachers to deliver satisfactory lessons during the course.

2. provide them with the necessary tools to consolidate and internalize the different
points on the syllabus that they will be teaching.

Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of these workshops are to give new IC teachers the
possibility to:

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1. manipulate and get familiar with the material they will be using during the course.

2. go over each point on the syllabus so as to anticipate potential problems with the
content among IC students.

3. learn about teaching techniques that can help them to deliver their classes effectively
and efficiently.

Theoretical framework
These workshops will be designed on a constructivist basis since these teachers
will need to build upon the knowledge of EFL that they already have. They will be
empowered to perfect their grammar, phonetics or language teaching skills on the basis
of what they have already learned as undergraduate students. More than learning about
language, the workshops will help them learn how to teach the content they already
handle. Therefore, Constructivism seems to be the most appropriate second language
theory to designing the workshops.
According to Brooks & Brooks (1999), Constructivism is a philosophy of learning
founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own
understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental
models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply
the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.
Honebein (1996) states that learning is a search for meaning. Consequently,
learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying out to
construct meaning. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts
must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on
primary concepts, not isolated facts.
The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning,
not just memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate someone else's meaning. Since
education is inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to measure learning is to
make the assessment part of the learning process, ensuring it provides students with
information on the quality of their learning.
Under the theory of constructivism, educators focus on making connections
between facts and fostering new understanding in students. Instructors tailor their

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teaching strategies to students’ responses and encourage them to analyze, interpret, and
predict information. Teachers also rely heavily on open-ended questions and promote
extensive dialogue among students. They must understand the mental models that
students use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those
models (Bruner, 1990).

Constructivism ...
• emphasizes learning and not teaching
• encourages and accepts learner autonomy and initiative
• sees learners as creatures of will and purpose
• thinks of learning as a process
• encourages learner inquiry
• acknowledges the critical role of experience in learning
• nurtures learners’ natural curiosity
• takes the learner's mental model into account
• emphasizes performance and understanding when assessing learning
• bases itself on the principles of the cognitive theory
• makes extensive use of cognitive terminology such as predict, create and
analyze
• considers how the student learns
• encourages learners to engage in dialogue with other students and the teacher
• supports co-operative learning
• involves learners in real world situations
• emphasizes the context in which learning takes place
• considers the beliefs and attitudes of the learner
• provides learners the opportunity to construct new knowledge and understanding
from authentic experience

Even though all these points have been taken into consideration when designing the
workshops, it is the last one which has turned to be the principal aim. In other words,
trainees will be given the possibility to learn to teach from other colleagues’ teaching
experiences.

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Methodology
In this section I will discuss the roles of participants and the design of each
workshop in terms of course features.

IC Teachers
All the newly recruited staff will be offered the opportunity to attend the
workshops. Those who have had no experience in teaching the points on the syllabus
will be strongly encouraged to take them, while those with some experience (JTPs,
adscriptos) will be able to opt to attend or not. The IC instructors who are or have been
teaching grammar, phonetics or language in first year at Facultad de Lenguas will be
invited to share their enriching experiences with the inexperienced teachers.

Trainers
The trainers will be some of the teachers who are currently in charge of grammar,
phonetics or language in first year at Facultad de Lenguas and, preferably, who are also
–or have been- teaching the IC. The selection procedures will be the ones used in
“selecciones internas” at the institution.

Main characteristics of workshops

Each section – grammar, phonetics and language- will have its own workshops.
That is to say, each teacher will attend just the ones that correspond to his/her teaching
area. The workshops will be divided in the following way:
Language: 3 days, 3 hours each day
Grammar: 3 days, 3 hours each day
Phonetics: 2 days, 2 hours each day
All the content has been split into different days so that the load of information is
not so burdensome. They will be held at Facultad de Lenguas in November and/or
December.

Contents
The units on the grammar and phonetics IC syllabuses will be the main contents of
the grammar and phonetics workshops. The language workshop, on the other hand, will

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touch upon different approaches to reading and writing in a foreign language since IC
students have not shown to be very well prepared to tackle these skills in their mother
tongue. Consequently, when students have to face these issues at Facultad de Lenguas,
they find it really difficult to comprehend texts and produce their own writings.
A sketch with the general programs has been included in the Appendix.

Materials
The materials used will be the students’ obligatory bibliography for the IC and
research articles/books for theoretical and further reading. The list below describes
some of the works that will be used in the workshops; some others will be added by
trainers and experts in due course.

Language
• Evans, V. y J. Dooley. Upstream Pre-Intermediate. Express Publishing.
• Evans, V. y J. Dooley. Reading and Writing Targets 1. Express Publishing.
• Moyetta, D y otros (compiladores). Manual de práctica complementaria 2007.
Facultad de Lenguas, UNC.
Approaches to teaching reading comprehension and L2 writing:
• Bransford, J. D. (1994). Schema activation and schema acquisition: comments
on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In R. B. Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models
and processes of reading. Delaware: International Reading Association.
• Eskey, D. (1988) Holding in the bottom: an interactive approach to the language
problems of second language readers. In P. Carrell et al. (Eds.) Interactive
approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
• Some other articles and chapters of books on “Teaching Reading
Comprehension” and “L2 writing”.

Phonetics
• Capell, M. y J. Martínez Ramaciotti (2007) An Introduction to English
Pronunciation. Facultad de Lenguas, UNC.
• Diccionario monolingüe (Longman, Collins Cobuild, Oxford, Cambridge,
Macmillan)

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 Grammar
• Meehan, P., M. Marín, M. B. Oliva, M. Lo Valvo, C. Luque Columbres (2008)
An Introductory Course to English Grammar Practice. Facultad de Lenguas,
UNC.

Theories of SLA (for all workshops)

• Honebein (1996) Seven Goals for the Design of Constructivist Learning,
(Çevrimiçi)
http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/JimL_Courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/honebein.htm 4
Haziran 2004
• Some other articles and books on “Constructivism”.

Attendees will be asked to deal with the material their students will be using
during the IC before attending each workshop session. During the workshops trainers
will not check the exercises but will manipulate the content in terms of theory
underlying each unit and will discuss the problematic points that may arise during actual
teaching. The attendees will be asked to work in groups in order to discuss the
alternatives to teaching the different points, always using the handouts, texts, recordings
and textbooks they will be using during the course.
The trainers will also provide IC teachers with extra material on teaching EFL,
students’ learning styles and strategies.

Meetings with trainers

One or two meetings with the trainers in charge of delivering the workshops will
be organized. The principal aim is to discuss the methodology and the content of each
session. It is important to highlight that the attendees should find these experiences
appealing and useful; that is they should see the need to take them and also feel that
they are getting prepared to teach. Trainers will be encouraged to avoid long theoretical
lectures.

Workshop evaluation

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 This evaluation is meant to be an indicator of participants’ satisfaction. The aim
this is to give coordinators and trainers some feedback on the usefulness of the
workshops and also to ensure that the level of satisfaction is high and that performance
levels of the workshops are maintained and improved.
Indicators of participants’ satisfaction will be measured through feedback
questionnaires / surveys which will collect information about the workshop materials,
course programs, coordination, trainers and quality of academic support.

Lesson observations
New IC teachers will be invited to observe a minimum of two classes delivered by
more experienced teachers during the Introductory Course. They will also be observed
teaching at least one class so that they can get some feedback on their actual classroom
performance.

Time Distribution
Table 1 shows the way time will be distributed with respect to the activities
planned for the workshops.

Table 1 Organization of time

ACTIVITY Oct. Nov. Dic. Jan. Feb. Mar
1. Recruitment of trainers
2. Meeting with trainers
3. First workshops
4. Second workshops
5. Third workshops (lang. and grammar)
6. Workshop evaluation
7. Lesson observations (during IC)

Expected Results
The workshops are expected to:
• provide IC teachers with opportunities for personal and professional
development.
• create an enjoyable learning environment in which IC teachers develop
their language and teaching skills in order to enable them to feel confident
enough to teach IC students.

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 • empower IC teachers to deliver learner-centered classes and to help their
IC students develop strategies that work both inside and outside the
classroom.
• raise IC teachers’ awareness of the fact that learners have different aims,
world knowledge, learning styles and experiences and that motivation is
crucial to successful learning.

These “courses” have been called “workshops” because the different approaches,
styles, techniques and personalities that each teacher will bring to each session will be
valued, and because teachers will be encouraged to innovate, experimenting with new
ideas and activities drawn not only from the trainers but also from the other IC teachers.

Consulted Bibliography

Anderson, R.C. (1994). Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning and memory. In
R. B. Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models and processes of reading. Delaware: International Reading
Association.
Bransford, J. D. (1994). Schema activation and schema acquisition: comments on Richard C.
Anderson’s remarks. In R. B. Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models and processes of reading. Delaware:
International Reading Association.
Brooks, J. G. & Brooks, M. J. (1999). “In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist
Classrooms” Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, New York, USA
Bruner J. S. (1966) Toward a theory of instruction, Cambridge, Mass. Belknap Press of Harvard
University
Bruner, J. S. (1990) Acts of meaning, Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press,
Confrey, J. (1998) “Voice and Perspective: Hearing Epistemological Innovations in Students”,
Ed. by Larochelle, M. & Bednarz, N. & Garrison, J. Construnctivism and Education. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 104-121.
Dougiamas, M. (1998) A journey into Constructivism (Çevrimiçi)
http://dougiamas.com/writing/constructivism.html 5 Eylül 2003
Eskey, D. (1988) Holding in the bottom: an interactive approach to the language problems of
second language readers. In P. Carrell et al. (Eds.) Interactive approaches to second language reading.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grabe, W. (1988). Reassessing the term “interactive”. In P. Carrell et al. (Eds.) Interactive
approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Honebein (1996) Seven Goals for the Design of Constructivist Learning, (Çevrimiçi)
http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/JimL_Courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/honebein.htm 4 Haziran 2004
Paris, S. G.; Lipson, M. Y. & Wixson, K. K. (1988). Becoming a strategic reader. In R. B.
Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models and processes of reading. Delaware: International Reading
Association.
Piaget, J. (1973) To Understand is to Invent, Grossman, New York, USA (Çevrimiçi)
http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/faculty/psparks/theorists/501const.htm 5 Haziran 2004
Tierney, R. J. & Pearson, P. D. (1994). Learning to learn from text: a framework for improving
classroom practice. In R. B. Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models and processes of reading. Delaware:
International Reading Association.
Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, MA:
Harvard University Press. Ed. by Michael Cole

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 APPENDIX

Language Program Effective Reading Skills

Aim

The aim of this training is to enable participants to teach their students to identify the different
types of reading, learn some reading techniques by using some simple and complex texts.

Contents

• What is speed reading?

• Overview - types of reading
• Problems with reading
• Good and poor readers: a comparison
• Techniques for reading fasters
• Linguistic clues - connecting devices
• Paragraphs - topic sentences

Reading techniques

• Scan reading: scanning for particular information

• Skim reading: skimming texts in order to gain a general understanding of the main ideas,
positions and viewpoints
• Detailed reading - how to understand precise details
• Linguistic clues to deciphering viewpoints and key phrases that express agreement,
disagreement with positions
• Text construction - the format of paragraphs and topic sentences and how these provide
clues to the main ideas expressed (only applied in reading not writing).

Practical tasks

Participants will be introduced to some theories and approaches to reading in L2. They will
practice the techniques discussed using some complex textsand the texts used in the IC. The
practical tasks will include some timed reading exercises as well as real life tasks such as
reading large volume of texts and summarizing in verbal or written form.

Duration
Three sessions (9 academic hours)

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 Grammar Program: Some Basic Notions
Aim

The aim of this training is to enable participants to teach their students to understand and learn
the basic grammar notions they will be looking at during the Introductory Course, and also learn
some techniques for teaching grammar structures more effectively.

Contents

Parts of Speech
The English Verb Phrase
The Noun Phrase
Adjectives
Adverbs and Adverbials
Basic Sentence Patterns

Practical tasks

Participants will discuss the grammar structures they have to teach and the activities in the
handout so as to anticipate possible problems with students during the IC. Bibliography for
further reading and related topics will be provided. Participants will practice teaching some of
the structures during the workshop. Trainers will give feedback after each session.

Duration
Three sessions (9 academic hours)

Phonetics Program Some Basic Notions

Aim

The aim of this training is to enable participants to teach their students to understand and learn
the basic phonetic notions they will be looking at during the Introductory Course, and also learn
some techniques for teaching phonetics more effectively.

Contents

The speech production mechanisms

The English Sounds: Vowel sounds and consonant sounds
Phonemic transcription
Pronunciation of endings

Practical tasks

Participants will discuss the sounds they have to teach and the activities in the handout so as to
anticipate possible problems with students during the IC. Bibliography for further reading and
related topics will be provided. Participants will practice teaching some of the concepts during
the workshop. Trainers will give feedback after each session.

Duration
Two sessions (4 academic hours)

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