TESOL Methods Exam #1
March 21, 2002

Please answer only ONE of the following questions.  Everyone must answer No.6:

1.  According to Brown, what are some of the curriculum strategies that are suggested for avoiding teacher burnout and revitalizing the teachers?  From your own experience as a teacher or teacher in training, what new approach to teaching ESL or foreign languages would you like to experiment with and why?  Have you attended any workshop or conference within the last eight months?  What did you learn from this conference/workshop?

2.  What are the four categories of teaching activities that Brown discusses in Chapter 5 (Materials) in terms of forming a framework for materials design?  One of them has to include the teacher's theory of language.  What is your theory of language and how would you go about incorporating the newest technologies into your materials development practices?

3.  How does setting program goals fit together with the needs analysis?  Should goal statements reflect the perceived needs?  And how do program goals differ from instructional objectives?  Should course objectives be primarily related to the cognitive domain or to the affective one? 

4.  Can you identify and describe the seven types of syllabuses or syllabi discussed by Brown.  How are syllabuses different from approaches?  How does technology affect the design and selection of syllabuses?

5.  How would you incorporate both cognitive and behavioral approaches into your foreign/second language teaching practices?  Please outline a lesson plan that describes teaching and learning activities that draw on principles from at least two different theories of teaching.  When would it be appropriate to use direct instruction/explicit teaching in a foreign language or ESL classroom?  Give specific examples.

*6. Please write precise behavioral objectives based on two of the following types of behavioral objectives: Affective, Cognitive, Psychomotor.  You should include a statement explaining how to measure/evaluate mastery of the behavioral objectives.  If you are following the Natural Approach or the Communicative Language Teaching approach, how would you write your objectives?  How would you measure learner progress?  Would you incorporate grammatical structures into your teaching/learning activities?  How so?

7.  Which of the approaches to ESL and foreign language teaching encourages the use of form-focused instruction?  Prepare a 45-minute lesson plan using one of these approaches.  Could you think of ways of using technology to facilitate the learning process?  Is fluency or accuracy facilitated with a form-focused approach?  What about proficiency?

*All students must answer this question.