May 17th, 2012
Information on the
observed class:
Course: Lectocomprensión
- Medicina
Teacher: Julia
Mariano
Date: Wed 25 April. 8.00 to 10.00
The
class started with homework checking. Students had been assigned the
translation of a text, and the teacher checked it by calling on different
students to read different parts of the translated text aloud, and, when
necessary, the teacher corrected bad translations: agente extranjero instead of agente
extraño for foreign agent.
Then,
the students worked on a text about the endocrine system. First, they had to
pay attention to the metatextual elements (titles, subtitles, and drawings), read
the text for general information and identify transparent words; then,
different students orally translated different parts of the text. Whenever a
bad translation cropped up, the teacher explained the meaning of the English
word and helped students to work out the Spanish equivalent. When the students
finished reading the text on their own, the teacher asked one to explain to her
what it was about. Students then had to complete a table and re-read the text
with that purpose in mind.
Meanwhile, the teacher
copied a sentence with contrast clauses and later on, after checking the
reading activity, the teacher explained the meanings and different uses of
contrast connectors, which was done by paraphrasing the original sentence over
and over again (what changed was the way the ideas were organized according to
the connector used: although, though, however, despite, whereas, among others).
Before finishing, the
teacher worked in an activity with the dictionary. She told the students that
words in English might have many different meanings, so logic must be used to
pin down the correct option. Students were told to translate various noun
phrases, and finally, before assigning homework, the teacher made students read
an English text and then they had to tell her in what line different noun
phrases were (the teacher provided the Spanish correspondences. Homework was assigned.
Reflection
The students were made
part of the learning process, probably for learning to be more memorable, by,
for example, being forced to deduce meanings on their own and being encouraged to
use different tools individually (the dictionary, glossaries). The teacher probably
advocates for an "active" construction of knowledge on the part of
the learners. Moving on, the fact that Spanish is used as a medium of
instruction is probably due to the students' different levels of the English
language; the use of the mother tongue allows for all students to understand
easily. The activities, on the other hand, were very much goal-directed. Each
task aimed at developing a particular strategy, and therefore the teacher made
sure to tell the students what the expected outcome was so that they could work
towards that. Thus, students paid attention to meta- and paratextual elements as
aids to understand the meaning of texts, read texts for general and for
specific information, translated noun phrases so as to fully grasp how they are
formed in English and what their Spanish equivalents are (to see the
differences in structures and, from there, facilitate comprehension), and looked
out for false friends. To continue, for the presentation of the new topic
(contrast connectors) the teacher used an inductive approach: she started from an
example and made students deduce the meaning of what was said. She resorted to
the students' "logic" for their deduction of the particular meanings
of different connectors. A few more things I should mention is that before
working with a text, the teacher drew on the students' knowledge of the subject
area (schemata activation), and that scaffolding was (on a minor scale)
provided: with each task, the teacher first helped the students solve the first
exercise before making them do it on their own.
As regards my learning
outcome, I should first say that I was surprised to learn that Spanish was used
all throughout. I understand why that is, and I believe it is the best option,
but I had simply assumed that English would be used. I also realized that ESP
course was tailored to the specific need – reading comprehension – exclusively.
Again, this seems like a silly discovery, but I used to think that the teaching
of grammar would play a big role, when, in fact, providing students with strategies
(at least in this case) is the main goal. I was surprised (and pleased), too,
that a knowledge of Spanish on the part of the teacher seems to be as important
as a knowledge of English. Finally, I became aware of how important it is for
an ESP teacher to constantly pay attention to "subtleties" such us
endings. If the ESP instructor does not, for example, teach students that the –es ending marks plurality in, for
example, "syntheses," comprehension will be very difficult to the inexperienced
English reader. I point this out, because I have seen many General English
teachers neglect this fact.
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