a test teach test approach to ielts prep (delta module 3)

Module 3 Extended Assignment

Teaching Exam Classes

Robert William McCaul

A test-teach-test approach to teaching IELTS

Contents:1. Teaching Exam Classes........................................................................................................4

Why did I choose this specialism?..........................................................................................4

Exam versus general classes....................................................................................................4

Motivational challenges...........................................................................................................4

Metacognition in exam classes................................................................................................5

The teacher’s role.....................................................................................................................5

Backwash..................................................................................................................................5

Balancing teaching and testing...............................................................................................5

Course Content.........................................................................................................................6

Development of learner autonomy.........................................................................................6

2. Needs Analysis and Commentary.......................................................................................6

Class profile..............................................................................................................................6

Needs Analysis Methodology...................................................................................................6

Key Results of Needs Analysis Questionnaire.......................................................................7

Diagnostic Test and Priorities.................................................................................................8

3. Course Proposal...................................................................................................................9

Overall Course aim:...............................................................................................................10

Goals and Objectives..............................................................................................................10

Link to NA/DT........................................................................................................................12

Syllabus Type..........................................................................................................................12

Approaches.............................................................................................................................12

Course content and Materials...............................................................................................13

4. Assessment..........................................................................................................................13

Formative assessment............................................................................................................13

Backwash................................................................................................................................14

Reformulation.........................................................................................................................14

Summative assessment...........................................................................................................14

Content validity and reliability.............................................................................................15

Constraints of testing.............................................................................................................15

Evaluation...............................................................................................................................16

5. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................17

Teaching Exam Classes Robert William McCaul

Bibliography...........................................................................................................................18

Background Reading.............................................................................................................18

Course Materials....................................................................................................................20

Online Materials.....................................................................................................................20

Appendices..............................................................................................................................21

Appendix 1: Course Plan.......................................................................................................21

Appendix 2: Needs Analysis and Diagnostic Test: Collated Results.................................49

Appendix 3: Diagnostic Test-Summary of results...............................................................95

Appendix 4: Assessment Schedule –Speaking/Writing....................................................115

Document 2:

Appendix 5: Needs Analysis Blank Questionnaire ......................................................3

Appendix 6: Completed diagnostic tests & writing samples..............................................17

Appendix 7: Course materials, worksheets 1-8...................................................................59

Appendix 8: Formative Evaluation Tools............................................................................82

Appendix 9: Summative Evaluation Tools........................................................................103

Appendix 10: Speaking & Writing Assessment Criteria..................................................114


1. Teaching Exam Classes.

Why did I choose this specialism?

I felt that I could benefit from this specialism for the following reasons:

I, along with 7 other teachers, make up the IELTS preparation department at Eastern International University in Vietnam. I joined the team 6 months ago and I appeared to be one of the least experienced of the group with this particular exam. To remedy this, I have recently taken it on myself to go for training and qualify as an IELTS speaking and writing examiner.

Moreover, in spite of the fact that my initial pre-service qualification, the CELTA, didn’t include an exam class element, I was quickly given exam classes at my first teaching jobs. While I enjoy doing these classes, I have never felt that I have been teaching them to the best of my ability.

Exam versus general classes

Exam classes are those where the teacher is required to get students to a particular level in order to be assessed by an official test (Burgess & Head, 2005). These classes can be distinguished from General English classes in a number of ways. The primary of which is the fixed goal nature of exam classes. The students in a typical exam class share a common purpose and this can make the interpersonal relationships between the students run more smoothly. This is certainly true at EIU where having to get a band 6 at IELTS provides a rite of passage that students go through as a group in order to progress into the later stages of the their degrees.

Motivational challenges

Exams can be high stakes. The average wage for many of the parents of our lower-income students is less than US$500 per month and the exam fees, covered by the students’ parents, would usually use up a large proportion of that monthly wage. Moreover, the cultural environment of this country means that not making the grade would result in a not insignificant loss of face. This gives very strong extrinsic motivation to achieving a band 6. Gedicke (2000) points out that highly extrinsically motivated students such as these, owing to this greatly increased pressure, can end up being less inspired, not more. Whatever the case may be, according to Burgess & Head (1995), motivation, whether it be extrinsic or intrinsic, usually falls towards the middle of the course, where learners need to make more of a conscious effort to study.


Metacognition in exam classes

The learner’s own knowledge of their abilities, ability to plan their own learning strategies and to monitor task progression and evaluate the success of task achievement are crucial factors, which Hedge (2000) describes as being features of metacognitive strategy. These strategies are of the utmost importance in exam classes as the content is usually dominated by the four skills. This can impact on the students in both positive and negative ways. From one point of view, learners become much more aware of rubric, adept at highlighting key words in prompts and develop the ability to rule out unlikely answers. However, students do learn skills which are likely to be useful in later life, such as the ability to write in different registers.

The teacher’s role

Negotiating and justifying the syllabus to the students, having established their strengths, weaknesses and topic awareness, are some of the most important roles of the exam teacher (Prodromou 1995). The teacher must be intimately familiar with the exam structure in order to plan a scheme of work perfectly tailored to each particular group’s particular needs. This involves such minutia as being able to tell the difference between a band 6 and a 7 in a criterion-referenced test such as task 1 of the IELTS academic writing. Students also require a teacher whose expertise they can trust, be it in feedback after a mock speaking test, teaching reading strategies and helping them to move their listening from a band 5 to 6 (Burgess & Head 2005).

Backwash

Overemphasis on the exam, to the exclusion of the essentials of good teaching practice, was described by Prodromou (1995:14) as ‘negative backwash’. Hughes (2003) agrees, suggesting that test preparation can end up dominating the classroom. On the other hand, in my experience with CAE learners in Spain, students may be intolerant of activities which they do not see as being directly relevant to the exam. What is needed then is balance, the content of the course should be primarily focused on preparing candidates for the exam, while employing humanistic and communicative methodologies where appropriate.

Balancing teaching and testing

Exam classes do need to contain some systems training. The syllabus should be dictated by the results the diagnostic test as well as the formative testing done throughout the course. Constant focus on exam tasks, with no attention being paid to learner progression in terms of their systems knowledge, would leave little room for the learners to improve their scores. Adequate time needs to be given over to the assimilation of feedback and systems instruction. This is of particular importance when students do not have the required level upon entry onto


the course. This may mean that learners become demotivated by being given tasks which they simply do not have the ability to do. (May 1996).

Course Content

Students should already have a sufficient level before entering an exam class. For instance, before entering the 10-week IELTS preparation course designed to get a band 6, EIU students should have already achieved a pass at upper-intermediate level to ensure that they have thorough grounding (May 1996:5). Time is often in short supply in exam classes and the teacher must give most emphasis to familiarising learners with exam format and strategies (Burgess & Head 2005).

Burgess & Head also argue that while learners need to be given practice with the exam format, they should be motivated by the teacher to look at why they made the errors they made, rather than focusing on simply whether they managed to achieve their target band score.

Development of learner autonomy

The strengths and weaknesses identified in the DA/NA, as well as in the formative testing, should provide a starting point upon which the learners base their independent study. While the onus is on the learner to action this private study, Burgess and Head (2005) maintain that some of the class time should be spent on developing good study habits.

2. Needs Analysis and Commentary

Class profile

The learners are all Vietnamese, 19/20 years old and are taking IELTS in order to get into the 3rd year of their business degrees. Their overall levels hover around the B1/B2 crossover threshold i.e. IELTS Band 4.5/5/5.5. They have been studying in EIU for between 1 and 2 years and most have them have spent two semesters in the Business Administration department where, in spite of not having language tuition, they were able to improve their reading and listening levels due to the fact that the lectures and readings are given in English. The learners’ motivation for the exam seems, as per Gardener and MacIntyre’s (1991) dichotomy, to be mostly instrumentally motivated.

Needs Analysis Methodology


There appears to be a consensus with regard to the fact that a course can only be written after a needs analysis has been conducted (Munby, 1978). This allows the course designer to build a syllabus which is both relevant and suitable to the learner’s needs.

With this in mind, I developed a needs analysis whereby I attempted to ascertain the learners’ necessities under three principle aspects identified by Hutchinson and Walters (1987:55-58):

a) Necessities: “what the learner has to know in order to function effectively” i.e. what needs to be known in order to pass the exam.

b) Lacks: The systems knowledge which the learner has deficiencies in.c) Wants: What the learner believes they need in order to pass.

Following this, I developed a questionnaire using google drive- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U9HHY2so5mIZuerGH61xvpCNhqHOSGoiVNUML2znS70/viewform (Appendix 5).

I suggested students take time to complete the answers in as much detail as possible and I pointed out that this would allow me to create a syllabus which would be better adapted to their specific language needs. The questionnaire collected qualitative as well as quantitative information on, amongst other things, their knowledge of the IELTS exam, learner preferences and the students’ own perceived strengths and weaknesses. I followed up on the findings of the NA with an in-class discussion to further clarify the results. This was thought necessary in order to make up for any shortcomings in the design of the questionnaire and to allow the learners to elaborate on key information identified in the NA. It was recorded in order to let other teachers offer their opinions and consult at a later date if needs be.

Key Results of Needs Analysis Questionnaire

The spoken interviews complemented the questionnaires effectively. These together allowed me to confirm many of my suspicions about the group, i.e. that they are strongly extrinsically motivated. Moreover, I was able to narrow down many of the needs and wants to focus on when designing the course.

According to the results of the needs analysis:

10 of the learners want to get a 6, 3 of them a 6.5, another a 7 and the remaining student doesn’t care.

Learners suggest that they require the most help in the productive skills, especially speaking. In fact, 41% of them say that speaking is their weakest skill.

Most learners have already used the Cambridge practice papers books- these cannot be used for the DT.

The learners don’t appear to be familiar with the marking criteria for both the speaking and writing papers.

71% of the learners feel that they are lacking in the application of their grammar and lexis in writing.


(A full summary of results can be found in appendix 2)

Diagnostic Test and Priorities

The NA provided me with a great deal of information on the learners’ subjective wants. It was important, however, to verify these data using more objective means in order to discover what the learners lack and to identify what further teaching is necessary (Hughes 1989:13). I took into account these wants as per the NA when selecting the material for the diagnostic test. I decided to use a practice test that I felt that the learners wouldn’t have seen before as not only would this be a more accurate reflection of the test they would take in December but also would reduce the chances of any of the learners having skewed scores. I also felt that while the learners had described speaking as their weakest skill, I thought it would be prudent to give them a DT on all four skills to see whether the objective data agreed with these findings. Furthermore, I chose a test that included as many examples as possible of the various task types which can be asked.

I used the listening and reading from IELTS for Academic Purposes. A colleague had used these before and felt that it had given them reliable results. I took writing T1 from IELTS Trainer and T2 from http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/08/ielts-writing-task-2-advantages-and-disadvantages.html. I chose these as they had given reliable results in the past. I also knew that they wouldn’t have seen either of them before from the results of the NA.

Satisfyingly, the results of the DT mostly concurred with most of the students’ wants. The DT suggested that the students’ weakest skills were speaking and writing (Appendix 3). All of the students hit their target band in both the listening and reading papers, except for Duy Nguyen who wants to get a band 7.

Having seen the high error rate in both lexis and grammar in both tasks of the writing paper, I decided to try to discover whether errors were being made by learners due to systems’ deficiencies or as a consequence of not having an error-correction stage in their writing processes i.e. being careless. To this end, I developed an error-correction diagnostic test (Appendix 6) based on a corpus I had put together on previous IELTS students errors. The table below describes the main findings of the DT/NA:


(A full summary can be found in appendix 3)

3. Course Proposal

The course is the first 20-hour phase of a longer programme designed to improve students’ scores in speaking and writing by one whole band score. In this phase, I am aiming to improve learners’ scores by half a band. The lessons take place Monday to Friday 9 to 11am each morning and 1pm-3pm each afternoon.


Problems which lost students the most marks

Writing: (WDT1-7)

WDT 1: High error count -students didn’t Proof-read & error-correct effectively (T1/T2)

WDT2: Some errors caused difficulty for the reader (T1/T2)

WDT3: Low word count (T1/T2)

WDT4: Not addressing all parts of the prompt (TR,T2)

WDT5: Demonstrating grammatical range (GRA,T1)

WDT6: Presenting an overview with information appropriately selected (TA, T1)

WDT7: Lifting too much language from the prompt (T1/T2)

Speaking (SDT1-8)

SDT1: Giving short, minimal answers in Part 1 (i.e. struggling to maintain a flow of speech)

SDT2: Poor note-taking in Pt2 (F&C)

SDT3: Students didn’t manage to speak for 2 minutes in Pt2(F&C)

SDT4: Students spoke with many noticeable pauses when dealing with the abstract topics in Pt3

SDT5: Students had trouble requesting clarification (F&C)

SDT 6: students didn’t deal well with breakdowns in communication (F&C)

SDT7: Accuracy of syllable final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, L1 interference in intonation and chunking (P)

SDT8: Inaccurate regular past tense pronunciation (P)

Overall Course aim:

To improve the students’ scores by half a band in the writing and speaking papers of the IELTS exam.

Although I need to improve learners score by a full band in order that they meet their targets, I feel that 0.5 of a band is more achievable in a 20 hour course. (Richards 2001:120)

Goals and Objectives

To accomplish the course aim, I have divided it into goals and objectives, which Richards, 2001, describe as being both precise and feasible, informing the selection of course content and lending themselves toward the measurement of the success of a course (Graves 1996:27).

It is possible to set the goals and objectives of the course having first completed the DT/NA. Hedge (2000:344) describes the former as being more general and the latter more specific. More explicitly, goals are the purpose of the programme which can be attained by completing particular objectives (Graves 1996:17), which constitute ‘learnable, teachable’ units (Graves 2000:76). Goals can be further sub-categorised into cognitive, affective, learning and communicative ones (Nunan 1998) and should be reached by executing objectives which are both measurable and observable as well as being limited to a particular time scale (el Fadil 1985:100).

I have already discussed the nature of exam classes and outlined the data collected during the DT/NA, where I described the class’s needs, lacks and wants and motivation as being both extrinsic and instrumental, all of which have directed me towards establishing performance orientated goals (Ames and Archer 1998). A summary of the course goals and objectives can be seen in the table below:



Goal 1: To improve learners’ score in the speaking paper by half a band.

Link to DT/NA findings

Objective 1: To be better able to maintain a flow of speech and give more extensive answers in Part 1

SDT1

NA1/2

Objective 2: To be able to plan more effectively for the long turn (part 2) and to be able to use the one minute planning time to brainstorm non-common lexis &

grammar and base their speech on these

SDT2&3NA1/2

Objective 3: To be better able to use repair & clarification strategies

SDT5&6NA1/2

Objective 4: To be better to use strategies for dealing with hesitation

SDT4NA1/2

Objective 5: To produce syllable-final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, stress-timed intonation and

chunking more accurately

SDT7NA1/2

Objective 6: To produce regular past tenses more accurately SDT8NA1/2

Goal 2: Goal 2: To improve the learners’ scores in the IELTS writing paper by a half a band

Link to DT/NA findings

Objective 7: To be better able to respond to the prompt WDT4NA1/3

Objective 8: To be better able to use checklists and the error correction code as a way to notice errors and

upgrade their own writing.

WDT1&2NA1/3

Objective 9: To be better able to use a variety of complex sentences

WDT5NA1/3

Objective 10: To be better able to present an overview which highlights main trends/ key features

WDT6

NA1/3

Objective 11: To be able to paraphrase the prompt more effectively in task 1/2

WDT7NA1/3

Objective 12: To increase the students’ word count in T1 & T2 WDT3NA1/3

Link to NA/DT

The course is based upon learners’ main weaknesses as identified by the NA (41% identified their main weakness as speaking and 18% as writing). These findings were confirmed in the DT- none of them met their target in either of the productive skills.

Objectives 1-11 all emerged to address weaknesses brought up upon close statistical analysis of the DT. Therefore, all objectives will appear justified to them (Appendix 2.1/2.2).

Four learners suggested that reading was their weakest skill. However, the DT did not bear this out.

In order to minimize the effects of backwash, the main thrust of the syllabus is centred upon what the students need to do in order to reach their target band scores as Hughes recommends (2003).

Syllabus Type

The design of a syllabus incorporates the specification and ordering of content (White 1988). The designer must decide how best to ensure the maximum transfer of learning in addressing the learners’ lacks (Nunan 1993:23). The syllabus is, therefore, both product and process orientated. Moreover, it is, to some large degree, negotiated, as I have let the findings, i.e. the needs, wants and lacks, of the NA/DT dictate the syllabus.

Skills: The course is skills-based (Richards 1990). It endeavours to improve the learners’ score in the weakest areas identified by the DA/NA, namely the writing and speaking papers. The skills are subdivided into sub-skills (my course objectives) and supply a framework around which the course will be based.

Product: Focuses on results. Endeavours to improve the learners’ final product by focusing on the outcome of the course (Nunan: 1998)

Process: Focuses on how the learners will attain the abilities to achieve the product. Targets the acquisition mechanism and can be linked to the operations involved in language learning outlined by Faerch and Kasper (1983).

Synthetic: The course will follow, in part, Wilkins (1976) theory of presenting language as discrete items which the learners are expected to synthesize into a meaningful whole.

The syllabus is primarily negotiated as it is based upon learners’ needs and wants as identified in the NA/DT (Clarke:1991).

Approaches


The course will also be in line with the process genre approach as outlined by Badger and White (2000) as this puts the utmost importance on production which satisfies its particular purpose and facilitates the process that competent writers/speakers follow. As Burgess and Head (2005) point out, when writing for exams, planning and proofing, as well as the consideration of the conventions of genre, are essential. To this end, both product focused lessons where we examine the genre features of model texts (CP: Lesson 9) and process informed sessions where attention will be paid to idea generation and paragraphing (CP: Lesson 6).

Timed practice at both T1&T2 and mock speaking tests will take place throughout the course. Individual feedback, based upon students’ performances on these, will be given based on the public band descriptors (IELTS.org). This feedback will be given through both in-class tutorials and electronically using screen and voice capture software such as jing.com

Feedback will not only be based simply on structural issues and error correction, reformulation, the basis of Willberg’s (1987) theory of auditing, will also be used. The teacher will focus on gaps in the learners’ knowledge and encourage learner autonomy by getting the learner to notice the gap (i.e. draw the attention of the learner to focus on the deficiency), recall it in later production and audit or reproduce it. This may involve the teacher reformulating student scripts, a time consuming job, but in my experience, well worth it.

Course content and Materials

I have selected materials based on the objectives of the course and the approaches outlined. A combination of both published resources and authentic materials will be used. The former used to provide input from both trusted and reliable sources, and the latter to fill the gaps which arose where no published resource could be found.

Everything in the course has been linked to specific tasks from the listening and speaking papers. I also have attempted, where possible, to link the objectives to specific language from the public IELTS band descriptors. This should result in the students being able to see their improvement linked to their performance in task types and they will, as a result, be very motivated by the course content.

4. Assessment

Assessment has the function of monitoring and keeping record of the students’ progression through a course (Hedge 2000). It can be either formative or summative.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment can be used in order to inform the content of future classes and to see whether the syllabus up until now has had a desirable effect on the students’ learning (Graves 1996) i.e. it is used to see what is effective and to change what isn’t in order to meet


emerging student needs (Graves 2000). In this respect it is a cycle (fig. 1). It allows the teacher to give feedback to learners as they move towards the accomplishment of the course objectives and it can serve as a measure of how well students are forming their competences and skills (Brown 2003:6). In this respect, the course content will be negotiated i.e. I will take into account emerging learner needs (identified during the formative assessment schedule) when developing future course content. This may mean adapting lesson plans/materials or not using them at all if the emerging needs contradict the findings of the NA/DT. (Full details of the assessment schedule is given in appendix 4)

Backwash

Positive backwash is essential in formative assessment (Brown 2003). These tutorials can serve as a useful way in which information can be washed back to learners as they progress towards achievement of the course objectives. They can also provide a valuable insight into learners’ own perceived progression and levels of motivation. Tutorials take place after lessons 3, 6 and 9.

Reformulation

Reformulation and auditing can provide a means for formative assessment as the learners move closer to the achievement of the objectives. Future course content can be continuously updated and tailored as new needs and wants emerge (Willberg 1987). Students can notice areas in which features of spoken production, such as using chunking, syllable final consonants, have been upgraded in the teacher’s reformulated version of their answers (Lesson 4&5). This will also be done in the written part of the course. Here are some sample feedback videos where students’ written work has been partly reformulated by the teacher:


Fig 1: The Course Development Cycle- (c)Designing Language Courses (Graves 2000) (Heinle&Heinle)

1:http://screencast.com/t/e7wKdAalD 2:http://screencast.com/t/u5Jhx60K.

Summative assessment

Summative assessment characteristically takes place at the end of the course. Its job is to evaluate whether the course objectives have been met (Graves 1996). It will consist of a complete writing and speaking paper carried out under exam conditions (Appendix 9). The tests will be marked using the publically available band descriptors by current IELTS examiners. The tests will be criterion-referenced, which Plat and Weber (1990) define as a test which measures a student’s performance according to a particular standard or criterion which has been agreed upon-the student must reach this level of performance to pass the test . Consequently, students will know exactly what they are expected to produce and will be, consequently, more likely to succeed (Hughes 2005:55).

Content validity and reliability

Reliability has to do with how much we can trust test results (Weir 1990). The IELTS exam is well respected for its reliability due to the extent of the standardisation procedures that I am familiar with as an IELTS writing and speaking examiner.

The learners will be assessed using tasks which reflect the course objectives. Some of the assessment tasks will be taken from published IELTS papers to increase face validity. However, I am of the opinion that just because an exam question has been published by an examination board, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is content valid. The sample speaking exams in practice tests published by UCLES as are a case in point. I believe that they are lacking in face validity- e.g. they don’t contain the examiner frames. To this end, I decided to create my own speaking exams, based on my experience of the real thing. These can be found in appendix 9.

Being direct tests, the scoring of both the speaking and writing papers is no easy task according to Brown (2003:218). The prompts given have no single correct answer which means that the scoring is susceptible to subjectivity. In order to minimize this, standardisation is employed. Brown (2003:67) defines this as a method of evaluating a candidates sample based upon ‘criteria which are held constant’. This is true in the case of the IELTS speaking and writing tests, both of which are criterion-reference tests. Moreover, the tests will be timed and marked by trained IELTS examiners (my colleagues and me) using the public versions of the IELTS assessment criteria (Appendix 10). They will be doubled marked, as in the actual IELTS test, to ensure subjectivity is kept to a minimum. These measures will increase both their content validity and reliability (Brown 2003).

Constraints of testing


The formative testing that I will use will be informal. This will be done to minimize the effect of negative backwash. This informal testing will be used to give individual tutorials (Brown 2003). There may be a conflict between this and the students’ expectations as Burgess and Head (2005) point out that the students on exam preparation courses expect to have regular formal tests. It will therefore be necessary to stress to the students when the informal testing is occurring and highlight the fact that this is being done to provide an opportunity for the teacher to offer feedback to the learners on their progress.

Evaluation

As the course progresses, class time will be given over to individual tutorials which will present both the teacher and the students with the opportunity for reflection and evaluation.These tutorials will also include discussions with the learners which will allow both parties to change the course content as it progresses to cater to emerging student lacks.

Together with this, the followings methods of evaluation can be used:

Richards (1990) suggests that the teacher take field notes during the course as a way to provide the opportunity for reflection. These could provide insights into e.g. learner motivation and effectiveness of materials.

Have a post-course interview with each of the learners to ascertain whether the course has been a success or not and why and to find out their feelings about the success of the course.

5. Conclusion

Exams are high stakes, which places a huge amount of stress on both students and teachers. This can, in turn, lead to a pronounced backwash effect, creating an extremely negative atmosphere in class. Moreover, if the students are taking the exam for extrinsic reasons, their motivation can suffer further as a result.

The needs analysis suggested that these concerns were true for this particular group of students. I, therefore, attempted to design a course that would both address the course objectives and at the same time take advantage of this backwash effect by using it to engage the learners with course content that they would see as immediately relevant to the final test. This would go some way towards reducing any possible negative effects of backwash.

By taking into account the issues of choosing a particular type of syllabus, organising it and applying teaching approaches, I endeavoured to put into practice the following principles:

Formative and Summative tests will be used to ascertain where learners were managing to take on board the course objectives.

Authentic and published course book sources will be combined with exam practice materials in order to increase both motivation and positive backwash.


Systems’ deficiencies in the areas of pronunciation and grammar will be addressed together with essential exam practice

The students will benefit from the course as it will address their weaknesses in the key areas of skills and systems’ knowledge and give them the best chance possible of achieving their target band 6 in the IELTS exam. Notwithstanding, the course is only twenty hours long and as a consequence cannot cover all of the students weaknesses. Therefore, I used the needs analysis and testing to get a picture of their key weaknesses and prioritise those ones which I felt would have the biggest impact on their final result. Another drawback is that the course is solely focusing on achieving exam success and, as a result, does not include language with a high surrender value.

Burgess and Head (2005:1) maintain that teaching exam classes is a special responsibility and can a challenge for both students and teachers. I believe, however, that the skills that I learned on this course, from designing the needs analysis test and writing the course proposal and assessment schedule, will serve me well as I continue to help students get the result they want in official exams in the future.


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Weir, C. 1990. Communicative Language Testing Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International Ltd

White, R. 1988. The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation and Management Oxford: Blackwell

Willberg, P. 1987. One to One: A Teacher’s Handbook. Hove: LTP.

Wilkins, D. 1976. Notional Syllabuses Oxford: OUP

Course Materials

Hashemi, L. & Thomas, B. IELTS Trainer 2011 Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Haines , S. & May P. 2008 IELTS Masterclass Oxford University Press: Oxford

Mann, M. & Taylore-Knowles S. IELTS for Academic Purposes 2009 McGraw Hill: New York.

McCarter, S. 2010 Ready for IELTS Macmillan: Oxford

McCarter, S. and Whitby, N. 2007 Writing Skills (from the Improve your IELTS series) Macmillan: Oxford

O’Connell, S. 2010 Focus on IELTS (new edition) Pearson Longman: Harlow

Parrott, M. 2010 Grammar for English Language Teachers Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Terry, M. and Wilson, J. 2010 Focus on Academic Skills for IELTS Pearson Longman: Harlow

UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) 2007-2013 Cambridge IELTS 6/7/8/9 Student’s Book with Answers: Examination Papers (IELTS Practice Tests) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge


Online Materials

https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/teachingresources

http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/teach-ielts/ielts-teaching-resourceshttp://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/08/ielts-writing-task-2-advantages-and-disadvantages.html


http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/08/ielts-writing-task-2-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/08/ielts-writing-task-2-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

Appendices

Appendix 1: Course PlanOverall Course aim:

To improve the students’ band score in the writing and speaking papers of the IELTS exam by half a band score.

Goal 1: To improve learners’ scores in the speaking paper by half a band.

Objective 1: To be better able to maintain a flow of speech and give more extensive answers in Part 1

Objective 2: To be able to plan more effectively for the long turn (part 2) and to be able to use the one minute planning time to brainstorm non-common lexis & grammar

and base their speech on theseObjective 3: To be better able to use repair & clarification strategiesObjective 4: To be better to use strategies for dealing with hesitation

Objective 5: To produce syllable-final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, stress-timed intonation and chunking more accurately

Objective 6: To produce regular past tenses more accurately

Goal 2: To improve the learners’ scores in the IELTS writing paper by a half a band

Objective 7: To be better able to respond to the prompt

Objective 8: To be better able to use checklists and the error correction code as a way to notice errors and upgrade their own writing.

Objective 9: To be better able to use a variety of complex sentencesObjective 10: To be better able to present an overview which highlights main trends/ key

features

Objective 11: To be able to paraphrase the prompt more effectively in task 1/2Objective 12: To increase students’ word count


Lesson & Aims Link Content Material Homework

Lesson 1 (2 hours)

•To review the criteria from the public versions of the IELTS Speaking band descriptors and have practice applying them.

•To be better able to maintain a flow of speech and give extensive answers in part 1 of the speaking test

(This column links back to findings in the NA/DT (app. 3) & to goals & objectives identified in the CP.

G1 O1 SDT 1

NA1,2,7,7,8,11

•Introduce the lesson by telling taking time to review the criteria from the public versions of the IELTS band descriptors. Tell the students that they will be playing the role of the examiner throughout the course so it is essential that they know how to use the band descriptors.

•Show the following recently published videos by the British Council http://www.youtube.com/user/bcteachertrainer which outline each one, namely fluency and coherence, grammatical range and accuracy, lexical resource and pronunciation. Have a short discussion of each afterwards.

•Then, give the students some practice applying the band descriptors to candidates in the following videos of full IELTS speaking exams : Sawson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z80And171xE, Brahim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo3JqtdPb_I and Raziye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W5khrahvKA. Hand out the PDFs in appendix 14, which further explain the criteria. They should review these regularly as the course progresses.

•Tell the students that we are going to be looking at how to give more extensive answers in part 1 of the Speaking Test.

•Elicit the following from students1.How long it lasts-4-5minutes2. How many topics they have to talk about.- There is one compulsory frame and two further optional frames.3. What topics are covered?- everyday topics such as hobbies, holidays, the future & your country.

•Students write down 5 questions that they might be asked in part 1.Go around monitoring and offering assistance where needed. Get some of the

Worksheet 1(Appendix 7)

Students should go to the quizlet link from the lesson plan and record their answers to the questions from 5 different topics each evening.

Students watch a video of a news item on the BBC World Service and report back to the teacher on it.


students to put one of the questions they’ve written on the board.

•Choose one of the questions on the board and get a student to ask you. E.g. What’s your favourite book? Give a short answer e.g. War and Peace. Ask the students if the examiner would be impressed with this answer and why not – no, because it is too short.

•Dictate the following answers to the students:

a) My favourite book is War and Peace. I think I enjoyed it because I like history.

b) My favourite book has to be War and Peace. I believe that I really enjoyed this book because of my interest in all things historical. For instance, I really like novels set in the Napoleonic era. It was a period when the future of the world hung in the balance.

c) My favourite book is War and Peace. I really like war novels and historical novels.

•Students discuss which answers are going to impress the examiner and why. Elicit that A is a minimal answer. C is adequate and B is excellent. B is excellent as it develops the topic fully, gives reasons why and offers examples.

Put the following table on the board:

Explanations and reasons

Words/phrases to introduce or add more information

Words/phrases to give examples

•Stds copy the table into their notebooks and then dictate the following phrases: This is because …; The reason for this is …; I believe this is because …; I say this because … ; (And) another thing is …;As well as this …; Firstly/ Secondly, etc …; A good/perfect example of this is …; For instance …; One time this happened was …


•Students listen and put the phrases into the corresponding box. Stds. chck with a partner. Get volunteers to write the phrases onto the board. Help with any meaning/use and inaccuracies in spelling/grammar at this stage. Demonstrate pronunciation graphically and orally. Drill chorally and individually.

• Ask students random part 1 questions from http://quizlet.com/27440757/ielts-speaking-part-1-topics-flash-cards/. Get them to use at least one phrase from each section and speak for at least 30 seconds. Do this with a few other students to further demonstrate the idea.

Lesson & Aims Link Content Material HomeworkLesson 2 (2hours)

•.To be able to plan more effectively for the long turn (part 2) and to be able to use the one minute planning time to brainstorm non-common lexis & grammar and base their speech on

G1O2SDT2&3NA1,2,7,11

-Students report back on the video of a news item on the BBC World Service that they saw.

-Put the following part 2 question on the board


-Stds. Record their answers to the task 2 card from class for homework and email to the teacher. The teacher then sends the student back a reformulated version. Students record their answers again to be more like the teachers’


Test: Put the students in pairs. Hand out the topic cards from the above link. They take it in turns to be examiner and candidate. Examiners should tell students the topic then ask the series on questions below. Suggest that the examiner use the stopwatch on his mobile phone to ensure that the candidate speaks for at least 25-30 seconds. Remind the students to use the phrases from earlier. Examiners should give feedback after each question has been asked. Go around monitoring, helping where needed and noting good examples of language.

these.

•Students plan their answer individually for one minute, then answer the question in pairs. Teacher monitors but doesn’t comment on the students’ answers at this stage.

•Teacher plans on the whiteboard. Model the whiteboard as the notepaper. Point out that Part 2 prompt cards are designed to be divided into 4 sections and this can aid in the planning process. Demonstrate by dividing the board into 4. Number each of the parts of the prompt and note these as shown.

•Pre-teach vocabulary as per ex. A in Worksheet 1

•Tell the learners to focus on key non-common lexis (NCL) –explain this as

reformulated version.

Students watch another video of a news item on the BBC World Service of VOA and report back on it.


vocabulary that will impress the examiner- and more complex grammar in their notes as shown in the following whiteboard shot. Point out the importance of trying to come up with 10 words of NCL/ idiomatic language and collocation.

•Teacher offers a model answer based on the notes on the board. (See the model answer on worksheet 1)

•Point out that collocational competence is highly prized by examiners. Focus stds. attention on the collocation ex. B. Tell students that they should attempt to include as many examples as possible in their speaking.

•In groups, students brainstorm vocabulary to describe their teacher. Write these on the board. Model pron., students mark stressed syllable. Sts. Repeat chorally, then individually.

•Focus attention on grammar exercises C, D and E on Worksheet 1.


•Students write 3 of their own sentences about their teachers using ‘in spite of’ and the 3rd conditional on mini-whiteboards. Monitor and assist. Best sentences to whiteboard. Teacher models the answer, then class practice pron., paying particular attention to intonation.

• Focus attention on Pron. Box and then stds. do exercises F and G.

•Now, hand out a new piece of notepaper. Students have a second go at planning the prompt about their own teacher. Monitor and keep the student focused on key vocab.

•Students practice with a partner, teacher monitors and offers feedback, then record the answers. Give cold feedback individually.

•Finally stds. Record their answers for homework.


Test: Hand out prompt 2. (See worksheet 2 for details. Give students 1 minute to write notes, then they practice in pairs. One pair plays the examiner and the other the candidates. (The students have copies of the public versions of the band descriptors and have already had practice applying them to dummy candidates


Lesson 3 (2 hours)

•To be better able to use repair & clarification strategies

•To be better to use strategies for dealing with hesitation

G1 O3 & O4SDT 4, 5 & 6NA1,2,6,7,11

•Board the following question from part 3 of the IELTS speaking paper. Students discuss the following question in pairs: What was the most important moment in the history of the twentieth century? Monitor and check how they deal with the question

•Tell the students that we’re going listen to someone answering the question. Assign the following task: What did they say was the most important moment of the 20th Century? Did they answer the question well? Check in pairs. Play again if necessary

•Hand out the transcript of the model answer from stage B (Worksheet 1-a) Use the transcript to introduce the main aim of the lesson. i.e. To improve the students’ speaking skills for part 3 by focusing on hesitation devices and repair.

•Make groups of 3 & Hand out the phrases (Worksheet 2-b). Tell them that some are from the listening and some are extra useful ones. Do a couple of examples together i.e.: That’s a difficult Question and I don’t really understand the question. Students categorise the rest of them. Tell them to use transcript to help illustrate the meaning. Monitor and see which ones they are having difficulty categorising. Feedback: Hand out Cheat-sheet cards. CCQs where necessary. (Worksheet 2-c)

•Point out that these are fixed expressions that can be used in the exam but that the all important thing is to pronounce them in a natural way. Highlight the fact that if they don’t they may end up sounding bored, uninterested or artificial. Explain that in PART 3 students won’t have the questions written down so it’s important to develop ways to react naturally.

•Cheat sheet to board. Say a couple of the phrases naturally and artificially.

Worksheet 3(Appendix 7)Questions adapted from www.esldiscussions.com

Assign a Part 3 Task speaking task on Edmodo. I will post a series Part 3 questions and record themselves giving the answers. Students record their answers and send them to the teacher. The teacher then sends the student back a reformulated version. Students record their answers again to be more like the teacher’s reformulated version.


Students guess which is which. Go through pronunciation in more detail of a few key phrases on board, focus on main stressed words, intonation and weak forms (sort of /əv/). Students note stress and intonation on cheat sheets etc. Drill chorally and individually. Students do the pron. of the rest of the phrases on their own. Whole class feedback. Accompany with visuals. Tell students to pick two phrases from each category and practice pronunciation with a partner.

•Explain that you are going to ask some typical questions from Part 3 of the Speaking. Remind the students that they aren’t expected to be experts on General Knowledge but highlight that they should try react naturally using the hesitation devices and repair and that they should try to develop answers and give examples. They can use the cheat sheet.

•Pick a student. Ask the student to give you a number between 1 and 10. Ask the corresponding question from Appendix 4 in open class. Use response to check naturally pron. Do further drilling if necessary. Keep on asking questions as appropriate. Keep on drilling pron. Until it sounds natural. Feed in clarification and self-correcting if students have forgotten.

•Hand out a different topic question card to each student (Appendix 4)Seat the students in a line down the middle of the room facing each other. Explain that students ask and answer, using hesitation and repair devices where needed using the cheat sheet. They should give their partner one point for each time they use a phrase. Use ICQs if needed.

•Remind the students to discuss the question as if it were in an exam developing answers together and giving examples where necessary. Monitor. Note errors. Give hot feedback where needed. 2 mins. Change Pairs using casino wheel. Everyone moves clockwise around the desk and each time they someone new to speak with.

•


•Errors plus good language to the board, Students correct in pairs. Feed in any useful language.

Tutorial session 1


Test: Students turn over the cheat-sheet cards. Continue Cycle without using the cheat sheets. Monitor. Note errors. Give hot feedback where needed. Make dictionaries available for any meaning issues with the questions. Tell students that only the student asking the question can use the dictionary. The answerer must improvise. After they have finished speaking, students should take turns giving each other feedback using the public version of the speaking band descriptors for fluency and coherence.


Lesson 4 (2 hours)

•To produce syllable-final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, stress-timed intonation and chunking more accurately.

G1 O5SDT 7NA1,2,7,8,11

Put a part 2 of the speaking exam question on the board (Focus on IELTS P. 152, Ex. 1)

Students write their answers in their notebooks. The teacher should go around helping with grammar and lexis and reformulating where necessary.

Teacher picks out some good sentences and gets the students to put them on the board. Students copy the sentences into their notebooks.

(Alternatively, on of the students’ homework recordings can be used for this purpose.

Teacher carries out the following:1. Divides the text into chunks (tone units)2. Highlights the main stressed syllable of each chunk (3. Points out syllable-final consonants that the stds may mi out

on.(Use // to demonstrate pauses between the chunks, a small dot to highlight the main stressed syllable and underline the syllable final consonants. CCQ each concept i.e how do you find the main stressed syllable in a chunk? What kinds of words carry the main stress?)

Teacher says the sentences while demonstrating natural chunking, stress and syllable final consonants. Drill chorally and individually as needed.

Students apply chunking, stress and highlight the syllable final consonants to their scripts graphically a demonstrated. Teacher monitors and helps where necessary.

Students read out their scripts paying close attention to the features of pron. Teacher again monitors and helps.

Call upon a few individuals in open class. Get them to say their sentences. Correct and improve where necessary. Individual and choral drilling.

Hand out another part 2 question (Ready for IELTS P.99 Ex.1). Give the students 1 minute planning time. Encourage them to write

10 words of non-common lexis on the notepaper. Remind stds that these words will carry the main stress in the their respective

Student generated/

Ready for IELTS P.99 Ex.1)

Students record their answers to part 2 question (Ready for IELTS P.99 Ex.1), monitor the recording to see if they are producing the target features of pronunciation accurately. Again the students send to the teacher and the teacher send them back a reformulated version. Students have another go.


chunks.

Students record their answers for homework. Send a copy of the

recording to the teacher. Teacher offers the stds further feedback.


Lesson 5 (2 hours) •To produce regular past tenses more accurately

G1 O6SDT9 NA1,2,7,8,11

Tell the students that we will be reviewing the planning of part 2 of the speaking paper as covered in lesson 2 above. Ask them to go to p.149 of Ready for IELTS. Focus on the exam question in ex. 1 –Describe your favourite work of art and then get them to match the 4 sections of the model answer with the 4 parts of the topic card (ex.2). Tell the students to ignore any unknown vocabulary at this stage.

Now, hand out a blank piece of note paper to the students and get them to write what the students think the candidates notes were. Deal with some of the difficult vocabulary at this stage. They should come up with something like this…

Student generated/

Part 2 questions taken from p. 178 and 179 of Ready for IELTS

Students record their answers to the 3 other topic 2 cards for Ready for IELTS p.178-179. When they listen back to the recording they should check whether the pronunciation of the simple past is correct. If not, they should record it again.


Test: Students present their answer to a partner who will play the role of the examiner. Time it strictly- 2 mins each. The partner offers feedback on their pron. Reverse the roles.

What?Great craftsmanship,Most beautiful object,sculptor

When?Hated art galleries,Old-fashioned,overawed

Looks like?

Made of marble,Looking off into the distance,

Why like?

Changed + way I looked at +…Be very fond of

Get the students to focus on ex. 5 on p.149. Students read the advice. Ask the students if they can recall what IELTS examiners call this aspect of pronunciation i.e. chunking. Students go through the model answer identifying where the natural pauses are.

The teacher models the pronunciation of the model answer for the students, pausing in the natural places. Ask an individual student to read out the model with pauses. Correct where needed. Next, he students, in pairs, practice saying the model answer with their partners. Go around monitoring

Tell then students that we are going to be looking at regular past tense pronunciation. Ask them to focus on the following words: hated, overawed and looked

Draw the following table on the board divided into the following categories according to their pronunciation. Model the sounds if required:

/d/ /t/ /Id/ Extra syllable added


Elict that hated has an /Id/ sound and an extra syllable, looked a /t/ added to the end with no extra syllable and overawed a /d/ sound added to the end with no extra syllables. Model the sounds for the students. Drill chorally and individually. Also, get to notice how the final consonant sound in these past simple pronunciations can be linked onto the next syllable if that begins with a vowel. i.e.. /heitI.dært/ Again, model and drill. Elicit rules and the differences between voiced and voiceless sounds, as say that this is the key to understanding past tense pronunciation

Hand out the following list on cards with blu-tac on the back. stop = stopped learn = learned decide = decided look = looked listen = listened want = wanted wash = washed play = played start = started watch = watched enjoy = enjoyed wait = waited like = liked live = lived visit = visited walk = walked stay = stayed invite = invited help = helped open = opened work = worked love = loved change = changed learn = learned miss = missed call = called relax = relaxed arrive = arrived smile = smiled clean = cleaned

Students in pairs should study the cards and decide on the pronunciation by sticking it into the corresponding category. When the students have finished model and drill the pronunciation.

Hand out the topic cards from p. 178 and 179 of Ready for IELTS. (Don’t let them see the vocab lists). Each student should have two or 3 each. Give them 1 minute to plan their answer. Then, get the students to write their answers in their copy books. Go around monitoring and helping where required.

When they have finished tell them to underline any verbs that are in the simple past. Think about what the pronunciation should be and also if there is any linking to the next syllable.

Then, students practice saying their answers to their partners, being very careful about past tense pronunciation.


•Have a 20 minutes review of each of the objectives of the speaking section of the course. Then have an open class discussion on how successful each of them was in achieving those objectives. Did we manage to achieve our objectives?


Test: Get the students to write notes to their next topic card. This time instead of writing their answers, they should speak for the allotted 2 minutes as in the real IELTS exam. They should take turn playing the role of candidate and examiner. Remind the student that accurate production of individual sounds and words stress are some of the features of pronunciation monitored closely by examiners. Go around and ensure they follow the rules of regular past tense pronunciation.

Summative Test: Timed speaking See assessment schedule (appendix 3) and a copy of the test materials in appendix 6 for further details


Lesson 6 (2 hours)

•To review the writing band descriptors and give the students practice applying them

•To be better able to respond to all parts of the prompt.

•To increase students’ word count

G2 O7&12 WDT3&4

NA1,3,5,6,7,11

Introduce the lesson by telling taking time to review the criteria from the public versions of the IELTS writing band descriptors. Tell the students that they will be playing the role of the examiner throughout the course so it is essential that they know how to use the band descriptors. Hand out the public version of the writing band descriptors from IELTS.org.

Show the following recently published videos by the British Council http://www.youtube.com/user/bcteachertrainer

which outline each one of the writing criteria, namely Task achievement, grammatical range and accuracy, lexical resource and coherence and cohesion. Have a short discussion of each afterwards.

Then, give the students some practice applying the band descriptors to past candidates’ writing samples. (Hand out the exam questions in each case and have a short discussion about what I required for a band 6 answer.) Hand out the PDFs in appendix 14, which further explain the criteria. They should review these regularly as the course progresses.

Tell the students that they are going to have a look at analysing task 2 prompts

Write the following on the board:When answering task 2 prompts you should always follow the following procedure:

1) Read the question carefully underling key words in the prompt.2) Make sure that the ideas that come to mind are directly relevant

to the prompt.3) Respond to all parts of the prompt. 4) Re-read the prompt regularly to ensure that you are responding

to all parts of the task. Tell the students that they are going to practice identifying which

ideas for specific task 2 prompts are relevant and which are not. Hand out worksheet 3. In pairs students decide which ideas are

relevant to the prompt and which are not. Do the first one in open


Assign the students the task 2 question on page 99 of Ready for IELTS: “In the modern world there has been a movement away from written exams to more practical assessment. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this trend.” The task is due for lesson 9.

Students also complete exercises 1-6 on page 137 of IELTS Masterclass in preparation for the next lesson.


class as an example. Stds do the other 2 in pairs. Feedback. (Answers: A: relevant 1,2 &5 irrelevant 3&4; B: relevant 1,2&5 irrelevant 3&4; C: relevant 1,2,3&5 irrelevant 4)

Hand out worksheet 4. Again students work in pairs. Monitor to ensure that the ideas which the stds are proposing to be relevant are relevant.

Change the pairs. Students read out their ideas, their partner has to tell them which ideas are relevant and why. i.e. What part of the prompt do they respond to.

Monitor and board the best of the relevant ideas. Put these on the board and use them to plan the essay in open class.

Collect the students’ scripts. Give individual feedback to each of the students using the voice and screen capture software jing.

Tutorial session 2



Test: Give stds 30 minutes to write their answer to the essay. Point out that they have 10 minutes less than in the actual exam as the planning should usually take them about 10 minutes.

Lesson 7 (2 hours) To be better able to use

checklists and the error correction code as a way to notice errors and upgrade their own writing.

G2 O8WDT1&2NA1,3,5,6,7,9,11

Put the following task 2 writing process on the board (taken from a previous class: Step 1-Understand the QuestionStep 2-BrainstormStep 3-Select Ideas for DevelopmentStep 4-Plan StructureStep 5-Write IntroductionStep 6-Write Body ParagraphsStep 7-Write Conclusion

Remind the students that for a 40 minute timed writing, steps 1-4 should take about 5-10 minutes. A good plan is essential for writing a good task 2 essay.

Tell the students that the final step is missing. Ask them what it might be? –error correction and review.

Check the homework from p. 137 of IELTS Masterclass. Ask the students what are the most common types of errors which come up in their writing. Students work in pairs to come up with a list –spelling, word order, pluralisation, articles, punctuation and singular/plural agreement.

Hand out the correction code. See worksheet 5 below. Students compare their list with this. Are there any differences? Tell the students that they should use this code when they are doing peer correction and also tell them that the teacher will be using it in their writing feedback..

Direct students’ attention to ex. 1, 2 and 3 on page 138 of IELTS Masterclass. Students complete individually. Go around monitoring and helping where needed. However, do not correct the errors for them. It is important that the gain the ability to self-correct on their own. Full class feedback.

Ask the students what they do to minimize the number of errors in their writing? Do they give themselves some time (5 mins) to

ex. 1, 2 and 3 on page 138 of IELTS Masterclass

page 99 of Ready for IELTS

P. 209 of Ready for IELTS

(Appendix 7)

For homework students write their response to the task 2 prompt on p.101 of Ready for IELTS. Remind the students to use the checklist from Ready P.209.


correct errors at the end of the hour allotted for the writing paper? –If not, strongly encourage them to do so. Tell them that the last 5 minutes is much better spent reducing the error count than increasing their word count. i.e. many more marks can be lost on LR and GRA.

Do they use a checklist? If they don’t then hand out the checklist from P. 209 of Ready for IELTS. Encourage the students to use this checklist to guide their self-correction during the last 5 mins of every writing paper.

Ask the students to take out their task 2 writing script of the homework ex. from page 99 of Ready for IELTS: “In the modern world there has been a movement away from written exams to more practical assessment. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this trend.” They then exchange these with their partners.

Using the public writing band descriptors for task 2 (which they have been introduced to earlier in the course), the checklist for task 2 from Ready for IELTS and the correction code students correct each other papers. Ask the students to call upon you if they have any doubts. Go around monitoring and helping where needed. Students should spend 10 minutes correcting and 5 minutes giving feedback.

Finally hand out the model answer from Ready for IELTS P. 100 to the homework task. Students compare the difference between their versions and the model. How can they improve their answers? –Ideas to the board.

Finally, Students rewrite their task 2 answers from p.99 of Ready for IELTS.



Lesson 8 (2 hours) To be better able to use

a variety of complex sentences.

To increase students’ word count

O9&12WDT 3 & 5NA1,3,5,6,7,9,11

Put the following graph and excerpt on the board.

“The weather station recorded temperatures of 18 degrees in 1994. From 1994 to 1996 the temperature increased rapidly from 27 degrees. However, from 1996 the temperature declined gradually to around 22 degrees in 1998. From 1999 to 2005 it fluctuated slightly and from 2006 it rose dramatically again. The temperature peaked at 24 degrees in 2008”.

Stds in pairs discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the extract. Elicit the following from the students:

Strenghts: accurate spelling, pluralisation and word formation throughout, std wide lexical resource (Band 7), key features highlighted accurately, data included with good control. Grammar displays a high degree of accuracy.Weaknesses: Limited range of grammatical structures used- these tend to always be past simple + adverb: increased rapidly, declined gradually.

Tell the stds that they’re going to be focusing on how to show a greater range of grammatical structures by focusing on key word transformations.

Put the following on the board:

See screenshots 1 below. Idea taken from http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Writing%20Task%201%20-%20Sentence%20transformations.pdf

(Appendix 7)

P.101 Cambridge IELTS practice tests 8.

Teacher gives the students feedback using jing. This will include reformulations of students’ written work. See examples here: http://screencast.com/t/xJgZtaLpaKa

http://screencast.com/t/dXTbo3iE


From 1999 to 2005 the temperature increased rapidly. (verb + adverb)There was a _____ _______ __ temperature from 1999 to 2005. (adj. + noun)

The weather station recorded temperatures of -2 degrees in 2006. (active)Temperatures of -2 degrees ______ _______ in 2006. (passive)

Elicit the correct answers in open class i.e. rapid increase in and were recorded. Point out that when we use the adj. noun format we require the preposition in to describe the information on the y-axis- in temperature.

Hand out worksheet. Students complete in groups of four. Give the correct answers to board. Monitor and offer help where required. Correct answers on the board.

Hand out the diagnostic task 1 student scripts. Stds go through their script highlighting verb + adverb combinations and adjective nouns combinations and passive errors. Students rewrite their scripts giving special attention to accuracy demonstrating as much range as possible. Monitor and offer help where needed.


Collect scripts. Scan and send each student individual feedback using jing.


Test: Timed writing with support. Hand out task 1 (Test 4) from P.101 Cambridge IELTS practice tests 8. Tell the students they are going to do a timed writing with support from the teacher. Insist that the students try to demonstrate as much grammatical range as possible when answering the questions. Offer help and support as the students complete the task.


Lesson 9 (2 hours) To be better able to

present an overview which highlights main trends/ key features.

G2 O10WDT6NA1,3,5,6,7,9,11

Put graphs 1-5 on the screen. (See screen shots below) and worksheet 5. Elicit from the students what the graph shows- (percentage of the population of 4 European countries who went to a foreign country on holidays between 2002-2012.

Students match the graphs to the notes about general trends in ex. 1 on the worksheet.

Put the following on the board “There was an overall increase in the number of foreign vacations from 2002. However, trips abroad decreased slightly after 2010. Generally, in each year, asimilar percentage of people from each country took overseas holidays, except for in 2006 when there was a big difference between France and the UK.” Elicit what this is from stds. (An overview of graph 1).

Ask the following questions to stds. They discuss answers in pairs. This is followed by full class feedback in each case.1. What language is used to describe the general trends? (Overall,

generally)2. What other expressions can be used for this? (generally speaking,

from an overall perspective)3. Does the overview contain data from the graph? (No, information

should be general in the overview. Candidates should save specific data for the main body.

4. How does the author of the graph avoid repeating the noun phrase the percentage of the population who travelled abroad? –By paraphrasing with language such as trip abroad, travelled abroad, trip abroad etc.)

Collect the notes on each graph. Individually students write an overview for graph 2. Go around helping stds, making sure they follow the advice above.

Call students individually to put their overviews on the board. Error correct and/or reformulate answers as needs be. Then, hand out the model overviews for each graph. Encourage students to notice the difference between their attempt and the models.

Repeat process above for the remaining graphs.

Idea taken from http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Writing%20Task%201%20-%20Which%20graph.pdf

(Appendix 7)

Students look at the task 1s in IELTS 7 on p.30, 78 and 101. Identify the main trends of each and then write an overview for each one. After completing this task, they again compare their answers with the models/samples in the back of the book.


Tutorial session 3


Test: Hand out Cambridge IELTS 7. Get the students to P.53. In pairs stds. identify the main details. i.e. the consumption of chicken increased during the period The amount of beef consumed showed a dramatic reduction etc. . Individually, give students 5 mins. to write an overview for the task. Then, students should compare their overviews with the model answer on on P. 164


Lesson 10 (2 hours)

To be better able to paraphrase the prompt language in task 1 & 2 of the IELTS writing paper

To review the objectives of the course

G2 O11WDT7NA1,3,5,6,7,9,11

Review the macro structure for task 2 i.e. elicit1. Introductory statement2. Overview3. Main Body

Ask students why it’s important not to use too much language from the prompt in both when writing the introductory statement for task 1 of the IELTS writing paper. –i.e. because this language is completely ignored by the examiner and taken off your word count. How can the students avoid doing this? By paraphrasing the language from the prompt.

Hand out the worksheet 7. Focus attention on ex. 1: “The chart shows the incidence of low birth weight in a number of regions of the world” In pairs students try to paraphrase an introductory sentence. Suggest that they think of synonyms for the words in the prompt and try to change the word order and/or word formation.

Ask a volunteer to put their answer on the board. Make any corrections necessary. Suggest alternative ways of paraphrasing.

Hand out the suggested answer (See worksheet)

Now move on to paraphrasing task 2 prompts. See worksheet 8. Follow the same procedure as above.

Have a final review of the course content. Put the objectives up on the board.

Worksheet 7/8

(Appendix 7)

Students go to Cambridge IELTS books 5, 6 and 7 in the university library.They write introductions to each of the task 1 and task 2 prompts and try to paraphrase the prompt in each case. After completing each one, they should check the model/sample answers.


Test: Students complete the other exercises individually. Go around monitoring and helping where needed. Hand out the suggested paraphrase after students have completed each one.

In pairs, students discuss how successful they were in achieving these objectives and why they were or were not successful. Have a full class discussion- did we realise the goals? What can be done between now and the exam date to make up for any shortfalls?


Summative Test: Timed Writing: Cambridge ESOL 9 P. 101 See appendix 6 and the assessment schedule Appendix 3 for details .

Appendix 2: Needs Analysis and Diagnostic Test: Collated Results

2.1: Needs Analysis – collocated results:

What level did you begin your English studies at EIU at?


Beginner 2 12%

Elementary 8 47%

Pre-intermediate 7 41%

Intermediate 0 0%

Upper-intermediate

0 0%

Why are you choosing to take the IELTS exam now?Hang To get into the 300 level classes in the business departmentMy name's Hồng I want to get IELTS 6.0 to study well in the business department.Đào Duy Hùng To study higher classes requied IELTS al least 6.0

Nguyen Minh DuyIELTS is a requirement in order to get into the 300 level classes in the business department and also a key point to develop my career

Duong Nguyen Hai I need improve English level to continue business. Further, I want to use English betterNguyen Thi My HuongLe Thi My DuyenPhan Thi Hue to get into the 300 level classes in the business department.Giang Ta to get into the 300 level clases in the classes in the business departmentHieu to get into the 300 level classes in the business departmentHo Thi Phung Hoang to get into the 300 level classes in the business departmentLe Anh Duy Yup, I need this to continue with the degrees,as well as my job in the future.Giang Phan to get 6.0 IELTS and to get into the next business departmentHai Pham Hoang To get the higher level in the business departmentGiang because I can study the 300 level business classes after taking the IELTS 6.0

Listening [What grades do you hope to get?]


5 0 0%

5.5 0 0%

6 8 47%

6.5 6 35%

7 1 6%

7.5 0 0%

8 1 6%

It doesn't matter

1 6%

Reading [What grades do you hope to get?]


5 0 0%

5.5 1 6%

6 7 41%

6.5 6 35%

7 0 0%

7.5 2 12%

8 0 0%

It doesn't matter

1 6%

Writing [What grades do you hope to get?]


5 0 0%

5.5 0 0%

6 11

65%

6.5 3 18%

7 1 6%

7.5 0 0%

8 1 6%

It doesn't matter 1 6%


5 0 0%

5.5 2 12%

6 9 53%

6.5 1 6%

7 2 12%

7.5 0 0%

8 2 12%

It doesn't matter

1 6%

Overall [What grades do you hope to get?]


5 0 0%

5.5 0 0%

6 10

59%

6.5 3 18%

7 1 6%


7.5 0 0%

8 2 12%

It doesn't matter 1 6%

Which skill are you weakest at?


Listening

3 18%

Reading 4 24%

Writing 3 18%

Speaking 7 41%


Have you ever taken the IELTS test before? If so, when and what score did you get?Hang No, I haven't ever taken the IELTS test beforeMy name's Hồng no, I haven'tĐào Duy Hùng No, I haven't

Nguyen Minh DuyYes, I overcame IELTS band 5 of EIU university 1 year ago

Duong Nguyen Hai No, I haven'tNguyen Thi My Huong No, I haven'tLe Thi My Duyen No, haven'tPhan Thi Hue NoGiang Ta No, i haven'tHieu No, I haven'tHo Thi Phung Hoang NoLe Anh Duy None.Giang Phan no, i haven'tHai Pham Hoang No, I have notGiang no ever

Have you studied IELTS or any of the Cambridge exams e.g. FCE before? If so, where, when and for how long?

HangNo, I haven't studied IELTS or any of the Cambridge exams before

My name's Hồng no, i haven'tĐào Duy Hùng No, I haven'tNguyen Minh Duy Yes, British Council at EIU universityDuong Nguyen Hai No but i have used Prepare for IELTS of Penny Cameron Nguyen Thi My Huong No, I haven'tLe Thi My Duyen No, haven'tPhan Thi Hue NoGiang Ta I have studied IELTS at EIU for a yearHieu No, I haven'tHo Thi Phung Hoang NoLe Anh Duy None.Giang Phan no, i haven'tHai Pham Hoang No, I have not


What materials/resources do you use during your own independent study of English?

Watching Films 13

22%

Watching videos on youtube 11

19%

Reading online newspapers/magazines 5 9%

Speaking with native speakers 2 3%

Speaking with non-natives 5 9%

Listening to English Language radio e.g. VOA/BBC 3 5%

Reading graded readers 2 3%

Reading novels 4 7%

Writing a diary 1 2%

Writing emails 4 7%

Reading an English language newspaper (published in Vietnam)

2 3%

Other 6 10%

How many hours do you spend each week on independent study?Hang 14 hours


My name's Hồng 12Đào Duy Hùng 2 hrNguyen Minh Duy 7-10Duong Nguyen Hai 20 hoursNguyen Thi My Huong 21 hoursLe Thi My Duyen 2 hoursPhan Thi Hue 10 hoursGiang Ta 7 hoursHieu 4-5 hoursHo Thi Phung Hoang about 10 hoursLe Anh Duy 15 hoursGiang PhanHai Pham Hoang 9 hours

Do you have access to the internet where you live?


Yes

15 88%

No 2 12%

How do you log on to the internet?

using my laptop 11 65%

Ipad 1 6%

Iphone 1 6%

on the university's computers 0 0%

at an internet cafe 0 0%

More than one of the above 3 18%

Other 1 6%

Have you used www.edmodo.com before? How long has it been since you used it last?Hang Yes, I have My name's Hồng yes. I have to used www.edmodo.com before.

Đào Duy HùngYes, When I started study Pre-Intermediate class. I stoped use it 1 years ago.

Nguyen Minh Duy OnceDuong Nguyen Hai Yes, I have used 2 years ago but I rarely spend time for itNguyen Thi My Huong No, I haven'tLe Thi My Duyen No, haven'tPhan Thi Hue Yes. 1 yearGiang Ta yes, i have. It was a yearHieu yes, i have. 1.5 yearsHo Thi Phung Hoang 1 year agoLe Anh Duy 1 year agoGiang Phan yes, i have about 10 monthsHai Pham Hoang Yes, I have. But I have stoped using Edmodo for one year.Giang yes, I used to it, but I haven't use it for more one year

How much free time do you have in the evening for English homework?Hang 1 and a half

My name's HồngI have free time at night

Đào Duy Hùng at least 4 hours.


Nguyen Minh Duy 5 hoursDuong Nguyen Hai 3 hourNguyen Thi My HuongLe Thi My Duyen about 3 hoursPhan Thi Hue 3 hoursGiang Ta 2 hoursHieu 1 hour 30 minutesHo Thi Phung Hoang 3 hoursLe Anh Duy 1h or 2hGiang Phan 4Hai Pham Hoang 3 hoursGiang 2 hours

Which IELTS related books do you have?Hang Preparation and practiceMy name's HồngĐào Duy Hùng Ready for IELTS.Nguyen Minh Duy Ready for IELTS (hard copy), Cambridge IELTS 2-9 (ebook),...Duong Nguyen Hai Prepare for IELTS of Penny CameronNguyen Thi My Huong

Le Thi My DuyenIelts 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9; ready for ielts book + workbook; University of cambridge ESOL examinations;

Phan Thi Hue Cambridge IeltsGiang Ta No, i haven gotHieu NoHo Thi Phung Hoang IELTS Cambridge 1-9Le Anh Duy IELTS task 4.Giang PhanHai Pham Hoang Cambridge IELTS (pdf file)Giang Basic IELTS writting

What date are you going to take the IELTS exam?Hang At the beginning of DecemberMy name's Hồng when i finish level 5Đào Duy Hùng Not know yet.Nguyen Minh Duy In November or September

Duong Nguyen HaiI don't sure. Maybe it will be in december or next years

Nguyen Thi My HuongLe Thi My DuyenPhan Thi Hue next 10 weeksGiang Ta may be in JanuaryHieu December, 2013Ho Thi Phung Hoang 30 November 2013Le Anh Duy 22-23/2012Giang PhanHai Pham Hoang I am not sure. May be more than 3 months laterGiang the next ten weeks


Listening:

Which one of the following is most like you?

I'm completely unfamiliar with the listening paper.

1 6%

I know a little bit about the listening paper. 12 71%

I'm very familiar with the listening paper. 4 24%

How good are you at IELTS listening?


1 0 0%

2 1 6%

3 3 18%

4 4 24%

5 4 24%

6 2 12%

7 3 18%

8 0 0%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%


Understanding topic and context [IELTS Listening subskills]


I'm terrible at this. 2 12%

Sometimes I can do this 9 53%

I'm very good at this 6 35%

I'm not sure what this means.

0 0%


Listening for specific information (targeted listening) e.g. identifying numbers [IELTS Listening subskills]






0 0%


Recognizing and distinguishing word boundaries [IELTS Listening subskills]






3 18%


Recognizing individual sounds (final “S” for example) [IELTS Listening subskills]






0 0%


Using word and sentence stress to identify word forms [IELTS Listening subskills]






2 12%


Predicting the type of information required to answer the question [IELTS Listening subskills]






0 0%


Reading & understanding questions quickly [IELTS Listening subskills]






0 0%


Identifying distractors [IELTS Listening subskills]






4 25%


Identifying words I know in connected speech [IELTS Listening subskills]






1 6%

How do you practise listening outside of class?Hang Listening to PotcastsMy name's Hồng I watch movies like "Friends, How I met your mother?" and listening to English music.

Đào Duy HùngThat's my hobbies too. chatting with foreign people, listen to music, watching video, ... Practice with the tests in the IELTS books

Nguyen Minh Duy I can practise listening skill on the laptop in my bedroom listen to music and video on youtubeDuong Nguyen Hai Watch movie.Nguyen Thi My Huong

Listening music.

Le Thi My DuyenI listen to the music with lyric, using Cambridge IELTS I listening music and some test in ielts book

Phan Thi Hue yes, i have i practice listening english by watching tvGiang Ta Listen to music, watch some videos, ...Hieu Practice Ielts listening tests, and effortlessHo Thi Phung Hoang English by AJ HogeLe Anh Duy English by AJ HogeGiang Phan

Hai Pham HoangEnglish by AJ Hoge Seldom listening music, playing games that use english watching films, listening news on TV and listening music


Reading

Which one of the following is most like you.

I'm completely unfamiliar with the reading paper.

2 12%

I know a little bit about the reading paper. 13 76%

I'm very familiar with the listening paper. 2 12%

Matching Headings to paragraphs [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]



I'm sometimes successful at this.

11 69%

I'm usually very good at this. 2 13%

I don't know this term. 0 0%

Matching Argument to Experts [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




9 56%




True/False, Yes/No, Not given [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




10 63%




Gap Fill [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




9 56%




Flowchart Completion [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




8 50%




Diagram Completion [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




8 50%



Multiple Choice [How do you feel about the following type IELTS reading questions?]




12 75%




How good at reading do you think you are?


1 0 0%

2 0 0%

3 2 12%

4 5 29%

5 6 35%

6 3 18%

7 0 0%

8 1 6%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%


Hang When I read an article or some paragraphs.My name's Hồng Actually, I just know a little bit information in the article.

Đào Duy Hùng

My skills such as skim and scan, finding the keys is terrible. Besides that, I have problem with new words and my vocabulary is very poor. I do not how to remember and these words effectively

Nguyen Minh Duy

Actually, spending almost a year on studying business course at EIU was a great experience. I have to read english materials all the time and hopefully may improve reading skill. However, I realize a big problem. The reading in IELTS exam is more tricky because of various tasks and requiring a wide-range knowledge while I just read and focus on business section. Those are my opinion.

Duong Nguyen Hai I do not know my ability on reading

Nguyen Thi My Huong

Because I do not have more new words I don't have a lot of vocabulary, and academic words. spend to long reading and trying to understand perfectly I waste too much time for reading and I remember too bad

Le Thi My Duyen

Phan Thi Hue

Because in the reading, it has many new words and I don't really understand the meaning. I'm also not good at guessing what does it means. new vocabulary,low speed of reading, dont understand the questions, dont know exactly where are key words

Giang TaHieu

Ho Thi Phung Hoang

because sometimes it has many new vocabularies in the paragraph so i couldn't understand because my hobby is reading and understanding I can understand about more than 70% of the reading part, with some guest words or meaning.

Le Anh DuyGiang Phan

Hai Pham HoangBut the question sometimes have some difficult words that I can't understand. Matching heading to paragraphs are very confused.

How do you practise reading outside of class?

Hang

I read some English story and practise by doing homework. Besides that, I study many vocabularies I had not practise enough, but I will try to read English newspaper to improve it. One more benefit is extra my knowledge.

My name's Hồng I read the news on internet reading newspapers or books reading newspaperĐào Duy Hùng I read some comic, somtimes search wiki about a new information and read it in EnglishNguyen Minh Duy Reading all the reading task in Ielts.Duong Nguyen HaiNguyen Thi My HuongLe Thi My DuyenPhan Thi Hue

Giang TaSometime sometimes, I read newspaper on the internet and find some interesting story reading academic materials, news, english subtitles.

HieuHo Thi Phung Hoang

Le Anh DuyI think i read some books Practice the tests reading materials... practise more reading test at home reading novel

Giang PhanHai Pham Hoang

Writing:



I'm completely unfamiliar with the writing paper.

0 0%

I know a little bit about the writing paper. 13 81%

I'm very familiar with the writing paper. 3 19%

How good do you think you are at writing in English?


1 0 0%

2 0 0%

3 3 18%

4 4 24%

5 7 41%

6 2 12%

7 0 0%

8 0 0%

9 1 6%

10

0 0%


Having enough general knowledge about the topics. [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]


I am terrible at this 4 24%

I am sometimes good at this. 11

65%

I am very good at this 2 12%

I do not understand this term

0 0%


Having enough ideas [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]



I am sometimes good at this. 9 53%



0 0%


Having enough confidence in my own ideas [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?






0 0%

Adhering to the time limit [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]






0 0%


Writing introductions to essays. [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




81%



0 0%


Writing topic sentences [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




65%



0 0%


Supporting your arguments with examples [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




59%



0 0%


Developing arguments [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]






2 12%

Making it easy to understand. [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]






0 0%


Writing the introductory sentences in task 1 [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




71%



0 0%


Writing the overview statement in task 1 [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




71%



0 0%


Writing the main body in task 1 [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




82%



0 0%


Writing conclusions in task 2 [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




69%



0 0%

Having sufficient lexical resource [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]


I am terrible at this 13

76%




0 0%


Having sufficient grammatical range & accuracy [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]






0 0%


Responding to the task [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




71%



0 0%


Being cohesive and coherent [What is difficult about IELTS style writing?]




65%



0 0%


Speaking:


I'm completely unfamiliar with the speaking paper. 2 12%

I know a little bit about the speaking paper. 11 65%

I'm very familiar with the speaking paper. 4 24%

How good do you think you are at speaking in English?


1 0 0%

2 2 12%

3 1 6%

4 5 29%

5 4 24%

6 2 12%

7 2 12%

8 0 0%

9 1 6%

10

0 0%


Having enough general knowledge about the topics. [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]



76%



0 0%

Having enough ideas [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]





0 0%

Having enough confidence in my own ideas [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]



59%




0 0%

Sufficient planning in part 2 (the long turn). [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]





1 6%

Supporting your arguments with examples [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]



65%



0 0%

Developing arguments [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






2 12%

Not hesitating too much/ not having lots of silences [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]





1 6%

Paraphrasing [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]





0 0%

Not repeating words [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]


I am terrible at this 11

65%




0 0%

Not over-relying on items of vocabulary [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






2 13%


Making grammatical errors [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]




65%



1 6%


Not using only simple grammatical forms [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]




59%



0 0%


Pronouncing individual sounds correctly [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






0 0%


Placing word stress [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






3 19%


Stressing the important words [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






2 13%


Using natural intonation [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






2 12%


Using chunking/ pausing in natural places [What is difficult about IELTS style speaking tests?]






3 19%


How do you practice speaking outside of class?Hang chatting with my friend but rarelyMy name's Hồng Reading tape-scriptsĐào Duy HùngNguyen Minh Duy I chit and chat with my friends by EnglishDuong Nguyen HaiNguyen Thi My Huong

I do not know

Le Thi My Duyen Reading aloudPhan Thi Hue I have some native friends, and I like to chat talk with my friends in EnglishGiang TaHieu talking with my friends by EnglishHo Thi Phung Hoang

I practiced with my friends and sometimes I have to practice alone speaking with friends take part in club english or talk with teacher

Le Anh Duy chatting with my friends, foreigner, ...Giang PhanHai Pham HoangGrammar

How good is your knowledge of English grammar on a scale of 1-10?


1 0 0%

2 0 0%

3 2 12%

4 3 18%

5 6 35%

6 5 29%

7 1 6%

8 0 0%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%


How good at you at the application of grammar in your speaking and writing?


1 0 0%

2 0 0%

3 5 29%

4 2 12%

5 6 35%

6 4 24%

7 0 0%

8 0 0%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%


Generally speaking, do you proofread your writing before you give it to your teacher to be corrected?


Yes

13 76%

No 4 24%

What is the most difficult part of English grammar?Hang tense, spelling structureMy name's Hồng Try to remember to use it.Đào Duy Hùng tensesNguyen Minh Duy synonyms gramatical rangeDuong Nguyen Hai I use wrong words formation like: when we need to use noun I use adjective.Nguyen Thi My Huong

Sometimes I forget put the "s" after the verb.

Le Thi My Duyen I'm confuse about when we need to use that or this tences.Phan Thi Hue Present perfect, past perfect and present perfect continuous prepositions, adverbsGiang TaHieuHo Thi Phung Hoang

Using appropriate tenses and combine them to say or write something you want.

Le Anh Duy Presenting my ideas be complex sentencesGiang PhanHai Pham Hoang

What do you do when you get a piece of writing back and it has a lot of grammatical errors?

Hangremember the mistakes I will ask my teacher to teach me again and do it again until my grammatical errors repair correctly

My name's Hồng wrong word formationĐào Duy Hùng looking at and fixing them

Nguyen Minh DuyCheck them I will find out and correct the mistakes, then I rewrite and give it to the teacher again.

Duong Nguyen Hai I will fix it.Nguyen Thi My Huong Try to remember so I won't make those mistakes againLe Thi My DuyenPhan Thi Hue i will fix it correcting the mistakes on my own and then ask the teacher for helpGiang Ta Correct it.Hieu practise again and check for mistakes to avoid them aHo Thi Phung Hoang

Le Anh DuyReading it to get ideas that the writer wants to write and fix them. After that, checking mistakes

Giang Phan

Hai Pham Hoangi rewrite it make it correct, if possible I will ask someone explain why I wrong and help me fix the mistakes.

Which areas of grammar do you have difficulty applying in your reading and writing?


spelling 2 3%

word formation 8 11%

word order 7 10%

register e.g. formal vs. informal

10 14%

present perfect 6 8%

continuous aspect 9 13%

modality 11 15%

future tenses 2 3%

past tenses 2 3%

adverbs 8 11%

punctuation 7 10%

Lexical Resource:

How good is your knowledge of English vocabulary on a scale of 1-10?


1 0 0%

2 1 6%

3 3 18%

4 3 18%

5 6 35%

6 2 12%

7 0 0%

8 2 12%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%

How good at you at the application of your vocabulary in your speaking and writing?


1 0 0%

2 3 18%

3 1 6%

4 3 18%

5 8 47%

6 0 0%

7 1 6%

8 1 6%

9 0 0%

10

0 0%

How good are you at spelling in English?


1 0 0%

2 3 18%

3 0 0%

4 4 24%

5 7 41%

6 2 12%

7 0 0%

8 0 0%

9 1 6%

10

0 0%

How do you remember new vocabulary?Hang Just when it in a song or in a movies, otherwise I will forget it very soon.My name's HồngĐào Duy Hùng learning by heart and trying to apply it into daily life look at them every have free times

Nguyen Minh DuyLearning a list of words or a phrase writing it many time and then wput it in complete setences

Duong Nguyen Hai Writing new vocabularies on the noteNguyen Thi My HuongLe Thi My Duyen I take note and read them many time.

Phan Thi HueIn my opinion, remembering vocabulary means remembering meaning, pronoun and spelling of it

Giang Ta read it, search the meaning of the word.Hieu Written them few times take notes, translate, remember, read and repeat many times.Ho Thi Phung Hoang

i write new words on a paper and paste it on the wall to see it any time

Le Anh Duy Writing it on the notebook and look it as much as possibleGiang Phan use new vocabulary to make sentence


Hai Pham Hoang Remember it.

Topics:

Lifestyle [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 7 41%

The majority of the time 7 41%

Almost all the time 1 6%

Always 2 12%

I don't recognise this term.

0 0%


Family [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 2 12%



Always 3 18%


0 0%


Technology [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 29%

A little bit 10 59%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Urbanisation [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 6 35%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 0 0%


2 12%


The Environment [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 2 12%


0 0%


Health [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Education [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 2 12%


0 0%


Globalisation [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 2 12%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 0 0%


1 6%


Consumerism [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 29%

A little bit 4 24%



Always 0 0%


3 18%


Art [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 7 41%

A little bit 9 53%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Crime [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 29%

A little bit 10 59%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Psychology [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 8 47%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Work [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 3 18%


0 0%


Science [Can you speak/write about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 9 53%

A little bit 5 29%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Lifestyle [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 9 53%



Always 4 24%


0 0%


Family [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 5 29%



Always 4 24%


0 0%


Technology [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 4 24%

A little bit 8 47%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Urbanisation [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 8 47%

A little bit 2 12%



Always 0 0%


2 12%


The Environment [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Health [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 2 12%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Education [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Globalisation [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 4 24%

A little bit 5 29%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Consumerism [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 6 35%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 0 0%


3 18%


Art [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 7 41%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Crime [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 29%

A little bit 8 47%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Psychology [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 31%

A little bit 8 50%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Work [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 8 47%



Always 2 12%


0 0%


Science [Can you understand listening comprehensions about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 7 41%

A little bit 5 29%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Lifestyle [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 6 35%



Always 4 24%


0 0%

Family [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 4 24%



Always 4 24%


0 0%


Technology [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 2 12%

A little bit 9 53%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Urbanisation [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 3 18%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 0 0%


2 12%


The Environment [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Health [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 3 18%

A little bit 5 29%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Education [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 0 0%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Globalisation [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 9 53%



Always 0 0%


0 0%


Consumerism [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 4 24%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 0 0%


3 18%


Art [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 5 29%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Crime [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 4 24%

A little bit 8 47%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Psychology [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 7 41%

A little bit 4 24%



Always 0 0%


2 12%


Work [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 1 6%

A little bit 7 41%



Always 3 18%


0 0%


Science [Can you read and understand articles about the following topic areas?]


Not at all 3 18%

A little bit 8 47%



Always 1 6%


0 0%


Learning StylesI do lots of sports. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 4 25%

Sometimes 9 56%

Always 3 19%


I like to think about things logically. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 1 6%

Sometimes

11 65%

Always 5 29%


I play a musical instrument. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 14 82%

Sometimes

2 12%

Always 1 6%


I usually put on some music when I'm studying. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 4 24%

Sometimes

12 71%

Always 1 6%


Pictures help me remember things. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 0 0%

Sometimes 8 47%

Always 9 53%


I'm really good at mathematics. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 2 12%

Sometimes

12 71%

Always 3 18%


I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 10 59%

Sometimes

4 24%

Always 3 18%


I love languages. [Please choose the option most like you.]


Never 0 0%

Sometimes 9 53%

Always 8 47%


I prefer to work alone. [Working alone/together in class.]


Never 1 6%

Sometimes

15 88%

Always 1 6%


I work best with the same partner. [Working alone/together in class.]


Never 0 0%

Sometimes 9 53%

Always 8 47%


I enjoy working with different partners. [Working alone/together in class.]


Never 0 0%

Sometimes

11 65%

Always 6 35%


I like to work in small groups. [Working alone/together in class.]


Never 1 6%

Sometimes

11 65%

Always 5 29%


I enjoy when the whole class works together. [Working alone/together in class.]


Never 1 6%

Sometimes

15 88%

Always 1 6%


2.2: Summary of the results:

The spoken interviews complemented the questionnaires effectively. These took place in class after the electronic needs analysis forms had been completed and allowed me to further refine the findings. This allowed me to confirm many of my suspicions about the group, i.e. that they are strongly extrinsically motivated. Moreover, I was able to narrow down many of the needs and wants to focus on when designing the course.

Needs analysis Findings 1-12 (NA: 1-12):1. 10 of the learners want to get a band 6, 3 of them a 6.5, another a 7 and the remaining student

doesn’t care.

2. Learners suggest that they require the most help in the productive skills, especially speaking.

In fact, 41% of them say that speaking is their weakest skill.

3. 18% of them identified writing as their weakest skill.

4. Most learners have already used the Cambridge past papers books- so, these cannot be used

for the DT.

5. 71% of the learners feel that they are lacking in the application of their grammar and lexis in

writing.

6. The majority of the learners are quite familiar with the format of the exam. However, they say

they are lacking in confidence in certain parts of the exam e.g. the matching headings to

paragraphs exercise in the reading test and the note completion exercise in the listening test.

7. The learners don’t appear to be familiar with the marking criteria for both the speaking and

writing papers.

8. While a majority of the students feel that they have a sufficient grasp of systems knowledge

to be able to do the exam, some do not feel so comfortable with pronunciation e.g. not being

able to use chunking and natural intonation.

9. They are least confident when speaking and writing about more academic topics such as

consumerism and advertising.

10. All of the students, save one, have access to the internet in their place of residence.

11. The learners appear to be intrapersonal and verbal-linguistic (Puchta 2005).


Appendix 3: Diagnostic Test-Summary of results

3.1: Reading:

3.1.1: Breakdown of reading results:

Last name First name Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Total Band Score

Nguyễn Hải Dương 9 10 7 26 6

Nguyễn Minh Duy 10 9 8 27 6.5

Lê Anh Duy 9 11 6 26 6

Lê Thị Mỹ Duyên 9 10 5 24 6

Tạ Thị Giang 8 9 8 25 6

Vũ Nguyễn Trường Giang 8 8 9 25 6

Phan Thị Bich Giang 8 8 7 23 6

Phạm Hoàng Hải 9 8 9 25 6

Trần Thị Kim Hằng 8 6 10 24 6

Trần Huỳnh Trung Hiếu 8 8 9 25 6

Hồ Thị Phụng Hoàng 8 6 9 23 6

Phạm Thị Hồng 7 8 8 23 6

Phan Thị Huệ 10 8 7 25 6

Đào Duy Hùng 7 7 10 24 6

Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hường 11 8 8 27 6.5

3.1.2: Breakdown per section graph:


3.1.3: Reading -Breakdown per question type:

Classification Diagram Completion

Multiple Choice

SAQs T/F/NG

Flow Chart Completion

Average Score (to nearest whole number)

5 3 5 4 4 3

Total Possible 9 4 7 8 7 5


3.2: Listening-Summary of results:

3.2.1: Listening-breakdown of results:

Last Name First Name Sect. 1 Sect. 2 Sect. 3 Sect. 4 Overall (mean 24.5)

Band Score

Nguyễn Hải Dương 7 7 6 7 27 6.5

Nguyễn Minh Duy 8 7 7 6 28 6.5

Lê Anh Duy 7 6 5 6 24 6

Lê Thị Mỹ Duyên 7 6 5 6 24 6

Tạ Thị Giang 6 7 5 6 24 6

Vũ Nguyễn Trường Giang 8 6 5 6 25 6

Phan Thị Bich Giang 7 5 5 6 23 6

Phạm Hoàng Hải 7 8 7 4 26 6

Trần Thị Kim Hằng 6 7 7 4 24 6

Trần Huỳnh Trung Hiếu 6 5 5 7 23 6

Hồ Thị Phụng Hoàng 6 8 7 6 27 6.5

Phạm Thị Hồng 6 5 8 5 24 6

Phan Thị Huệ 7 6 5 5 23 6

Đào Duy Hùng 6 7 4 6 23 6

Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hường 8 5 6 4 23 6


3.2.2: Listening: Break-down per section:

3.2.3: Listening: Breakdown per question type:

Note Completion

Mulitple Choice

Matching

Sentence Completion

SAQs

Classification

Summary Completion

Average Score

5 5 4 2 3 3 2

Total Possible

8 9 7 3 4 6 3


3.3: Speaking Diagnostic Results-

3.3.1: Summary of results:

Main reasons for learners not meeting their targets in the writing paper:

Almost all the group fell below their target of band 6. The results seem to indicate that students are most lacking in the areas of fluency & coherence (class average: 5.13) and pronunciation (class average: 5.06). Those who scored a 4 or a 5 in these criteria mostly did so for the following reasons:

Speaking Diagnostic Test findings 1-8 (SDT1-8):

SDT1: 8 of the group only managed to give very minimal answers in part 1. They were unable to develop their answers sufficiently. DE: “Do people use devices such as washing machines to help with the housework in Vietnam?” Hang: “Yes, people use washing machines to help with housework in Vietnam”.

SDT2: Note-taking was poor.3 of the learners didn’t write any notes at all. While 7 of the remainder managed less than 5 items of mostly simple vocabulary that didn’t appear to help them- i.e. they seemed to ignore them during the long turn.

SDT3: 9 out of 15 were unable to keep speaking for the whole 2 minutes in the long turn.

SDT4: In part 3, where learners were dealing with more abstract topics, almost two thirds of the group (9 out of 10) had noticeable pauses after the question had been asked. Where they were able to respond in a reasonable amount of time, they only managed to maintain the flow of speech by relying on slow speech and hesitation. DE: “Now, let’s consider eating habits. How do you think eating habits and eating traditions have changed during the last few years?” Hung: …long pause (5 sec) …. “In the last few years, many people don’t eat… (pause) eat less 3 meals per day, they also forget about the breakfast at the morning because they are too busy and they just eat 2 meals per day


(pause) and it’s not good for their (pause) health. The reason is that our work…is…mmmm…..they have lots of work to do it’s kind of….(pause) they love to eat something fast….and that very unhealthy for their health.”

SDT5: More than two out of three of the learners (11) had a least one instance where they didn’t understand one of the questions. They seemed to panic at this point and appeared to not know what to do next. Some said “repeat, please” or “I don’t understand.” only after an extended pause. Others, however, attempted to give an answer anyway with limited success i.e. their answers were very off-topic.

SDT6: 33% of the learners failed to adequately repair when there were breakdowns in communication e.g. if they encountered grammatical and/or lexis related problems, they dealt with this by either having long pauses, repeating the last few words or stopping altogether. SDT7: Systems difficulties in the area of pronunciation meant that the vast many of learners (12 out of 15) scored below their target in this criterion. More specifically, lapses in control were in the areas of accuracy of the production of syllable final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words and L1 interference in intonation (stressing every syllable as in Vietnamese) and chunking. E.g. Hung: “Yes, I think some of people very love to read print newspaper, it’s kind of…their eyes cannot deal with the screen of the computer.” /’jɛs, ‘ai ‘θɪŋk ‘səm ‘əv ‘pip.’əl ‘vɛri/ pause /‘ləv ‘tu ‘ri:d/ (pause) /‘prɪnt/ pause /‘nu;z.’pep.’ə, ‘ɪts/ (pause) /‘kaind ‘əv/ (pause) 'ðeə ‘ajz ‘kænat ‘dil / (pause) /‘wɪθ ‘ðə ‘skri:n ‘əv ‘ðə ‘kəm’pju’tə/.

SDT8: 6 out of 15 of the learners had at least one occasion where they had difficulties in the area of regular past simple production e.g. Hang “ my teacher advised me to watch the bbc.” /ædvajz/ Hieu: “ and then I stopped” /stɑp/.

3.3.2: Speaking Band scores of the entire group:

Name Fluency & Coherence

Lexical Resource Grammatical Rang and accuracy

Pronunciation

Dương 6 6 6 4

Duy Ngyuen

6 6 6 6

Duy 5 6 6 5

Duyên 5 6 6 5

Giang T 5 6 6 5

Giang V 5 6 6 5

Giang P 4 5 6 5

Hải 5 6 6 5

Hằng 5 6 6 6

Hiếu 6 6 6 5

Hoàng 5 5 6 5

Hồng 5 6 6 5

Huệ 5 6 5 5

Hùng 5 5 6 5

Hường 5 5 5 5


3.3.3: Graphic representation of speaking band scores:

3.3.4: Average score of the group:


Fluency and coherence

Lexical resource Grammatical range and accuracy

Pronunciation

Average score

5.13 5.76 5.8 5.06

3.3.5: Analysis of Sample Speaking diagnostic- Hung:

As Hung had the mean band score and he also shared many of the typical problems of the group, I have concentrated my analysis of the speaking diagnostic on his performance. Here I give the full transcript of his speaking diagnostic with comments.

Hung: Full transcript with comments:

Diagnostic Examiner: Now, in this first part of the test we would like to know something about you. So first of all do you live in a house or an apartment?

Hung: Yes, I live in a house. Mmm

DE: Can you describe your house please?

H: Okay, it is a small…small house, in Vietnam it’s just a normal house, kind of the standard house, but my house have a garden, usually some of Vietnamese people really like their house to have a garden so they can….. Grow some trees in there or some animal such as chickens, pigs, that’s part of our traditional.

DE: Would you ever like to move house?

H: If I can, I would like to move my house into the center of our province. In the next 20 years, I think that I would like to choose Binh Duong new city is the place that I will move my house to.

DE: Why Binh Duong New City?

H: You know, because BD new city is a big city, but now it’s not complete yet. But in the future it will grow very fast…and It have all of facilities that we need like a big university, big hospital and a great deal of


Mc Caul William Robert, 03/11/13,

Hung is able to maintain the flow of speech here but uses “repetition, self-correction and/or slow speech to keep going”. Some dis-fluency can be attributed to nerves at the start of the test.


Good attempt at a third condictional. This is a demonstration of a complex structure used with limited flexibility.


inaccurate word stress.


Here Hung has “a wide enough vocabulary to discuss topics at length and make meaning clear in spite of inappropriacies”

center all we need in there.

DE: Let’s talk about the news now. How do you usually find out about the news?

H: Usually I read the news in the internet, and I prefer to choose VNexpress, a newspaper website of Vietnam. Our teacher advised that we need to choose BBC or CNN to read the news.

DE: Do you think people will continue to read print newspapers in the future?

H: Yes, I think some of people very (pause) love to read (pause) print (pause) newspaper, it’s kind of…their eyes cannot deal (pause) with the screen of the computer,

DE: Now, In this part I’m going to give you a topic and I’d like you to talk about it for one to two minutes. Before you talk, you will have one minute to think about what you are going to say and you can make some notes if you wish. Do you understand?

H: Yes.

DE: Here is some paper and a pencil, and here is your topic. I'd like you to describe a traditional meal in Vietnam?

(1 minute prep time)

DE: Alright? Remember you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you. Can you start speaking now please?

H: Yes, One of our traditional meal is Chung cake, it is a traditional cake of Vietnamese it’s have a very very long history, our mmm… ancient (difficult to interpret)…..mmm ancient ancestors gave it to us the recipe /ri.’si:t/ and we usually make Chung cake in Tet holiday the Chung cake is made by rice, bean and Dong leaf, Dong leaf is a kind of leaf that only have in Vietnam especially it use to wrap /wræ/ the cake and Vietnamese people eat Chung cake at house when they have party with their family and their kinships in Tet holiday. The process of the cake is when you put a number of rice and that you put the bean in the center and then you use the rope or some trees to keep it together and then you boil it at least 12 hours to make the cake good. Then you can enjoy it, it is the traditional cake of Vietnam because it represent for the…. It have a square shape so it… represent for the earth where we live and it also have a green color. Because of the Dong leaf is green so when boil it the green of the leaf will……go into the rice so it have green color, and it represent for natural and Chung cake is also a special food that Vietnam people usually use but now, if you want to buy it you can go to the supermarket or some center to buy it.


Describe a traditional meal in your Country. You should mention:

What the meal is

How it is prepared

When it is usually eaten

What, if any, is the significance or importance of the meal.

And say if you enjoy this food.


Manages to produce chunking only very occasionally “you can enjoy it.” The influence of L1 is distractingly obvious throughout and has a clear effect of intelligibility.


In contrast to the rest of the group, Hung manages to keep going for the 2 minutes, however, only with noticeable pauses and repetition as he searches for vocabulary. Ancient ancestors hadn’t been written in his notes (these were very limited- he’d only written 5 words- chung cake,kinship and tet holiday. He could have made better use of the planning time to brainstorm non-standard lexis. This would have had a positive influence on his discourse management and reduced dis-fluency issues.


Paraphrases successfully


Another example of omitting the final consonant sound.


Mixes up the pronunciation of receipt and recipe however meaning is clear from the context.


Hung’s production suffers from chunking and intonation issues due to L1 interference. This is an instance where it is particularly prominent and affects intelligibility. ’jɛs, ‘ai ‘θɪŋk ‘səm ‘əv ‘pip.’əl ‘vɛri/ pause /‘ləv ‘tu ‘ri:d/ (pause) /‘prɪnt/ pause /‘nu;z.’pep.’ə, ‘ɪts/ (pause) /‘kaind ‘əv/ (pause) 'ðeə ‘ajz ‘kænat ‘dil / (pause) /‘wɪθ ‘ðə ‘skri:n ‘əv ‘ðə ‘kəm’pju’tə/.


Production of some individual sounds, especially syllable-final consonants e.g. VNexpress /’vi:.’en.eks.pre/ advised /ədˈvaɪz/, causes difficulty for the listener and impacts on intelligibility.


/ædvajz/


Hung has limited success with the production of stress-timed speech even when talking about familiar topics.

DE: Ok, thank you very much. In the next part of the exam I am going to ask you some more general questions related to the topic you were just talking about – a traditional cake in Vietnam. First of all let’s consider different types of food. Which types of food do you think are good for you?

H:I think that mmm eggs, fish, and meat are usually good for our health especially meat, because we don’t like the vegetarian so we need to eat meat to have protein and energy to work and …

DE: What kinds of things do people eat that are bad for them?

H: (Long pause) Let me think about that… (Long pause) People drink too much alcohol is bad for our health, if you eat something too much it will damage your body you need balance your meal everyday so you will have a…..(long pause) healthy body.

DE: Now, let’s consider eating habits. How do you think eating habits and eating traditions have changed during the last few years?

H: In the last few years, many people don’t eat… (pause) eat less 3 meals per day, they also forget about the breakfast at the morning because they are too busy and they just eat 2 meals per day and it’s not good for their health. The reason is that our work…is…mmmm…..they have lots of work to do it’s kind of….(pause) they love to eat something fast….and that very unhealthy for their health.

3.3.6: Problems which lost students the most marks in the speaking diagnostic:

Struggling to maintain a flow of speech in part 1 (F&C)

Speaking at length without too many noticeable pauses (F&C)

Dealing with breakdowns in communication and requesting clarification (F&C)

Speaking for the required time in Part 2 (F&C)

Demonstrating a wide enough vocabulary in Part 2 (LR)

Accuracy of syllable final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, L1 interference in intonation and chunking (P)

Inaccurate regular past tense pronunciation (missing out on the final consonant sound) (P)

3.4: Writing Diagnostic Results:

3.4.1: Task 1 & 2 Overview:



Hung has a lack of repair strategies again for dealing with breakdowns in systems’ knowledge. This causes strain for the listener and makes it difficult to follow his train of thought.


Again L1 interference means that stress-timing has very limited success.


Hung has a noticeable lack of strategic competence when it comes to dealing with hesitation when speaking about more abstract topics. This contributes to taking his fluency and coherence score down to a 5.


Inaccurate word stress and word form


Omitted the syllable final consonant again /eg/ instead of /egz/

All 15 of the learners fell below their target of band 6 in both task 1 and task 2. On the positive side, with regard to coherence and cohesion in both tasks, students scored well. They tended to be able to arrange information and ideas coherently and had clear overall progression throughout: Duong T2: “Firstly, there is some disadvantage for young people…” Learners were also successful in the area of lexical resource where 8 out of 15 were awarded a band 6. E.g. Hung in T2 shows good awareness of collocation : “deep fear of loneliness” However, errors in word form and spelling predominate the learners’ responses Hoang T2: “They reduce the depend on their parents”.

Main reasons for learners not meeting their targets in the writing paper:

The criteria where the students suffered most were task achievement, where the group got an average of band 4, and grammatical range and accuracy, in which they managed a 5.1 average in task 1 and . Meanwhile in task 1, task achievement again was their weakest area (class average: 4.0) as well as lexical resource (5.46) and grammatical range and accuracy (5.2). The reasons for these scores were as follows:

Writing Diagnostic Test Findings 1-7 (WDT1-7):

WDT1: The vast majority of the scripts (13 of the 15 in task 1 and a similar number for task 2) looked like they hadn’t been proofread. This made the basic error count very high in both lexis and grammar. More specifically, these basic errors were in the areas of pluralisation, article omission and subject-verb agreement. Duong T1: “It make a gap between two generation”. (See the grammar and lexis error correction supplement to the diagnostic test below)

WDT 2: Some of the errors cause some difficulty for the reader – Giang P T2: “then they want to give up their purposes”. “There are not many family have two generation house same”.

WDT3: Penalties were given to three students for low word count in task 1 and two students in task 2 e.g. Duong only managed 182 words in task 2.

WDT4: The task 2 prompt was responded to in a minimal way in over 70% of the scripts. They wrote about the causes of the trend of young people leaving home before they get married and not about the advantages and disadvantages of the trend as they had been required to.

WDT5: In spite of their high scores in the grammar and lexis error correction diagnostic test, the learners had difficulty demonstrating a mix of simple and complex sentence forms in task 1. Giang Vu: 1: “Besides that, the amount they spent on petrol decreases gradually.” 2: “The percentage of income people in United Kingdom spend on petrol rises sharply.”3: “How much people in America spend on petrol falls gradually.” She neglected to show versatility in grammatical range by alternating verb + subject with there was plus adjective + noun i.e. There was a gradual fall in the amount people in America spend on petrol.

WDT6: In over 60% of the learners task 1 responses, the learners failed to present an overview with information appropriately selected. Hoang “Overall, it is clear that the income from selling petrol in the United States is higher”.Giang P: “In America, the poorest who use petrol is the highest percent.” Giang Vu: “General speaking, the richest people in both areas spend on petrol at 4% of income or


lower.”

WDT7: In task 2, 5 of the learners lifted language chunks from the prompt. Duyen: “Nowadays, it is true that young single people no longer stay with their parents until they get married. In fact, they leave to study or work somewhere else”. Giang Vu: In many countries nowadays, young single people no longer stay with their parents until they are married because they want to go away to study of work. Similarly in task 1, Seven members of the group were unable to adequately paraphrase the prompt when writing their introductory sentences. Duy N: “The diagram shows about how much people in the United States and the United Kingdom spend on petrol.”

3.4.2: Task 1: Overall breakdown of results of the group:

Name Task Achievement

Coherence & Cohesion

Lexical Resource

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

Overall

Dương 4 6 5 5 5

Duy N 4 6 6 5 5

Duy L 5 5 6 5 5.5

Duyên 3 5 5 5 4.5

Giang T 5 5 6 6 5.5

Giang V 4 6 5 6 5

Giang P 5 4 6 5 5

Hải 5 6 6 6 5.5

Hằng 5 5 6 6 5

Hiếu 4 6 5 5 5

Hoàng 5 5 6 5 5.5

Hồng 4 5 6 6 5

Huệ 5 6 6 5 5.5

Hùng 5 5 5 5 5

Hường 5 5 5 5 5

Average 4.5 5.3 5.6 5.3 5.1


3.4.3: Task 1 Score breakdown and class average:


3.4.4: Task 2 Overall:

Name Task Response

Coherence & Cohesion

Lexical Resource

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

Overall

Dương 4 6 5 5 5Duy N 5 6 6 6 5.5Duy L 5 6 6 4 5Duyên 3 4 5 5 4.5Giang T 3 5 5 5 5.5Giang V

4 6 5 5 5


Giang P 5 5 6 5 5Hải 5 6 6 5 5.5Hằng 4 6 5 6 5Hiếu 4 5 5 5 5Hoàng 4 6 6 5 5.5Hồng 4 6 6 6 5Huệ 4 6 6 6 5.5Hùng 4 6 5 5 5Hường 3 5 5 5 5Average 4.0 5.6 5.46 5.2 5.1

3.4.5: Task 2: Graphic Breakdown


3.4.6: Problems which lost students the most marks in writing:

Addressing all parts of the prompt (TR, T2)

Proof-reading & error correcting effectively (LR & GRA T1/T2)

Demonstrating grammatical range (GRA, T1)


Presenting an overview with information appropriately selected (TA, T1)

Lifting too much language from the prompt (T1/T2)

3.5: Grammar and Lexis diagnostic:

3.5.1: Explanation of reasons for and results of the grammar and lexis error-correction diagnostic:

Having seen the high error rate in both lexis and grammar in both tasks of the writing paper section of the diagnostic, I decided to try to discover to develop an error correction test based on a corpus I had put together on previous IELTS students errors. This was developed to find out whether errors were being made by learners due to systems’ deficiencies or as a consequence of not having an error correction stage in their writing processes (being careless). The results seemed to indicate the latter:

3.5.2: Breakdown of G&L diagnostic:

Name Plural or Singular

Tenses

Passive

Noun Phrases

Word Order

Articles

Word Forms

Relative Clauses

Missing and Extra Words

Dương 6 6 3 3 5 4 6 4 6Duy N 7 7 5 3 6 5 3 4 5Duy L 7 8 5 4 4 5 5 3 6Duyên 8 6 4 5 3 3 6 5 6Giang T 9 5 3 2 5 4 6 5 6Giang V 8 7 2 5 5 5 5 3 6Giang P 8 7 5 5 5 3 7 4 5Hải 8 6 6 4 4 4 5 4 5Hằng 8 8 6 3 5 5 6 4 4Hiếu 7 9 5 5 4 5 7 3 5Hoàng 8 8 3 6 6 5 5 3 6Hồng 9 7 4 4 5 2 6 5 6Huệ 8 8 4 4 5 4 7 5 6Hùng 7 8 4 5 3 4 5 3 5Hường 8 7 5 5 6 3 5 5 5Average 8 6 4 4 4 5 6 5 4Total Possible

10 9 6 6 6 5 7 5 6

3.5.3: Graphic breakdown of grammar and lexis error correction diagnostic


Appendix 4: Assessment Schedule –Speaking/Writing

Goal 1: To improve learners’ score in the speaking paper by half a band.

General Overview of the Speaking Assessment Part of the course:

The formative testing dimension of the course was primarily done informally and directly. As far as the formative tests are concerned, I have been able to source a more than sufficient amount in published materials. This was done in order to achieve a certain amount of content validity. Where an appropriate (or topical) published test material could not be found, I developed my own ones based upon published practice materials. (These can be seen in appendix 8).

I am of the opinion that just because an exam question has been published by an examination board, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is valid. I do want to increase the face validity as much as possible for the summative test and owing to the fact that I was unable to find sufficiently realistic IELTS speaking exams in both course books and published practice test materials, I decided to create my own. (These can be seen in appendix 9)

I chose to use criterion-referenced scoring in the summative test to make it as realistic as possible. Plat and Webber (1990) defines this as a test which measures a student’s performance according to a particular standard or criterion which has been agreed upon. The student must reach this level of performance to pass the test. To this end, the public versions of the IELTS speaking band descriptors were used. These were obtained from http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Speaking%20Band%20descriptors.pdf. The tests were recorded and doubled-marked by a colleague at EIU, who also happens to be an IELTS examiner, in order to minimize subjectivity and increase reliability, which Hughes (1989:29) describes as the likelihood of a student achieving the same result on any given occasion.

The students already have copies of the public versions of the band descriptors and had practice applying them to dummy candidates. I used this lesson https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/teachingresources/resourcedetails?resId=6107 from the Cambridge English Teacher Support website. Therefore, they will already had practice applying the band descriptors to both themselves and other students. This will mean that they will be able to give more realistic feedback to their partners during the informal formative testing.

Lesson Objective Formative Assessment and notes

1 G1O1

To be better able to maintain a flow of speech and give more extensive

This will be conducted informally and directly in class. (See green test notes boxes in the course plan for details/Materials in appendix 7/8)


https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/teachingresources/resourcedetails?resId=6107

http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Speaking%20Band%20descriptors.pdf

http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Speaking%20Band%20descriptors.pdf

answers in Part 1

2 G1O2

To be able to plan more effectively for the long turn (part 2) and to be able to use the one minute planning time to brainstorm non-common lexis & grammar and base their speech on these

This will be assessed directly in class (See test notes for lesson 2) and indirectly throughout the course as it is hoped that the more effective use of planning time by concentrating on coming up with 10 words of non-common lexis will have a positive effectively on not only their fluency and coherence scores but also on the lexical resource mark.

3 G103

To be better able to use repair & clarification strategies

This will not be tested formally in class. However, it is hoped that an increase in their strategic competence will have a positive impact on their subsequent fluency and coherence scores.

4 G1O4

To be better to use strategies for dealing with hesitation

Same as above G1O3.

5 G1O5

To produce syllable-final consonants, word stress in multisyllabic words, stress-timed intonation and chunking more accurately.

This will be tested indirectly and informally in class through the answering of a part 2 question.

6 G1O6

To produce regular past tenses more accurately

This will be tested indirectly and informally in class through the answering of a part 2 question requiring a lot of examples of the regular past simple.

Summative assessment (Speaking) and notes:

This will involve a fully timed and recorded test using the materials in appendix 6. As outlined above, the tests will be marked using the public versions of the assessment criteria and be double marked to maximise reliability. It will take place at the end of the speaking course as detailed in the course plan.

Goal 2: To improve the learners’ score in both task 1 and task 2 of the IELTS writing paper (Move them up by a half a band score)

General Overview of the Writing Assessment Part of the course:


All of the tests, both formative and summative, are either taken from past papers books, published IELTS teachers’ resources or course books or very closely based upon published past papers, which will mean that they will have a higher content validity than if I had created them myself. The tests’ content validity will be further enhanced by the fact that will require the learners to perform the behaviour that is being measured (Brown 2003:22).

The tests will be criterion-referenced as per the live exam and marked using the public versions of the assessment criteria, namely task response/achievement, coherence and cohesion, grammatical range and accuracy and lexical resource, available at http://www.ielts.org/PDF/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%201.pdf & http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%202.pdf and in appendix 10.

Subjectivity is inevitable when it comes to marking writing (Harris/McCann 1994:55). This will be lowered as I am a newly trained up IELTS examiner, however, in order to ensure that subjectivity is kept to a minimum, I will get a sample of each of the students’ scripts doubled marked by a more experienced examiner in my department.

I will have to mark a large quantity of scripts over the period of the course and this may impinge upon my ability to mark consistently (Brown 2003:21). In spite of this, the large number of samples collected may positively impact on the overall reliability of the data collected.

The summative test, administered at the end of the course, will be taken from Cambridge IELTS practice papers book 9 P 101 & 102. Again, I do not believe that a question has high validity just because it appears in a book published by an examination board, however as I have little experience of creating writing papers, I felt that they would have more validity if taken from published materials. (These can be seen in appendix 9.)

Lesson Objective Specific Assessment Details and notes

7 G2O7

To be better able to respond to the prompt

This will be tested directly, consisting of an informal writing in class. It will be timed to increase the realism of the test. However, they will only be given 30 minutes as the planning stage will have already been completed. Construct validity may be reduced as I am not only testing whether they can respond to the prompt but their writing ability in general.

8 G2O8 This will be tested indirectly throughout the rest of the course. They will not be required to proofread their scripts before they are handed in. However, those that do


http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%202.pdf

http://www.ielts.org/pdf/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%202.pdf

http://www.ielts.org/PDF/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%201.pdf

http://www.ielts.org/PDF/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%201.pdf

To be better able to use checklists and the error correction code as a way to notice errors and upgrade their own writing.

will see a positive impact in their scores, especially in the lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy criteria.

9 G2O9

To be better able to use a variety of complex sentences

This will be assessed by an informal timed in class writing of a task 2 question taken from P.101 Cambridge IELTS practice tests 8. The face validity of the test will be impacted upon due to the fact that teacher support will be offered throughout.

10 G2O10

To be better able to present an overview which highlights main trends/ key features.

This will be tested directly and informally in class. Face validity will be increased by using Cambridge IELTS past papers Book 7.

11 G2O11

To be able to paraphrase the prompt more effectively in task 1/2.

Tested directly and informally in class and indirectly throughout the whole course.

Summative Assessment (Writing) and notes:

This will involve a fully timed test taken from Cambridge IELTS past papers book 9 p101. A copy of the test materials is given in appendix 9. As outlined above, the tests will be marked using the public versions of the writing assessment criteria and be double marked to maximise reliability. It will take place at the end of the course as detailed in the course plan.


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