Page 43 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind
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amount, nature and focus of the feedback is not always geared to what students want or to their level of understanding (Lyster et al., 2013; Yoshida, 2008).
It is understandable that feedback is not always tailored to individual learning needs. It is not easy for teachers to determine what provision for learning speaking skills (in the form of instruction, feedback and activities) an individual student needs. It is not enough to focus on the speaking performance itself, account must also be taken of what a student understands and notices (Poehner, 2012); of the degree of self-regulation exhibited by the student (Sadler, 1998); and of affective factors that could be hindering the student such as speaking anxiety (Cheng, Horwitz & Schallert, 1999).
This complexity is further exacerbated by the multiple demands placed upon teachers by the context in which they are required to provide adaptive teaching (Janssen, Westbroek, Doyle & Van Driel, 2013; Kennedy, 2010). Secondary school teachers in modern foreign languages report that classes are too big and this along with lack of time impedes the training of speaking skills (after all speaking is not the only component of the curriculum) (Fasoglio, 2015). Because of the transient nature of speech, the shortage of time and large classes of students who all have different learning needs with respect to the speaking components of the curriculum, it is difficult to listen to all of the students, to provide them with feedback and to give them the opportunity to improve. Moreover, complex class ecology ensures that teachers cannot just focus on improving individual students’ speaking skills. Many other aims have to be realised at the same time with limited time and resources, such as: making sure that while the teacher is paying attention to one student, the others remain motivated and are engaged in useful work; maintaining order in class; and covering the compulsory material in the curriculum (Janssen, Grossman & Westbroek, 2015). This means that an adaptive method of teaching speaking skills must not only enable teachers to tailor the material to their students’ individual needs, but that the approach must above all be practical within the complex class ecology in which teachers work (Janssen et al, 2013; Janssen, Westbroek & Doyle, 2014a). After all, practical obstacles that teachers see and experience could detract from any proposed adaptive approach. It is a well-known problem that important aspects of reforms can be lost during their implementation (Fullan, 2007; Spillane, Reiser & Reimer, 2002).
Janssen et al. developed a methodology to make education reforms practical while retaining the essence of the reform: the Bridging Model (Janssen et al., 2013; Janssen et al.,
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