Page 62 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind

Chapter 3. Perspective of the teachers - practicality
Choices made with respect to principle 1 (adding self-evaluation)
Table 3.1 presents a summary of the extent to which design principle 1 was applied.
The first finding to be noted is that design principle 1 was implemented in all of the lesson series; no lesson series were found to which self-evaluation had not been added. If we examine how far the design principle was applied in shaping the lessons, what stands out is that in more than half of the lesson series the option to start with the final speaking activity and the self-evaluation right at the beginning of the series was chosen, resulting in full alignment because the lessons were centred around the final speaking activity and all of the learning activities were building up to that. The main reasons given for this maximum application of design principle 1 were adaptive reasons. In particular, both teacher and students gaining insight into the learning process was mentioned, which is entirely in line with the aim of the curriculum reform. In three lesson series an adaptation of this maximum application was found: the final speaking activity with criteria was discussed at the start of the lesson series and based on that discussion the students decided which improvement activities they needed for themselves but the self-evaluation was not done at that point but only at the end of the series of lessons. The reason given for this was that by discussing the final activity, the students knew what was expected of them (insight into final goal and learning process) and could do preparatory exercises first before they did the real speaking activity (attaining
the learning goal).
Those teachers who chose to build up from a guided to a free speaking activity often
mentioned that this was in order to achieve the learning goals by progressing from an easy to a more difficult level. In one lesson series we found an adaptation of this approach: the final activity was done at the beginning but was done as a writing activity rather than a speaking activity. The self-evaluation was then done in the same lesson with the first speaking activity and the students prepared for the final speaking activity by further elaborating the first speaking activity and supplementing it with written work throughout the series of lessons. This interpretation is an adaptation of the build-up from an easy to a free final speaking activity which allows the material to be adapted to the individual student’s level, while at the same time the student gains an understanding of the ultimate aim and insight into his or her learning process from the beginning, thereby facilitating alignment.
The simplest interpretation of design principle 1, adding the self-evaluation to a random speaking activity at some point in the lesson series, was only found in three lesson
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