The Pearson Sessions - IATEFL 2016

Choosing the right words: Vocabulary efficiency for English proficiency.

Speakers: Dr Veronica Beningo and Dr Huw Bell

What vocabulary gives learners the best chance of successfully communicating in English?

Learn how the Global Scale of English vocabulary was developed to allow teachers to actively prioritize which words and phrases adult learners of General English should know at different proficiency levels to be able to successfully communicate with other speakers of English.

Global Scale of English (GSE): Designed to motivate students and inform teaching

Speakers: Professor Belgin Aydin and Bulent Alan

Participate in this session to learn how one university successfully harnessed student motivation by re-designing their English program using the Global Scale of English (GSE), a granular scale aligned to the Common European Framework (CEFR) and designed to give learners a more precise view of their language proficiency.

Discover this university’s curriculum redesign process and the results they are experiencing.

Re-placing rather than replacing the teacher

Speakers: Sarah Caton and Robyn Brinks Lockwood

The flipped classroom approach is being used more prevalently across academia. But what do we need to do to make this concept work in an English language teaching setting?

This session strives to describe flipped learning and share strategies to begin flipping while still maintaining the basic tenets of this approach.

Blended Learning - Your Ally in Supporting Learner Autonomy

Speaker: Agnieszka Kłos-Dacka

Helping students develop linguistic and learning skills to meet job market requirements poses a challenge to teachers.

Kłos-Dacka’s students displayed a mixed linguistic competence - barely at CEF A2 level. By supporting learner autonomy in a blended learning approach, she mitigated these challenges. She presents her results [closing the skill gap between least- and most-skilled students] using a learner-centred approach.

Speakers: Barbara Gardner, Eulàlia Martí Coronado, Mariusz Buszta and Clare Masson

Pearson English has gathered an academic panel to explore the impact of engagement and motivation on learner outcomes and the role of the teacher in driving engagement and motivation. The panel consists of teachers representing a variety of learners from primary to university students; and a teacher trainer. The discussion will tackle these questions from a variety of angles. 

Here are some highlights:

Barbara Gardner (UK), a teacher trainer and learning technologies manager, Barbara is part of the academic team that developed the Global Scale of English. She will discuss the motivational benefits of having a granular scale/specific learning objectives. She explains, "Students often complain about their lack of perceived progress and will welcome the opportunity to work towards certain, defined objectives."

Agnieszka Kłos-Dacka (Poland) teaches university students. She will explain the challenges and opportunities in helping students to develop linguistic and learning skills when students are preparing for widely different fields of study; and thus needing to prepare for different requirements of the job market.

Eulàlia Martí Coronado (Spain) and Mariusz Buszta (Poland) will discuss how blended learning and technology can be used both in / outside the classroom to motivate primary and young adult learners.

Designed to be interactive, there will be time for a Question and Answer period built into the session.

What makes an effective placement test?

Speaker: Ian Wood

The way we place students within courses can have a huge impact on student motivation, rate of learning and overall experience – not to mention customer satisfaction and retention rates for the school.  With a myriad of placement tests available, how do we know what works?

This session discusses the pros and cons of different approaches and the results they produce.

Teaching Business English skills using professional objectives and task-based activities

Speakers: Iwonna Dubicka and Mike Mayor

What is Business English? For some students, it’s simply being able to communicate in English using work-related vocabulary. For others, it means developing a range of specialized, business skills.

In this workshop we will look at the professional objectives of learners across the levels, with reference to tasks from the skills lessons in Market Leader Extra.

Top ten practices for improving learner outcomes

Speaker: Colleen Kochaneek

How can we help students improve their lives through learning? Can we measure learning components to see if they are effective in helping students attain their goals? 

In this practical session, Colleen Kochannek presents over a year’s worth of research on how teachers are applying simple and replicable techniques to measure the impact to learning.

Delivering success and improving results for Generation Z

Speaker: Carol Brown

Students are motivated by success, they need to approach learning with confidence, not fear. Materials used by teachers must be relatable to the Generation-Z student.

The classroom that students respond to has changed, students need to take responsibility for their learning: we need to provide education that is orientated around Generation-Z, Poptropica is a solution for the Primary learner.