Kevin Ryan in Tokyo

Category: TBLT

  • TBLT Prep: The impromptu interview

    I showed up at our bi-weekly group intending to discuss a different topic. It turns out many others could not attend this session, so Maria decided to ask me about my iTDi course as part of the Great Minds series. I wish I had prepared a bit, and Sunday night at 10pm lead to some lapses. Apologies. The interview is about the first 20 minutes of this video.

    I was able to talk about Great Minds and how it came about, then focus on TBLT, the book, how the research is done, who is not mentioned, how it relates to projects and SLA, and how it fits into language teaching and research. I hope it provides a small window onto the course, but I have yet to get on to the 3rd reading, during which I create the course structure. More about that later.

    I promised to mention a book I talked about, but have not read. Task-Based Language Learning in a Real-World Digital Environment. Edited by Paul Seedhouse (2017). More later on this…distraction?

    Today Reading (0:34 Ch. 3) and Blogging (0:28)

    Previously: Announcement. Book. Selection. 3Readings. FirstRead. BloodBrainBarrier. Serendipity. SecondRead.

    Background: I’m preparing an 8-week course about TBLT for iTDi as part of their Great Minds series (not mine, the ones in the book). I am blogging about the process of preparation mostly for the fun of it. I was inspired by Cory Doctorow, an SF writer that does this with all his books. But it also helps me focus. This is even more exciting than teaching a grad school course. I’m looking forward to it and hope this might spark an interest.

  • TBLT Prep: Second Reading

    Once the first reading is finished and I have a feeling for the shape of the book and topic, now is the time to dive deep. I read a chapter and pick out one or two references and access those if I can. Doing this far ahead allows me time to get the articles I want.

    The second reading serves more than one purpose, though. I need to fill in the holes, so I build a schema, a background database of interesting facts and conjectures. That means taking lots of notes. Now that I know what a Task is, I can be on the lookout to build a set of sample Tasks that I can use for the third reading (teacher reading).

    I start mapping out where information is that will appeal to different types of participants. It will allow flexibility to more research-oriented, or teacher-oriented particpants.

    This second reading allows me to create a grounding, look for patterns, find out who and what is more important. I focus on typical practices in both research and teaching.

    I develop a taste for the flavor of authors (Ellis, Robinson, Li, etc), how each one writes, thinks, and what they believe. I can also put a perimeter on the topic by noting down what is not there. What about SLA? CALL? Steven Krashen and Beniko Mason? David Nunan?

    Reading (Wed 0:32 Ch. 1, Fri 0:56 Ch 2, Sat. 1:13 Ch 3, Thu 1:22 Robinson 2011, Sun 0:55 Long 2014) and Blogging (0:36)

    Previously: Announcement. Book. Selection. 3Readings. FirstRead. BloodBrainBarrier. Serendipity.

    Background: I’m preparing an 8-week course about TBLT for iTDi as part of their Great Minds series (not mine, the ones in the book). I am blogging about the process of preparation mostly for the fun of it. I was inspired by Cory Doctorow, an SF writer that does this with all his books. But it also helps me focus. This is even more exciting than teaching a grad school course. I’m looking forward to it and hope this might spark an interest.

  • TBLT Prep: Planned Serendipity?

    Is it really serendipity if it’s planned? By starting prep so early (6 months before), it allows time to find things as they cross by during my daily info-grazing sessions.

    Four things have come across my desk last week that will improve the course I am teaching in May/June.

    The first is a discussion group for a previous iTDi course on Dogme. Maria from the Ukraine, our community builder, set up a Facebook Group after the course, and now every couple of weeks 6-8 of us gather to discuss teaching. Last week it was about feedback. Elena (Russia) brought some new perspectives, Andreea (Romania) brought her critically incisive examples, Bistra in Sicily brings her solid background in teaching (I want to assign her blog posts about language learning to my students), Fabio (Italy) is a natural teacher, Jorge brings his perspective from Mexico, Renata her energy and stories from Macedonia and the Middle East, and Priscila, a school owner from Brazil. We discussed CR (Corrective Feedback) in all of these locations, a real sampling of worldwide situations.

    A former JALT-er (Japan teacher) Jim McKinley co-authored an article on oral corrective feedback. A substack newsletter by “The Educationalist” talks about feedback in a wider educational sense, giving perspective on language feedback. And finally, a TBLT-adjacent topic has a new book on Evidence-based language teaching. Out soon.

    So with all of these filtering in (and a solid note-taking/organizing/archiving system), I can take advantage of all of these.

    Reading (Yesterday 1:08 Ch. 12, Today 0:48 Ch.13) and Blogging (0:47)

    Previously: Announcement. Book. Selection 3Readings. FirstRead. BloodBrainBarrier.

    Background: I’m preparing an 8-week course about TBLT for iTDi as part of their Great Minds series (not mine, the ones in the book). I am blogging about the process of preparation mostly for the fun of it. I was inspired by Cory Doctorow, an SF writer that does this with all his books. But it also helps me focus. This is even more exciting than teaching a grad school course. I’m looking forward to it and hope this might spark an interest.

  • TBLT Prep: Blood-Brain Barrier between Theory and Practice

    The blood-brain barrier in physiology is a lot like the “barrier” between theory and practice. In language teaching, research and teaching oftentimes are not linked. This book (note the title) sits right at the barrier and attempts to straddle it. But we should all note that one (theory) cannot exist without the other (practice). Another reason I have chosen this book.

    As I move into the second reading (next post), I want to acknowledge one of the most basic questions in research. TBLT has been wrestling with this since its inception, and rightly so. It is wonderful to see the contortions of both research design and teaching practice. There is a need to maintain that barrier in some places, to maintain a fealty to design, or to the practicalities of teaching. All the while, attempting to bring the two together, to increase the permeability of the transfer. Not just from research to practice, but to recognize that it goes both ways, something both good teachers and good researchers recognize.

    I am delighted to read about Action Research and Exploratory Practice as a way to increase permeability by shortening the feedback cycle. These are just two examples of how design and practice work together.

    Today Reading (1:29 Ch. 12) and Blogging (0:2)

    Previously: Announcement. Book. Selection 3Readings. FirstRead.

    Background: I’m preparing an 8-week course about TBLT for iTDi as part of their Great Minds series (not mine, the ones in the book). I am blogging about the process of preparation mostly for the fun of it. I was inspired by Cory Doctorow, an SF writer that does this with all his books. But it also helps me focus. This is even more exciting than teaching a grad school course. I’m looking forward to it and hope this might spark an interest.

  • TBLT Prep: First Reading

    The first reading has a few purposes. I note feelings I get when discovery is delightful or difficult. I make a deck of jargon flip cards. I highlight as if I were a grad student. I note down which studies get mentioned more often than most.

    The first, fast, reading helps me with subsequent readings. It builds empathy with the participants. I am assuming they will come in reading only a chapter ahead. I can see which ones to warn participants about, and indicate which ones will take longer.

    I start to build a glossary, and since the digital version has a flip-card function, I use that for jargon or acronyms, just in case.

    Keeping an eye out for the more important studies will help me in my second (deep, slow) reading along with some of the studies.

    And finally, my notes will help me develop materials to aid participants in reading three. I will know when to move fast and when to slow down.

    Today Reading (1:01 Ch. 10) and Blogging (0:21)

    Previously: Announcement. Book. Selection. 3Readings.

    I’m preparing an 8-week course about TBLT for iTDi as part of their Great Minds series (not mine, the ones in the book). I am blogging about the process of preparation mostly for the fun of it. I was inspired by Cory Doctorow, an SF writer that does this with all his books. But it also helps me focus. This is even more exciting than teaching a grad school course. I’m looking forward to it and hope this might spark an interest.