INTERLINK

INTERLINK Curriculum Guide

13. Q & A

What are the objectives of the Curriculum Guide?
The Curriculum Guide is intended to:
- assure that classes accurately reflect the INTERLINK mission
- foster the best learning conditions for students and the most stimulating work environment for teachers
- promote consistency from teacher to teacher, from term to term, and from center to center
- distinguish each class with its own unique objectives, requirements, and activities
- maintain standards by insuring basic levels of proficiency before students move on to the next class
- orient teachers to the principles and mechanisms of the curriculum
- present student-centered classes with a cross-cultural emphasis as a desirable and attainable end

Can I use a textbook in my class?
Certainly. Textbooks and any other useful adjunct materials may be used as long as they do not interfere with the established framework of the class or distort the pedagogical principles delineated in this guide. Learning should not be conflated with what books or materials are employed. As Earl Stevick has written, “Success depends less on the materials, techniques and linguistic analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the people in the classroom."

What happens if I have a combined (mixed level) class?
The Core Projects make it easier to teach a mixed level class because students can work on the activities and skills designated for their level.

Can I substitute my own activities for a Core Project?
Only if there is a great opportunity to do something which cannot be done unless a Core Project is omitted, and then only with the approval of the center director. The Core Projects are constructed to be able to absorb different kinds of activities and there is also room for doing many other activities in addition to the required projects.

If I am teaching a class for the first time, can I get any help in developing the Core Projects?
At the end of each term, teachers submit Classroom Contributions containing materials that can be accessed on the Teachers' Web Page. You can also speak to colleagues at your center and use the ilc listserv to elicit information from teachers at other centers.

In a student-centered class, do the students choose activities, materials and teaching style?
Not at all. Being student-centered does not mean ceding decision-making to students but rather being aware of and concerned about how students are progressing and developing their skills. A teacher- or materials-centered class focuses on what information is dispensed, but a student-centered class focuses on what is being absorbed by the learners.

Can I teach grammar in class?
Many studies indicate that proficiency and accuracy are more the result of increased usage and input than memorization of rules and drill work, and for this reason we focus on acquisition as opposed to conscious learning. Nevertheless, knowledge of formal grammatical terms is useful and teaching grammatical elements is not forbidden. However, the teacher should always keep in mind that learning grammar is not the same as acquiring proficiency and that conventional grammar practice is not a particularly good use of class time. Remember the axiom: where there are grammar rules, grammar rules.

Is our program academically oriented?
Perusal of the Core Projects and their rationale and associated activities will assure everyone that academic preparation is one of our highest priorities. Our classes are geared to advance academic skills but are not "academic" in terms of adhering to a traditional lecture format of teaching.

What if students don't do their Independent Assignments?
The Independent Listening and Reading Projects are indeed done outside of class and are meant to extend the students' English use beyond the classroom, but an effective teacher will develop strategies to monitor and assure that students are doing what they are expected to do. These strategies include giving quizzes about the material, having students discuss the material in small groups, requiring students to write summaries of the material etc. In other words, the teacher uses her/his ingenuity not only to make the assignments as interesting and enjoyable as possible to motivate students to do them, but also to put in place mechanisms that make it hard for students not to do them.

How should teachers provide error correction?
Error correction can be done in a variety of ways. As the writing feedback module demonstrates, however, error correction should not discourage students or make them feel that they are not successful language learners. The real question is not what kind of error correction to give, but how to give it in a way that does not do more harm than good. Efficacy is another issue. The empirical evidence is that a students persist in making the same mistakes over and over again even after the error is pointed out. So the teacher needs to be more concerned with engendering lasting improvement than with just pointing out errors. Conventional error correction focuses on learning rather than acquisition with the result that students may do well on tests but their language use may not reflect what they have "learned." The curriculum does not provide instructions on how to give error correction but emphasizes these 2 principles: 1. Error correction should not have adverse affective consequences (or it will do more harm than good); 2. Error correction should target how students use language and not what they know about language.