Lesson Plan Analysis

Toshova_5350_Lesson Plan Analysis

Webster University in Tashkent

MA TESL- 5350, Group: 8T

Lesson Plan Analysis

Student: Khurshida Toshova

Instructor: Saodat Tadjibaeva

Lesson Plan Analysis

This lesson plan is intended to create for multicultural and upper-intermediate level ESL learners of American University to increase their speaking skills. The aim of the learners not only to improve daily but also academic and business communication.

If I talk about the objectives of the lesson, they include language and cultural aspects that learners gain knowledge from linguistically and culturally perspective. For instance, they can differentiate a range of cultural norms including giving and responding to compliments as well as analyze social distance, status, and formality. Moreover, grammar structures are also involved that learners can express their ideas and opinions with the help of the grammar rules, various compliments, and responses. 

The lesson provides the learners four activities that with the first activity they practice awareness of pragmatics and understanding according to the responding and complimenting. Discussion is concentrated in this activity that Ishihara and Cohen (2010) note, it is crucial before teaching pragmatics that teachers get familiar with their learners’ linguistic knowledge, cultural and pragmatic norms. Learners work with the worksheets during this open activity. In the second activity, data collection serves to enhance learners’ pragmatic awareness during the watching "Father of the Bride" film, besides they realize grammar rules in compliments. This activity is also open as clarification and discovery are used to identify main points. In the third activity, expressions are explained, and learners use them in their writing. After having written, learners exchanged their writing samples and learn complaining strategies. As the process requires the explanation, I can say it is a guided activity. In the fourth activity, learners worked with groups by dividing two groups into the circle. In this procedure, learners complimented and responded by taking turns that this guided activity requires to explain expressions before writing information and putting into practice in oral communication.

I noticed formal instruction in the course of the lesson that ensures instructions easier to understand. Learners have to think, discuss, grammatical structures and other pragmatic norms together before giving formal instruction. For that reason, the inductive method is used in this lesson. Bu,t in the third and fourth activity learners are taught deductively that they receive explanation before doing the activity.

By watching the film, learners can be aware of contextual factors including status, distance, age, and gender. Recorded conversation and shared it help to analyze the contextual factors. The process of filling handouts aids to be clarification of contextual factors.

During the lesson, the teacher provided feedback after learners' participation that as for the third activity, individual feedback was received by the learner. The informal assessment was used as learners gained information from the discussions and film. In the fourth activity, as a formal assessment teacher created an activity to evaluate learners’ pragmatic ability and future needs.

Grave. K( 1996) mentions formative assessment is used to analyze learners’ achievement and needs.

When it comes to the strong sides of the lesson, its objectives meet the language learning and cultural norms appropriately. Both objectives and cultural norms are approached based on the appropriate level, age, and culture. (Holmes and Brown, 1987). Another positive side is that a learner-centered environment is created that encourages learners to work themselves. As a third advantage, I take various tasks which made the lesson interactive and informative that learners learn, analyze and practice together.

In my teaching procedure, I will consider my learners’ level and age to modify this lesson plan. And I will allocate more time to my learners to get a clear understanding and put it into practice. Moreover, I will give a task to collect data related to the complementing strategies of other countries and analyze what expressions or strategies are given in the language and pragmatic context.

Reference

Graves, K. (Ed.).  (1996). Teachers as course developers. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Holmes, J. & Brown, D. (1987). Teachers and Students learning about compliments. Journal of pragmatics, page 445-465.

Ishihara, N & Cohen, A.D (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Harlow, Essex, England: Longman/Peardon Education.