Reading reflection - Week 11

This week's reading focuses on a lot of issues that are close to the heart of second language teachers and the more i do the readings as the course proceeds, the more practical the knowledge in the books become to me, which very much nurtures and strengthens my teaching inspiration.

One thing i noticed about Chapter 11 in the HDB book is the different types of drills that are mentioned. As a language learner I found the drill practice carried out by my English teachers very helpful for me as i first learned a new grammar point. In fact, drills and the repetition that go with this kind of language practice give students necessary practice before they move on to the next stage of being able to manipulate the language by themselves. However, as mentioned in the book, the teacher should be careful when using drills, since the overuse of this technique can make learning repetitive and boring. Therefore, in my future teaching, i will try to make good and appropriate use of drills, with more focus being given to meaningful drills where students are required to produce both questions and answers, not just repeat a sentence and make some minor changes.

Textbook adaptation is also a matter of great concern to me, since i know not everything written in the textbook is appropriate to my students, especially when in Vietnam, English textbooks very often contain exercises/tasks that are mechanical and not very meaningful. For some exercises students do not understand the meaning of the sentences but still can do them correctly. Textbook adaptation therefore becomes more important to me as a way of improving my teaching quality.

The next chapter about Techonology in the classroom is also very informative and practical. Living in the technological era, hardly can any teachers in general and language teachers in particular turn a blind eye toward the technological equipments which are designed to enhance the teaching and learning quality. The benefit of using technology language teaching is of course numerous. One of my writing teachers once used an online forum as a supplement for his writing class and whenever a new thread was posted, it really got everyone in the class involved and contribute, which could hardly happen in a real classroom context. However, one thing that i myself have experienced and which i think can actually happen is that there are times when the visual-audio techniques being used are so dominant and impressive that they take away students' attention and it then takes a long time for teachers to reset the order. In short, whether or not technology has a postive impact on the language learning process all depends on the technological conditions available and the teacher's flexibility and creativity.