Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Into Example: Spoken English – Debate, Topic: Expressing Opinions: 
Men vs. Women
INTO ACTIVITY:
This activity gives the students the opportunity to get to know each other better and 
therefore helps to create a non-threatening environment for speaking and sharing 
ideas. It also encourages students to think creatively because they must share per-
sonal characteristics in an abstract way.
A) The teacher shows the students the example… If I were a ___________, I 
would be (a)_____________ because ______________.
i) If I were a body of water, I would be an ocean because an ocean can 
be very calm, deep, and mysterious, but in a moment’s notice it can be 
raging and dangerous.
ii) Students in their respective teams talk about and share what each of 
them said.
B) The teacher writes in the first subject (food, animal, music, object).
C) The teacher writes in the second subject.
D) The teacher writes in the third subject 
(man / woman) – if you are a man you 
must answer the woman; if you are a woman you must answer the man.
i) Teacher asks for some responses (2 boys and 2 girls) for the last one and 
writes the names up on the board.
ii) Positive qualities about each gender are written on the board next to 
the name.
The icebreaker was adapted from: Klippel, F. (1984).

---

183
CHAPTER FIVE: FROM SYLLABUS DESIGN TO LESSON PLANNING
Through: The middle portion(s) of the lesson. There are three basic 
precepts to the phase of through. First, move from familiar to new, simple 
to complex, mechanical to unstructured in order to build schema upon ex-
isting knowledge structures. Second, pre-teach necessary metalanguage, 
lexical items, and forms to reduce anxiety and activate schematic knowl-
edge. Third, explicitly mark transitions between tasks and activities. (Rich-
ards & Lockhart, 1994).
Decisions about sequencing of tasks and information: Suggested 
techniques: a) Present directions carefully and deliberately; b) Model pro-
cedures and skills; c) Monitor students’ attention and comprehension; d) 
Provide appropriate feedback; and e) Supply abundant transitional cues.
Role of Pacing: “the extent to which a lesson maintains its momentum 
and communicates a sense of development” (Richards and Lockhart, 1994). 
Suggested techniques: a) Efficient delivery of directions; b) Varied tasks and 
interactive modalities; c) Systematic redundancy (but not excessive repe-
tition); d) Tasks directed toward students’ level of proficiency; e) Setting of 
limits; and f ) Ongoing diagnosis of students’ cognitive states.
Beyond: The last phase of a lesson plan that considers how the les-
son connects in students’ minds to the course of study. This section builds 
coherence among lessons and supports learners to make connections 
among lessons on their own.
Suggested Techniques: a) Summarize major points emerging from 
the tasks; b) Explain how the lesson is connected to goals and/or objec-
tives; and c) Explain how the lesson will connect to the next lesson.
ACTION
Take an already existing lesson plan or one you had written for a lesson 
at your university, and divide up the lesson plan with the three phases of 
into-through-beyond. 
SUMMARY
This section addressed the three sections of the lesson plan: into, 
through, and beyond. Additionally, we have provided you with suggested 
techniques to keep in mind as you navigate throughout the lesson.

---

184
RECONCEPTUALIZING LANGUAGE TEACHING
HOMEWORK TASK SEVENTEEN
Formally write a complete (and revised) lesson plan from Homework 
Task One [approximately 80 minutes]. Make sure you are able to answer the 
following questions about it: 
Chapter 1: What kind of competence(-ies) are you trying to address in 
the lesson plan (i.e., linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, strategic, and/or 
all the competencies)? The answer to this question will support your lesson 
plan from a theoretical language perspective.
Chapter 2: Which methodological approach and/or language teach-
ing principles are you trying to achieve? The answer to this question will 
support your lesson plan from a language teaching methodological per-
spective.
Chapter 3: How will you assess what you are trying to measure (i.e., 
Assessment-for-Learning and/or Assessment-of-Learning)? The answer to 
this question will support the connection you see among teaching-learn-
ing-assessing. 
Chapter 4: Will you be teaching a competency through speaking, lis-
tening, writing, reading (or) all of the above? Will an activity that you had 
learned from Chapter 4 be included in your lesson plan? This answer can 
support some techniques you may use in your classroom to support the 
answers above.
Chapter 5: Please keep in mind how the lesson plan you create will 
fit into the syllabus of the course and the overarching national standards. 
More specifically, what are the specific goals (i.e., cognitive, performative, 
and affective) that you want to achieve; or, are the goals/objectives of your 
lesson being created from a backwards design perspective?
REFERENCES
1. Klippel, F. (1984). Keep talking: Communicative fluency activities for 
language teaching
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second lan-
guage classrooms
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

---

185
CHAPTER FIVE: FROM SYLLABUS DESIGN TO LESSON PLANNING