Fernando Morais –
“Whether you like them or not, tests are not going away.” (Harmer, IATEFL 2015)
Preparing students for proficiency exams is a growing demand for English language teachers. More than 10 million people sit these tests every year around the globe. Conversely, the growth of assessments market in Brazil is visible, with many schools becoming examination centers and thousands of candidates taking low and high-stakes tests all year round. As a result, having the knowledge and expertise for preparing pupils adequately can prove to be a valuable skill for teachers. Hence, this article aims at shedding some light on the topic of how teachers can best support test-takers at the daunting task of achieving the expected results.
Far from being an easy task, many people wonder about the secret of successful exams teachers. Besides being familiar with test format and keeping up-to-date about exam changes and other bureaucratic details, some of these competences include: effective planning and time management skills, knowing how to deal with anxiety and even frustration that not rarely afflict students, and an ability to provide honest and realistic feedback of students’ performance.
Provided that you have reasonable time for planning the course – which is not always the case – some components should not be forgotten. The ideal preparatory course would probably include: language work that is likely to be required during the test , exam techniques, study skills, and perhaps most importantly, as many mock tests as possible.
Nevertheless, according to Jim Scrivener, “a common problem with exam preparation courses arises when too much time is spent on exam technique and not enough on the other areas”. The solution would be using “a more balanced approach” (…) that means giving students a lot of language work and study skills in the first couple of weeks and gradually introducing work on exams strategy, building up towards complete mock tests in the last couple of weeks before the exam. (Scrivener, 2011)
CHOOSING THE RIGHT COURSE BOOK
Another critical part of this exams equation lies at the moment choosing the best support materials. To a certain extent, course books are the paint and brushes teachers will have at hand for aiding students to paint a masterpiece on the day of the exam . Thus, I would like to take the next few lines to introduce some of the features that make FOCUS, Pearson’s new American English young adult course book, a must-have for developing both language competence and exam techniques. These features include (but are not limited to!) the 3 M’s I will briefly describe below.
1st M – Motivation: “Motivation is a state of mind that provokes us into doing something … if we want something badly enough we will act on that desire.” (Harmer, 2013)
According to linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, “The truth of the matter is that about 99% of teachings in making the students feel interested in the material. Then, the other 1% has to do with your methods.” Therefore, choosing a course such as FOCUS, which constantly engages and stirs up students, is a great weapon anti-boredom and demotivation.
Lack of motivation should be prevented at all cost, as it can, among of other things: cause potential discipline problems, cause classroom management problems, have a negative effect on other students, make life difficult for the teacher, and ultimately become permanent and have a detrimental effect on long term progress.
Even though most students who are preparing for exams should be self-motivated enough to put out their best efforts throughout preparation period, that is not always the case. Therefore, in exam prep as in many other courses: “Motivation tends to be high at the start of the course, but it is difficult to sustain without some conscious effort to get the students take personal responsibility for their own success. Good examination teachers know how to foster each student’s ability to recognize his/her own strengths and weaknesses, and is able to suggest strategies for building up those skills and knowledge areas.” (Head & Burgess, 2005)
2nd M – Meaning: “It is the need to get meanings across and the pleasure experienced when this is achieved that motivates second language acquisition”. (Ellis, 1994)
FOCUS relies on topics of universal interest and gives them a fresh and attractive look, making them appealing to young adults and adults. Additionally, instead of using those typical course book images, illustrations were carefully selected to cause the best first impression possible. Finally, it uses plenty of authentic materials, including real people in their real lives: real people, real things, authentic materials.
3rd M – Memory: “There is no learning without remembering” (Socrates)
According to Paul Nation, Professor of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, University of Wellington, New Zealand, who researches vocabulary acquisition, “various studies create a range of 5-16 encounters with a word for a student to really acquire it”.
It is said that an average intermediate English Learner (B1-B2) knows approximately 2,500 words. That is perfectly fine for finding your way around life’s everyday tasks, especially considering that about 80% of authentic texts in English consisted of the 2,000 – 3,000 most common words in the language. However, in order to achieve an advanced level, students are expected to have learned around 7,500 words. Unfortunately, these 5,000 words pupils must acquire are less frequent and do not come without considerable effort.
FOCUS provides a solid approach towards vocabulary acquisition by following on 3 steps:
- Providing memorable first encounters with words
- Encouraging effective word-learning strategies
- Reviewing and recycling these words over and over and over and over and over again.
By following these steps in a consistent way, students can really acquire new vocabulary and be better able to success in their exams. For those of you who have an opportunity, this topic will be discussed in more detail on June 10th on a workshop offered by Pearson at the Disal Auditorium, in Sao Paulo.
You can also join us for our academic webinars. They are free of charge and you will receive a certificate of attendance after the event. Please register at: https://admail.pearson.com.br/13695_Webinars16/13695_maio.html
Bibliography
Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning Teaching. Macmillan.
Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press.
Harmer, J. (2013). Essential Teacher Knowledge. Pearson.
Head, K., & Burgess, S. (2005). How to Teach for Exams. Pearson Longman.
This post is offered by: Pearson
