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Using methodology notebooks

on in-service teacher-training
courses
Sarah Hundleby and Felicity Breet

In 1984 we were recruited by the British Council to run two one-year


in-service
teacher-training
courses at the University
of Nanjing in the
Peoples Republic of China. The students on these courses were experienced Chinese teachers of English from universities and colleges throughout the country. This article illustrates one practical solution
to the problem
of teacher-training
courses in which the timetable emphasizes language
improvement
rather than the teaching of methodology.

Introduction

The weekly timetable of the Advanced Teacher-Training


Courses at the
University
of Nanjing consisted from 1984 to 1986 of eight hours of language-improvement
courses, six hours of literature and linguistics, but only
two hours of language-teaching
methodology. The small proportion of time
given to methodology may have reflected locally perceived needs or may
even have reflected an internationally
held view of its importance relative to
(for example) language improvement.
But on courses apparently designed
to improve teachers practical skills, the short time devoted to methodology
seemed on the face of it inappropriate.

The methodology

Realizing that it is often difficult to make radical alterations to the timetable


in an institution,
we tried to find a way of expanding the time given to
methodology,
without contracting
the time given to other components
of
the training
courses. The device we employed was the Methodology
Notebook. This was a file compiled by each student during the courses.
The notebooks developed into personal and highly individual collections of
items related to teaching English as a foreign language. The items were
selected mainly from the following areas:

notebook

1 Detailed notes about and (where possible) examples of materials used


during language-improvement
lessons including visual aids, authentic
texts, worksheets, games, fluency activities, names of books, and so on.
These were often selected with reference to the trainees own needs as
teacher, to provide a useful resource bank for later use.
2 A critical analysis of methods used by the British Council teachers of the
language-improvement
courses. This could be from the point of view of the
trainees experience as learner, as well as from his or her viewpoint as a
teacher in a different EFL environment.
3 A critical analysis of other lectures given by both Chinese and foreign
colleagues as part of the Advanced Teacher-Training
Course.
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ELT Journal Volume 42/1 January 1988 Oxford University Press 1988

articles

welcome

4 A collection of relevant
from EFL teacher-training
Ways of establishing
the methodology
notebook

items, materials, or points for discussion,


and Applied Linguistics books.

taken

The notebooks were begun early in the first semester during the time
allocated to Methodology.
They were referred to regularly during the
language-improvement
courses. In order to demonstrate
their value, they
were considered to be worth 25 per cent of the courses final assessment.
Several methods of demonstrating
the range of possible contents in the
notebooks were employed. These included:
1 Handing out a suggested format for an EFL language lesson which the
students could use as a guide to their analysis, considering for example:
how far does the lesson conform to the lesson plan? how and why does it
differ?
2 Handing out a list of sub-headings
which might be applied to different
parts of an EFL lesson. The trainees could be asked to focus their analysis
on particular
areas such as pre-listening
activities, or how the teacher
brings the lesson to a close.
3 Providing the class with an imaginary page or two as a stimulus,
based on the trainers analysis of his or her own recent lessons.

Monitoring

Ways of exploiting
the methodology
notebooks

perhaps

Once the aim of the notebooks as a potential basis for the students own
teaching had been established and the students had become used to evaluating methods and materials, it was found that they needed little direction
from the trainer.
Monitoring the development of the notebooks, however, was essential, as
the students found analysing methods extremely difficult. At first they
wanted to copy passages from books and only gradually became confident
of their own ability to discriminate
between practically valuable material
and intellectually
interesting but not very useful items. The notebooks were
therefore regularly collected in for the trainers perusal. Including
the
notebooks in the course assessment
highlighted
their importance
and
helped to minimize the emphasis on an end-of-course examination.
Several ways of exploiting

the methodology

notebooks

were tried out:

1 The notebooks provided the basis for individual tutorials from which the
trainer and trainee could cooperatively
select topics for seminars and
essays.
2 The comments and records of possible methods provided the students
with a basis for writing their own lesson plans and schemes of work. These
in turn were used as a basis for peer-group teaching activities.
3 The areas focused on by individual
students were also used to create
personal reading programmes. This was particularly valuable for students
whose future teaching needs differed considerably
from those of the
majority.
4 The collection of material and the writing of notebooks was also integrated into the study-skills component of the course, providing a meaningful context for developing the skills of notetaking, summary writing, and
so on.
5 The notebooks

provided

the framework

for trainees

research

into tech35

Using methodologynotebooks

articles

welcome

niques and methods recently considered during the Methodology course.


This provided the basis for well-informed class discussions on areas such as
information-gap
activities,
communication
games, ways of presenting
grammatical
points, and questioning
techniques.
Conclusion

For the trainer the notebooks provided a unique opportunity to observe the
trainees changing awareness of the wide-ranging
possibilities
in EFL
teaching. Some of the areas in which students changing opinions could be
observed included:
1 The value of oral work in which students talk to each other rather than to the
teacher. At first some students commented
on their reserve and lack of
confidence: Why should we talk to our classmates? Well only pick up bad
habits. Later some pointed out how much they enjoyed these activities and
felt they were becoming more fluent. What a lot of practice the whole class
is getting was a frequent comment.
2 The importance of contextualizing listening activities and developing prediction
At first the pre-listening
phrase was felt by some students to be
unnecessary. Only gradually did they acknowledge its importance in aiding
listening and concede that this reflects real-life listening situations.

skills.

3 Authentic us grammatically

organised or otherwise pre-digested' texts. Again

feelings of insecurity changed to appreciation


skills in listening and reading.

as students

improved

their

4 The role of the teacher as organizer/facilitator

rather than, or at least as well


as, dispenser of knowledge. Students began to see how they could adapt
their own teaching to include some phases where they organized activities
in which students took the lead.

For the trainee the notebooks functioned


rather as the diaries in Tim
Lowes Experiment in role reversal (ELT Journal 41/2:89-96)
in that they
provided both the structure and the motivation for continual self reflection. As records of developing awareness it seems likely that the notebooks
would be a useful reminder when meeting resistance to new techniques in
trainees own teaching. As well as this, of course, the notebooks provide an
infinitely useful set of resources.
Although the idea was developed as part of a one-year in-service course
in China, the potential for the use of methodology
notebooks in many EFL/
ESL teacher-training
courses seems great. This is particularly
true where
the course includes some language training in which the trainee is exposed
to learning language as a student again, and where there is a need for an
accessible and easily implemented
way of increasing
the methodology
input.
Received May 1987
The authors

Felicity Breet has taught EFL/ESL in England,


Nigeria, and the Peoples Republic of China. She is at
present employed by the British Council as English

36

Teaching
Adviser
in North
West Cameroun.
Sarah
Hundleby
holds a Masters
Degree in TEFL from the
University
of East Anglia
and has taught
in Britain
and the Peoples Republic
of China.

Sarah Hundleby and Felicity Breet

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