UNIVERSIDADPONTIFICIABOLIVARIANA

SCHOOLOFEDUCATIONANDPEDAGOGY
B.A.INENGLISHSPANISHEDUCATION

MethodsandApproachesintheTeachingofEnglish
RalA.Mora,Ph.D.,Instructor
ArgumentativePaperMarch2931,2015

Topic:Acriticallookattodaystextbooks

Instructions:

1.

Thisexamisinpairsortrios(therewillfivepairsandthreetrios).Youshouldhavechosena
partnerbynow.Ifyoudonothaveone,youwillbeassignedoneatrandomfromthepeople
whohavenotchosenoneeither.
2.

Developthetopicascompletelyandhonestlyaspossible.Thereisa
minimal
pagelimit
onceyougettothat,workonthetextuntilyouhavefullyexhaustedthetopic.
3.

Youcanuseallavailableresourcesfromthecoursetoanswerthequestions,including
dictionariesandspellcheckers.Thismeansthatyoushouldonlyworkwithyourpartner(s)and
notengageinconversationsotherthansaidperson/people.
4.

YouwillfindthisassignmentonGoogleDriveat8:00amonTuesday29.Iwillemailyouall
thelinkviaemail.Onceyouhaveaccesstothefile,youshouldcopyandpastethisassignment
onaseparatefile
onthesamefolderwhereyoufoundthisfile.Y
oushouldcompletetheessay
onGoogleDriveby9:00am.Youaresupposedtoworkonthisexamduringthetwoclass
periodsonMarch29and30.Pleasenameyourfileasfollows,MATEArgPaper(studentslast
names)andemailitatraul.mora@upb.edu.cowiththesamesubjectline.
5.

YouarewelcometobrieflydiscussideaswithyourinstructorviaemailorFacebookchat
between8and10amonTuesday.However,therewillbenoproofreadingofyouranswers.
Takeadvantageofthetechnologytocheckfortyposandpunctuation.

Resources:

1.

Allclassroomreadings
2.

Englishtextbooks(atleasttwo,buttheresnolimit)
3.

GoogleDrive

MIDTERMEXAM

Part1:UndertheHood(Reloaded)

Lookatyourtextbooks.Discussthefollowingquestions:


1.

Whatmethodsandapproachesdoyouseeasprevalentinyourtextbooks?Makereferences
tothechapterswereadinclassandspecificexamplesinyourtextbookstosupportyourclaims.
2.

Whatreferencesdotheymaketospecificfeaturesofcommunicativecompetence,as
discussedinclass?Makereferencestothechapterswereadinclassandspecificexamplesin
yourtextbookstosupportyourclaims.
3.

Consideringyourpresentclassroomsituation,whatmethodsandapproachesdoyouthink
thetextbooksshouldconsiderwhenplanningtheiractivities?
4.

RecallChapter1fromKumaravadivelu(2003).Whatteachingmodel(fromthethree
Kumaravadivelutalkedabout)dothesetextbookssupport?Isthismodelthebookssupportthe
mostappropriateforthecurrentstateofeducationintodayslocalcontext?

Part2:Switcheroo

Today,youandyourpartnerswillplaytobetextbookdesigners.Pickoneofthetextbooksand
focusononeofthefourskills.Lookattheexercisesforthatskillthroughoutthebook.Then
discussthefollowingquestions.Pleasemakereferencestothechaptersandreadingsforthat
skillweusedinclass,aswellasspecificreferencestoyourtextbooktosupportyourclaims:
1.

Whatisworthkeepingandwhatreallyneedstogointheseactivities?
2.

Usingtheideasfromtheauthorswehaveread,howwouldyoufix/switch/rebuildthese
activities?
3.

Basedonyourdiscussionsin1.and2.,proposeanactivityforthatskillinoneoftheunitsof
thistextbook.Writeitinalanguagesimilartothatofthetextbook.

th
RememberthatyouneedtoformatyourproposalusingtherulesoftheAPAManualofStyle(6

Edition).Youneedtociteatleast4sourcesinyourtext(besidesthetextbooks,natch),
includingkeyquotationsfromyoursourcestosupportyourpoints.Youneedtowritethis
doublespaced,alignedtotheleft(doNOTjustify!),andusinganyprofessionalfontyouwant
(i.e.youcanstayawayfromTimesNewRoman,butpleasedonoteventhinkaboutusing
ComicSansMSoranyofthatkind!ThisisanACADEMICreport,afterall!).Youshouldwriteat
leastthreepages(remember,doublespaced)toanswerthequestions.

Goodluck!

Dr.Berry