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Coordination

The DP Coordinators view: language level placement II

Originally posted on June 8, 2020 @ 9:12 am

I am not a language teacher.

This post continues from last weeks where I asked questions surrounding the language profile of hypothetical students.

In addition to the subject guides for language A and B, The IB has produced a range of publications surrounding the issues of language learning that support discussions of language placement. These, in addition to DP Programme: From Principles into Practice (PP), include:

  • Developing academic literacy in IB programmes
  • Language and Learning in IB programmes
  • Learning in a language other than mother tongue in IB programmes
  • Benchmarking selected International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme language courses to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

These can all be found on the PRC at the time of writing.

It is important to note that the IB makes no definitive prescriptions about which language level placement is appropriate for which students. This is evidenced by the following quotes from the language guides:

Students enter language acquisition courses with varying degrees of exposure to the target language(s).
It is, therefore, important that students are placed into a course that is most suited to their language
development needs and that will provide them with an appropriate academic challenge
[my emphasis]. ….
Further placement guidance can be drawn from the study Benchmarking Selected IB Diploma Programme
Language Courses to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This study suggests that
students already at CEFR A2 or B1 in the target language can comfortably take language B SL. Students
already at CEFR B1 or B2 can comfortably take language B HL.

Excerpt from the Language B guide (first exams 2020)

Language ab initio is a language acquisition course designed for students with no prior experience of the
target language, or for those students with very limited previous exposure. ….
Because of the inherent difficulty of defining what constitutes “very limited exposure” to a language, it is not
possible to list specific conditions such as the number of hours or the nature of previous language instruction
[my emphasis];
however, it is important to note that any student who is already able to understand and respond to spoken and
written language on a range of common topics is not to be placed in language ab initio as this would not provide
an appropriate academic challenge
[my emphasis], nor is it fair for those students who are genuine beginners of the language.

Excerpt from the ab initio guide (first exams 2020)

This is a matter that schools need to decide internally, and the IB provides guidance on how to approach. Indeed, PP makes this clear:

Because language demographics vary widely, each school is required to develop a language policy to address these issues…

Access can be broadened when a school fully understands and supports the needs of students for whom the language of instruction in the school is not their best or first language. Teachers of all subjects need to understand their role in supporting student language development…..

Many DP students complete their Diploma in a language that is not their best language for academic work. A powerful feature of the DP is the policy of mother-tongue entitlement that promotes respect for the literary heritage of the language a student uses at home.

IB Diploma Programme: From Principles to Practice (2015)

While offering SSST Language A: Literature SL may well resolve some of the issues raised in last weeks post, it doesn’t always.

Clearly there are logistical and financing implications for schools and the families impacted but what seems to unconsidered by the IB, is that it may well be the case that a student who has not formally studied in their mother tongue, and only used this language at home, may not be equipped to take the SSST course.

If the school is small and perhaps doesn’t offer their mother tongue language in group 2, then what can this student do?

This was the idea I was puzzling over that inspired me to write these posts and interesting some of the replies to last weeks post, indicate that I am not alone in thinking this way.

In their video “Language domains in the continuum” (on the PRC), the IB references the following graphic to explain ways to think about language use in educational programmes.

Language domains in the continuum

This model builds on the work of Jim Cummins, which I have addressed elsewhere on this blog, and provides a clear bridge between that work and the problems of placement.

I would argue that it is possible for a mother tongue language learner to not have the language skills much beyond the BICS category and perhaps not fully CALPS. For example a student could be mother tongue in, say Spanish with Mexican heritage but raised in China for much of their life. If they attend a small school that doesn’t offer Spanish from the primary years up, they will have a problem when they come to the Diploma.

They are going to have a real struggle to undertake literary criticism and analysis in their mother tongue. This will make the SSST course unsuitable but without the facility to self study Language B HL they will, most likely be forced to not taking up their mother tongue.

Currently, the IB doesn’t explicitly allow self study of Language B. This is a shame. To rub the salt in, the only online provider of IB courses, Pamoja education, doesn’t provide a vast range of languages either.

Additionally, as outlined last week, there can be cases where a student doesn’t make the progress we would expect in their mother tongue after being placed erroneously into an acquisition course. Of course this type of thing shouldn’t happen but when it does, teachers views of student can become entrenched which makes it harder to make the case for a child to switch into the correct stream. Of course, their language skills haven’t developed and kept up with other native speakers, they haven’t been challenged appropriately.

Whats the problem with these scenarios? Why not just swap onto the right course in the DP? To understand I think it is important to understand the different demands of the language courses.

A good way, I submit, to look at the demands of the language courses is in terms of the complex conceptual demands of analysing a text. I am well aware that I am a novice here, and discussing issues outside of my subject specialism, but I am eager to learn and discuss.

I suggest that the more novels a course contains then the higher degree of abstract analysis and discussion of texts will need to take place, drawing on deeper cultural understanding. I don’t write this to knock language acquisition – learning a language is a challenge in its own right and for different reasons – but just to provide a metric when thinking about the different courses.

The IB appears to have aligned its language courses so that now there is a continuum of exceptions from language ab initio all the way to language A: literature HL and we can see this in the literature requirements of each of the courses.

ab initio courses have no literature component and neither does language B SL.

Language B HL requires students to study 2 novels:

The use of literary works to develop students’ receptive and productive skills is encouraged at all levels of
language acquisition in the DP; however, in terms of formal requirements of the syllabus and assessment
outline, the study of two literary works originally written in the target language is a requirement at
HL in language B. HL students are expected to understand fundamental elements of the literary works
studied, such as themes, plot and characters. It must be emphasized that literary criticism is not an objective

Excerpt from the Language B guide (first exams 2020)

In group 1 or Language A we have two routes: Language & Literature or Literature.

So what is involved with the two different Language A courses:

Language A: literature—in this course, the focus is directed towards developing an understanding of the techniques involved in literary criticism and promoting the ability to form independent literary judgments.

Language A: language and literature—in this course, the focus is directed towards developing an understanding of the constructed nature of meanings generated by language, and the function of context in this process.

Excerpt from the IB DP Assessment procedures 2020 document found on the PRC

The tables below show us that L&L SL requires student students to study 4 works of literature, while HL requires you to study 6 works of literature. Lit SL requires 9 works of literature and HL requires 13 works of literature.But all group 1 SL course and HL course should be the same difficulty.

Details of the Language A: Language & Literature course
Details of the Language A: Literature course

What does all this mean for language placement for students who have complex language profiles?

First there needs to be a clear policy that articulates the progression of mother tongue learning and acquisition language learning in school, that ensures that students are not left in the position that the teachers of the only two languages they could study in the Diploma are all recommending that they only take language B. All students need to have an A language and if this can’t be their mother tongue then the school has a duty to prepare them as best possible in another language to enable them to take one of those languages in group A, where possible.

Secondly mother tongue needs to be provided for where possible so that students and their families understand the options and the routes available to them as they move through the school. Where the school cannot provide for the teaching of the mother tongue directly, conversations need to take place with the parents about how provision can be made for a student to keep up to some extent with their home language.

Thirdly, when working out placements, it is important to provide testing of the students level and ability in all their languages, not just the ones that the school provides for. A school can provide the means for a language test to be taken by an external assessor if necessary, to help the school and families work out what pathway may be in the best interests of the student.

Testing can allow a quick comparison between the CEFR and IB programmes as outlined in the 2016 report “Benchmarking selected International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme language courses to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” available on the PRC. The summary of that report contains this graphic which shows how the grades for each course map onto the CEFR.

Fourthly, where possible the school should work with the IB and the family to enable access to a language where possible. This may include getting permission from the IB to deliver group 2 language with an external teacher, if possible or providing financial support to families who need to hire in an additional tutor, either through fee reductions or bursaries.

What do you think? How can schools work to get language level placement right for students? Please comment below.

Categories
Resources University

A list of good open questions for use in teaching…

Originally posted on August 24, 2016 @ 9:00 am

“A great question is one that gets us all thinking…students questions give us a glimpse into what they are thinking, what issues are engaging them, where their confusion is, where and how are they making connections…where are they seeking clarification?” Richhardt et al 2011

Counseling

  • Why do you think you want this versus that?
  • How will your long term plans be impacted and why?
  • What would you lose if you didnt do that, and why?
  • What would you do if you could do whatever you wanted and why?
  • Write down the first thing that comes to mind when you think of college?
  • If you could say one thing to your parents what would it be?
  • Write down one message to your children?

Teaching

Questions need to focus on learning and not on work, using the language of inclusion (we not I or you)

Give praise for the effort not for the outcome = growth mindset.

  • I was wondering if…
  • Can you say more about that?
  • Im not following you can you explain that in another way?
  • Questions that model an interest in ideas
  • Questions that construct understanding
  • Questions the clarify and facilitate thinking
  • What makes you say that?
  •  What does that tell us?
  • What questions are surfacing for you?
  • What do we see?
  • What do we think we know?
  • What else do you notice?
  • Can we explain this?

Categories
Teaching & Learning

This weeks grade 12 revision advice

Originally posted on February 3, 2017 @ 5:04 pm

DP Revision Instructions

  1. Make a list of all of the experiments and procedures mentioned in the DP guide. –make sure you know what these are and can describe them.
  2. Make a list of all of the calculations (including statistics) included in the DP guide.- make sure you know what these are and can use them.
  3. Make a list of the drawings required in the syllabus included in the DP guide.- make sure you know what these are practice drawing them.
  4. Make a plan (for however many weeks you have) of which topics and in what order you are going to revise, along with how many hours of review you will put in each week.
  5. Execute plan
  6. Complete past papers
    1. Start with open notes
    2. Progress to closed notes
    3. Progress to timed with closed notes

Active Revision tools

  1. Textbook
  2. Ofxord IB Biology Guide (thin orange textbook)
  3. Workbooks
  4. Syllabus (AKA confusingly as the DP Guide)
  5. Use all the above to create shorter and shorter summary notes for each topic/sub-topic

Active Revision Strategies

  1. Connect-Extend-Challenge.
  2. Brainstorming and reviewing against notes.
  3. Peer-2-Peer teaching and feedback.
  4. Thinking/Discussion about the course material that pertains to specific functions as you carry out those functions e.g. digestive system while you are eating.
  5. Word-Phrase-Sentence to help you summarise and re-summarise.
  6. Create voice memos on your phone for each subtopic and then listen to these on the train/bus/etc.
  7. Create mind maps and concept maps.

Categories
Teaching & Learning

Practical Work & The Internal Assessment

Originally posted on January 19, 2017 @ 8:37 am

ICT in Biology

The documentation on the ICT requirements for the new course is currently not well documented. However it is expected that the five categories will remain the same as they were in the old course:

  • Data logging
  • Graph plotting software
  • Spreadsheet
  • Database
  • Computer model/simulation

ICT in IB Biology is an excellent resource for all aspects of ICT usage from graph construction to online databases.

Datalogging

For DP Biology I recommend Vernier and the resources in terms of practical protocols they provide.

 Graph plotting and spreadsheet software

HHMI Spreadsheet Data Analysis Tutorials will show you how to use google sheets to analyse data, produce tables and plot graphs.

It is currently (to the best of my knowledge) not possible to put error bars onto data points in scatter graphs in google sheets (although you can for bar graphs oddly) and I therefore recommend that students use Excel to carry out data processing and presentation.

The problem arises in schools with BYOD policies that don’t take into account that students need to have the same version of these programs to ensure a flow of learning in classrooms where teachers are trying to instruct their students on this stuff.

Databases

 

Computer models and simulations

A list of online simulations

Internal Assessment Guide

Lessons in Action


Categories
Teaching & Learning

Goals for 2016-2017

Originally posted on August 21, 2016 @ 9:00 am

In this post I am trying to clarify my ideas for my goals and focus of my pedagogical practice for the academic year 2016-17.

Teaching

Firstly following on from my reading this summer and as discussed in an earlier post I want to bring thinking more to the front and centre of classes. By this I mean that I want to make the types of thinking used by scientists more explicit to my students and to help them further develop their thinking dispositions.

1) Learner Profile

I have come to see the learner profile as the the dispositions of a learner. It is these dispositions that we are trying to develop.

Goal #1: Make the Learner Profile front and centre of class.

2) ATLS

If the Learner Profile is the disposition then the ATLS are the tools for developing those dispositions. Highlighting the approaches to learning and showing students how to develop these skills will develop their own learner profile.

In terms of IB teaching, this year I plan to spend more time focussing on the approaches to teaching and learning (ATLs). Thinking skills is a subgroup of this and the work of Ritchhart is referenced by the IB on their ATL guide in the thinking skills section. Ritchhart also talks about the need to make his thinking routines explict, as what students cannot name they cannot own. I think that this applies to all of the approaches to learning and  I am convinced that the methods used to make thinking more explicit would also be beneficial in terms on making all the learning skills more explicit to students, and therefore helping them develop the skills to become independent learners.

I think it would be wise then, to start by making the ATLs and the essential questions of science visible and on display in the laboratory. The same could be said for the TOK classroom and the college counseling office. What are the essential questions in these areas of school life?

In delivering my curriculums I will try to use routines more readily for study and thinking, the challenge now is to work out which routines will be best suited for my subjects in my lesson planning. And develop good routines for the other ATLs not necessarily just the thinking routines.

Goal #2: Make the approaches to learning explicit in class.

3) Thinking routines

A subset of the the ATLS are the thinking skills and routines have been developed by Harvard’s Project Zero. In using thinking routines I need to develop my skills of questioning to make thinking more visible and encourage my students to share their thinking. After all, individual thinking benefits from being challenged; from the need to articulate things clearly to others. Therefore collaboration is the stuff of growth and acts to give students the tools to work together by developing their own thinking skills.

For something to be truly valued it has to be well articulated and identifiable. To value thinking we have to unpack it and identify what it entails in any given situation, therefore leaders of any group need to articulate what kinds of thinking they value – what kinds of thinking do we want in a science class? In TOK class? Vygoytsky stated that children grow into the intellectual life of those around them therefore we need to surround children with thinking.

In the DP Biology course the Nature of Science sections lend themselves perfectly to developing the types of thinking required by scientists.

Steps to thinking involve: honesty with students, essential questions for science. Types of thinking moves. Thinking routines.

Goal #3: Teach for scientific and critical thinking.

4) Concept Inventories

Goal #4: Become more familiar with the research on “threshold concepts” and the Biology “Concept Inventories”

5) EdTech

On the EdTech front I am going to try to integrate Periscope more into my teaching. I think that the app has a lot of potential benefits for schools including the ability for students to connect in a non-threatening way with other students across the world, disseminate information to parents, and getting feedback on my teaching like a digital lesson study.

Twitter and Instagram could also be useful research tool for students and could be co-opted in to class if students are given advice on useful people to follow.

Goal #5: Make more use of Twitter and Periscope in my work in school.