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Praxis: Putting it Together in Relation to a Class---clinic use of
ESL teaching method
Ronglin Yao
Scenario 1: Adele Houston uses hearing aid.
As Adele is a hearing impaired student, I will have a private conversation with her
first. In doing so, I can find out her actual learning needs and any other special
requirements as to the seating arrangement, preparation of learning materials, peer
support etc. Given that Houston uses a hearing aid, I will place her at the front row of
the class with her best friends sitting next to her. Each time I teach a lesson, I will
give her the lesson notes beforehand. At the time of delivering the lesson, I will speak
loudly and clearly in her direction to enable her to hear me. (Krause, Bochner, et al.,
2003, pp. 252-253ff). Apart from that, I can also use body languages to help Adele
understand what I have said in the lesson. When coming to the key language points, I
will write them down on the black / whiteboard. During the whole period of the lesson,
I will, from time to time, check if she is keeping in pace with the flow of the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, I will approach her to find out if she needs additional help.
In addition to the aforementioned teaching strategies, I need to adjust my lesson,
specifically the teaching and learning activities so as to cater for Adele’s learning
needs. For instance, most of the hearing impaired students tend to be visual learners
(UniSA, 2007). As such, the teaching and learning activities should contain the visual
elements as much as possible. In so doing, Adele can learn efficiently. Putting it into
practice, I can use the PowerPoint presentation and the O/H projector when delivering
the lesson, use flashcards to cover the learning content, draw pictures on the black /
whiteboard, play the video clip that related to the lesson, get Adele and the rest of the

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students to watch a TV program or see a movie that is associated with what I’m
teaching in the lesson. For example, if the topic of the teaching is reading the story of
Looking For Alibrandi, then I can arrange a movie trip for students to view the film
Looking for Alibrandi, and then come back to the class for doing the book and / or
film review of Looking For Alibrandi. If the lesson covers a play or a drama, I can
give Adele the screen script and get the students in the class to act out part of the
dialogue in the play or in the drama, or simply act out part of the play or the drama. If
the teaching topic is creative writing, I can use visual images for teaching the creative
writing and give all students the assignment that has visual images as the basis for
developing into a piece of creative writing. If the teaching focuses on listening to a
radio interview program, I can prepare and give Adele a copy of the transcript. When
the time comes to the topic research and / or project work, I can get all students to use
the Internet for the topic research and project work. I believe Adele and other students
in the class will benefit from such teaching and learning activities and that the
teaching and learning activities in such fashion should achieve the best learning
outcomes for Adele and the rest of the students in the class.
Scenario 2: Antony Pavaroti is struggling academically, in particular, writing in
English. He has the Spatial Intelligence but lacks motivation in learning.
Teaching struggling students usually involves a combination of different approaches.
Having learnt Anthony’s profile, I can use the following combination of different
approaches to help him catch up with the rest of the class:
1. I will scaffold his writing through Modelling the specific genre writing.
According to Derewianka (1990), if students are “to write in a particular genre,
they first need to become familiar with its purpose and features through

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immersion in the genre and by exploring sample texts” (p.7). So when
teaching a particular genre, I will use such approaches as Modelling the text,
Joint Construction of the text, and Independent Construction of the text.
Through the scaffolding at Modelling and Joint Construction of the text stages,
Antony should be able write in accordance with the requirements of the
particular genre, and the rest of the class will also benefit from such
approaches.
2. In order to help Antony to improve his academic performance, I will get peer
support for him. The peers can usually act as his tutors. Apart from that, I can
organise a study group that consists of all the struggling students and give
them extra coaching after class. Moreover, I will encourage Antony to seek
peer support and the teacher support whenever he is experiencing difficulty in
a particular language learning area such as writing in English.
3. I will use Differentiated Instruction to conduct my lesson. For example, for
teaching any text type, I will paraphrase the difficult part of the text or a
language point for the learner like Antony, make the learning activities, tasks
and homework appropriate for his language level, give directed instruction or
more scaffolding as needed.
4. I will use Multiple Intelligence (MI) approach to support Anthony’s language
learning, i.e. linking the learning to the most appropriate kind of MI activity.
Since Anthony has the Spatial Intelligence, I can teach him as well as the rest
of the students in class to use Visualisation strategy, i.e. having them close
their eyes and picture whatever is being learned in the lesson; or to use Color
Cues, Picture Metaphors, Idea Sketching and Graphic Symbols in the

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teaching (Armstrong, 2000, pp.55-57ff); or to use mind maps, photography,
and painting as suggested by Richards and Rodgers (2001, p.121f).
5. I will think of a way to motivate Anthony through intrinsic motivation and / or
extrinsic motivation, coupled with careful selection of the teaching topic and
the learning activities. If the teaching topic and the learning activities can
engage him, it should work out to motivate him to learn English, in particular,
writing in English.
In so doing, Anthony and the other struggling students should be able to make steady
improvements in their academic performance.
Scenario 3: Ruby Cousins is a gifted student, with exceptional reading and
writing skills.
Teaching adolescents who are gifted is a very demanding task. When teaching Ruby
in my language classroom, I will use a variety of strategies to meet the needs of such
gifted student:
1. Provide individualised tasks and activities. Since Ruby has the exceptional
reading and writing skills, I can give her the challenging tasks as reading the
novel that is appropriate to her reading level (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2004,
2002, pp.269-270ff), or get her to write a book review or an analysis of the
characters, plot etc.
2. Form study groups of individuals who have similar interests and abilities
(McDevitt and Ormrod, 2004, 2002, p.269). In the current class I am teaching,
Hannah, William and Thomas are all doing well. So they can be grouped into
an advanced study group. Such study group will ensure Ruby and the rest of
the students in the study group to excel academically as they have similar

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interests and abilities, plus the strong academic learning atmosphere within the
study group.
3. Teach complex cognitive skills within the specific subject areas (McDevitt and
Ormrod, 2004, 2002, p.269). Since I have an advanced study group in my
class, I can set them to work on a specific topic that relates to the subject area.
For example, I can give the group or simply Ruby herself a topic for research
such as An investigation to the theme, plot and characters in Looking for
Alibrandi; I can assign the group with a group project and / or a discussion
topic such as How does multimedia impact the way we communicate and the
way we learn language? I can also give the study group or Ruby herself a
writing as Analysing the transformation of the novel Looking for Alibrandi
into the film Looking for Alibrandi. Furthermore, I can engage them with an
open-ended activity that requires divergent thought and production as
suggested by (Krause, Bochner, et al., 2003, p.216f). All such activities will
foster Ruby and the rest of the students’ cognitive skills as the activities
promote critical thinking and extend them further in their second language
learning.
4. Provide opportunities for independent study (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2004,
2002, p.269). Ruby can have an individualised program that allows her to
study independently at her own pace. For instance, when Ruby finishes the
targeted learning activities in class, she can choose to do the extension work,
or a topic research of her own interest, or extra reading / writing in class.
5. Encourage high goals (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2004, 2002, p.269). It is
important to encourage Ruby to reach her personal best in terms of her

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academic performance, but the high goals still need to be realistic and
manageable.
6. Seek resources outside of school (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2004, 2002, p.269).
When it comes to the time that Ruby’s academic pursuits in language study
can not be satisfied within the classroom and the school, I should help her seek
resources outside the school at all times. Such situations could be─maybe
Ruby needs to use a language lab at another place, or maybe she wants to
publish her writing, or maybe she wants to seek a specialist’s advice on
writing screen scripts etc. Whatever they are, as her language teacher, I should
strive to get the resources for her.
By using the aforementioned strategies, Ruby as well as the other good performers
will continue to excel in their academic performance.
Scenario 4: Tim Randel spends his time reading surfing magazines.
Since Tim has a strong interest in reading surfing magazine, I can choose surfing as a
topic of teaching. As Davies and Pearse (2000) state, “Interest is usually the best way
to attract and hold attention” (p.123). Because the teaching topic is closely related to
Tim’s interest, without doubt, this should get him on-task. Apart from this, there are
other strategies that I can use, namely:
1. Give opportunities for choice: Allowing students to exercise some degree of
choice in their instructional activities can increase academic engagement
(Wright, 2007). As such, I can make a list of teaching topics for the lessons I
am teaching. Tim can choose the surfing topic and other students can have
their own preferred topics for teaching. For example, if the lesson is to learn
news report text type, a topic like surfing will be a good topic for instruction.

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Pedagogically, such topic will re-engage Tim in the lesson. Wright (2007) puts
it rightly here, “Students require less conscious effort to remain on-task when
they are engaged in high-interest activities.”
2. Make connections to students’ lives by creating opportunities for authentic
interactions with people, objects, and experiences that initiate student interest
(Meltzer and Hamann, 2003, p.13f). As such, I can invite a local surf champ to
my language class, get him to show the surfboard(s) he has used and talk to
my students about his surfing experience. There can be other option, too. For
instance, I can play a video clip that shows a surfer’s life. Since such activities
are authentic and relevant for learners, Tim and the rest of the students will
surly be engaged in active learning in my language class.
3. Have students interact with each other and with language (Meltzer and
Hamann, 2003, p14f). This requires me to think more about the teaching and
learning activities in the lesson. In terms of teaching, I can use Communicative
Language Teaching approach to deliver the lesson. As for the learning
activities, I can have such activities as closed pair work, group discussion.
Since the teaching and learning are geared for more classroom interactions and
the active use of the target language, I can certainly engage the students in the
lessons I am teaching.
4. Make sure the learning materials and the content of teaching match to the
needs and the interest of the students and their language level within the
framework of the curriculum.
5. Keep the teacher talk time (TTT) at the right level. If TTT is too long, it will
make the lesson boring for the students, and minimising the time for students
interactions and practicing the target language in class. Having understood

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TTT, I will keep the direct instruction time to the right level (about 10 minutes)
and quickly move to the next phase of teaching and learning activity. In so
doing, I will be able to maintain Tim’s attention throughout the lesson.
Through applying the aforementioned strategies, student like Tim and the whole
class should be hooked into the lesson rather than off-task.
References
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom (2nd
ed.). (pp.55-57).
US: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Davies, P. and Pearse, E. (2000). Success in English teaching (p.123). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work (p.7). Sydney: Primary English

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Teaching Association.
Krausel, K., Bochner, S. and Duchesne, S. (2003). Educational psychology for
learning and teaching (p.216 & pp. 252-253). Southbank: Thomson.
McDevitt, T.M. and Ormrod, J.E. (2004, 2002). Chile development: Educating and
working with children and adolescents (2nd
ed.). (pp.269-270). US: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Meltzer, J. and Hamann, E.T. (2004). Meeting the Literacy Development Needs of
Adolescent English Language Learners through Content Area Learning. Part
One: Focus on Motivation and Engagement (pp.13-14). Providence, RI: The
Brown University Education Alliance / Northeast and Islands Regional
Education Laboratory.
Richards, J.C. and Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching
(2nd
ed.). (p.121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
UniSA (2007). Regional disability liaison officer initiative. Retrieved on April 26,
2007 from http://www.unisa.edu.au/regdisability/teaching_students.htm.
Wright, J. (2007). Intervention ideas for off-task / inattention. Retrieved on April 27,
2007 from http://www.jimwrightonline.com/php/interventionista/
interventionista_intv_list.php?prob_type=off_task__inattention.