Using Disruption to Stay on Course (for Liberal Education)
TESOL2015MWISPanel_Crossing
1. MWIS Academic Session
TESOL 2015
Publishers obviously aim to produce
excellent books which will satisfy the
needs of their users but their need to
maximize profits makes them
cautious and conservative and any
compromise with the authors tends to
still be biased towards perceived
market needs rather than the actual
needs and wants of the learners.
(Tomlinson, 2014)
Publishers obviously aim to produce
excellent books which will satisfy the
needs of their users but their need to
maximize profits makes them
cautious and conservative and any
compromise with the authors tends to
still be biased towards perceived
market needs rather than the actual
needs and wants of the learners.
(Tomlinson, 2014)
1
2. Crossing intoCrossing into
New Materials Writing TerritoryNew Materials Writing Territory
MWIS Academic Session • TESOL 2015 2
3. Steve Jones
Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Jayme Adelson-Goldstein
Lighthearted Learning, Northridge CA
Eric Roth
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Christina Cavage, Moderator
Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah, Georgia
3
5. Sources of information
for this preliminary study
• A small number for interviews with
practitioners in higher ed and adult settings
• A small number of interviews with publishing
and program decision-makers
• A small (but growing) set of survey responses
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6. What we’re not claiming
“I'm concerned about the validity of your data
using this survey instrument. Please make sure
to state that when/if you present any ‘findings’”.
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8. OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
How do publishers and
authors set the
teaching agenda for
ELT materials?
How do publishers and
authors set the
teaching agenda for
ELT materials?
Reflect
Reflect ShareShare
8
9. Surveys
Focus groups
(regional, national, international)
School site interviews with
school coordinators & teachers
Classroom observations
Phone interviews with survey respondents
Shaping the Agenda
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10. Sales rep reports (national and global)
Research company’s surveys & focus groups
Review of research in professional journals
Web research on ELT trends and funding
Competition analysis
Website analytics
Shaping the Agenda
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11. THOUGHTS FROM…
Pietro Alongi
Publishing Director,
Pearson Education
Jeff Krum
Associate Publishing Director,
Cambridge University Press
Sharon Sargent
Publisher,
Oxford University Press
Pietro Alongi
Publishing Director,
Pearson Education
Jeff Krum
Associate Publishing Director,
Cambridge University Press
Sharon Sargent
Publisher,
Oxford University Press
11
12. How does the publisher
view research?
Sharon Sargent
We keep the research ‘present’ during
writing, editing, and production (and
digital testing) [by not being] afraid of
what we may uncover.
Every project at Oxford has
a research plan from the
very beginning.
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13. 
How does the publisher view
research?
...much in the way a GPS
will redirect you if you take
a wrong turn (or two) along
the way.
• an ongoing process
• a feedback loop
• continuously informs the
creation of the product
• confirms the project is
going in the right direction
Pietro Alongi 13
14. Ideals • Change • Academia
Distracted Students • Underfunded Programs
Market Research
-what works
-doing the best you can
with what you have
-the way English
“is actually taught”
How does the publisher
view research?
Academic Research
- best practice
- theory
- the way English
“should be
taught.”
Jeff Krum 14
18. RESEARCH VS THE REAL WORLD
“Names” in the field
approached to be the face
of the book but without
the ability to impact the
content of the book as much
having their name
on the book implies to
the users.
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19. RESEARCH VS THE REAL WORLD
The “BETA” concept
“We’ll fix it in the reprint”
“We’ll fix it in the next edition.”
“It’s easy to go in and make
the fix digitally.”
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21. Authorial Anecdote
AUTHOR CAMPAIGN: teach paragraph writing in low beginning text
Academic Research Market Research
Paragraph writing at the
beginning level is
appropriate and
needed.
Teachers of low-
beginning learners say
learners are not ready
to write paragraphs.
RESULT: No paragraph writing in level 1
Do you have any
materials that help
beginning-level learners
write paragraphs?
A few years later…
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22. Open Educational Resources
OER are teaching, learning, and
research resources that reside in
the public domain or have been
released under an intellectual
property license that permits
sharing, accessing, repurposing
—including for commercial
purposes—and collaborating with
others.
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24. At the heart of sustainable change is
developing and helping people to
build up an “inner resilience” that
guards them from experiencing every
change that comes their way as
disruptive.
Jennifer Vanek
Open Educational Resources:
New Technologies and New Ways
of Learning
Minnetesol Journal
24
25. A CONSIDERATION
• The size of the gap between authors’
conception and teachers’ use relates to
how much staff development is
provided when programs or teachers
adopt a book
25
26. OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
What are explicit and
implicit assumptions
embedded in
materials?
What are explicit and
implicit assumptions
embedded in
materials?
Reflect
Reflect ShareShare
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30. What alternatives exist?
•Create meta-materials that help teachers
assess and then build background knowledge
specific to their students’ needs.
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32. What alternatives exist?
•Examine the need for self-censorship.
•Create materials that assume there is student
access to uncensored content.
•Develop national versions of materials
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34. What alternatives exist?
•Produce separate professional development
materials be developed, on various “levels,” for
teachers.
•Should a flexible menu of materials include
choices about “levels" for teachers as well as
students?
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35. Assumption
There is a specific order in which activities
should be organized, based on a theory of
learning.
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36. What alternatives exist?
• Materials that do not assume which activities
are done outside of class and which are done
in class, and allow teachers to choose the
order and setting.
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38. What alternatives exist?
• Make available a flexible menu of materials
from which teachers (and students) could
select, reflecting personal styles, interests,
sensibilities.
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40. Assumptions
• Materials must postulate a level of background knowledge of
all potential students on each content topic.
• Materials must not include content about certain sensitive
topics.
• Materials play a role in professional development for
untrained or inexperienced teachers.
• There is a specific order in which activities should be
organized, based on a theory of learning.
• Materials must provide a fixed set of presentations and
activities to meet the curricular needs of programs.
• Students are tech-savvy and have access to technology that
allows them to interact online.
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41. OUR KEY QUESTIONSOUR KEY QUESTIONS
How do English teachers
add,
subtract, change, and
ignore textbooks to
meet student needs?
How do English teachers
add,
subtract, change, and
ignore textbooks to
meet student needs?
Reflect
Reflect ShareShare
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42. Textbooks
• Textbooks remain a
double edged sword.
• Many contexts lead to
many teacher responses
in post-method ESL/EFL
classrooms.
http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/z7c/axj/z7caxjpTA.jpeg
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43. Graph showing increase in ELLs in
Globally.
• By 2000
– 750 million English as
Foreign Language
Speakers.
– 350 million English as
Second Language
Speakers.
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revolutioninlearning.wordpress.com
44. ESL and ELLs Statistics
• An estimate of over 1
billion people are
learning English
worldwide.
• http://esl.about.com/o
d/englishlearningresour
ces/f/f_eslmarket.htm
• That’s approximately
the population of US +
Mexico + Canada ---
doubled! www.commerce.gov
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http://worldpress.org/images/maps/world_600w
.jpg
46. Context Counts: Few Major Publishers and Many
More English Classes and Teachers
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47. Seeking Teacher Responses to Textbook
Challenges
http://johnkyo.deviantart.com/art/No-
Originality-192662864
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48. Survey Results and Highlights
• 65% chose their own textbooks
• 100% modified the textbook
material
• 80% alter the time for
assignments
• 74 % restate directions
• 65 % expand on directions
• 60% provide additional directions
for multilevel classes
• 45% read author introductions
• 45 % skip materials due to time
constraints www.nicwebdesign.com
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49. Question # 3 Summary
• Who made the decision about the adoption
of this material?
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50. Adaptions and Modifications
• Modifications included:
• Skip chapters
• Modify the chapters.
• Refocus material
• Rearrange chapters
• Create new materials to augment chapters
• Find additional materials to supplement
textbooks
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52. English Teachers Feel Free to Go Beyond Author’s
Intentions and Structures
• 55% ignore
• “I prefer to adapt material to fit the needs of the learners.
This may mean that the organization of the content, etc. will
be changed in some way, perhaps expanded upon or
removed. As a result, the author's intent may be less relevant.
That said, I do later look through these sections for new ideas
and information.”
• “Quite honestly, I find most textbooks, at this point in my
career, not particularly well written, at least those with an
older copyright. Corpus data is rarely included, vocabulary
isn't correlated with the academic work list, critical thinking
skills are rarely incorporated, and explanations are often
convoluted. I use the text as a springboard to deeper activities
and tend to generate most of my own materials.”
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53. Solutions for Teachers; Applications for
Material Writers
• “Begin with the end in mind.” – Ancient Greek proverb
• Consider classroom context
• Focus on student needs and wants
• Consider explicitly encouraging adapting ESOL
materials to better fit actual students in class
• Build flexible, stand-alone assignments
• Provide a range of recommended time for assignments
• Deploy authentic, outside materials to supplement
textbook gaps and limits
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54. English Teachers Want Some Autonomy
From ESOL Textbooks
“I am not a page-turner; I’m a
creative educator.”
Katherine C. Guevara 54
57. Continuing the Conversation: Web
Resources
• Tuzi, F, “Adopting & Adapting Textbooks for an ESL Curriculum”. YouTube. YouTube,
LLC, 5 June 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq9ywxu6Wao
• Tuzi, F, “Adopting A ESL Textbook in ESL Curriculum”. YouTube. YouTube LLC, 17 July
2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPuV3utKKe8
• Terrell, Shelly, TESOL Institute, American, “10 Ways to Adapt a Course Book into your Classroom”.
YouTube. YouTube LLC, 20 March 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OTB8sJe-nE
• Like Them or Not: Making Textbooks Work for you. Caraveo, Priscilla, Guevara, Katherine,
2013.
• http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej26/f1.html
• http://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski
• House, Dayna, “Adapting the English Textbook to Students Needs”. 3 December
2012http://www.slideshare.net/EmbajadaEEUUenArgentina/adapting-the-english-textbook-to-
students-needs
• eHow Contributor, “How to Adapt Textbook Activities in an ESL Class”,
2015.http://www.ehow.com/how_4481192_adapt-textbook-activities-esl-class.html
• Xerri, Daniel, “Experimenting with Dogme in a Mainstream ESL Context”, 25 July
2012http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/viewFile/19189/12673
• Pinard, Lizzie, “2 Simple ideas for adapting your course book” 30 November
2014.http://reflectiveteachingreflectivelearning.com/2014/11/30/2-simple-ideas-for-adapting-your-course-book/
• "Innovation in ESL and EFL Textbooks." Innovation in ESL and EFL
• Ferlazzo, Larry. "Do's & Don'ts For Teaching English-Language Learners." Edutopia. N.p., 12 Mar.
2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
• Roth, Eric H. "Why Are So Many EFL Textbooks So Bland, Boring, and Culturally Tone Deaf?"
Compelling Conversations. N.p., 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
• teachingasleadership.org/.../HistoryofESLandBilingualEducation.doc, Date and Author Unknown.
• revolutioninlearning.wordpress.com
• http://worldpress.org/images/maps/world_600w.jpg
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58. Acknowledgments
• Pricilla Caraveo
• Barry Griner
• Katherine C. Guevara
• Danny Hackin
• James Polk
• Survey Respondents
• USC Center for Scholarly Technology
• Mark Treston
• Brent Warner
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60. Contact Information
• Christina Cavage, ccavage@scad.edu
• Jayme Adelson-Goldstein,
lightheartedlearning@gmail.com
• Steve Jones, stjones@gmailcom
• Eric Roth, ericroth@usc.edu
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Editor's Notes
Steve Jones teaches ESL at Community College of Philadelphia. He is also an independent materials writer who has worked projects published by Heinle NatGeo, Pearson, Nanundo, and Geirin Shobo in Japan. He is the co-president of American Federation of Teachers Local 2026.
Decision are made not only based on our research but also on vision. Sometimes we temper the authorial vision or the pedagogical vision based on the what the research shows will truly work in the classroom and sometimes we collectively decide to go with a strong vision of what could be in the classroom and what will be the most beneficial to the students.
I look at research as an ongoing process, a feedback loop, that continuously informs the creation of a product, and confirms that we are continuing to move in the right direction
The trick of the publisher—and the real delight, to be honest—is to try and bring these two worlds together. To bridge this gap, there has to be a solid understanding of the needs of teachers, one of which is helping students learn better and faster in order to reach their goals. This is where the research gets applied. However, we also have to understand how teachers really teach and that teachers above all need something that works in the classroom, something familiar and easy to use. The trick is to never lose sight of this
Pietro
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Instead, this resilience ensures that they learn to cope with these changes more as part of their continuous “agile development and learning” (Cashman, 2009), recognizing patterns in one situation and making sense of them and applying them in another (Kop, Fournier & Mak, 2011, p. 76).
