June Workshop Summary
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| 02 Jul 2008 - 04:05 | 104 |
| Elizabethanne Kim Posts: 24 | June Workshop Summary Daegu Kotesol Chapter Meeting June 14, 2008 Tim Dalby “Activating Schemata – Motivating Readers” Approximately 60 people attended the two KOTESOL sessions at the Daegu English Fair where our June workshop was held. Our presenter, Tim Dalby, currently teaching at Jeonju University, spent the first of the two KOTESOL sessions exploring the ways schema theory informs our teaching of reading comprehension. Simplified, schema theory is the way we use our prior knowledge to understand something new. This knowledge may be personal knowledge (experiences we’ve had, movies we’ve watched, etc.), knowledge of conventions (how someone normally does something, how a recipe is normally written, etc.), or other knowledge as well. A student who has a broad range of experience may understand a text better than a student who does not even if the latter has a higher reading level. While schema theory is too broad to help in all circumstances, it does give teachers some practical insights into their reading lessons. For instance, a teacher could help students activate their schema by teaching them to read headings before reading the entire text in order to get an idea of what is to come. Before approaching a passage, students could be advised to think of the vocabulary they might encounter. The theory also helps teachers understand why comprehension of some subjects is so difficult. When students are reading about something foreign to them, they will automatically try to normalize it to their experience. As students’ experience broadens, they will retain more of the previously foreign information. In the second session, Mr. Dalby gave a brief overview of the benefits of KOTESOL membership. In addition to networking with other like-minded individuals, KOTESOL gives members access to local and national events. It also provides members with a copies of its annual journal and quarterly newsletters. Furthermore, members can join special interest groups, called SIGs, in which they can discuss matters of importance to them. |
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