Day 5

Tues. Nov. 10

• Speakers: Share responses to Pink

• Share observations from interviews

• Share notebooks, talk about effective notebook-keeping habits

• Talk about how to use language feedback

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Homework

➤ Read Niemic and Ryan, “Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness in the Classroom”

Questions to think about as you read:

1. Can you think of one example of something one of your teachers has done in the past that either encouraged or limited their students' autonomy? What was the result?

2. How does "internalization" (136-139) relate to the adoption of habits? How does it relate to the idea of "self-control?"

3. What is one thing you've done in the course of your English learning that has given you a feeling of competence?

4. How could setting the right kind of goals and choosing the right kind of materials be related to satisfying the need for competence?

5. What is one thing you've done in the course of your English learning that has given you a sense of belonging or a feeling of connection with other people (i.e. what Deci and Ryan would call "relatedness")?

6. Is there anything you could change in your language-learning plan that would help you achieve more of a feeling of "relatedness"?

Speakers for next class:

• Xinyi: In 2-3 minutes, explain the concept of autonomy to us and share your own answer to Question #1 above.

• Ruohan: In 2-3 minutes, explain the concept of competence to us and share your own answers to Questions #3-4 above.

• Shuming: In 2-3 minutes, explain the concept of “relatedness” to us and share your answers to Questions #5-6 above.

• Xinguo: In 2-3 minutes, explain the concept of “internalization” and share your own answer to Question #2 above.

➤ Short writing Assignment

In a couple paragraphs (~300 words), compare the writing style of Snow, Pink, and Niemic & Ryan, giving specific examples from the text. Here are a few questions you might consider:

• What kind of words do they use?

  • formal vs colloquial

  • general vs technical

  • concrete vs abstract

• How are the ideas organized?

• What kinds of evidence do they use to support their points? (How do they try to convince you that the things they say are true?)

Format your assignment neatly (Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced) and upload load as a .doc or .docx file to our Box folder.

➤ Come ready to share These things:

1. An English word that you see a lot in writing but don’t know how to use.

2. A Chinese word or phrase that you often wish you could express in English, but don’t know how to express, when you’re doing writing assignments. (Or: A Chinese word or phrase you recently wished you could express in English in a writing assignment, but didn’t know how.)

3. The names of any dictionaries or other resources you consult when you’re trying to figure out how to express something in English writing.