Reflection on Validity

Damian Francis

In my almost 12 years as an English language teacher, I have had the responsibility to elaborate quite a few tests.  When I first had the opportunity to make exams I did not take too much into account the requirements that I was supposed to consider. I had no idea of what validity was. I only made items from the contents I had already given to my students. I did not take into consideration that a language test needs to be elaborated taking into account some specific aspects. For example, at the moment we make a test, we need to be clear what validity is. To me, a test is valid when it gauges what we intend to test.

 When it comes to language testing, validity is an important element. Before making an exam, test crafters have to analyze the following aspects: first, they have to consider what specific competence they want to test. According to my experience, after reflecting on the students’ exams results, most of the time, one of the reasons why test takers fail a test is because it is not elaborated properly. Sometimes the intention is to assess language proficiency; but the way it is done is by applying a written test, mainly, focused on grammatical aspects. In a situation like this, the outcomes are not reliable because a proficiency test must be applied providing the test takers a context in which he or she uses the language, for example an interview. This way the test taker demonstrates how fluent he or she speaks the language, how knowledgeable of the native-like way of speaking the target language he/she is, and how clear this person is able to communicate the ideas, and feelings.

One more aspect that has to be taken into account is the vocabulary used in written tests. Sometimes teachers teach their lessons based on the vocabulary and situations provided by the text books they use, but at the moment test crafters make the test, they just focus on the learning goals, so it is quite common to see frustrated students that have difficulty for understanding the test, when something like this happens, the test does not have validity.

A third component that has to be taken into consideration is the score. Test crafters, and teachers have to be careful with score. This is an aspect that has to be analyzed by teachers because sometimes some themes are assigned more points than others. Test crafters have to ask themselves what criterion of assigning more point to a certain theme is. In standard tests, such as the TKT,  the themes are of equal value. From my point of view, In a language proficiency test, the most important aspects are the listening comprehension and the speaking ones, but in an accuracy written test the most important aspect is different.

This analysis reminds me when I was an English language student. I used to take two different exams; the first one was the midterm and a final test. One aspect that really caught my eye was that the approach used by the teacher and the one the exams had were totally different. I remember that my teachers did not explain grammar deductively.

 On one hand, they focused on developing communicative competence by giving students significant input. On the other hand, the exams were grammar oriented. Some institutions not even took into consideration testing the listening skills, and many tests had irrelevant content, such as verb conjugations, vocabulary translation, and make sentences commands.

During the process of being involved with this subject oriented in learning how to assess in a professional way, I have reflected on the requirements needed to elaborate a test. In language tests, validity is carried out at the extent a written test result turns out similar to what the test taker is able to perform in everyday situations.

From my point of view, being knowledgeable about test validity is as important as having a good teaching methodology because the assessment purpose is to determine what the language competences are. A test crafter has to be able to make a good diagnostic test. In my experience as a teacher, language trainer and supervisor at the Ministry of Education in Dominican Republic, I have noticed that quite a few teachers have difficulty to elaborate a diagnostic test at the beginning of each and every back to school week. If a teacher is not able to identify the students’ needs properly, so they will not be able to really help them during the process. The application of a valid test allows teachers to make a good planning to satisfy students’ necessities.

Test crafters must have the competence to elaborate a placement test. Considering my teaching and supervising experiences, I have noticed that many people are given a high intermediate level of language proficiency, when they, in fact, are in a basic one. Mistakes like this are due to the validity ignorance of the test crafter. I used to work for a language school that allowed students to take a placement test in order to send them to the level they were supposed to be. I usually had complaints because some students did not belong to the level the test assigned them.

To me, a good placement test must be elaborated taking into account the listening, the speaking, the reading and the writing skills. It also has to be based on the specific competence that beginners, basic, intermediate, high intermediate and advanced students are supposed to own.

When it comes to proficiency test, I think that it would be a good idea to reflect on it. Many language institutions misconceive the term proficiency test, with the placement test, in fact in the application; they get confused with these two different tests. Some language schools think that they give a proficiency test when students take a placement test. But from my point of view, a proficiency test could never be conceived as a long written test based mainly on grammar structure knowledge.

A language proficiency test assesses the language competence of the test taker during performing the language. a person demonstrates how competent he or she is at the moment he/she uses the language. The language proficiency is assessed considering how clear a person communicates the ideas, the knowledge of the target language lexis, the pronunciation, and the usage.

     

         

The Importance of Exposure in Foreign Language Learning

 When it comes to foreign language learning, exposure is one of the most important aspects to take into account. Many people fail in their attempt to learn a foreign language because they see it as a grammar and vocabulary task, but according to Brown (2007), learning a new language means getting adapted to a new culture,  a new way of thinking, feeling and acting. According to Spratt, Pulvverness, and Williams (2008), exposure is the opportunity a learner has to get in contact with the target language without studying.  It could be by listening, reading or by speaking.

Exposure allows FL students to get in contact with good language; it means good pronunciation, syntax, semantic, and the idiomatic expressions used by the natives of the target language. FL learners usually have difficulty in getting rid of negative transfers or interference; this is because of the lack of exposure. Chomsky (1965) said that not necessarily a well-structured sentence makes sense in a language, that is the reason why some language learners can not have an effective communication in their target language.

               

  Bandura (1984) said in his theory of social learning that people generally learn by observing, and imitating the ones around them. This theory is 100% applied in Fl learning. According to Spratt, Pulvverness, and Williams (2008), people always have a reason to communicate; it could be for apologizing, advising, thanking, greeting, agreeing, interrupting, clarifying, disagreeing, expressing obligation, inviting, refusing, etc. With the exposure, the ones who are learning a language get in contact with the way the natives of the target language use it in different contexts.  

        

 Many Fl students would ask how they could get exposure if they are learning how to speak the language in a context where it is basically limited to the classroom.  But if there is motivation, learners have many choices to be exposed to their target language. They can listen to music, watch movies, I usually recommend my English students to watch sitcoms. They can also join language clubs, and by reading newspapers and books written in the target language.

 Motivation and Foreign Language Learning

Damián Francis

 In this day and age, many experts in foreign language teaching say that in order to be successful in learning a foreign language, three aspects have to be taken into account: the first one is motivation, the second exposure and the last one is practice. But what is motivation, and how does it help during the learning process? According to Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams (2008), “motivation is the thoughts and feelings we have which make us want to do something, continue to want to do it and turn our wishes into action.” So it means that motivation is what inspires people to do something in order to accomplish a goal.

There are theories of motivation, some of the most known are the behavioral, the cognitive, and the constructivist. According to the behavioral point of view, motivation is the anticipation of a reward in which individuals are inspired to get positive reinforcement. Brown (2007),  says that behaviorists see motivation subordinated to external influences, such as ”parents, teachers, peers, educational requirements, job specifications, and so forth

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The cognitive standpoint says that what motivates people comes from deep inside them. According to  Brown (2007), motivation could come from the need of exploring the unknown, manipulating something, doing some physical or mental activity, the need for stimulation, the need for knowledge, or the need for being accepted by others.

And finally, the last theory is the constructivist point of view. According to it, motivation comes from the individual’s own conception, but it is also influenced by cultural and social aspects because the individuals’ decisions are stimulated by the dynamics of life around them.  

People could be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. A person is intrinsically motivated when the inspiration comes from an internal desire, in this case, to learn a language. For example, it could be for an integrative purpose (the desire to integrate into the target language culture) or just because the person enjoys learning languages. An individual is extrinsically motivated when the inspiration is external, it means when there is an external reward, such as money, acknowledgment, prizes, grades at school, a promotion at work, etc. for example: some people get motivated to study English to get a better position in the company they work for.  

I made a questionnaire for my English as foreign language students of level 6 and level 7 in which they had to answer the following question: What motivates you to learn English?

The result was the following: the amount of students was twenty, sixteen said that their motivation was to be  promoted at work or to get a better-paid job, so it means that the motivator or inspiration was an extrinsic one, we could say that it is money; two students said they like languages, so these ones are inspired by an intrinsic motivator, one student said that he frequently travels to the United States and he needs to speak the language, and one answered that she is on the process of getting a green card for living in the United States.  These two are examples of extrinsic motivation, too.

We can conclude that 80% of my students in this trimester are extrinsically motivated to study English and the motivator is money; 10% is extrinsically motivated by necessity and only 10% is intrinsically motivated.

Language teachers need to be aware of the importance of motivation in language learning, so when they plan their lessons they have to think about activities and strategies that motivate learners and make them enjoy the learning language process. Educators also have to encourage students to be autonomous. To do this they need to be good motivators, this is really good, especially, for those students who need extrinsic motivation.

Teachers can motivate their students by telling them the importance of learning the target language in the context they are learning. For example in the Dominican Republic Context, where the unemployment rate among young population is high, public school english teachers motivate their students by telling them the wage people get in call centers for speaking english, only.  

Love is in Human Nature

By

Damián Francis

 

I hear people I interact with everyday say that they do not believe in love, but from my point of view, those who think that way are mistaken. To me, love is part of human nature. I remember when my father passed away; I was only eight years old, and there is no doubt that I loved him. His death made the love I felt for my mother even stronger. I really appreciated her, and I felt she was my most valuable treasure. She died when I was in my twenties. It was a terrible loss, but at the same time it made me value and love my two sisters even more.

I got married one year after my mother’s death, and part of the empty space she left in me was filled by my wife. A partner never substitutes the place a mother holds, but a partner can help you satisfy your instinct to love. If the word parents is similar to the word love, then the words sons and daughters are just the same as love. When your kids are born, it is when you truly understand what love is.

When my two sons were born, my love for my parents, my sisters, and my wife became stronger. First, I began to value all the principles and lessons my parents had taught me to bring out the best in me. Second, I appreciated the affection I received from my sisters and my wife. To me, love never fades away. Normal individuals always find a reason to love. It is one of the aspects that makes us human beings.

Las Cuatro Reglas del Método de René Descartes

Damián Francis

Las cuatro reglas del método Cartesiano son las que rigen los principios de un método que fue creado con la finalidad de dar respuesta a una necesidad de la época. Las principales fuentes de conocimiento de entonces, dígase la ciencia y la religión pasaron por una fase de descrédito, debido a algunas incongruencias que estas experimentaron, específicamente,  en el siglo XVI.

 Estas cuatro reglas son: la regla de la evidencia, ésta consiste en no dar por verdadero algo con lo que no contamos con ninguna evidencia, esta regla, sin duda, se extrapola a la actitud que debe adoptar todo individuo en su vida. A diario se puede observar a las personas ordinarias y muchas veces a profesionales que dan por cierto todo lo que escuchan sin tener ninguna evidencia.

 La segunda es la regla del análisis. Esta consiste en dividir en su mínima expresión las dificultades que se examinan en la mayor parte que sea posible. Someter al análisis lo investigado, o sea descomponer un todo en cada una de sus partes,  le proporciona al investigador un entendimiento más amplio del fenómeno tratado. La tercera es la regla de la síntesis. Esta regla consiste en abordar los fenómenos de lo más simple a lo más complejo. Esta idea de Descartes es estupenda, debido a que partir de lo más simple a lo más complejo le permite al investigador visualizar de manera más clara el fenómeno investigado.

 Y la cuarta regla es la comprobación. En esta fase se revisa que no haya ningún error en el proceso. Con esto se persigue que los resultados de lo investigado sean constantes. Con esta cuarta y  última regla, Descartes logra que su método trascienda y desde mi punto de vista lo convierte en uno de los métodos de investigación más confiables.    

 Desde mi óptica, considero que las cuatro reglas antes mencionas son un gran aporte a la ciencia. Descartes con su interés de crear un método que al aplicarse se puedan obtener resultados constantes nos ha dejado un gran legado. Las cuatro reglas del método, cuando las aplicamos en nuestras vidas también nos ayudan a ser mejores profesionales, por ejemplo: si comenzamos a sólo dar por hecho aquello que tenemos evidencia, si aprendemos a hacer análisis a las situaciones que encontramos en nuestros caminos y si aprendemos a sintetizar y comprobar los fenómenos que nos dan curiosidad.  

Dimensión Ética de la Investigación Científica

Damián Francis.

En la práctica de investigación hay un factor que todo aquel que hace carrera en ella debe tomar en cuenta, a lo que me refiero es al aspecto ético de la investigación científica. Es un compromiso de todo investigador reconocer que con su trabajo puede afectar a otras  personas y es importante saber que no es ético cuando nuestro proyecto de vida nos degrada como individuos a través de la publicación de estudios pseudocientíficos o cuando  dañamos a otros. Es deber del investigador ser objetivo, tener una actitud moral, ser abierto al conocimiento, no ser dogmático, pero sí reflexivo, autocrítico, respetuoso y metódico.

El compromiso de poner la dimensión ética por encima de todo es de vital importancia en la investigación científica debido a que la mayor parte de la población mundial sólo maneja datos, un bajo porcentaje de la misma tiene información y un grupo muy reducido es el que tiene el conocimiento. Es por esta razón que la mayoría cree todo lo que escucha o lee, no todos tienen la capacidad de reconocer las fuentes de información que son confiables y las que no.

Es común ver como las personas dan por válido cualquier comentario que escuchan en la calle,  por televisión o por radio. Cuando un investigador es subjetivo y se atreve a falsear los resultados de su investigación está faltando a los principios éticos que deben regir su práctica y se convierte en un criminal del conocimiento y un irrespetuoso de la ciencia.

Creo que en la investigación científica debe reinar la inspiración de contribuir a la construcción de un mundo mejor, donde todos tengamos derecho al conocimiento basado en la verdad, donde las personas adquieran una mejor calidad de vida como resultado de aportes proporcionados por la investigación científica seria y apegada a la ética.       

¿Quién decidí ser?

Damián Francis

     En nuestro paso por la vida,  mediante el contacto con todas esas personas  con las que el destino nos ha puesto en el camino para  compartir; ya sea en la escuela, en alguna actividad deportiva, en el trabajo o en los sectores donde nos ha tocado vivir;  hemos sido entes constructores  o  destructores  de felicidad. Con nuestra actitud hacia los demás, podemos  subir su autoestima o arruinarle el día o quien sabe, todos los años de su existencia. Todos tenemos dentro al doctor Jekill y al señor Hyde, todo es cuestión de decidir cuál de los dos quiero que predomine en mi. Un gran porcentaje de las personas que nos rodea están cargadas de pensamientos infraniveles; estos,  generalmente, descargan su frustración con sus conocidos.    
       Cuando se incurre en esa práctica, el individuo sólo proyecta en otros, lo que  él o ella en realidad  es. Es difícil dar lo que no se tiene, lo más aflictivo es ver el comportamiento y la actitud de ciertos profesionales quienes convierten su lugar de trabajo en un patio de barrio.  Con frecuencia se observa a muchos profesionales difamando a sus compañeros, sólo con la intención de predisponer a los demás, este tipo de acción encuentra apoyo, sólo si el ambiente está cargado de mediocridad. la capacidad destructiva que los pensadores infraniveles tienen es devastadora. 
      Podemos ser amor y odio; luz y sombra; felicidad y tristeza; consuelo y frustración; admiración y desprecio; solución y problema; justicia e injusticia; en fin, somos todo y somos nada, todo depende del proyecto de vida que elegimos.  

Carol is dead

By

Damian Francis

This is an attempt to write a short story. I hope you enjoy it.

Carol’s body was lying on the floor; her indescribable beauty made the scene unbelievable. She was a beautiful white flower that caught people’s eyes. The police knocked at the door several times, but nobody opened it. There, by her side, Martin Smith was sitting like a bronze statue; he could not listen or talk—he was in shock. The first words that one of the policemen said were, “He killed her, he killed her…” — “Put your hands up,” said the other one. Carol had disappeared some days ago, and her family was extremely worried about the situation.

She had gotten engaged a couple of weeks ago; that was the reason why Martin behaved like a cornered animal. He was not able to think clearly; his split mind made him feel as if he were between two fires. He repeated to himself, “If she is not mine, she won’t be with anyone else.” He had been wide awake for two days, just thinking about Carol, the woman he loved. This love was bigger than the universe; nothing made sense if she was not by his side.

Since she had gotten engaged to a man imposed by her father, they had not been able to see each other, and it was killing Martin. One gray afternoon, he made the decision to knock at Carol’s bedroom window and propose that they run away together, but she said they would talk about it the next day because they could not be seen together in her room.

The next day, Carol left the house at dawn to talk about the decision they had to make. On her way, she felt the cold wind slapping her face as if it were complaining to her about the choice she was about to make. The wet streets recorded her steps, one by one.

When Carol arrived at Martin’s room, the door was open. He had been waiting for her all day long. The room was dark, and there was a sharp ammonia odor that made Carol shiver. They started the conversation without looking each other in the eye. She said that she loved him, but they could not be together, it was an impossible love.

Martin approached her, and with both hands around her neck, he tightened them so strongly that he strangled the poor Carol. When she was breathless, he put her on his lap on the floor. He repeated, “I love you, I love you, I love…” and then, he stood still.

            

Television: An invention that has been used to condition people’s mind

Damián Francis

At the beginning of the 20^th century more than 90% of the population around the world had no idea what a TV set was. The way people used to have fun was extremely different from now, families used to spend more time together. With the invention of the TV, individuals found a different way to spend their leisure time. The first electronic TV was designed by   Philo Taylor Farnsworth in 1927, but the first televised event was in 1939 when RCA Company paid for a license to use Farnsworth’s patent. The televised event was the New York world’s fair where the president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a speech; it made him being the first president who appeared on TV. Only a few people were able to watch the event because the population did not have a TV set yet. When business people realized that TV would be a good way to get to people, they invested in it for them to sell their product. People could get in contact with the newest inventions through TV.

According to a survey done in the US during the 1990s, more than 98% of homes had at least a TV set and spent from 2 to 7 hours in front of it every day. It shows how successful TV has been. Since people watch too much TV, it has become a tool to condition their minds. The more people watch TV the better for business people and the government, a great deal of propaganda has been done to wash individuals’ brains. Currently, human beings do what they are asked to do by the TV. They want to buy the latest Smartphone, the most modern TV, the most advanced computer, the most luxury car. TV has conditioned women’s minds about beauty. In order to be beautiful, a woman needs big breasts and being slim, men can not be bald or chubby. The TV has made people believe they need a lot of things they do not really need.

When it comes to politicians, they have been using TV to persuade people.  A good example is political parties, They have many journalists with TV programs simulating they are independent, but they just get paid to do a persuasive political work. Politicians also have business people who sponsor them. When people watch the news to be informed, they get the information and also they are persuaded to believe what the backstage power wants them to believe. I remembered when Hugo Chavez was alive, I used to watch CNN, and Telesur as well. I noticed that the same news was oriented in a different way. These two different points of view were not innocent, they were planned to condition the audience.

The elite, not only use the TV to sell their products or sponsor the political party they are identified with, but also, they use it to blackmail the government with certain decisions it has to make.  In the Dominican Republic when a Minister wants to make a decision that affects powerful people, they  use their influence with the owners of the media, sometimes they have their own media and condition the perception of people against the official with a defamation campaign.

I recommend people not to believe all they hear from TV communicators, the real purpose of the information we get, is not to help human beings to be happier and better, the objective is to make individuals consume and do what the elite or the government want them to do. People have to be intelligent enough to not allow other individuals to control their lives. Human beings were born to be free and make their own decisions.   

Los Proyectos Participativos de Aula, Una Estrategia Pedagógica que Puede Revolucionar el Sistema Educativo Dominicano.

 

“La educación no cambia el mundo:  cambia a las personas que van a cambiar el mundo”.

                                                                                     Paulo Fraire.

Si hay algo que tanto los que somos educadores como los que no lo son estamos de acuerdo es que los resultados que hemos estado obteniendo en educación no son los que esperábamos. Y esto se debe a varias causas, pero la principal, desde mi óptica, ha sido la incapacidad de entender a los estudiantes que están llegando a nuestras aulas. Los maestros dominicanos, especialmente, los del sector público no hemos entendido que los jóvenes a los que pretendemos enseñar son totalmente diferentes a nosotros, por tal razón, el paradigma que da respuesta a sus particularidades es totalmente diferente al nuestro. Entonces, para ser exitosos como maestros debemos buscar estrategias que les resulten interesantes y que estén en consonancia a la realidad de nuestros alumnos, quienes son nativos digitales, no emigrantes digitales como sus docentes.

 Un maestro que se resista a los cambios jamás será exitoso. La sociedad pone a sus hijos en nuestras manos porque considera que somos los expertos, por ende, es desde la escuela que se debe buscar la solución para formar personas integrales, capaces de pensar de forma lógica, crítica y creativa. Que además sea capaz de trabajar en colaboración con otros para buscar soluciones a las problemáticas de la vida cotidiana y a expresarse de manera asertiva y eficaz con los demás.  

 La guerra que se vive en las aulas entre maestros y estudiantes por la resistencia que estos últimos ponen a ser enseñados, nos debe llevar a la reflexión, es algo más que descomposición familiar, esta es sólo una de las causas, pero no la única, es claro a la que acudimos cuando, por frustración, no obtenemos los resultados que buscamos.

 En el año escolar 2012-2013, el Ministerio de Educación inició en la Regional 15 un plan piloto con la ejecución de los Proyectos Participativos de Aula, los que, desde mi óptica, si se les da continuidad, van a revolucionar y hacer más eficaz el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en las aulas de nuestros centros educativos del segundo ciclo en el Nivel Básico.

Los PPA son estrategias pedagógicas que están orientadas a articular los contenidos curriculares con la realidad social, donde los estudiantes son los protagonistas y se convierten en solucionadores de problemas.  Para la ejecución de un PPA se debe involucrar a toda la comunidad del entorno donde está ubicado el centro educativo.

 La elaboración de un Proyecto Participativo de Aula (PPA) consta de los siguientes pasos: primero se reúnen los estudiantes y se les pregunta sobre los problemas que afectan su comunidad. De estos, se selecciona uno por consenso en cada sección, luego se procede a ponerle el nombre al proyecto, éste debe poseer los siguientes tres aspectos fundamentales: primero, especificar el aspecto del conocimiento que se va a trabajar; segundo, debe estar redactado de manera propositiva y tercero, especificar la implementación del equipo investigador en las acciones a desarrollar en procura del cambio deseado. Por ejemplo, suponiendo que como problemática surja el exceso de basura en la comunidad. El título del proyecto podría ser: Trabajemos por una comunidad limpia para el desarrollo de personas sanos. Una vez concluido esto, entonces se reúnen los representantes de cada sección y se elige el proyecto que se va a trabajar primero, en un periodo de dos o tres meses, no es recomendable que un PPA se ejecute por más de tres meses. Los otros temas son guardados en un banco para trabajarse durante el resto del año escolar.

 El siguiente paso es justificar el proyecto. Es aquí donde se explica la importancia que tiene llevar a cabo el mismo, describiendo a quienes afecta y por qué. Es importante resaltar que un proyecto participativo de aula aborda la problemática desde tres dimensiones distintas: una valorativa, donde se lleva al individuo a reflexionar sobre lo que es correcto y debe ser valorado como tal, para mejorar y armonizar en nuestro entorno. La segunda es la científica, donde se investiga el porqué de la problemática trabajada en el proyecto, mediante el conocimiento de las causas que la generan y por último, la dimensión política, la cual está orientada a las acciones que se llevarán a cabo para la solución del problema.

 Los equipos de gestión, junto a los maestros, integran los contenidos curriculares al proyecto, o sea que los estudiantes trabajan los contenidos, pero de una manera más práctica, en el sentido que mediante los PPA estos sirven como mediadores, es más bien, la adquisición de saberes con el propósito de utilizarlo en la resolución de problemas. 

El Distrito Educativo 15-03, al cual tengo el privilegio de pertenecer, se empoderó de los PPA y puede exhibir como logro que el segundo ciclo de todos sus centros educativos del sector público comenzó a trabajar los proyectos. Mi experiencia como acompañante del proceso en los diferentes centros educativos es fabulosa. Tener la oportunidad de ver jovencitos de quinto  y sexto grado,  explicando de manera técnica  las causas y consecuencias de problemáticas como la poca integración familiar al proceso educativo de los niños, la contaminación ambiental,  la violencia, entre otros y sobre todo,  realizando acciones para la  búsqueda de solución a las mismas en su comunidad es, sin duda, algo que me llena de optimismo y motivación para seguir trabajando con la ilusión de que si es posible lograr la transformación que esta sociedad merece.