Name: Xiao(Echo), Zhang

Date: 02/24/15
Title: Teaching articles
Context: Observation_American Idioms

1. Brief description of the artifact: What is it? How is it used?

This is a dictation worksheet used in one of my observation classes-American Idioms. The teacher
gave students this handout after finishing that day`s lesson. There are only 5 sentences on this
worksheet, and each sentence contains more than one idiom which they learned before. The
teacher passes out the folded worksheet to students who were not allowed to see these five
sentences. Then, the teacher read each sentence at standard speed for twice, and students did
dictation at the same time. After that, they could unfold this dictation worksheet, and check their
answers. This activity mainly checked students`listening ability and comprehension to the
American idioms.
2. Explanation of what new ideas, information, or awareness came form this artifact.
The new ideas I learned from this class are as following:
1). Using authentic learning materials. All the learning materials, examples and quizzes in this
class were authentic. The text was created for real-life purpose, not for the classroom. Students
were asked to make conversations every time they learned new idioms. Rogers (1988) defines
authentic as 'appropriate' and 'quality' in terms of goals, objectives, learner needs and interest and
'natural' in terms of real life and meaningful communication (p. 467). Based on Tamo(2009),
authentic materials can encourage learning for pleasure because they are likely to contain topics of
interest to learners, especially if students are given the chance to have a say about the topics or
kinds of authentic materials to be used in class. I agree on what the teacher did. In my opinion,
idioms are fixed phrases which are used in oral languages. Therefore, providing authentic learning
materials to students motivates them to make communication real.
2). Dictation exercise for students. Dictation is a language learning device that has been used for
centuries. It has numerous advantages, among which helping students to diagnose and correct
grammatical mistakes are the most common ones. Moreover, it ensures attentive listening and

trains students to distinguish sounds, helping learning punctuation and develops aural
comprehension. (Kavaliauskiene& Darginaviciene, 2009) I did dictation exercises everyday when
I was in China. It did help develop all my language skills, such as grammar, listening, oral
communication and even note taking. I believe idiom is a portion of culture. It shares cultural and
historical information and broadens peoples understanding and manipulation of a language.
(Ambrose, 2003) People learn idioms to make conversations more native-like and natural.
Meanwhile, dictations of idioms are beneficial to students, as they help to raise the awareness of
the language.
3. Reflection on how this will impact your approach to teaching and learning.
This class motivates both my learning and teaching enthusiasm on American idioms. The dictation
activity makes me, as a learner involved in this class, and would like to explore more idioms after
this class. I have learned American Idioms in China in my oral classes. Teachers just gave us the
meanings and examples. No spoken practice. Students need to memorize these idioms without
knowing how to use it. However, I learned that providing oral practice is necessary for students
from this class. In my future teaching, I will use authentic text in class, by creating or editing the
text for real life, so that students can not only get involved in our learning content, but also use
the knowledge out of class. In addition, my students will do dictation exercises three times a week
either in class or out of class. I hope all of them could make progress in their language skills
through dictation exercises.

References
Ambrose, J. (2003). WHY IDIOMS ARE IMPORTANT FOR ENGLISH .
, 180-182.
Daniela, T. (2009). The Use of Authentic Materials in Classrooms. LCPJ, 74-78.
Kavaliauskien, G., & Darginaviien, I. (2009). DICTATION IN THE ESP CLASSROOM: A
TOOL TO IMPROVE . English for Sepecific Purposes World,v.8,issue23, 1-10.
Kilickaya, F. (2004, July). Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms.
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