DESIGN OF A TESOL RESEARCH PROJECT The defi

Pragmatic orientation is construed in the Dewey connotation of a pedagogical practice "which lays emphasis on consequences or results as a test of its validity" (Page & Thomas, 1977, p. 269). Stated more broadly, pragmatism is "a view of the world based on practical outcomes and consequences" (Shafritz, Koeppe, & Soper, 1988, p. 361).

Tracy D. Terrell's The Natural Approach (Terrell, 1990, pp. 193-206) is a comprehension-based approach to teaching/learning a foreign language. Its fundamental assumption is that "learners of any age are able to take in speech input--if most of it is comprehensible--and discover its system without having it arbitrarily broken down for them and spoon-fed" (Blair, 1991, p. 29).

There are several ways in which a program of study or a research project can be structured and developed. I have chosen a loose application of the systems approach to instruction and education for the development of a curriculum (one type of research project), because I believe that, however open a system (such as an educational system as opposed to an instructional system), it still needs to be validated if it is to meet the student's reasonable expectations and the teacher's accountability. The systems approach denotes "the syste

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, i.e. the final exam is used as the entrance exam. The results of this entrance examination will dictate clearly the level of competence of the class as a group and as individuals. It will determine the eventual grouping or mixing of students of different competence levels. It will be the blueprint for the writing of the curriculum proper, i.e. of the course of study. It will allow the selection of course contents and materials, the sequencing of learning units (or the availability of modules of learning where individual instruction is possible), the production of learning aids, and the organization of resource accessibility. Step four. Now that the entrance, mid-term, and final examinations, and possibly tests and quizzes, have been written, and that the contents and resources of the course have been prepared, the designer needs run a pilot test on a population sample, and revise the curriculum accordingly. Step five. The revised curriculum can now be validated on a full representative class, and, again, revised if need be. Step six. The system can now be implemented and managed. Step seven. A behavior-modification system, whatever its nature and purpose, is a dynamic instrument, because both teachers and students change wi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2906
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)