TESOL 2002, Salt Lake City, Friday, April 12, 2002, 10:30 - 11:15

Celeste M. Scholz
Demonstration       
ESL in Secondary Schools
Overhead Projector/Screen

Strategies for developing information research skills
 

Mainstream teachers note that ESL students need more experience in researching information for classroom projects. The Big Six (Eisenberg) is a format for solving information research problems.  It consists of six steps with several questions applied to each.  They are: 1) task definition – What do I have to do? What are my questions? 2) information-seeking strategies – What resources can I use? Which resources are best? 3) location and access – Where can I find the resources? 4) using information – How will I remember the important information? 5) synthesis – How will I organize the information? 6) evaluation – Was I efficient and effective?

The Big Six format gives ESL students an effective way to think about information research problems. The presenter reviews ESL student products where information research is central to the task. By applying the six steps consistently to a number of different information research tasks, students become proficient in the essential steps.

Students can apply the Big Six to any information research problem, even if mainstream teachers don’t use this specific format. This is especially critical in tasks where the teachers don’t explicitly define the steps of the research process, because they assume the ESL students have this knowledge through prior experience. 
This demonstration shows the advantages of using the Big Six format to improve information research skills in ESL students.

TESOL 2002: Strategies for developing information research skills