UNIT 3: TEFL AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROJECT Unit 3UNIT 3: TEFL AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROJECT Unit 3 TEFL as a transdisciplinary Project * ”He have the ball getaked and to Sarah

UNIT 3: TEFL AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROJECT

Unit 3

TEFL

as a transdisciplinary

Project

What does education mean to you? (1) Think about the role of teachers and learners, and the

processes of teaching and learning. Jot down your ideas related to the cartoon above.

(2) Compare these ideas to the concept of learning and teaching in this little story:

In Japan at the time of the Samurai, a boy leaves home in search of a teacher. After three days of walking in the hills, he finds a Zen master in his hermitage and politely asks whether the master would accept him as his disciple. The master remains silent, prepares tea, gives the boy a bowl, and pours the tea. He keeps on pouring when the bowl is full and the hot tea scalds the boy’s fingers. ‘Master, what are you doing?’ ‘This,’ says the Zen master, ‘is the first lesson.’

STUDY QUESTION: BOOK PAGE 38

Sample Student Answers

(1) Learner / teacher roles:

Conflicting expectations of teachers and learners

Students’ roles: passive recipients vs. active participants, recipient vs. constructor of knowledge

Direct instruction or group work, student-centered learning

Teachers’ roles: observer, instructor, motivator, guide, authority, model

Process of teaching and learning: You want what you cannot have at the

moment Teachers can alternate methods to

meet the needs for direction and of participation

Discovery learning may be challenging and requires an open mind

(2) Education: Education as learning through

experience No pain, no gain Independence, self-reliance, and critical

reflection as goals of education Growing up, developmental process

Learning relevant things to live in the world

Preparation for life, professional career, tests

Empowerment vs. practical uselessness Becoming a competent member of

society Ability to process new information Delivering teacher’s knowledge to

learners Provide social skills, norms, values Acquisition of skills and knowledge Education as a “dangerous weapon”


Unit 3

TEFL


Project

How would you teach English if you followed Krashen’s hypothesis?



Providing students with a positive and stimulating atmosphere during learning to keep the affective filter as low as possible

Focus on communication rather than learning rules to promote subconscious acquisition during exposure to language

Teacher does not need to select the next rule or pattern because students will automatically learn them according to the natural order of LA

Providing students with enough comprehensible input through the selection of appropriate materials

Providing students with enough time to think about and “monitor” their own speech


Unit 3

TEFL


Project

* ”He have the ball getaked and to Sarah gethrowed.”

Identify and explain the errors in the utterance above and suggest ways of developing the Interlanguage.



Errors:

'*have' should be marked with third person –s

'*getaked' reveals interference from German tense forms

' *to Sarah gethrowed' reveals interference from German grammar and syntax

Developing IL:

Leaving a gap to elicit the correct form: “He ____ the ball.”

Question and repetition: “What did you say he did with the ball?”

Indirect negative feedback through offering correct input: “So he took the ball … what happened next?”

Direct negative feedback: “No that is wrong. It is ‘He took’…”

Metalinguistic feedback: “In German we often use the perfect, but in English we rather use the past.”


Unit 3

TEFL


Project

How would a constructivist explain the process of learning and teaching in the story of the boy and the Zen master at the beginning of chapter 3?

In Japan at the time of the Samurai, a boy leaves home in search of a teacher. After three days of walking in the hills, he finds a Zen master in his hermitage and politely asks whether the master would accept him as his disciple. The master remains silent, prepares tea, gives the boy a bowl, and pours the tea. He keeps on pouring when the bowl is full and the hot tea scalds the boy’s fingers. ‘Master, what are you doing?’ ‘This,’ says the Zen master, ‘is the first lesson.’



Teachers can only offer material and situations that are likely to stimulate learning processes but cannot determine what a pupil actually learns from input or experience

Learning by trial and error: Learners need to test their hypotheses and knowledge about language in the real world

Learners need to assume responsibility for their learning


Unit 3

TEFL


Project

Which approach fits which classroom situation depicted in the cartoon?



Situation 1:

Instructivist Approaches

Teacher as instructor/ lecturer who controls and monitors the learning process (however, this teacher would prefer more of an active, collaborative partnership)

Student as the recipient of knowledge, who acquires knowledge or has to form habits based on the input he/she is given

Situation 2:

Sociocultural and Interactionist Approaches

Teacher as a guide, but also a member of the group: focus on team work (however, the teacher seems to prefer not to share work with learners but rather to teach them in a traditional way, maybe to have more control)

Students as active participants with individual needs and opinions (however, these students seem not to be interested in taking responsibility for their learning process and seem to prefer a receptive rather than a productive role)

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UNIT 3: TEFL AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROJECT Unit 3UNIT 3: TEFL AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROJECT Unit 3 TEFL as a transdisciplinary Project * ”He have the ball getaked and to Sarah