A Creative Approach to Integrated Case Studies in Teaching Business English

Daniela Munca, PhDASEM University Lecturer

English Language Instructor at ALC

Problem • Project / case study• Voice, images, text• Research• Solution• Public – available to a larger group• Encourage collaboration• Publish / save

Students Sample Projects1) Elena Effective Advertising 2) Marina Nokia versus Apple3) Cristina Toyota's Problems 4) Eugenia Cadbury- World's Chocolate Leader 5) Sabina Best Business Opportunities in 2009 6) Cristina R. Top 10 Most Profitable Companies in USA 7) E-Banking ( by Anatoli)8) The Most Powerful People of Moldova (by Anastasia )9) Corruption ( by Olga )10) How does the crisis affect SPORTS (by Stas)11) Remittences (by Liza)12) Sweatshops - How big brands violate the world (by Alex)13) Corruption in Moldova (by Natalia)14) Sweatshops (by Marina)15) The End of the World (by Diana)16) The Tale of Two Brothers: Adidas / Puma (by Iana)17) Recycling in Moldova (by Aliona)18) Women in Business (by Valeriu)

VoiceThread

What is Voicethread? • group conversations are collected and shared in one online

place from anywhere in the world • no software to install• a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images,

documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages• leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or

telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam)• share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues

for them to record comments too• can even be embedded to show and receive comments on

other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.

Project Planning

1) Chose a Case Study2) Research on the topic3) Select relevant info4) Write a Project Plan5) Come up with a CONCLUSION / SUGGESTION6) Publish and Share7) Collaborate – comment8) Evaluate – group evaluation

Collaborative Space

A good teacher makes you think even when you don’t

want to.

(Fisher, 1998, Teaching Thinking)

Key word:

CREATIVITY !!!

VoiceThread for Language Teachers

• A complex “project” appealing to all 4 skills• Challenging and motivating• Students work independently• Students are free to chose their topic of

interest and the means of presenting it • Applies to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of

Learning Domains

Why Voicethread for Case Studies?

• Combine essay writing skills and visuals• Challenge students to “think outside the

box”• Give them an introduction to real world

surviving skills• Offers teachers an opportunity to asses

vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure, oratorical skills, etc

Ideas for VoiceThread Projects

1) Why Toyota had to recall its cars from the US market? 2) What are the most profitable companies of 2009?3) Who are the most powerful business people in

Moldova?4) Who won the advertising battle in the Pepsi – Cola

wars? 5) Who is going to win the Nokia – Apple competition?

Pedagogical Implications

He who learns but does not think is

lost

(Chinese Proverb)

Reference to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

• a classification of learning objectives within education

• one of the best ways to differentiate the curriculum to meet student needs

• six levels of thinking• can provide a framework for planning units that

incorporate low to high-level thinking activities• a planning framework encouraging student

thinking at all levels

Teaching EFL involves:

• Drilling• Memorization• Dictations

• Learning new vocabulary

Lower-thinking Skills

What is Higher-order thinking?“ A guide to Productive Pedagogies: Classroom

reflection manual” - involves the transformation of information

and ideas- occurs when students combine facts and

ideas and synthesise, generalise, explain, hypothesise or arrive at some conclusion or

interpretation- manipulating information and ideas through

these processes allows students to solve problems, gain understanding and discover

new meaning

The Teacher’s Task:

- help students become producers of knowledge

- create activities or environments that allow them opportunities to engage in

higher-order thinking

Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives• 1950s- developed by Benjamin Bloom• expressing qualitatively different kinds of

thinking• adapted for classroom use as a planning tool• one of the most universally applied models • organizes thinking skills into six levels, from the

most basic to the higher order levels of thinking

(Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, pp. 7-8)

Initial Taxonomy

1990s- Lorin Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited the taxonomy

Original Terms New Terms

• Evaluation

• Synthesis

• Analysis

• Application

• Comprehension

• Knowledge

•Creating

•Evaluating

•Analysing

•Applying

•Understanding

•Remembering(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)

BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY

CreatingCreatingGenerating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things

Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.

EvaluatingEvaluatingJustifying a decision or course of action

Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging

AnalysingAnalysingBreaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships

Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

ApplyingApplyingUsing information in another familiar situation

Implementing, carrying out, using, executing

UnderstandingUnderstandingExplaining ideas or concepts

Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

RememberingRememberingRecalling information

Recognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding

Applying • Translate• Manipulate• Exhibit• Illustrate• Calculate• Interpret• Make• Practice• Apply• Operate• Interview

• Paint• Change• Compute• Sequence• Show• Solve• Collect• Demonstrate• Dramatise• Construct• Use• Adapt• Draw

Using strategies, concepts, principles and

theories in new situations

Products include:

• Photograph

• Illustration

• Simulation

• Sculpture

• Demonstration

• Presentation

• Interview

• Performance

• Diary

• Journal

Classroom Roles for Applying Teacher roles

• Shows• Facilitates• Observes• Evaluates• Organises• Questions

Student roles

• Solves problems• Demonstrates use of

knowledge• Calculates• Compiles• Completes• Illustrates • Constructs • Active recipient

Applying: Potential Activities and Products

• Practise a play and perform it for the class• Make a diorama to illustrate an event• Write a diary entry• Make a scrapbook about the area of study.• Take and display a collection of photographs on a

particular topic.• Make up a puzzle or a game about the topic.• Write an explanation about this topic for others.• Continue the story…

AnalysingThe learner breaks learned information into its parts to

best understand that information.– Comparing– Organising– Deconstructing– Attributing– Outlining– Finding– Structuring– Integrating

Can you break information into parts to explore

understandings and relationships?

Analyzing: Potential Activities and Products

• Use a Venn Diagram to show how two topics are the same and different

• Design a questionnaire to gather information.• Survey classmates to find out what they think

about a particular topic. Analyse the results.• Classify the actions of the characters in the book• Make a family tree showing relationships.• Write a biography of a person studied.• Prepare a report about the area of study.

EvaluatingThe learner makes decisions based on in-depth

reflection, criticism and assessment.– Checking– Hypothesising– Critiquing– Experimenting– Judging– Testing– Detecting– Monitoring

Can you justify a decision or course of action?

Evaluating cont’• Judge• Rate• Validate• Predict• Assess• Score• Revise• Infer• Determine• Prioritise• Tell why• Compare• Evaluate• Defend• Select• Measure

• Choose• Conclude• Deduce• Debate• Justify• Recommend• Discriminate• Appraise• Value• Probe• Argue• Decide• Criticise• Rank• Reject

Judging the value of ideas, materials and

methods by developing and applying standards

and criteria.

Products include:

• Debate

• Panel

• Report

• Evaluation

• Investigation

• Verdict

• Conclusion

•Persuasive speech

Classroom Roles for Creating

Teacher roles

• Facilitates• Extends • Reflects• Analyses• Evaluates

Student roles

• Designs• Formulates• Plans• Takes risks• Modifies• Creates• Proposes• Active participant

Creating a VoiceThread Project Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Analyzing

Evaluating

Creating

Creating VoiceThread ProjectRemembering What are the four Ps of the marketing mix?

Which advertising strategies did Puma use to protect its market share?

Understanding How do successful advertising work?

How do large companies compete on the market?

What were the most successful business enterprises in 2009?

Applying Explain the four Ps of the marketing mix using a case study- Nivea.

Analyzing Who were the most successful business people in Moldova in 2009? Why did Toyota recall its cars from the US market?

Evaluating Why did Toyota’s CEO decide to take such a risky decision? Why did Coca Cola change its marketing strategy?

Creating Create a short VoiceThread to report on a Business case study: use text, pictures, graphs, scanned pictures, images, your own voice / music, etc.

Daniela Muncadanielamunca@olemiss.edu