Where do theory & practice meet?
Teaching English as an additional language
I enjoyed Trevor Aleo’s insight in Bridging the theory & practice divide in English classrooms, and felt I would follow suit. I appreciate the need to bridge theory and practice and agree that this narrative should continue if teachers seek to improve the educative experience for each learner.
Theory & Practice
I agree that the connection between theory and practice isn’t just an academic exercise but rather a necessary distinction that comes together when understanding what success in the classroom looks like. When teaching English as an additional language, several theories relate directly to the English language learning classroom experience (i.e., natural method, direct method, lexical approach, suggestopedia, etc.) while others theories relate more broadly to general education (i.e., scaffolding, understanding by design, etc.). When I reflect on my day-to-day teaching practice, I frame most of what my learners and I do through Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) understanding by design: six facets of understanding, G.R.A.S.P.S. Framework for designing performance tasks, backward design, etc.
Instead of defining participation between interpretation, representation, and communication, I would view it more in terms of the six facets (or categories) of understanding: explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge.
Towards Meaningful Participation
I define “meaningful” participation as any educative experience that is meaningful, relevant, and engaging for the learner. An experience is meaningful when it’s likely to be valuable to the learner at some point in the future (e.g., being able to change a tire, etc.). An experience is relevant if it is not only meaningful but also provides value based on the learner’s determined goals and objectives (e.g., an instrumental music major learns how to play the brass instruments, etc.). An experience is engaging when the environment motivates students to interact with course content, authentic content, and other individuals given some authentic purpose or goal.
To this end, the following questions are those that I typically refer to throughout the semester as I work towards active participation that is meaningful, relevant, and engaging for the learner:
How can I plan performance tasks (i.e., educative experiences, etc.) that link the learning sequence to the desired results?
How can I design performance tasks that allow learners to explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge throughout the semester?
How can I design performance tasks that integrate content (i.e., knowledge and understandings) and language: content and language integrated learning (CLIL).
Within the context of each of the three questions above, additional decisions I consider that relate to curriculum, assessment, and instruction include the following (S.C.H.O.O.L.):
Scalability: Any processes and technologies used by my learners and me should provide efficiency and effectiveness at scale. I should not work twice as hard to teach two students as I do to teach one student. Ideally, a class of 100 students should get just as much value from the classroom as if I were teaching only one student.
The Cs: Creativity, collaboration, cooperation, comparisons, and community should remain at the forefront of any educative experience.
Hybrid environments: Combining in-person experiences with online experiences allows learners various entry points to the educative experience.
Openness: Openness or transparency applies to students having authentic audiences and support throughout the learning experience while maintaining adequate protections to privacy, choice, and voice.
Ongoing: The educative experience and any outcomes should be a continual work in process in that learning never just ends once the assignment is over.
Learning: Learning trumps teaching - just a reminder that all educational stakeholders should share a common goal in improving what learners know, understand, and are able to do.
Students as Knowledge Producers Communicators
As instructors, we should guide the learner in becoming a more effective, efficient, and engaging communicator and help the learner discern when others are or are not being good communicators. Learners should understand how and why they communicate is often more important than what they produce when communicating. Being a knowledge producer should pair up with the overall purpose and ways of communicating coupled with the process and product(s) that result from having completed the (authentic) communicative event.
What do you think?
Reflecting on one’s teaching practice in terms of theory reveals one’s educational philosophy. Have you ever been asked, “Why do you do what you do in the classroom?” or “Why are the learners doing what they are doing in the classroom?” In my case, my answer would be based on what I’ve mentioned above. In your case, how have you answered this question? How would you answer this question?