Category: Free Essays

Netiquette and Student Learning Experience on Blackboard – Reflective essay

Communicating by email and other methods on the Internet such as online message boards and chat systems has become very common these days. It is almost impossible to pursue a course of study in higher or further education without using computers, and without communicating with other people online. Yet it can be safely said the most of us have never had any type of formal training in communicating online.

The increased use of Virtual Learning Environments such as Blackboard and Moodle put an additional imperative on students to learn how to communicate online. This means that students now not only need to learn the content of the course, they also need to use a new tool properly prior to studying the subject matter. At our University, the Blackboard is used for various courses. Most students today are already familiar with the Internet and have already communicated with others via various methods on the Internet; hence there isn’t a steep learning curve when they learn to use this new tool. Additionally, support is provided in various ways for students who require it. Firstly, students can approach the online learning support officer if they require any general help with the system. Secondly, they can approach the module leader or teacher if they have any problems with any specific course they are taking on Blackboard. Thirdly, they can approach their personal tutor with any problems that cannot be otherwise resolved. Practically, however, students often find peer support invaluable. I always found myself asking or being asked about specific issues with Blackboard. Some of the common questions are about where are the buttons one would require to perform certain tasks, for example the upload button when submitting an assignment, what happens when the system ‘hangs’ – this often creates a lot of anxiety, especially when it happens close to the deadline for the submission of an assignment! I have often found that the people who are able to readily answer these questions have often faced the same problem themselves, and found it out either by trial and error on their own, or were in turn helped by some others. Although technology is often (dis)credited as the cause of an increasing loss of personal contact in every aspect of modern life, ironically, the use of an unfamiliar tool such as the Blackboard actually helped me communicate better with some other students, as we faced a shared problem and being compatriots somehow brought us closer.

Netiquette was something I decided that I had to learn before I was ‘brave’ enough to add my comment in the discussion forums. This was mainly because I was very used to the ‘Internet slang’ of using the short form of words such as CUL8R and I wasn’t very sure these would be acceptable and did not want to get on the wrong side of the lecturer unnecessarily. I did some reading on the topic and found a great deal of material on the Internet regarding Netiquette. In particular, I read the RFC 1855 (Hambridge, 1995), which was a sort of bible on netiquette. On reading it the reasons behind many of netiquette rules that I didn’t think were important, most of it seemed to be common sense and polite. The WIRED article by Leahy (2006) cited one good example of an email communication that had this sentence “Don’t’ work too hard”, which could be interpreted in a variety of ways – had this been addressed to me, I would have wondered, was the writer sarcastically implying that I was working too hard, perhaps trying to impress someone, in which case I probably would have taken offence, or was it just a joke? Either way, it’s difficult to interpret. I read the general rules for posting on Blackboard and saw that they weren’t very different from the RFC 1855. There were only minor differences, some recommendations adapted to keep in view that this was an educational discussion board in an educational institution.

Going back to my interaction on Blackboard, I monitored the comments on the discussion board for while before I decided to post a somewhat inconsequential comment to test the waters. I had given a great deal of thought before deciding to participate in the discussion online. Initially, I thought that since participating in the online discussion forum wasn’t compulsory, I need not participate; it would only take me more time to learn the rules, and then engage in a discussion that didn’t really earn me any marks in my final score for the module. However, I spoke to some of my peers, and got the view that participating in discussions not only helped you clear your doubts, it also helped others; most often, someone else had the same question, but was just too scared to post it, and when you did, they were grateful to you; sometimes that made them bolder to start posting too. Then, one of the lecturers for one of the modules that was using Blackboard encouraged us to continue a discussion that took place in class online, and that was what spurred me on to leave me comment; however, having thought out my first post for very long before posting it, I feel that I somehow ‘killed’ it and it had the desired effect: it was so inconsequential, no one posted a reply to it. Funnily, I found this was somewhat disheartening, however, resolved to take part in the discussions better and managed to follow through. The main benefit I obtained from the discussion boards is that if there are some strands of thought running on your mind about a topic that is being discussed, the discussion board offers you the opportunity to actually post those thoughts anytime, anywhere. On hindsight, communicating on the Blackboard discussion board did not have very different rules from communicating face to face in the classroom. One just has to remember that when posting on an online forum, the readers cannot see your face to gauge your expression and therefore are more likely to misinterpret your statements. Using ’emoticons’, if these are acceptable, can help convey the tone of the message to a certain extent. Also, if you are always prepared to offer a clarification and apology if necessary if your message has been misinterpreted then you cannot go very much wrong.

There are indeed some excellent positives to the use of Blackboard (or any other Virtual Leaning Environment) in the university. The use of the VLE allowed us to work at home (or as a group in one person’s home) and enabled us to avoid spending the time travelling to university, and also the stress. We were able to discuss group assignments at a place convenient to the entire group, and as for individual assignments, there is a great deal to be said for sitting on one’s own room with a pizza and coke and typing up an assignment. While it took some getting used to, once I got used to the system, I greatly appreciated the availability of all the information that was made available on an anytime, anywhere basis. However, I think that I would not like to pursue course of study that was conducted wholly through the VLE. This is because I felt that the face to face interaction I had with the lecturers of most modules was important, even if it consisted of me simply sitting passively in class listening to the lecture. This is because I felt I could understand much more when it was the lecturer explaining a certain point in person, not reading the written word; additionally, during face to face interaction, I had the opportunity of clearing any doubts that popped into my mind, and one once occasion, the teacher drew a simple diagram which allowed me to grasp the concept quickly; this would not have been possible if we were discussing the topic on the discussion forum on Blackboard. If all the convenience of using a VLE in additional to face to face teaching can be made available in a cost-efficient circumstance, then I would definitely recommend the use of Virtual Learning Environments. As for discussions on Blackboard, with my experience, I am now a bit confident at posting my comments on discussion topics. Perhaps the next semester I may even be bold enough to start up discussion on new topics if the opportunity presents itself.

References

Hambridge, S. (1995) RFC1855: Netiquette Guidelines (Available online at http://rfc.net/rfc1855.html – last accessed Aug 2007)

Leahy, S. (2006) The Secret Cause of Flame Wars Wired (Available online at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/02/70179 – last accessed Aug 2007)

Objective of Curriculum

The main focus of this curriculum is to incorporate elements of children’s developmental domains which contribute to the holistic being. Our activities are designed by taking into consideration the children we have observed for our child study. Although we recognize the concept of play in the curriculum, we feel that it is also important to provide pupils with a structured curriculum that would supplement their developmental needs. The curriculum aims to develop the children’s socio-emotional development, cognitive – language development and physical development through the integration of play as well as the inquiry, project and thematic approach.

In doing so we have ensured that children are provided with an avenue for aesthetic and creative expression, language and literacy development, practice for numeracy skills, motor skills development along with creating an awareness of the self, the environment and the social sphere.

As part of our design objective, we aim to ensure continuity from what children have learnt in preschool to the primary school curricula. We feel that this would ease pupils into making the transition from an environment which they have developed a sense of familiarity (i.e. the kindergarten setting) and the one which they are being initiated into. Partnered with the other key approaches, our team firmly belief that by encompassing our curriculum around play, it would supplement children’s developmental needs which in our view have been neglected in the current school curricula.

Our Curriculum

Having observed the children at the various kindergarten settings, our group have decided to build our curriculum around the concept of “learning through play”. We recognize that play is an integral part of a child’s holistic development and it should not be omitted as the child progresses into the primary education system. From our child study we observed that each of these children displayed varying interests and abilities which can be extended through a curriculum centered on the concept of play. Play, as we know it, has been defined in many ways by various theorists. One of the many definitions is by Van Hoorn (2007) who affirms that “[p]lay plays a big part of young children’s development and expression of the child’s developing personality, sense of reflect, intellect, social capacity and physicality.” (p. 4). The activities that surround our curriculum are aimed to address these vital domains of the developing child. Van Hoorn (2007) also theorizes that the concept of play exists in a continuum which ranges from “spontaneous” to “guided” to “teacher-directed play”. We have adopted this concept throughout the entire design of this curriculum. Through the integration of both individual and group activities, we are taking into consideration each child’s learning needs as we acknowledge their different learning styles.

In our planning, we aim to invigorate this concept of play into our curriculum by integrating other key approaches used in the current school curricula. The curriculum is designed such that it is centered on the concept of “learning through play” while at the same time utilizing the thematic approach, inquiry approach and the project approach. We have developed the following tripartite diagram to illustrate how we have incorporated the various approaches in our curriculum.

Thematic Approach

We have chosen to implement the thematic approach as it keeps our curriculum design focused. In view of what has been stated by Wortham (2006), we agree that since the “thematic curriculum is completed over a period of time, there is opportunity for exploration, investigation, and representation of learning in an unhurried environment” (p.299). Ideally, the curriculum should be executed through a span of eight weeks, within a term. This is to ensure that children would be given ample time to develop skills and knowledge surrounding the adopted theme. We felt that the thematic approach would also aid in children’s learning as they build up experiences based on an ongoing theme which stimulates children into meaning-making as they acquire skills and develop in the different domains.

Inquiry Approach

The inquiry approach has also been interwoven into this curriculum because we believe that pupils should be given the opportunity to explore for themselves the learning possibilities through inquisitive questions. Much of the activities designed in this curriculum has been targeted at children in honing their inquiry skills. Pupils are encouraged to seek solutions using the open resources made available to them.

Project Approach

The project approach was also adopted in this curriculum as a way of assessing pupils’ learning. Through this mode of assessment, where pupils are given free reign of the project that they could work on, pupils would be exposed to a variety of activities that taps on their various abilities. Both Vygotsky and Piaget believed that it is through personal manipulation and discoveries that children are able construct an understanding of their learning experiences. Additionally with this project approach pupils will be able to work in a social context where they can learn through a partnership with the teacher.

Suggested Activities

As an illustration the suggested activities in the framework we have included is based on the theme of Occupation. We planned these activities with the assumption that it is theme which the children have collaboratively decided on as a whole class. The activities incorporated in this curriculum development takes into account the interests and strengths of the children we have observed during our child study. For instance, we have given pupils the choice of their mode of presentation for the role play which can be done through dramatization or a musical performance. Moreover this would encourage pupils to form a self awareness of their personal strengths and interests.

The Career Day is essentially a whole day event where children will be given an opportunity to exhibit the product of the projects in which they have undertaken within their groups. We have implemented this concept of a career day as we feel that this would encourage children to take responsibility and pride of their achievements and what they are capable of creating.

Introduction:Medical ethics became one of the most important teaching modules in most of the medical schools especially in the last three decades particularly in US7 . Ethics defined as the study of morality, careful and systematic reflection on and analysis of moral decision and behavior4. Hence the medical ethics is the study of ethics related to medical practice. There are four primary principals for medical ethics where all basic medical teaching teaches to medical students. These are non-malfeasance, beneficence, justice and autonomy with sub sectional principals like truth telling and confidentiality.12 Now a day’s doctors are facing more ethical questions and dilemmas in day to day clinical practice, this can be partly attributed to the increase in the knowledge of patients about their health from the media and internet . Studies showed that there is a strong relation between resolving ethical issues and medical errors especially in the area of informed consent and end of life care8. In addition, the court compensation for medico legal cases opened the door for public to find faults for doctors or the health systems to earn some wealth from it! All these made the teaching of how to handle an ethical issue and resolve it very essential to produce a competent skillful physician.

Medical schools adopted different styles and methods for teaching medical ethics, it included didactic lecturing, small group seminars, case based discussion and simulated patient but without uniformity or consensus as to method or content7. This could be as a result of lack of agreement about what shall we teach in medical ethics7.

At sultan Qaboose University, medical students have a one interdisciplinary activity (IDA) week for medical ethics during their mid of fifth year. During this week speakers from different medical and surgical specialties present to the students a common ethical issues encounter. This week is also attended by Islamic scholar (Professor Albar) to comment on Islamic perspective in selective cases like abortion and end of life care . As co-organizer of the course I introduced the presentation of clinical cases by the student to the entire group. I asked each subgroup of the students to select a case where there is an ethical issue and reflect on what was done and how can we improve it.

I found the reflect practice theory is very suitable for teaching of medical ethics because it stimulates the thinking and give the students the opportunity to analyze the ethical dilemma and how to resolve it.

The Theory:
The theory of reflective practice is attributed primarily to Donald Schon3, 5. In life and based on our knowledge and experience we take decision easily to events that we are expecting and used to experience. However when surprise or unexpected event take place, based on Schon theory, people develop two types of reflection to that event. The first one is “Reflection in action ” and it occurs immediately.”It is the ability to learn and develop continually by creatively applying current and past experiences and reasoning to unfamiliar events while they are occurring”5. The second, “reflection on action,” occurs later. ” It is a process of thinking back on what happened in a past situation, what may have contributed to the unexpected event, whether the actions taken were appropriate, and how this situation may affect future practice” 5. The reflection in action can be considered as an emergency decision in which the physician should take the risk of being mistaken, however, this type of decision should be appreciated by people in authority if later turned to be not the perfect way of handling it and that is because it was taken based on the inputs of that situation and surrounding circumstances unless it is clearly odd approach. In contrast, the reflection on action comes later when the physician finished all duties and started re-calling cases seen and decisions taken. At this point s/he will start to bring other options and thoughts that could serve the situation better than the ones taken. This extremely important because it enables us to spend time exploring why we acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on13. In addition if this type of reflection done in group (Peer) will lead to even more reasonable and appropriate reaction to the surprise14.

Since this paper discusses the teaching of medical ethics, the following example will illustrate this approach. A 32 years old pregnant lady in her 3rd trimester involved in car accident and sustained severe head injury , brought to the casualty and treating physician confirmed her death but noticed that the baby still kicking !. Limited experience and lack of awareness about the regulation of such the situation made it a surprise for the physician. He used his basic knowledge of saving life and decided to perform postmortem caesarian section (PMCS) and a second surprise came when the husband arrived to refused PMCS!! . Reflection on action for such case is extremely crucial to reach to an approach which is ethical, legal and satisfy the patient. It is usually reached when the case is presented to the peer and each one is discussing different perspective of the case. In the previous example the reflection on action could be asking a senior physician on duty be a good option for the case.

Application:
At college of medicine in sultan Qaboose University, medical students are divided in group each composed of about 10 to 15 students (Boys and Girls). Each group will be asked to prepare a clinical case seen in practice where there was an ethical issue (e.g. breaching confidentiality) and one or two of the group members will present the case to whole group during the medical ethics week forum. Students will be informed in advance about the objectives and strategies of this approach and each group will linked to a facilitator who is usually senior medical/paramedical faculty with experience of making difficult medical decisions6. The group will keep in touch with facilitator either in person or online (e.g. email) to show the contents, structure and suitability of the case for presentation and discussion. The facilitator will guide the students in selecting the case and how to formulate the ethical issue and its resolution and use steps in table-1 adopted from Catherine Myser.9, 11

S/he will also teach them some basic ethical principal like doctors should refrain from being judgmental, patronizing or minipulative2. S/he will direct them to the appropriate resources and personals whenever required. In Oman, many decisions of ethical dilemma are driven by Islamic teaching and this is very prevalent in medical field, hence students will be directed to Islamic scholars who have some medical background in order to help them understanding Islamic teaching in medical field. During the medical ethics IDA week forum, each group will present their case to the entire group in the presence of the facilitators. The presentation will be briefing about the case, the ethical issue, what was done, and how can we do better? More time will be given for discussion and comments by other students who are not member of the presenting group. The discussion will be regulated and guided by the facilitator supervising the presenting group. At the end of discussion the facilitator will resolve any argument and give the final comment summarizing the ethical issue and the best way to deal with it.

Discussion:
Medical schools around the world used different models in teaching medical ethics; the variation in selection of teaching model could rise from the availability of resources, number of students and curriculum design. For example, both university of Pennsylvania and university of Washington used small group facilitation and peer interaction while uniformed services university introduced a novel model called ” SCOOP ” which stand for Students’ Clinical Observation Of Preceptors11 . A SCOOP reverses the process of evaluation by giving the students evaluation form and ask them to evaluate the teachers. This gives them the opportunity to identify the teaching skills and methods reflect on them and hence acquire the appropriate one and avoid the other one. Shaheen and his group wrote in commentary about time to unified approach to medical ethics where he advocated for unified framework of ethics education justifying that ” it will ensures measurable and accountable basis for the complex of far-reaching ethical issues present in the medical field”7 . However, it is difficult and impractical to unify the contents and materials of medical ethics for different parts of the world where there is a diversity of culture, believe and traditional values. That is because most of the ethical decisions are driven by these factors. For example, In Oman (and other Muslims countries) it is forbidden to drink any amount of alcohol as per the Islamic teaching, hence it is unethical to advice patient to drink alcohol as part of heart protection advice while the same advice can be carried out normally in non-Muslim country. However, I support the statement of Rameshkumar in his paper “Ethics in medical curriculum ” when he said “The structure of ethics education has to be closely monitored and the curriculum goals have to be well defined”.10

The strength of this proposal is that there is national and international move toward teaching of medical ethics to both pre and post graduates students. Most of the senior physicians who did not have training in medical ethics realized that it made a gap in their qualification and they urge the new generation in order not to miss the chance. In Oman the support of the current and previous deans of college of medicine at sultan Qaboose University along with other many medical faculties will make this proposal overcome any obstacles. In addition, there interest of health care providers from different medical disciplines in any activities in medical ethics (workshop, seminars and lectures) will prepare the ground and the environment for the proposal to grow up at the university. This interest always clears during our annual medical ethics week where we get several requests from different institutes and departments asking for registration to the event although the week primarily designed for medical students.

The challenges that this proposal might face is the limited resources that include trained personals and teaching material. The later is easier to overcome since it merely financial and the college is ready to provide any recommended teaching material as long as there is a clear vision and mission of its utilization. In term of training personals, there are already two faculties sent abroad for master in bioethics. In addition, there are several faculties who has special interest in teaching of ethics, all these will make the overcome of human resources obstacles more feasible.

Recommendation:
In order to implement this theory in teaching medical ethics to medical students I recommend the college to consider the following points:

Identify and train people interested in teaching of medical ethics. The training should be for high degree ( Master , PhD ) and it is preferred to be in a center where culture and value of people are close to Oman.
Provide teaching resources and materials to students. It should include textbooks, journals, video … etc.
Instruct the clinicians to integrate teaching of issues related to medical ethics in their daily patient care.
Include assessment of medical ethics in the standard summative and formative methods of assessment in the college.
Regular evaluation and audit of the program in order be developed farther .

The role of grammar in English language teaching

For many teachers, grammar plays a central role in their classroom methodology. However, in 1980s there was an anti-grammar movement which was influenced from the idea of Krashen that ‘ grammar can be acquired naturally from meaningful input and opportunity to interact in the classroom: in other words, the grammartical competence can be developed in a fluency-oriented environment without conscious focus on language forms. For Hymes, said that

… rules of use without which the ruled of grammar would be useless. Just as rules of syntax can control aspects of phonology, and just as rules of semantics perhaps control aspects of syntax, so rules of speech acts enter as a controlling factor for linguistic form as a whole…

( Hymes 1972 : 278 )

From his suggestion, the grammar is one of the most important factors in language teaching and learning, especially it is the ‘ communicative’ element to communicative language ability. The components of communicative language ability are linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence strategic competence and fluency. The linguistics competence is composed from a knowledge of spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical structure and linguistic semantics.

Meaning, form and use : The past
Course description

This course is involved the past tense which refers to the meaning of the tense, the form of the tense and the use of the tense. The learners must know the rules of the tense and can form the patterns of the tense and can use it correctly. The learners are able to apply the tense in the real situations.

Content

The past tense is divided into 3 categories which are:

Past simple tense
past continuous tense
Past perfect tense
Past perfect continuous tense

The four types have their own forms, meanings and uses.

Past Simple is used to indicate the actions which already happened in the past and finished at the specific time in the past. The actions might be long or short. And there are some kinds of rules should be remembered about this tense : regular verb , irregular verbs, questions and negative sentences.
Past Continuous is used to describe the past actions in progress.
Past Perfect is used to talk about the situations which begin in the past and continue to the period of time in the past and then finish at the time.
The Model of teaching grammar: the PPP model

There are 3 stages to teach grammar: presentation, practice and production.

The first stage is presentation. These are some kinds of activities of teachers to apply in their teaching, for example, the teachers present new language in context so that meaning is clear. The teachers may present the new form in a natural spoken or written text so that students can see its use in discourse. Then, he/ she links the new form to what students already know. Next, he/ she checks comprehension. The teacher elicits the form from students where possible and exploit their existing knowledge.

The second stage is practice. The teacher helps the students memorize the form and produce the word order. Then, he/she give intensive practice through repetition and provide opportunities for feedback and error correction. Next, the teacher develop confidence of the students.

The last stage is production. The teacher reduces control and encourage students to find out what they can do. Then, the teacher encourage the students to use the forms in expressing their own content and teacher helps students see the usefulness of what they have learned and then to check what has been learned and diagnose problems.

Example of the lesson plan

This is a good example of the lesson plan which is a very interesting one and can help all language teacher to teach and try new way to teach grammar through narrative.

Narratives in the Simple Past

Teacher: Catherine Eslinger

Class: Linguistics 577

Date of Explanation: October 14th, 1997

Proficiency Level: Beginning

Age of Learners: High School Age and Above

Objectives:
Students will be able to compliment others’ past actions.
Students will be able to describe actions in the past using the simple past tense.
Students will be able to understand and recognize the simple past forms in a folktale. They will be able to supply some of these forms when asked.
Materials Required:

A simple folk tale, colored markers, 11?17 paper, a personal photograph, photographs that students have brought from home.

Warm up/Review:

Model giving compliments in the present tense, which students have recently studied. Give several examples and write them on the board, such as “I like your smile” and “I like the way you read aloud.” Have students move around the room giving compliments to each other, following this model (in addition to listening to Students as they practice, give class members compliments).

Presentation Practice Evaluation:

Stop the fluid pair activity and model giving compliments that use the past tense: “I appreciated the way you helped return papers to the class yesterday” or “I loved the food you cooked for our class party last week.” Write these forms on the board, underlining the time expression. Write some of the compliments students gave each other that use the same verbs in the present tense. Underline the verbs. Have students induce the rule. Include auxiliaries in the past, particularly in question formation. Play “Alibi.” Have two students leave the room, pretending to be suspects of a crime. Model the types of questions students could ask of a suspect, writing some patterns on the board. One “suspect” returns when called and students ask questions about his or her whereabouts at the time of the “crime.” When they have exhausted the questioning possibilities, the first student again leaves the room and the second is asked the same questions to see if their alibis match. Pay attention to students’ use of the past tense. Are they able to use it correctly? Note any irregular verbs for which students have overgeneralized the rule for putting in the past tense.

Present patterns for types of irregular past tense verbs that students have used in “Alibi.” If students have used these and overgeneralized, present categories like feel-felt, steal-stole, bring-brought and begin-began. Preview “Llama and the Great Flood” by talking about legends and folk tales in other cultures, finding Peru on a map, etc. Read it aloud, leaving out regular and irregular verbs the students have just studied in the past tense. Ask them to supply those verbs. Cue them with the present tense of the verb. Listen to the students. Are they able to supply the correct form of the verb in the simple past tense?

If other irregular forms have come up in the folktale, present these exceptions to the rule. Show students a personal photo of some interesting past event. Describe it using the simple past tense. Have the students write a short description of their own photo in the simple past. In pairs, they will share their description and photo with another class member.

Contingency plan:

If some students have forgotten photos, have them imagine the scene of a photo they have at home. Listen to the pairs practice. Are the students able to use the past tense fluently and accurately? Note any new irregular past tense forms that come up. If other irregular verb forms have come up in the descriptions of photos, present those exceptions to the rule. If not, I will not present any new material at this time. Although this activity provides more practice, it is primarily intended to evaluate students’ learning. Post six pieces of 11 x 17 paper around the room. Each page has a different sentence prompt on it. These include: “When I was a child. . . ,” “When I first started to learn English. . . ,” “Last week. . . ,” “After my last birthday . . . ,” “Yesterday. . . ,” and “This morning . . . .” In teams of three, each team with a different colored marker, students go around the room to the various papers and write narrative endings to these prompts. To correct serious errors, send a student from a team that is doing that aspect of the activity correctly to help the struggling team for a moment. Note the names of team members using particular colors and examine the papers after class to see which students are struggling with the forms.

If students have again overgeneralized the rule for the simple past in other categories of verbs, present those verbs to them. Allow students to add to the sheets of paper with prompts on them using the irregular verbs they have just learned. Pay attention to how students are forming all past forms, particularly the irregular ones. Again, note who is struggling by identifying teams using particular colored markers.

Application:

Assign students to find a picture from a magazine or book of a fashionable item of clothing people wore in the past. It can be from any time period in the past, whether the nineteen sixties in the U.S. or the fifteenth century in their own countries. Students will show the class the picture of this clothing, tell who wore it, in what time period, and in what place. They must also tell the class for what occasions they believe the clothing was worn, and any other information they know or have found out about the clothing.

Finally, they should tell the class whether or not they would like to wear it, and where and when they would wear it. Self-evaluation: This lesson is too long and has too little focus on narratives to really be effective. I have underestimated the time required for students to induce rules, be able to apply them in the story, and especially write and then tell their own past narrative about a photograph. I don’t want to have to rush that; I’m hoping it will be interesting and important enough to them that they will want to tell the full story, and tell it well. I have decided that although “Alibi” is a good game for practice of the past tense, it doesn’t belong in this lesson. It can come in a later lesson.

How can effective teachers best engage students in learning?

Why is developing positive communication skills important for effective teachers?

References

THE CONTRIBUTION OF LINGUISTICS AND PSYCHOLOGY TO LANGUAGE TEACHING

Since the beginning of the 20^th century investigations in the fields of psychology and lingusitics have paved the way to new concepts of language teaching. On the basis the acquired empirical evidence, linguists, researchers and scholars have developed certain methods to improve the process of child and adult language acquisition. According to Stern (1992), “One of the main features of the development of language pedagogy has been the continuous attempt to renew language teaching through changes in teaching methods” (p.6). To a great extent, these new approaches “have reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and of language learning” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001 p.1). The aim of this essay is to analyse the impact of linguistics and psychology on language teaching; such an analysis has been a topic of increasing importance over the last years, as the recent reforms and educational standards are considerably based on both disciplines. These reforms are introduced to account for individual differences of language learners and to diversify the process of language acquisition. Although many language teachers take psychology and linguistics courses in universities, only some of them can effectively apply their knowledge of psychology and linguisitics to language teaching. This inconsistency can be explained by two key factors: firstly, there are many controversies in research findings and, secondly, the received results are not tested within the classroom environment. Thus, the role of a modern language teacher is to fill the gaps between theoretical assumptions of linguists or psychologists and practical usage.

Linguistics as a discipline investigates the structure of language and different processes of language acquisition. The gradual shift from structural to generative linguistics reveals the linguists’ attempts to establish a new taxonomy for language teaching. Structural linguisitics initiated by Ferdinand de Saussure (1966) at the beginning of the 20^th century delves deeply into word forms and their meanings. In Brown’s (1980) viewpoint, “Structural linguistics had provided tools for dissecting language into its smallest parts and for contrasting two languages” (p.242). This school of linguistics is more interested in modern speech patterns rather than in diachronic language changes. Withdrawing from the traditional historical-descriptive analysis, structural linguistics (together with behaviouristic psychology) has challenged the efficacy of the Grammar-translation method and has generated the emergence of the Audio-Lingual Method. As Larsen-Freeman (1986) states, the Grammar-Translation Method prevailed in language teaching up to the middle of the 20^th century. This method provides learners with an opportunity to acquire grammar and vocabulary skills; however, this is not the case with communicative skills. The fact is that the Grammar-Translation Method “views language learning as consisting of little more than memorising rules and facts” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001 p.5). In light of this, the method satisfies the needs of those learners who perform standardised tests or translations, but it is inappropriate for those learners who want to speak a foreign language.

In contrast to the Grammar-Translation Method, the Audio-Lingual Approach puts major focus on continual repetition of different language patterns and listening. Applying this method to language teaching, educators help learners recognise phrasal verbs and other language structures that were fully neglected in the Grammar-Translation Method. The obvious advantage of the Audio-Lingual Approach is that error correction is reduced, while motivation of learners is increased. In this approach, as Stern (2001) points out, imitation of speech is more crucial than understanding of the meaning. Although the Audio-Lingual Approach is certainly more effective for the formation of learners’ linguistic competence than the Grammar-Translation Method, it is unsuitable for the formation of learners’ communicative competence. However, in the Total Physical Response Approach proposed by Asher (1969) more heed is paid to learners’ comunicative competence. Integrating the concepts of structural linguistics and behaviourist psychology into his approach, Asher (1969) implies that both the first and second language is easily acquired if the balance between action and speech is achieved.

Unlike structural linguistics, generative/transformational linguistics proposed by Noam Chomsky (1966) deals with the analysis of learners’ unconscious cognition rather than with the language production. In other words, generative linguistics specifies that there are certain natural rules with the help of which a learner constructs sentences. In the 1960-1980s the Natural Approach emerged on the basis of the concepts proposed by Chomsky (1966) and Krashen and Terrell (1983). According to Krashen and Terrell (1983), both children and adults use their innate LADs (Language Acquisition Devices) in the process of language learning. But unlike children, adults possess problem-solving skills that allow them to acquire language in conscious and unconscious ways. Two important conclusions can be drawn from theoretical assumptions of Krashen and Terrell (1983): firstly, in childhood a language is acquired, in adulthood it is learned; secondly, communication is the major element of adult language learning.

Psychology as a discipline examines the functions of the human mind and their relation to human behaviour. The move from behaviouristic to cognitive psychology in the middle of the 20^th century signifies that psychologists became interested in scientific research and analyses of intellectual processes. Behaviouristic psychology supported by Skinner (1984) adheres to the idea that language teaching should be based on observations of learners’ behaviours rather than on the examination of inner factors. Seen from this viewpoint, the process of language teaching occurs under the constant control of a teacher with the minimal use of reinforcement strategies. While the behaviouristic school of psychology has inspired the use of computer-based materials in language teaching, the cognitive school of psychology has generated the spread of discovery learning programs. Cognitive psychology has contributed much to the spread of the Communicative Language Teaching Approach supported by Widdowson (1978) and the Silent Way Approach proposed by Gattegno (1976). Special attention in the Communicative Language Teaching Approach is given to interaction, communication in a foreign language and use of authentic reading materials (Nunan, 1991). Taking into account the research on human cognition, the Silent Way Approach has changed the direction of language teaching. This approach allows learners to devise their own language hypotheses and verify their validity in practice. Unquestionably, the Silent Way Approach shapes learners’ freedom of thought and helps them “develop their own inner criteria for correctness” (Larsen-Freeman, 1986 p.62). As communication in the Silent Way Approach and the Communicative Language Teaching Approach occurs in the target language, learners’ communicative skills are formed in a rapid pace. Contrary to the Grammar-Translation Method, these approaches pay much attention to phonetics and phonology and introduce different “problem-solving activities” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001 p.27). While in the Grammar-Translation Method many parallels are drawn between the native language and the target language, such parallels are not employed in the Communicative Language Teaching Approach and other recent methods.

The idea of communicative competence is the core principle of other emerged methods, in particular, the Community Language Learning Method and the Suggestopaedia. These approaches reveal inconsistencies of prior methods, implying that there is a close connection between language and context. The Community Language Learning Method is quite popular in today’s language teaching due to its learner-oriented ethics. The Suggestopedia Approach concentrates on relaxation as an integral part of successful language acquisition; the widespread activity of this approach is listening to music during language lessons. Overall, all methods that have been developed under the impact of linguistics and psychology highlight group working and the use of individual approaches to every learner. Group working shapes learners’ communicative skills and problem-solving abilities; individual approaches are crucial for the formation of learners’ identities and recognition of factors that affect language acquisition. Many variables are juxtaposed in culturally or socially diverse learning environment; hence, individual approaches allow to reveal all obstacles to language learning. Linguisitics and psychology have demonstrated that the principal goal of any teaching method is to help learners use a language in everyday situations and in different settings rather than construct gramatically-correct utterances. The Task-Based Language Teaching Approach is developed for these specific purposes. Designing versatile tasks, an educator teaches language learners to respond flexibly to the given activity and co-operate with peers.

As the essay suggests, linguistics and psychology have significantly reinforced the need for efficient teaching methods. Under the impact of these disciplines, language teachers have started to experiment with approaches, making an attempt to reconcile theory with practice. The structural school of linguistics has provided educators with valuable insights on the process of language acquisition. The generative school of linguistics has revealed that language acquisition in children occurs on an unconscious level, while language acquisition in adults occurs on both conscious and unconscious levels. The behaviouristic school of psychology has reduced the importance of meaning in language acquisition, but has stimulated the implementation of computers in schools and universitites. The cognitive school of psychology has rejected settled opinions and has defined the concepts that are successfully used in teaching culturally diverse learners. Taken together, linguistics and psychology have revealed that different methods should be used in language teaching, methods that integrate such techniques as reinforcement, individual approaches and communication (Kumaravadivelu, 2003). As new teaching methods came to the fore, the role of an educator in language teaching was changed. In the Audio-Lingual Method, the Suggestopedia or the Natural Approach a teacher is treated as an instructor; contrariwise, in the Communicative Language Teaching Approach or the Community Language Learning a teacher is an assistant to language learners.

Bibliography

Asher, J. J. (1969) ‘The Total Physical Response Approach to Second Language Learning’. The Modern Language Journal, 53 (1), 3-17.

Brown, H. D. (1980). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall Regents.

Chomsky, N. (1966) Topics in the theory of generative grammar. The Hague: Mouton.

Gattegno, C. (1976) The Common sense of teaching foreign languages. New York: Educational Solutions Inc.

Krashen, S. & Terrell, T. (1983) The Natural Approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003) Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for language teaching. New Haven, C. T.: Yale University Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986) Techniques and principles in language teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nunan, D. (1991) Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers. London: Prentice Hall International.

Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001) Approaches and methods in language teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Saussure, F. de (1966) Course in General Linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Skinner, B. F. (1984) ‘The operational analysis of psychological terms’. Behavioural and brain sciences, 7 (4), 547-581.

Stern, H. (1992) Issues and options in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Stern, H. (2001) Fundamental concepts of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Widdowson, H. G. (1978) Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Part 1. Examine the treatment of lexis in two course-books. How are the items introduced, practised and tested? Take into account the authors intentions and illustrate your account by close reference to one unit/chapter from each book

“…we need to see English language teaching as located in the domain of popular culture as much as in the domain of applied linguistics.”

(Pennycock, 1998, p162 cited in Harmer, 2001, p94)

For the purpose of this essay, lexis is defined simply as the words that make up a language. It includes all levels from morphemes to lexical phrases (Nattinger, 1988 cited in Harmer, 2001. It also includes the manner in which we ‘recast’ and reframe words with those that are similar, equivalent or alternative in order to fix, or negotiate (McCarthy, 1990), our understanding of the meaning.

The two selected course texts, Cutting Edge (Cunningham & Moor, 2004) and Matters (Bell, Gower & Cunninham, 1998) both integrate elements of a lexical syllabus into their approach. In the following two sections – Module 8 of Cutting Edge and Unit 6 of Matters (see Appendix 1) – lexis is introduced and expanded through a number of methods. Whilst Cutting Edge expounds an engage- practise – activate style (Harmer, 2001) of learning cycle (see Walmsley, 1979 cited in Els et al for a exploration of unit based teaching cycles), both combine a discovery learning style with more traditional grammatical constructs.

For example, Unit 6 of Matters is entitled Are You Green?. The subject area is the natural world and the subheading is the environment. The language focus of the unit is:

“…sentence structure, in particular defining relative clauses (sometimes known as ‘identifying’ or ‘restrictive’ clauses); clauses of purpose and clauses of result and reason.” (Matters, Bell & Gower, 1998, Unit 6)

This unit introduces a range of vocabulary and contextualises both its language style and content initially through a magazine article. These are then expanded through an intentionally inflammatory ‘interview’. The exercises, although sometimes appearing initially divorced from the previous exercise, conform to a learning cycle approach. They relate to earlier learning as well as serving to re-enforce the meaning of the vocabulary and its contexts. The focus on relative clauses, as with lexical phrases, aims at acquiring a familiarity that enables the students to specific forms more naturally and correctly. In both texts, the material is introduced through oral presentation, discussion, reading and written work. Brainstorming serves t is similar to Greens (1993) word wall in that it provides the vocabulary and offers the opportunity for visual and oral re-enforcement.

Cutting Edge has a Language Focus Section. This follows the same practise of building language familiarity through building ‘comparisons and talking about similarities’ (Cunningham & Moor, 2004). Both use individual pictorial comparison followed by group discussion to re-enforce vocabulary and make connections to specific situations. As with Matters the same language is used in several formats – a listening and a reading activity.

It is worth nothing that both texts recognise how age and culture affects the contexts of a lexicon. Matters warns that:

‘ In multinational classes, be careful: not all countries have the same level of sympathy for and awareness of environmental issues and scientific jargon’ (Bell & Gower, 1998, Introduction).

They acknowledge that, as Bowerman (1978) states, ‘Lexical rules are language – and culture – specific.’ (cited in Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991). However, both programs aim to move a student away from lexical over-generalisations (Backhouse, 1994) and increase depth of knowledge and breadth of vocabulary. Backhouse (1994) relates lexical development to intra and extra – lingual processes ie the “semantic relations which hold between lexical items in a given language.” (p.19) and the “paradigmatic relations” or the specific fields that define meaning within that context. Assessment of student understanding looks at how individuals develop vocabulary around a subject area through discussion, class response and exercises.

In essence, it appears that both texts use a ‘field theory’ approach that allows for lexical compartmentalisation and a hyponomic (see McCarthy, 1990, p19) focus on developing associated meanings (Carter & McCarthy, 1988). However, they do not limit themselves to associating specific vocabularly within specific fields.

“Lexical phrases or ‘language chunks’ are like prefrabricated building units.” (Lewis, cited in Harmer, 2001, p.21)

Part 2. How effective is the treatment of lexis in the two chosen units for a group of learners with whom you are familiar? What changes would you make in using these units with the learners you have identified?

Class Profile

This class consists of seventeen males and five females, all L1 Arabic speakers. They come from six countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It is an intermediate level class. 30% are students, 40% are supervisory/managerial levels of employees in Government departments or from private businesses. 20% are self-employed private businessmen and the remaining 10% are homemakers. The age range is 20-58 years. They are currently about half way through a twenty week English course.

Whilst the treatment of lexis in the two chosen units is efficient and effective, it does benefit from some individual tailoring towards the above class. For example with some of the students I would perhaps encourage a move towards a more self directed learning plan (Pemberton et al, 2001). Others need more scaffolding. I have also tried to cater for learning styles so that a variety of exercises are supported by a variety of materials and presented in more than one way. I have not simply repeated specifics, but changed the way they are communicated. Clearly, cognitive tools vary according to each individual and the situation so no assumptions should be made (see Papademetre & Scarino, 2000 for an exploration of class and culture) based on ones own parameters. However, the attached are two lesson plans that I have adapted to suit this class.

These are adapted to work on this classes particular understanding of certain collocations. Common patters are re-iterated:

verb + noun (fly a kite) adjective + noun (a light snowfall) adverb + verb (to boldly go) adverb + adjective (totally different) adjective + preposition (similar to) noun + noun (a collocation dictionary)

(adapted from http://www.eli.ubc.ca/teachers/lexicon.html)

However, as Schmitt 2000) and Thornbury (1999) both stress, idioms, idiomatic phrases and expressions – especially those with different meanings – are further developed. The aim is to provide the students with an all round lexical confidence supported by a good knowledge of vocabulary as well as lexical phrases. Where specific lexical approaches have been used, they are mentioned in the lesson plans and sequences.

Class of 22. Level

Intermediate – 02

TITLE: ARE YOU GREEN?

Adapted from Matters- Intermediate (Bell & Gower, 1998) Unit 6

Date

31^st January 2006

Lesson duration

60 minutes

Resources: handouts, cassettes, audio-player, white-board, OHP and transparencies

Course text books

Lesson Aims:

Reading skills: magazine article on the ‘ungreen’ Moore family
Comprehension check.
Vocabulary and pronounciation skills
Develop familiarity with colloquial and informal spoken and written English.
Develop language for use both in and out of classroom.
Develop language around a major current topic – environmentalism – that is widely relevant
Awareness of word fields
Contribute to discussion
Contribute to brainstorming sessions
Work independently with confidence
Work confidently with lexical variations eg the ‘schwa /?/
Familiarisation with colloquial English publications (newspaper, magazines, journal excerpts etc)
Contact with everyday English
Teacher modelling
Raise student awareness eg of pronounciation and meaning changes through stress syllabuls.
Phrasal words
Language ‘chunking’.
Awareness of expression and collocations, their usefulness and frequency
Develop OHP transparencies or posters of mind maps and word fields

Anticipated Problems

problems with reading new vocabulary
technical problems eg OHP, audio-player
timetable fit
have a ‘hit list’ of potential problem words and definitions ready
elicit and drill (time allowing) problem words where possible
encourage students to develop a ‘power word’ list (Cary, 2000) of their own.
Have English/Arabic dictionaries ready but use to note and refer to later
Stand-by handouts if OHP fails
Stand-by audio player
Ensure good time keeping

19.00

19.05

19.05

19.15

19.25

19.30

19.35

19.45

19.50

20.00

Introduction and warm up. Small talk, humour or anecdotes etc

Elicit the word green and discuss culturally specific colour associations eg in the UK blue can mean sad, yellow cowardice, red danger and green innocence, jealousy or environmental issues. Discuss and support with modelling and writing on white board.

Lexically this exploration of meanings associated with colour will help students understand language extension, engage through subject matter, encourage higher order thinking and build vocabulary necessary for the lesson.

Pairwork. Set the theme: two environmental problems facing the world presently ie global warming, loss of wildlife and habitiat etc. Elicit words and write on board. Set students to work together on this.

The connotations associated with environmental issues eg wildlife, habitat loss, global warming are real and relevant to most students. This exercise requires students to develop a lexical framework to support both facts and opinions and know which areas they wish to find more language to fill.

Ask students if in their countries they have an equivalent of the Green/Environmental Party? Explain what the Greens are and stand for. Set a discussion of this again in pairs.

This has the same lexical aim as the previous section.

Display a picture or poster of the Green Party on the white board. In pairs of threes read Are these people criminals? When finished reading, complete the exercise matching the paragraph number with the figure or object on the right of the page (see appendix 1) Read through the answers with the students.

Matters, p42/43. Set exercise 2 p.43. to do individually or in pairs.

Lexical rationale – aim for students to use and apply new language.

Go through answers a to e with the students, giving a verbal explanation of each and support on the white board.

Ask students to work in pairs and make a list of verbs on handouts eg: save, recycle, buy, ban, use, prevent. Show the students how these can be used in collocations and phrasal words from the text.

Lexical rationale – starting to extend vocabulary into actions associated with environmentalism and using a discursive exercise to encourage their recognition and usage.

Handouts Set exercise 3, a practise in relative clauses, and give out handouts. Students read through the test and complete it. Go through the answers with students answering one by one.

Lexical rationale – aims towards students developing referencing skills by looking up words either individually or in pairs.

Listening and speaking skills: pronounciation focus on the schwa. Students listen to the recording and take notes. Go through the exercise marking the syllables and stress in word pronounciation. Go through the answers on the white board.

Lexical rationale – as part 1 explored, pronounciation and stress hightens student awareness of how intonation affects meaning.

Second tape recording. Listen to the second recording and go through the rubric with the students. Students give answers back around the class and then practice in pairs the sentences in exercise 2. Matters p.45.

Lexical rationale – extension of pronounciation focus.

Wordspot focus. A lexical exercise to recap, re-iterate and re-enforce.

FINISH. Issue handouts of target text. Put a transparency of the “Something” word-field flow chart on the OHP. Divide the students into A’s and B’s. A reads the instructions on p.135 and B on p138. (answering each others questions.) Issue handouts f the word-field for homeword and ask students to add at 4-5 new phrases with ‘something’ in them. Follow up first thing next lesson.

Develops autonomous lexical growth at students own rate of learning ie with no time pressure

Class of 22. Level

Intermediate – 02

TITLE:

Adapted from Cutting Edge – Intermediate (Cunningham & Moor, 2004) Module 8

Date

04^th February 2006

Lesson duration

60 minutes

Resources: handouts, cassettes, audio-player, white-board, OHP and transparencies, Course text books

Lesson Aims:

To reinforce reading and listening skills
To reinforce comprehension.
Vocabulary and pronounciation skills
Develop familiarity with colloquial and informal spoken and written English.
Develop language for use both in and out of classroom.
Awareness of word fields
Contribute to discussion
Contribute to brainstorming sessions
Work independently with confidence
Establish preparation for next class
Reading and listening exercises
Vocabulary building exercises
Excerpts taken from Cutting Edge follow on from previous reading and listening exercises but focusing on how to use words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) in phrases and collocations used in everyday English
Teacher modelling
Phrasal words
Language ‘chunking’.
Awareness of expression and collocations, their usefulness and frequency
Develop OHP transparencies or posters of mind maps and word fields
Set grammar/language points, p44 (Matters), for home work reading (using scanning and familiarisation) in readiness for the next class

Anticipated Problems

Some problems with reading and pronounciation
problems with reading new vocabulary
technical problems eg OHP, audio-player
timetable fit
have a ‘hit list’ of potential problem words and definitions ready
elicit and drill (time allowing) problem words where possible
encourage students to develop a ‘power word’ list (Cary, 2000) of their own.
Have English/Arabic dictionaries ready but use to note and refer to later
Stand-by handouts if OHP fails
Stand-by audio player
Ensure good time keeping

Rationale for lesson focus

Students need to practice their reading, listening and speaking skills more.
They need to further their informal vocabulary
In the previouse lesson (Are you Green?) issues were featured and discussed at some length. This lesson aims to restore a balance and put into perspective the alternative view featuring some of the benefits of the modern world so it is not always perceived as a wholly negative experience as can be construed by ‘Green/Environmentalist’ action groups. This could be important to avoid confusion in some students minds. (The fact that alternative opinions exist regarding the controversy surrounding this subject across the world.

Timing

19.00

19.05

19.10

19.15

19.20

19.25

19.30

19.40

19.55

20.00

Introduction and warm up. Go over points from previous lesson. Small talk, humour or anecdotes etc (if time permits!) Review homework exercises concerning phrases and collocations from ‘Something.’

Appoint one student to write the answers on to the chart of white board.

Go around the class an dget their answers and their explanations from each student. Tell students to note down answers. Brief review of work then move on.

Flip chart of ‘somethings’ word-filed attached to white board.

Focus and elicit upon the words inventor and successful. Get associated words too – invent, invention, succeed from the students. Ask students to predict/guess what kind of advice/information will be found in the text from comparing pictures on the left to those on the right.

Handouts. Issue reading excerpts ‘How to be a successful inventor.’ Tell students to scan through the reading in 2-3 minutes. Read text individually. (Cutting Edge Teaching notes and coursebook.)

Check for understanding especially words and phrases like light bulb, to be patient, purpose, to understand the porential of something, a dot, a s screen, a button, a know.

Lexical rationale – re-enforcement of vocabulary plus the added re-pronounciation of read words, explanation of phrases indicates a development allowing for lexical phrases as well and comparative meanings.

Put the answers on the OHP and go through these one by one.

Handouts and transparency.

Group work. Set students to discuss this task in groups of four or five. Apoint one from each group and get their feedback in turns.

Listening and vocabulary skills (Cutting Edge, p.81) Handouts.

Pronounciation and pair work. Emphasise with the students beforehand that they only have to identify which machines are being discussed in the tape. Do one example for the students in A. Press tehbutton down then play cassette 1 stopping after each phrase is used to check answers. Discuss the answers to B in pairs.

Pair work. Set task 3, p81. Give students a few moments to think it over, preferably ones their partner is unfamiliar with students can draw it to explain it to the, Use examples each student is familiar with personally. Go around the class helping and prompting as needed. Explain using examples what a compound noun is. Go through the two rules – noun + gerund and gerund/noun + asdjective on the whiteboard. Repeat a couple of examples showing where the stress is to be found in both words ie laptop computer. Etc

Lexical rationale – as covered in part 1, stress is extremely important for realisation of language variability and meaning. In this case the lexicon is integrated with a grammatical function. Pair work and individual response help to focus students on the task in reinforce the lanaguage learning.

Give the students a little time to work this out then play cassette 2.

Listen and practise pronouncing the words before giving out the answers to the pronounciation task.

Set home work task (reading to familiarise only) Cutting Edge p81 handout.

FINISH read ahead of time p44, Unit 6, Matter’s Intermediate Unit 6. Go over again also the reading and pronounciation work taught in class today in preparations for the next lesson’s review of this. Check students again for clarification and understanding of these.

References

Backhouse, A.E. (1994) The Lexical Field of Taste: a semantic study of Japanese taste terms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Bell, J., Gower, R. & Cunningham, G. (1998) Intermediate Matters. Harlow, Essex: Longman.

Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (1988) Vocabulary and Language Teaching. Harlow, Essex: Longman.

Cary, S. (2000) Working with Second Language Learners: answers to teachers top ten questions. Portsmouth, USA: Heinemann

Cunningham , S. & Moor , P. (2005) Cutting Edge – Intermediate (14^th Impression) Harlow, Essex: Pearson English Language Teaching, Longman.

Green, J. (1993) The Word Wall: teaching vocabulary through immersion. Ontario, Canada: Pippin Publishing Ltd.

Harmer, J. (2001). The Practise of English Language Teaching. Harlow, Essex: Longman

Krause, K., Bochner, S., & Duchesne, S. (2003) Educational Psychology for learning and teaching. Southbank, Victoria: Thomson.

Lewis, M. (1993) Implementing the Lexical Approach. UK: Language Teaching Publictions

Larsen-Freeman. D., & Long, M (1991) An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Harlow, Essex: Longman

McCarthy, M. (1990). Vocabulary. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Papademetre, L. & Scarino, A. (2000) Integrating Culture Learning in the Languages Classroom: a Multi-perspecitive Conceptual Journey for Teachers. Melbourne, Australia: Language Australia

Pemberton, R., Toogood, S., Ho, S. & Lam, J. (2001) Approaches to advising for self-directed language learning. In Learner Autonomy (Leni Dam, Editor) The AILA Review 15, pp. 16-26

Schmitt,N (2000) Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Thornbury, S (1999). How to Teach Vocabulary Harlow, UK: Longman

Websites

Parallel Processing. JamesL.McClelland & TimothyT.Rogers. Accessed 7 February 2006. http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v4/n4/abs/nrn1076_fs.html;jsessionid=98854A4BE16819AEB3B2C4220B9A470D

Lexicon http://www.eli.ubc.ca/teachers/lexicon.html accessed 9 February 2006

Learning: Perspectives, Perceptions and Performance

“Learning” is a vague, important term. When mentioned, common associations are often relegated to the association with young schoolchildren and not so often as one of the most intriguing and inquired upon aspects of psychology.

Prior to further elucidation, as if oft the case, the examination of “learning” merits a definition. Though it seems to be a word of self-evident meaning, because it is hard to study directly, some further refining must be utilized. This self-evident ‘acquisition of knowledge’ can only be measured with behavioral outcomes and should be observationally able to be distinguished from reflexive or instinctive responses. A behavioral outcome might consist of a high test score, a rat that quickly presses a lever, an employee that receives bonus compensation or any other number of commonly conceived examples.

In discussing the nature of learning, there are perhaps two or three popularly dominant perspectives which are essential to understand in the formation of any reasonably comprehensive review. These perspectives include the behaviorist, the social learning, and the cognitive schools. Though it becomes apparent that these three influences are not without critique and that, even within each, there exists what might be labeled ‘factions’, their fundamental contributions cannot be ignored.

Behaviorism

The first of these perspectives is the behaviorist. In this scheme, there are two broad branches: classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. In classical conditioning, learning occurs by the pairing of the stimulus with a desired response of the subject. Experimentally, this is an example of Pavlov’s famous dogs and the learning that results is a consequence of the learned associative relationship and is not contingent upon any action by the subject. The alternative to this method is instrumental conditioning in which the subject gets to “choose”. By this, it is meant that the reinforcement is contingent upon what the subject “chooses” as evidenced by the behaviorally discernibly different response.

Within the realm of behaviorism, one key contributor and voluminous icon of psychology in general is Thorndike. As a function of his experiments with cats in boxes for which they had to perform some specific behavior to escape, he concluded that learning was a process of an incremental nature and that their was became a neural link between the stimulus and response. This was evidenced by his successive experiments in which the cats became ‘smarter’, that is, they learned what specific behavior was required in order to be released. As the number of trials progressed, there was an inverse relationship with the time needed to escape.

The work of Skinner furthered the science of behaviorism by his greater elucidation of the four broad categories of reinforcement:

Application of a positive stimulus – Commonly referred to as a reward, this involves the presentation of something the subject desires.

Removal of a positive stimulus – An example of this for children would be “time-out”. Theoretically and often in reality, this method is useful to extinguish unwanted behaviors. In fact, according to Skinner, the most effective way to eliminate a behavior is to ignore it, thus removing any external reinforcement.
Application of a negative stimulus – Typically referred to as “punishment”, this involves the application of an unwanted or noxious stimulus to shape behavior.
Removal of a negative stimulus – This is the be the restoration of “normal” conditions upon cessation of an undesirable action or commission of some desired behavior. A parenting example would be the removal of a ‘grounded’ condition upon acceptable repentance of some past action.

In addition Skinner identified another type of reinforcer that he labeled a “general reinforcer” due to its wide applicability. Money is one such item and is so labeled because subjects desire it regardless of their state of depravity. This is in contrast to food which is not an adequate stimulus unless one is hungry, that is deprived of food.

Another theorist, Guthrie provides yet additional insight into the theories and methods of learning. One of his key contributions to the field is with his “Law of Continuity”. In this, Guthrie proposes eloquently that, “a combination of stimuli which has been accompanied by movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement”… in other words, an action in a given situation will likely be repeated when the subject finds themselves in a similar situation.

The Cognitive Approach

While there is the well-known debate of nature versus nuture that runs throughout science, such polarity also exists within the field of psychology and learning. A pure behaviorist would insist that so-called ‘choices’ are really nothing more than an animal-like actions in all behavior is reducible to stimulus and response type mechanisms. As behaviorism has significantly added to our understanding of the human condition, there exist alternative perspectives that are also quite useful. One such branch of the more cognitive division of psychology is referred to a Gestalt psychology.

From this perspective, the insight that the brain is not the passive recipient of stimulus but actively involved in the perception and construction of reality is posited. Further, Gestalt psychologists attest that a given stimulus exists not in isolation but in the total context of the perception of the subject. For example, Wertheimer, the father of Gestalt psychology, cited the example of two blinking lights being able to present the perception of apparent motion. This as well as the popular psychology examples in which a certain line has the appearance of being longer than another depending on the lines and figures around it speaks to the tenet of Gestalt psychology that an experience as a whole, is greater than the sum of the individual parts that make it up. From these and other example, the idea that the mind is able to shape its own perspective of reality by virtue of its own beliefs about how things should be or how they are desired to be is a major enduring contribution of the Gestalt movement.

Though not a cognitivist, Piaget’s contribution to learning could arguably be filed in this area. Particularly noted for his contributions to developmental psychology and thus much appropriate for child rather than adult learning, Piaget declared the existence of fairly defined period of development. During these periods, a child was able to learn specific skills and acquire certain abilities with not being able to achieve certain others due to the maturation and innate abilities that of a developing brain. For example, the period of approximately seven to twelve years old is referred to as the concrete operations period. During this range, reasoning and problem solving abilities are generally limited to “concrete” phenomena that can be seen and observed rather than abstract in nature.

Observational or Social Learning

Though cognitive in nature, these theories have been treated separately due to both their easy discernment by more ‘pure’ cognitive perspectives and by the distinctness of the contributions of the key theorists. Up to this point, the models of learning that have been postulated, whether behaviorist or cognitive, have been focused on the subject only. Moving somewhat further away from the ‘clean’ and ‘pure’ perspective of behaviorism, social learning theory attests that the focus must extend beyond the subject to the contextual influence on others. In describing the views of social learning, some of the most controversial and informative experiments in modern psychology have be conducted. For example, Bandura’s famed ‘prison experiment’ in which subjects were put into a mock prison with some subjects assigned to be “guards” while others were simply “prisoners”. The experiment was terminated early due some of the subjects ‘taking their roles a bit too seriously’.

In another classic experiment, children were shown a film showing an adult acting aggressively by hitting a doll or shown an adult being kind to a doll. These same children later modeled the demonstrated behavior, whether aggressive or not. Such findings are reinforced by LeBon’s work on “crowd psychology” in which individuals and groups are influenced by others to model or imitate certain implicit behaviors.

Implications on Health & Well-Being

Animals, depending on the species, have a number of unlearned, innate behavioral responses to certain stimuli. Examples such as sea turtles that ‘automatically’ head toward the sea upon birth on a sandy beach to dogs that seek the warmth and scent of their mothers while they cannot see after birth abound in literature. On the other hand, humans seem to come into the world as a blank slate to be written upon by life’s experiences. It is this aspect of humanity that makes learning play such a pivotal role in our development and beyond.

Further, after even a short perusal of the various schools of thought, it becomes apparent that the human animal is complex enough to warrant the consideration and application of all perspectives. By doing so, it is possible not only achieve specific learning goals but also to achieve the avoidance of certain other issues that may occur from situations in which learning does not occur. One such example of this is the child who is raised with excessive punishments to shape behavior. According Skinner and other behaviorists, this can produce a ‘maladapted’ adult who has emotional issues. These emotional issues may manifest themselves in any manner of behaviors such as avoidance of others or difficulties in relationships to, at the extreme, sociopaths who ‘act out’ their frustrations upon others.

From a cognitive perspective, much of the therapeutic approach of this school is in bringing the “cognitive errors” that a person commits to their conscious awareness. These “errors in thinking” occur when a person creates false assumptions or acts utilizing illogical conclusions in choosing their responses to stimuli. Extreme but common examples are those who express feelings of being a “total failure” and consider suicide. In most cases, such errors are much more subtle but just as insidious with regards to their ability to alter behavior.

Clearly, learning plays not just a role in the development of humans but is an ongoing factor in the ‘success’ of daily living. Psychologists, human resource specialists, trainers and managers and supervisors of any business are vitally concerned about learning in the workplace. As the business world grows more sophisticated, new skills are needed. These new skills must be taught, learned and successfully applied for the mutual success of the individual and the enterprise. As such, lessons from all three perspectives are quite relevant. By utilizing key components of each perspective and theorist, one can gain a flexible paradigm by which there is greater understanding and application to additional circumstances. It is with this goal of greater applicability that a number of specific contributions are outlined below:

Thorndike on Education

Thorndike had much to say in regards to educational process and the efficacy of teaching methods and styles. This insight is relevant regardless of the age of the learner.

Consider the situation the student faces.
Consider the response the wish to connect with this situation.
Form the bond.
All else equal, from no bond that will have to be broken.
All else equal, from as few bonds as possible.
All else equal, form bonds in the way they are required to act later.
Favor the situations and responses that naturally occur in life (Hergenhahn and Olson 2005, p. 72).

The bond that Thorndike refers to is the previously mentioned neural bond that exists between the stimulus and the response. Though these recommendations contain a number of Thorndike’s behavioral precepts, a key ‘learning’ for typical occupational settings is the last advisement. Reminiscent of the idea that if one is going to train for a five-kilometer road race, it is at some point necessary to train by running reinforces the point that training for a specific task should, as much as possible for effective learning, resemble the task itself.

Skinner on punishment

Just as Thorndike “lectured” on educational process, the iconic behaviorist Skinner advises in regards to punishment. This topic is perhaps most salient to child-rearing, an occupation in which there exists considerable frustration that might be at least slightly abated by the application of a learning theory. From a behaviorist standpoint, “punishment” is the application of a negative or undesired stimulus in order to shape behavior. While commonly utilized, Skinner cautions that punishment:

Causes unfortunate emotional byproducts
Indicates what an organism should not do rather than what it should do.
Justifies inflicting pain on others.
Being in a situation where previously punished behavior could be engaged in without being punished may excuse a child to do so.
Punishment inflicts aggression toward the punishing agent and others.
Punishment often replaces one undesirable response with another (Hergenhahn and Olson 2005, pp. 92-94).
Guthrie on breaking habits

Also a behaviorist, Guthrie addressed the issue of “habits”. From a behavioral perspective, habits are simply a specific response to a large number of stimuli in which the greater the number of the stimuli, the greater the strength of the habit. As habits can be a significant annoyance and possibly quite maladaptive, insight into their extinguishment is valuable. According to Guthrie, the following four methods are useful and valid:

Threshold Method – In this method, the technique of ‘warming up’ to an idea is utilized rather than the sudden presentation of the stimulus in order to attenuate the response.
Fatigue – This method demonstrates the futility of a response to gain the desired results but simply letting a subject ‘wear themselves out’ when a stimulus is presented.
Incompatible Response Method – This method relies upon the pairing of a stimulus which generates an unacceptable response with a stimulus in which the response is not compatible with the unacceptable response. Such action has the effect of lessening the ability of the former stimulus to evoke and undesirable response. Though this is a behavioral percept, it has the net effect of forcing the subject to cognitively “rethink” the pairing and its meaning.
Sidetracking – This method is one in which a habit in not so much eliminated as simply avoided. By removing the stimulation, one can effectively sidetrack the response (Hergenhahn and Olson 2005, pp. 220-224).
Wertheimer’s Facts versus Principles

According to Wertheimer, the father of Gestalt psychology, real “learning” occurs not by the simple recitation of facts but rather by the understanding of underlying principles. As apt illustration of this idea is the following example:

A school inspector who was impressed by the children he had observed but wanted to ask one more question before departing.

“How many hairs does a horse have?” he asked.

Much to the amazement of both the inspector and the teacher, a nine-year old boy raised his hand and answered, “3,571,962.”

“How do you know that your answer is correct?” asked the inspector.

If you do not believe me,” answered the boy, “count them yourself.”

The inspector broke into laughter and vowed to tell the story to his colleagues when eh returned to Vienna. When the inspector returned the following year for his annual visit, the teacher asked him how his colleagues responded to the story. Disappointedly, the inspector said, “I wanted very much to tell the story but I couldn’t. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember how many hairs the boy said the horse had.” (Hergenhahn and Olson 2005, p. 281).

Enough said.

Piaget’s “Learning depends on failure”

Though we generally judge the success of learning by achievement, the noted developmental psychologist Piaget suggests that perhaps this should be reconsidered to some extent. Specifically, Piaget indicated that learning occurs only when the dilemma of ‘not learning’ or a failure to learn is present. To elaborate, the inability or failure of previous learning to account for a given set of circumstances makes it possible for new situations to be assimilated and accommodated, thus providing the raw material for learning to occur. Important to this assimilation and accommodation, or learning process is the ability of the teacher to gradually challenge rather than overwhelm the individual ((Hergenhahn and Olson 2005, pp. 302-303).

Bandura: Human Monkeys are Different…

In early behaviorist experiments, animal subjects did not “look” at other animals to learn adaptive strategies. While more recent experiments have indeed demonstrated this phenomena, is was the failure of these early experiments that led Bandura to postulate model learning.

In this system, Bandura explained and predicted human behavior by such as means that the stimulus was simultaneously internal and external to the subject. This is, to some extent, a cognitive behavioral approach and aptly illustrates the importance of positive role models and the influence that others can have upon learning and behavior.

Conclusion

Human learning simply cannot be fully understood by the use of a single perspective. It is not that any one paradigm is incorrect but rather each is only a partial representation of the range and diversity of the human condition. By availing oneself of multiple perspectives, one becomes the beneficiary of significantly more vast knowledge by which life, through work-, school- or home-life can be improved through the application of numerous principles and precepts designed to foster adaptive responses to the stimulation life brings.

Works Consulted

Hergenhahn, B. and M. Olson. (2005). An Introduction to the Theories of Learning, 7^th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, US: Pearson Prentice-Hall.

Le Bon, G. (1914). The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. London: T.F. Unwin.

Rationale

A cross curricular resource box designed to develop children’s understanding of scientific and mathematical concepts, through ‘The Rainbow Fish’ theme has been produced. The box contains activities for Reception children exploring counting in Mathematics and material and properties in Science.

This rationale explains how activities based from the rainbow fish provide conceptual learning in Maths and Science.

Counting is important in providing a foundation for Mathematics. Children will always experience situations where counting skills are vital. The National Curriculum states, counting helps develop skills applicable in everyday life and context. Using the Primary Numeracy Strategy (2006, online) ‘using mathematical methods and ideas to solve practical problems’ and ‘identifying numbers that are one more or less than a given number’ are mentioned in EYFS (2007,online) and developed throughout children’s schooling experience (5B,4B,2B,1E)

Anghileri (2001, p.6) says counting is learnt suddenly. Children may spontaneously learn counting because they should be experiencing counting in different contexts: cross curricular, play etc. Anghileri (2001) assumes the above occurs because children are making links through context. Yet this is a generalisation, children are different and may need reinforcement or interaction, to firstly understand how they are learning, which then allows making links.

Both Askew and Wiliam (1995, p.5) declare learning to count as mechanical. Askew and Wiliam’s proposition lacks clarity as to how and why counting is mechanical and what the implications are towards children’s learning. One cannot say children feel and experience this.

From experience, I applied Anghileri’s theory. Counting was placed into contexts: songs and games etc, allowing activities to be seen informal. Children’s understanding of counting developed because principles and understanding came naturally.

Science creates opportunities for children to understand the world through play and exploration, using their senses. Although it is classified as Knowledge and Understanding of the World, skills (questions, describing, predicting, sorting, investigating) and attitudes develop (Ward 2005, p.9). Identifying and understanding properties of different materials encourages children to question and become aware of their surroundings.

Through EYFS requirements “Investigate materials through use of appropriate senses,” materials encourages children to develop a simple KS1 level of understanding SC1 2a,b,e,f,g,i,j, SC3: 1a,b,c, 2a” (QCA 1999, online).

An implication of scientific learning is that of misconceptions, such as distinguishing between materials, to the object made from the material. Guest (2003,pp.2-6) argues that children may develop Paiget’s (2005) constructivist approach towards scientific learning (Smith 2005, p.459). Children may construct their own understanding through their own experiences. Henceforth there are no set principles towards teaching material, other than creating strategies to elicit children’s understanding and misconceptions to then extend.

Below explains how the box could be used (see appendix too).

Activity one allows mixed ability pairs of children to play a board game, using a 1-6 dice. Instructions should be read with children. Children add or remove scales(Extension: +/-3) from their fish, depending on the position landed on the board. The child with the most scales left at the end of the game wins. This develops their counting skills to ten. Number scales and plastic fish can be used as an aid for counting

Activity two involves children using a fishing rod to catch fish, therefore developing their hand eye co-ordination. The fish contain single numbers from 1-10. Children keep the fish if they correctly answer questions from the teacher: “What is one more than 6, one less than 3etc?” If incorrect, the answer is modelled, and the fish go back into the pond. Teachers can change the questions around for children who need extension such as, “What is 3 more or less than 5……?

Activity three helps children identify and describe properties of material (plastic, paper, wood, velvet, playdough and wool). Children independently group these using sorting rings. Questions can be asked: “Why have you put velvet and plastic here.”….Children then group the materials into five properties. I chose transparency, stretchiness, squishiness, softness and hardness. Explain and allow children to test out materials and their properties before grouping. “Can we see through plastic…?

As an investigative game with the teacher, in turn children (mixed ability groups4) are to feel fish in a feely box, made from material used in the previous activity. A child feels a fish(using sight and touch senses) and responds to questions other children ask(based on first- hand experience activity) to conclude what material the fish are made from- ” The material is soft…” As an aid to investigate what material the fishes are made from, raw material would be displayed for visualisation and for children to test when they receive responses to their questions.

Principles must be considered when teaching and learning about counting and materials.

For Maths, in more or less counting, consideration has to be given to “one-one,” where children need to understand that each items has a name and is counted once. Then “stable order,” where children need to understand that the order of numbers must stay consistent when counting, followed by the third principle, “cardinal” where children state the total number of items. The fourth principle is, “abstraction” where children need to understand that all items are counted despite their different properties. The fifth principle, “order irrelevance” demonstrates that items can be counted in any order (Thompson, 1997, p.35-37). Teaching the concepts for counting and materials can now be used.

Relating counting (one more or less) to addition and subtraction, and materials and their properties to scientific inquiry, may reflect EYFS principles. The activities provide children the opportunity to make connections through using practical apparatus (e.g. material fish/fish with numbers). HMI emphasise that “learning depends on one’s ability to recognise relationships between concepts” (Koshy 1999, p.17).

As activity one should allow children to make connections independently, as it is student led. Yet it is difficult to say whether children could make links between concepts as there is no guidance or questioning to stimulate thinking and association. William reports (2008) in child led activities, children need time and space to discover mathematical ideas and concepts. If time and independent exploration is provided, links may eventually be made (Williams 2008, p.60).

In activity two and first part of three, Harlen (1993) concludes, questions should enable response and inquiry from children, “How can we work out what two more than eight is? “Why have you grouped the wood with plastic…?” Such responses may enable misconceptions to surface, which should structure initial starting points to build concepts, (1993, p.83) as interaction and formative assessment are demonstrated (Black and Wiliam2001, pp.2-14). Class ethos may develop, as assessment for learning is undertaken directly with children, allowing more time for interaction and observation rather than typical assessment requirements, e.g. collecting work.

Though appealing, Harlen (1993 p.83) and Westwood (2000,p.51) suggest language used in questions could affect children’s understanding. Language may produce open/closed questions, which creates false observation and assessment, because the way questions are constructed determines whether children are asked “how can we find two more than eight..?”, or “we solve it by…’ As there is a strong relationship between the importance of language in learning, one could portray Harlen and Westwood’s view as an opinion, as neither provide statistics and further evidence to prove how language use in questions demotes learning.

From experience, my questions helped children reflect and achieve objectives, but I didn’t consider whether the language I used in my questions easily allowed children to achieve objectives, as I may have given them the answer through my questions “to figure this out, we need to add…” Drawing upon Harlen and Westwood’s principles, a reflective and evaluative approach to questioning should be adopted. Practioneer can identify and evaluate how their language is used within questions, and consider improvements needed to allow children to think through an approach, highlighting Brunel’s (1976) child led approach towards constructive thinking and learning (Smith 2003, p.405).

Williams and Vygotsky (1962,p.405) deem discussion as encouragement towards children’s conceptual learning. Activity one allows children to work together as they are in charge of the situation. Exploratory talk develops children’s teambuilding and communication skills as children rephrase and correct each other. Positive relationships form and children learn together. A point to consider is that Williams and Vygotsky may be biased, they are using words (rephrase/correct) that favour children working together. Children are unique some may be shy or do not like helping each other, therefore won’t rephrase or correct each other. The gap in this evidence could make us question the reliability of Williams and Vygotsky view, as one could question what is happening to children who are not getting help from peers.

Barnes (1976,pp.31) believes in activity one, children working independently may not do the activity due to lack of authority figures. Not all children get ‘off task’, thus a balance of when to leave and when to refocus children on the game must be considered, here children not receiving help, would.

Williams states “learning should be developed through children’s experiences of games and play” (Williams 2008, p.36).

An aspect of teaching in foundation settings is to encourage children’s learning through exploratory play. The second part of activity three should stimulate and promote understanding as children are clarifying, extending and reinforcing ideas (Oliver 2006,p.144). “If she can stretch this…it will not be wood…” Oliver’s (2006) view is achieved through children conversing, especially to those in need of encouragement.

Both Williams and Oliver’s view overcome inclusion barriers, as all children are involved in the game and are helping one another reach learning outcomes, allowing Vygotsky’s ZPD (2003, p.497) where peer-scaffolding can develop children’s ability to do a task. Children experience Froebel’s (1906,p.229) theory of successful learning because learning is influenced through play than rote learning approaches.

As a result, supporting Waite (2006,p.12), play may allow children to ‘fit into class’ and may explain the importance of personal and social learning (Wood 2001,p.12) rather than support towards self-actualisation (Maslow 1987,p.12).

Far from just learning, activity three allows children to have fun and embrace ECM (2009,online) ‘enjoy and achieve through games’ and EYFS ‘build concepts and skills through play’ outcomes (2007,online).

Scott’s (1985) physics games study reflects Williams and Oliver’s argument, as games provided opportunities for discussion and negotiation amongst girls and boys (Bentley 1989, p.127). One could query whether this condition took into consideration the communication amongst diverse children and the barriers to communication. Regarding secondary physics, questions could surface as to whether the results would apply for primary children, as from experience, secondary students like working co-operatively and many primary children like working independently.

Investigations are used throughout the activities. Investigations in activity two and second part of three relate to problem solving, in that they are focused by a problem which requires children’s questions and explanations. Both VESP (1992,p.48) and Aksis (1998,pp.4-6) evaluate thinking and responding allows children to engage themselves within the activity and acquire interpreting, questioning, predicting and hypothesising skills to propose explanations and solutions. Yet VESP and Aksis falsely assume that all children acquire these skills. Both researchers’ views can be convincing if investigations create open learning situations rather than common didactic teaching methods (Bentley1989, p.82). However ASE (1998 p.6) attack the views of both researchers, as skills to be acquired through open learning situations are ignored, because emphasis is on planning and carrying out an investigations rather than evaluating the investigative process “how did we come to our conclusion…” This could be due to difficulties in achieving timely involvement for pupils. ASE concluded ‘Primary schools ask only half the class to carry out investigations‘. One could argue that we maybe going against ECM and EYFS principles of equal opportunities and participation for children.

From experience, supporting ASE, children not involved in investigations have their inherent capabilities disregarded. Activity two and three is not didactic, allows all children to participate regardless to class timing as every child has the right to learn. If not, we are removing children’s potential learning style and forcing them to do work which they may struggle with, but would not if they did the investigation.

The activities may produce errors like, counting same spaces twice on the board, difficulty identifying random numbers and counting to/from a number. However Hansen (2005) and Smith (1997) state, these are common errors children make when learning to count. In future, reinforcement must be given to counting principles (Bruce 2005, pp.25).

To conclude, I have given explanations to how and why these activities can be carried out, with consideration to issues one should be aware too. Stating how these issues maybe overcome are potential starters. I have realised that interaction and discussion are key to children’s learning, and must be in daily lessons. Children will engage in the activities as they are fun, motivating and creative. Children would share and take turns in throwing the dice and catching fish, as well as talk and share with each other what material the fish are made from. By interaction and observation with children, one can identify children’s understanding of material and counting. As Vygotsky states, children think and learn socially through experience, interaction and support (Smith et al, 2003, p.493). The activities enable children to experiment, make decisions, errors and correct themselves (Bruce 2005, p.64).

References

Anghileri, J. (2001) Principles and Practices in Arithmetic Teaching: Innovative approaches for the primary classroom. Buckingham: Open Press University

Askew, M., William, D. (1995) Recent research in Mathematics education. London: HMSO

Barnes, D. (1976) From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Penguin

Bentley, D., Watts, M. (1989) Learning and Teaching in school Science. Milton Keynes: Open Press University

Black, P., Wiliam, D. (2001) Inside the black box. Raising standards through classroom assesment. London: Kings college London school of education

Bruce, T. (2005) Early childhood education. 3rd edition. London:Hodder Arnold

DfES. (2007) The Early Years Foundation Stage.[Online]. Available: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/eyfs/taxonomy/33655/33694/0/46384 [12th October 2009]

DfES (2009) Every Child Matters [Online]. Available: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ [6th October 2009]

Evans,B. (2007) The rainbow fish maths game. [Online]. Available: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=3005392 [12 November 2009].

Froebel, F. (1906) The Education of Man. New York: Appleton

Guest, G. (2003) Alternative frameworks for Primary Science.[Online]. Available: www.scitutors.org.uk/…/p4.1_6.0b_misconceptions_primary_science.doc [8th October 2009]

Harlen, W. (1993) Teaching and Learning Primary Science.2nd Edition. London: Paul Chapman

Koshy, V. Effective Teaching of Numeracy. For the National Mathematics Framework. London: Hodder and Stoughton

Maslow (1987) Motivation and Personality, Cambridge, Harper and Row

Oliver, A. (2006) Creative teaching science. In the early years and primary classroom. USA and Canada: David Fulton

Primary National Strategy (2006) Primary framework for Mathematics: Learning objectives. [Online]. Available: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/strands/34759/34265/110211 [6th November 2009]

QCA (1999) National Curriculum Science KS1. [Online]. Available: http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and-2/subjects/science/keystage1/index.aspx?return=/key-stages-1-and-2/subjects/index.aspx [26th October 2009]

Smith, P., Cowie, H., Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Children’s Development. 4th Edition. England: Blackwell Publishing

Sparklebox (2003) Numberlines. [Online]. Available: http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/md/counting/lines.html [6th November 2009]

Thompson, I. 1997. Teaching and learning early number. Buckingham : Open University Press

Vermont Elementary Science Project (1992) On the run reference guide to the nature of elementary science for the student. Vermont: Burlington

Vygotsky, L. (1962) Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT press

Watson, R., Goldaworthy, A.,Robinson, V. (1998) ASE/King’s College Science Investigations in Schools [AKSIS] Project. QCA : London

Waite, S., Carrington, V. And Passy, R. (2005) Final report: Evaluation of Excellence and Enjoyment: Learning and teaching in the primary years continuing professional development materials, report for Primary National Strategy

Westwood, P. (2000) Numeracy and Learning difficulties. Approaches to teaching and assessment. Camberwell: Australian council for educational research

Introduction

Spelling strategies in the primary curriculum have consistently provoked criticism and debate amongst teachers, Ofsted and the Government.[1] Standards continue to decline highlighting that the present strategy is failing.[2] A central criticism is that teachers do not have the necessary knowledge of the relationship between word structure and spelling, and rely on techniques they learnt at school, specifically the use of memorized spelling tests. (Spear-Swerling, Brucker & Alfano 2005). The major concerns are that this approach hinders the teacher’s ability to identify the correct spelling instructional level of individual pupils, and produces a trend where pupils who score high in tests will subsequently misspell the same words during written exercises; this is the case at my chosen school.[3]

The Key Stage 2 curriculum is similarly criticized both at the school and in general, because it fails to ‘consistently describe how word lists are selected or base selection on current linguistic spelling principles and developmental research.’ (Scott 2007). This ‘may or may not be developmentally appropriate for the class as a whole or for individual pupils, especially in the area of creative writing’ (Stone et al. 2005 p662).

It will be the purpose of this study to analyse and evaluate current theories and case studies for teaching spelling and writing at Key Stage 2 that could be utilized by the school. There are three dominant strands to teaching that will be investigated here, Developmental Stage Theory, Incidental Inventive Spelling theory and the Multi-sensory approach.[4]

Spelling Strategies: An Investigation

Developmental Stage Theory identifies 5 stages of spelling development; Prephonetic, Phonetic, Patterns with Words, Syllable Juncture and Meaning-Derivation. (Henderson in Bear et al. 2004).[5] Studies have discovered that ‘pupils who experience significant difficulty with spelling will still follow the same developmental course as other pupils, but at a slower pace. (Worthy & Invernizzi 1990). The approach therefore promotes a move away from memorization skills to supporting a pupil’s natural developing awareness of language with practice in wide reading and writing, and ‘be based on the pupils developmental level as opposed to unitary placement in the grade level based spelling book.’ (Schlagel 2002 p.47).

A developmental spelling analysis (DSA) such as the Qualitative Inventory of Word Knowledge (QIWK) technique is used to initially identify and analyse a pupil’s current stage through scoring, inventive spellings and error patterns relating to writing and word sorting activities. Word sorts of increasingly difficult levels using words from the 5 DTS stages are used because they provide an ‘interactive means of helping pupils understand spelling concepts on an increasingly abstract level’ (Bear et al. 2004). Subsequent teaching, spelling and writing exercises are tailored to both stage and development strategies by focusing on fewer words in word sorts at a time, teaching spelling patterns and providing numerous practice writing sessions and self/peer review strategies.[6] Together they allow for a systematic observation of higher-level processes and improve metacognitive abilities. (Seifert-Kessell in Fresch 2000). This approach moves away from the reliance of pupil memorization of words that is said to produce effective performance in spelling tests but poor performance in writing, and over time, as pupils forget the words they have memorized. (Seifert-Kessell in Fresch 2000)

The case study ‘Beyond Memorisation, Lists and Trial Tests’ by Hillal & Scharer is an excellent example of the DTS process. Using QIWK teachers were able to expand their understanding of KS1 & KS2 equivalent pupils as spellers. One teacher discovered that her class ability ranged from levels 2-8 on the QIWK scale, another commented ‘I need to get better at recognizing what levels they are at. It only makes sense that if kids are at different reading levels, they will be at different levels in their spelling. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize this before.’ (Hilal & Scharer 1993).

The strategy does not just allow for effective grouping and targeted learning at the instructional level, it also provides a detailed method for qualitative data analysis in pupil errors over time. One teacher documented a concern that score levels had not improved between May and January, however, when the error data was analysed using the QIWK method she discovered that ‘over half were moving from the letter name stage to the within-word stage…this is so much more pleasant, you can see growth, what more could you ask for?’ (Hillal & Scharer 1993).

A third and perhaps the most significant development was that teachers noticed changes in spelling errors in written assignments. Rather than circling errors they cross-referenced with a QIWK analysis and systematically documented them. This inferred weekly selections of word lists that were chosen from misspelled written work rather than the curriculum textbooks. This facilitated mini-spelling lessons linked to written work through observed errors and provided an environment for coaching in self-editing and peer editing strategies using QIWK word sorts as a base. Peer marking and discussions have, themselves, provided an additional strategy here that has been documented to benefit pupils learning. By grouping pupils of similar spelling ability they learn at the same pace, feel empowered and ‘by judging the work of others, students gain insight into their own performance (and language)…peer and self-assessment help pupils develop the ability to make judgments, a necessary skills for learning.'( Brown, Rust & Gibbs 1994). It will be seen throughout this chapter that peer work and assessment strategies lend themselves to the majority of spelling strategies discussed, this will be discussed in more depth in the conclusion.

The headteacher summarized; ‘there’s been a move away from memorization activities to active tasks such as creative writing, word hunts and word study notebooks (this) extends and records development of word knowledge.’ (Hillal & Scharer 1993). All the teachers involved in the study stated they would continue but required support strategies from the school to implement, this a recurring theme for all researched case studies and will be therefore be discussed in the conclusion.

A subsequent developmental case study entitled ‘Using Think-Alouds During Word Sorts’ (Fresch 2000) encouraged KS2 level pupils to ‘put your brain in your throat and tell us what you are thinking…keep talking.’ The study was determined to ‘open a window into the decision-making process’ because information stored in the short-term memory is vocalized and caters for ‘systematic observations of higher-level processes.’ (Olson, Duffy & Mack in Fresch 2000). The results showed that ‘think-alouds enable pupils to demonstrate the extent to which they rely on auditory or visual information…students develop knowledge about language through active engagement.’ (Fresch 2000). [7] This in turn can be incorporated into the strategies pupils use while writing; rather than rely on writing and proof reading, the pupils can incorporate a vocal strategy linked to their experience of vocalizing words during DST word sort exercises.

While Stage Theory provides ‘a basic template for describing student growth in spelling and writing’ it is criticized for a repeated emphasis of placing pupils in concrete groups with the assumption ‘pupils progress sequentially without moving back and forth when they encounter unfamiliar words.’ (Scott 2007). Studies by Siegler (1995) and Varnhagen (1997) have identified an ‘Overlapping Wave Theory’ that incorporate stage development but allow for fluid movement between stages as they develop. This theory believes ‘pupils possess and are able to use knowledge of phonology, orthography and morphology from an early age, but rely more strongly on strategies at different points in time.’ (Kwong & Varnhagen 2005). Varnhagen’s case study examined pupil spelling for a KS 1-2 equivalent and identified the same strategies throughout.[8] Their conclusion was that spelling ‘progressed from errors representing the phonetic stage directly to correct spelling.’ (Scott 2007). The authors themselves are unsure of how this would compliment writing strategies but identify a link to the two strategies that would allow for a better understanding of spelling stage development that would influence spelling strategies as a whole. (Kwong & Varnhagen 2005 p.154).

In opposition to DST is the Incidental Inventive Spelling approach developed by Montessori (1964) and Chomsky (1979). They observed that children write from an early age and in some cases before they begin to read. They inferred that an invented spelling approach to writing benefits learning because ‘children learn best if they construct a system of their own rather than having it handed to them by an adult.'(Chomsky in Metasala & Ehri 1998 p.300). Treimann (1993) echoed Chomsky and Montessori by conducting a year long study where pupils used invented spelling in their writing, then recopying it with standard spelling and finally using for reading practice. It was discovered that the pupils spelling and writing both improved. (Treimann in Metasala & Ehri 1998).

In a case study by Clarke (1988) pupils at an early KS2 level using inventive spelling out performed fellow pupils in two separate spelling tests, one involving low-frequency words. These results suggest ‘encouraging children to invent spelling while engaged in creative writing helps them to appreciate language comprehension.’ (Clarke in Metasala & Ehri 1998 p.305). Ehri continues to argue that ‘it does not hurt children to misspell words and they do not become locked into misspelling behaviour.’ An additional discovery was that pupils often do not proof read their own writing and even when they do it takes multiple readings to learn its spelling. By using inventive spelling techniques the inventive group correctly ‘spelled a larger variety of words than the control group.’ (Metasala & Ehri 1998 p.305). Further studies by Ehri, Gibbs and Underwood (1988) and Bradley and King (1992) discovered that pupils beginning Key Stage 2 who were exposed to inventive spelling techniques were more accurate than their counterparts. (Metasala & Ehri 1998).

Although pupils in these studies were beginning a Key Stage 2 level of education the strength of the study focuses on the ability of pupils to maintain ownership of their creative writing. The teacher remains a facilitator rather than a director. Read (1986) believes ‘writing is part of a child’s play with language and the specific activities must grow out of a child’s interest…she is likely to direct herself rather than march to an adult drummer.’ (Read 1986 p.125). The inventive studies have highlighted two areas of interest, firstly is the level of play pupils maintain through writing which could lead to better performance. A study by Gerritz in Read confirms that ‘there was a distinct improvement in pupils writing ability. They were clearly at ease and eager to write. They didn’t show any more bad spelling habits than had been experienced throughout years of teaching.’ (Gerritz in Read 1986 p.125). An enjoyment of writing is perhaps viewed as secondary to spelling performance in the KS 2 strategy and there could be a link between poor spelling performance in writing and the rigidity of spelling strategies. Secondly, the studies have highlighted the in-ability of pupils at this level to identify spelling mistakes in writing. A possible link could be made to the peer-support strategies outlined in the DST studies where-by pupils creatively write first and then, together in QIWK determined groups, analyse the mistakes.

There is a third approach relating to a learning styles strategy. Though a combination of neurology, Gardner’s multiple intelligence and subsequent learning styles theories there are numerous teaching strategies that focus on multi-sensory learning techniques that can build on the traditional spelling lessons.

Using neurological evidence Ott (2007) suggests a distinction between dominant left and right brain learning styles. Left brain learners could focus on speech and language through learning word patterns through sound and rhyme, using mnemonics in analysis, logic and language skills, counting syllables and using word derivatives.[9] Right brain learners would focus on visual and spatial skills such as clapping to count syllables, using colour when they identify words, using a computer keyboard and graphic packages, and using mnemonics with illustrations.[10]

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences expounds the techniques to include three dominant learning styles that can be incorporated into the classroom.[11] Visual learners could benefit from learning to spell through images, diagrams, mindmaps, media and spelling through analogy and word patterns. The traditional Fernald Method of pronunciation, identification, the tracing of difficult spellings, and writing from memory would especially suite these types of learners. (Ott 2007).

Auditory learners could benefit from listening, song, poem, music, rhythm and oral testing. This directly relates to The Simultaneous Oral Spelling (SOS) method that involves pupils sounding out letters, whilst an other pupil asks them to give the letter names as he/she spells the word. Although a basic phonographic technique there is potential for auditory learners to benefit. (Westwood 2005). There is an opportunity to combine with the ARROW method (Aural-Read-Response-Aural-Written). The pupil listens to a recording of single words while simultaneously reading the same words. Oral and written responses via testing allow for a multi-sensory approach to learning words that enhance the traditional memorization technique with a better-suited learning style. (Westwood 2005). Kinesthetic learners could utilise note-taking and physical activities such as model building and play to further enhance the learning experience. (Ott 2007). Although there is a lack of definite case studies relating these methods to the relationship of spelling and writing, they do provide a framework for multi-sensory learning that have the potential to be incorporated into the other methods discussed. Pupils (and teachers) could benefit from the awareness of their learning styles and the multi-faceted approaches to learning offered here.

The Directed Spelling Thinking Activity (DSTA) developed by Dr Zutell (1989-1991) provides a detailed lesson format utilizing multi-sensory techniques and a process-orientated cycle of instruction that especially suits language learning. (Zutell 1996). This strategy is aimed at ‘systematically connecting to the writing process with a child-centered, active approach to learning.'(Zutell 1996).

An initial pretest with contrasting words is given, followed by a group discussion focusing on strategic problem-solving activities. The next day a word sort is initiated that aids pupils to discover the relationships between contrasting word patterns. Throughout the week pupils make ‘connections to their own experiences and take greater control of their learning as they hunt for words, sort words with partners and individually, and use a pupil-chosen selection of practice written activities centered upon identifying patterns and relationships’. (Zutell 1996).

Word sorts are again utilized providing a link to the DTS strategy. In this case they are based on teacher and student selected single words and multiple sorts of semantic and orthographic definitions. To enhance learning they are sorted both visually and blind, where ‘decisions are made after each word is said, but before it is seen.’ They are also initiated through group, partner and individual practices to facilitate pupil relationships. The benefits stated here are that ‘pupils notice important features of words being studied, and it can contribute significantly to proofreading abilities.’ (Zutell & Compton 1993). Zutell & Compton go to great lengths to describe the positives of word sorting activities. To summarise, they identify the manipulative strengths of movement and rearrangement, the ability to respond to emergent patterns, to facilitate peer support and learning, identify conceptual categories and word memberships and to move beyond individual pronunciation, pattern and meaning to the interconnectedness of words. Once accuracy is established they ‘can sort on their own and speed sort to ensure internalized, automatic control. (Zutell & Compton 1993).

Word hunting activities are also identified as effective in creating a sense of ownership in decision-making and to recognize ‘the relevance of what is being studied to their own reading and writing.’ It is documented to aid the individualization of word lists from the pupil’s own writing and to the instructional level of the pupil that once more forms a link to the DTS method. (Zutell 2005). Other strategies advised are Flip Folders for independent spelling strategies, specifically the ‘Look-Say-Cover-See’ strategy discussed earlier in relation to multi-sensory learning. Word Study Notebooks are identified as a writing alternative to the traditional Word Journal because they are ‘conceptually challenging…pupils enter words by patterns, such as ‘ch’ words or vowel-consonant-silent ‘e’ words. New words and pages are added as new patterns are studies.’ (Zutell 2005).

Games, and specifically board games (i.e. Scrabble), are determined to keep interest high and allow for pupils of all spelling ranges to compete against each other on an equal footing. This provides an anti-thesis to the DTS theory and creates a space for settings and grades to be negotiated in favour of a whole class approach that could build confidence and motivate peer-support. An additional benefit is that pupils must check the accuracy of each others spelling which creates an opportunity for higher learning through an active and fun setting. (Zutell 2005).

A final weekly test provides information for both the teacher and for self-evaluation, serves as a guide for journal building, and leads to choices of words for future studies. (Zutell 1996). The benefit of the entire strategy is that it is a child-centered, active, multi-sensored and personalized yet peer-supported strategy that benefits spelling, reading and writing. (Zutell 2005).[12] In addition Zutell claims that this strategy greatly enhances Vygotsky’s understandings of social engagement by facilitating learning through ‘creative collaboration and learning, mutual appropriation and the enhancement of learning through the zone of proximinal development.'(Zutell 2005). This could be said to be true for any of the group-orientated strategies here pointing to a belief that rote memorization should be exchanged for a creative group approach that facilitates both ownership and peer supporting strategies, especially in creative writing exercises.

Conclusion: Considerations for curriculum implementation

Any change to teaching practices will have an impact on a myriad of sources. Teachers and subject coordinators will face the challenge of additional training and the procurement of new resources, pupils will require greater initial scaffolding and parents will require educating themselves of the new approach and there may be resistance. This combined effort is traditionally perceived by many teachers as too expensive and time consuming. There are, however, documented strategies that can work.

INSET opportunities provide staff with the opportunity to develop new skills and focused teamwork. The subject coordinator can simultaneously create new teaching strategies. Together they can navigate the criticisms that have been documented in the introduction by focusing on learning language structure, perhaps even through the same active techniques as their pupils as they construct the scheme-of-work.

During research for this study there were numerous websites identified that provided free lesson-plans and schemes-of-work relating to all methods discussed here, especially the DTS and DSTA. The classroom resources required for creative writing exercises, word sorts, games, folders and word charts, could also be created by the pupils themselves, facilitating coordinated teamwork between Art and English departments. This would allow for an active approach to learning for the pupils and increase a sense of ownership. It also provides a space for simultaneous scaffolding and creative learning across the curriculum, providing a more whole-school approach to spelling in general and the language arts as a whole. The use of free resources and pupil created teaching aids can, therefore, successfully navigate any budgetary requirements.

Included in Appendix D is an example of a marking rubric that was designed by a spelling teacher during the move away from memorized spelling tests. She admits the creation of a new rubric was time-consuming but her response to the effort is positive, inspiring and particularly effective in creative writing exercises. (Loeffler 2009). This highlights that committed teachers cannot only achieve success but that there is support available via the Internet. Also included in Appendix E are teacher/parent responses to new marking rubrics and the shift to the DTS method during the case study ‘Beyond Memorisation.’ The case study exemplifies and clarifies how concerns by both parties were successfully navigated with positive results. There is a particular focus on the impact of a move from traditional weekly grading scores given to parents to a more detailed progressive report that is produced through a combination of DTS and writing strategies.

What all of these strategies have discovered is that there are numerous alternatives to the traditionally memorization technique. The DTS, DSTA and Incidental Writing strategies have especially identified working practices that aid the pupil in correct spelling during creative writing exercises. Throughout this research it has become apparent that my chosen school is not an isolated case in the difficulty of producing correct spelling in both tests and creative writing. It is a nationwide problem that clearly identifies that current spelling strategies are not sufficient and that there is a need for more active, creative, multi-sensory teaching techniques and practices within the KS2 curriculum. There is no technique that has been identified as superior, however, throughout this study there were numerous instances where strategies overlap and compensate for each other. It is clear that used together strategically they can enhance both a pupils spelling in all areas and enhance the creative writing experience. The additional use of peer-support structures provide a chance for a move away from grading and sets to a whole-class teamwork based learning experience.

References

Bear, D. Invernizzi, M. Templeton, S. & Johnston, F. (2004) ‘Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling Instruction’: New Jersey: Pearson Education

Brown, S., Rust, C. and Gibbs, G. (1994) ‘Involving students in the assessment process, in Strategies for Diversifying Assessments in Higher Education’: Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff Development

Claire, J. (2004) ‘200,000 pupils cannot read at seven.’ @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3304750/200000-pupils-cannot-read-at-seven.html

Clark, L. (2009) ‘Why Children’s Spelling is Going Downhill’ @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-98156/Why-childrens-spelling-going-downhill.html

Fresch, M. ((2000/2001) ‘Using think-alouds to analyze decision making during spelling word sorts’: Reading Online, 4(6) @ http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/fresch/index.html

Hillal, G. & Scharer, P. (1993) ‘Beyond Memorisation, Lists and Trial Tests: Exploring the Influence of Teacher Knowledge of Developmental Spelling on Pedagogical Decisions.’ @ http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED364870&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED364870

Hinds, D. (2004) ‘SATS thrown back over Hadrian’s wall’ @ http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2054617

Kwong, T. & Varnhagen, C. (2005) ‘Strategy Development and Learning to Spell New Words’: Developmental Psychology No.41 pp.148-159 @ literacyencyclopedia.ca/index.php?fa=items.show…228

Loeffler, K. (2009) ‘No More Friday Spelling Tests’: Council for Exceptional Children @ www.teachingld.org/pdf/teaching_how-tos/spelling_tests.pdf

Metsala, J. & Ehri, L. (1998) ‘Word Recognition in Literacy’: Philadelphia: Lawrence Eribaum

Ott,P. (2007) ‘How to Manage Spelling Successfully’: London: Routledge

Read, C. (1986) ‘Children’s Creative Spelling’: London: Routledge

Schlagel, R.C. (2002) ‘Classroom Spelling Instruction: History, research and Practice’: Reading, Research and Instruction Vol.1 Issue 42 pp.44-57

Scott, C. (2000) ‘Principles and Methods of Spelling Instruction’: Topics in Language Disorders Vol.3 Issue 20 pp.66-82

Scott, R. (2007) ‘Spelling research: Classroom Implications’: Encyclopedia of Language and Literacy Development @ http://literacyencyclopedia.ca/index.php?fa=items.show&topicId=230

Smith, M. (2008) ‘Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences’ @ http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Spear-Swelling, L. & Brucker, P. & Alfano, M. (2005) ‘Teachers literacy-related knowledge about English word structure’: Annals of Dyslexia Vol.53 pp72-103 @ http://www.southernct.edu/publications/facbib/S/spear-swerling.htm

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Templeton, S. & Morris, D. (1999) ‘Questions Teachers Ask About Spelling’: Reading Research Quarterly Vol.34, No.1 pp.102-112

Westwood, P. (2005) ‘Spelling: Approaches to Teaching and Assessment’: Camberwell : ACER

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Zutell, J. (2005) ‘A Student-Active Learning Approach to Spelling Instruction’ @ http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/spelling/index.aspx?id=4820&view=article

Zutell, J. & C. Compton. (1993) ‘Learning to spell in the elementary grades: The knowledge base for effective teaching’ Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Reading Association, San Antonio, TX. @ journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid

[1] David Bell, chief inspector of Ofsted was interviewed by ‘The Telegraph’ in 2004 and stated ‘the government’s programme for literacy teaching at primary level is confused….many teachers are given virtually no training in teaching children how to spell.’ (Claire 2004).

[2] A 2002 review of Key Stage 2 statistics stated ‘accuracy in spelling has declined.’ (Driscoll in Hinds 2004).

A 2009 review of national tests stated ‘the ability of children to spell has declined. Pupils aged between 11-14 made more spelling errors than they did in 2000, four years into a scheme to ensure primary pupils have daily literacy hour lessons among 7 year olds spelling tests improved slightly even though heads complained the spelling tests were too hard.’ (Daily Mail 2009)

[3] The school is still reliant on spelling lessons characterized by the use of Basel published weekly lists of words, written exercises focusing on menorisation and two weekly tests at the beginning and end of each week.

[4] Developmental stage theory recommends spelling be taught systematically in relation to individual development. Instruction is based on identified student needs as they progress through the developmental stages.

The incidental inventive writing approach, which advocates teaching spelling as the need arises in student writing throughout the school day.

The multi-sensory approach focuses on the theory of learning styles and multiple intelligences to identify the best strategy to teach individual pupils. (Schlagel 2002)

[5] Phonetic is the true beginning of alphabetic writing and reflects some understanding of phoneme-grapheme correspondences),

Patterns Within Words (deeper understanding of orthography (the visual written form).

Syllable Juncture (the abstract conceptualization of the spelling system, focuses on the place within words where syllables meet, and an understanding of spelling changes when inflectional endings are added to root/base words (plurals, past tense marker, present progressive verb endings, other spelling concepts that are grasped at this stage include possessive forms and contractions).

Meaning-Derivation (concentrates on the morphological connections (coding words by the parts of words that signal meaning and grammar) in English orthography. Students learn that in written English, words that are related in meaning (sharing a common root) are usually spelled similarly, even if they are pronounced differently. (Scott 2007). Please see Appendix B for a complete explanation of the 5 stages.

[6] QIWK itself consists of eight progressively complex stages of word lists and spelling patterns relating to DST. Word lists and word sorts match the developmental stage with later stages (Syllable Juncture & Meaning Derivative stages) involving morphological principles such as base and derived forms and word origins.

[7] This aspect of think-aloud strategies form an interesting link to the multi-sensory approach that will be explored later in the chapter. (See Appendix C for detailed examples of word sorts and pupil responses.)

[8] The study analyzed children’s spelling of silent -e long vowels and different types of -ed past tense words for signs of a strong developmental progression of qualitatively distinct stages from semi phonetic to phonetic to transitional to correct spelling over time. (Scott 2007).

[9] Ott offers the following examples; sounding word patterns such as the ‘ight’ sequence in light, bright, fright and might. Mnemonics such as ‘our dear mother uses great rigour and vigour for every Endeavour’. Syllable counting such as /mag/ni/fi/cent and /won/der/ful. Word derivations such as ‘signature’ derived from sign or ‘automatic’ derived from auto. (Ott 2007 p.106)

[10] Ott explains the use of a computer keyboard will aid learning because they can utilise motor memory to remember finger placement and visual memory to memorise patterns. Graphics packages will help remember pictures and associate letter patterns with pictures. (Ott 2007 p.106).

[11] Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory identifies 7 intelligence types; linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal. (Smith 2008)

[12] Case Study results were difficult to obtain but Zutell’s work has been endorsed by ‘The International Reading Association’, ‘The National Council of Teachers of English’ and ‘The Language Arts and Reading Company’. This highlights the perceived effectiveness of his approach and justifies inclusion here.