I believe that research has an impact on teaching practices
in a beneficial way. To be the best teacher you can be, you should always be
willing to try different ways to help your students learn. Without research on
the profession of second language acquisition, it is hard to have solid
information to back up various strategies of teaching another language. “We
view language as something we use to do things—engaging in actions and activities
(Gee, 2011)” (As cited by Brown and Lee, 2015, p. 100). This piece of research
may seem like common sense to some teachers, but other teachers may be close
minded and want to only teach language from workbooks and lectures. Without
research to rely upon, these teachers will make up other excuses to not change
and grow in their teaching methods. Engaging in actions and activities is a
crucial aspect to learning a new language. Submersing yourself in the language
culturally and in different ways other than sitting in front of a teacher or sitting
at a desk will allow you to learn more efficiently.
In my
experience learning French in high school, my teachers spent a lot of time
having us do worksheets, practicing orally, but also doing hands on projects. Although
I needed to practice on worksheets and repeating what my teacher said, I
believe that the hands on projects and group activities allowed me to learn the
most. As a student, I was engaged and motivated to learn more. Now, looking
from a teacher’s perspective, I understand why the effort was put in to making learning
more interactive. “Experiential learning…highlights giving students concrete
experiences in which they must use language in order to fulfill the objectives
of a lesson (Eyring, 1991; Stoller, 2006),” which lead me to believe that the
project part of learning was most memorable for me because of this (As cited by
Brown and Lee, 2015, pg. 50). When comparing research and teaching practices,
research guides most of my teachers’ ways of teaching. It is making me
appreciate the teachers I had for French putting in more time and effort to
develop interesting lessons to help us learn. A teacher can easily do the bare
minimum at their job and print off worksheets for us to complete all class
period. Although it takes more time to develop hands on lessons, it is
beneficial for the teachers and students because no one will be bored in the
classroom. Not only does experiential learning help the students become more
engaged in their learning, it shows that teachers are well researched and
willing to grow with their students.
“CEFR…supports
multilingualism as a group right, a means for political cohesion, and
cross-cultural understanding,” (Baetens Beardsmore, 2009; Huhta, 2013) showing
that bilingualism is good for cognition. Having people from different countries
to connect supports good cognition through political cohesion, bonding with
people, and communicative purposes. Overall, research is a strong factor in why
there are so many great teachers in the world. Second language acquisition and
discovering what the best way to teach another language would be difficult
without having research to back practices up.
Works Cited
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
I agree with you 100% that teachers should do some research before making a lesson plan to incorporate different teaching methods not only to keep the subject alive, but also to cater to students that learn in different ways. I have had some stubborn teachers that didn't want to branch from their teaching method and the were only teaching to a few students that can learn visually. I to am a hands on learner and just hearing the teacher lecture doesn't work for me. Sadly it usually just goes in one ear and out the other no matter how hard I try to learn. Before I use to hate having to work in groups with other students, but now that I have been in college for a while I find it beneficial for me because I can also learn from other students. So I appreciate the teachers that use different methods for teaching their lessons.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Kaylie! That is great how you have learned to love and appreciate the benefits of group work and peer teaching. I think that learning from your peers is very important when learning a new language. I agree that it is very important for teachers to develop different methods to teach depending on their students’ needs.
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DeleteHi Shelly! I agree with you that research is very beneficial for teachers. It is important for them to have some information and results to look at when finding a method or strategies to teach another language. Using mistakes in the past and looking at what could be done better can make a person a better teacher. I also agree that a lot of teachers who are close minded only want to teach from workbooks and lectures, including the lazy ones who are not motivated enough to try something new or exciting. Because my teacher used a Grammar-Translation Method which made us work on a lot of worksheets, studying vocabulary, and following certain grammar rules, I ended up learning almost nothing from three years of Spanish (Brown, 2015, p.18). I believe that if these teachers were more open minded to trying new things, they would have more successful and motivated students.
ReplyDeleteI completely appreciate you pointing out that without research based teaching, many teachers would continue to teach the "way they always have." This lack of change to the curriculum is detrimental to students learning process. Teachers should be guided by research data, and be able to create their curriculum using what the findings are saying.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I liked that you mentioned the need for actions and activities. My teacher utilized the Grammar-Translation Method, and it completely lacked "actions". We would practice vocabulary, but never took action to speak the language. What's crazy is that this method is still so widely used, even though research has shown that it doesn't work. It makes me happy to see that your French teacher seemed to take the highlights of this method, but then also immersed your class with projects and activities. Actively participating and immersing your students in the culture of the language can greatly increase your students cognitive behaviors (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 157).
Je suis vraiment desolé que vous n'avez pas appris le français bien pour parler avec personne. J' aime bien le français et je en peux parler plus que je peux écrire. Your experience shows us the importance of research. If teachers could have more time and freedom to experiment and see what works better, to put theory into practice without the many rules and regulations that we have these days in school, students will benefit more. I imagine that your not being able to speak French now is just an example of the many missed opportunities in schools due to the lack of attention to research.
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ReplyDeleteShelly, I loved your opening statements and how you began this entry. I think research-informed practices are the only route to take when planning for instruction. I agree that as a teacher, you must be willing to try teaching in different ways. I believe there is not a “one-size fits all” approach to teaching, especially when teaching ELLs. It’s comforting to know that while many of us did not have the best experiences learning a second language in high school that you were able to learn through hands-on activities because that has been something we have discussed in almost every single education course I have ever taken.
Shelly,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I completely agree with your point that learning a second language is best when you submerse yourself in the culture and picking up the language naturally. This summer, I was supposed to go to the study abroad program in Mexico for 3 weeks. Unfortunately, it didn't work out but the goal was to be there longer than a week to assimilate to the Mexican culture. We were told that by staying with a host family and doing other authentic cultural activities, it would better our Spanish in a natural way. I also agree with your points on worksheets. We are now told that worksheets are the worst way for teaching and that our lesson plans should be hands-on and engaging. The days of "drill and kill" are long over due to research finding its negative impact on learning.
Hey Shelly,
ReplyDeleteI really like the quote you referred too. “We view language as something we use to do things—engaging in actions and activities (Gee, 2011).
This quote stands out me because my foreign language teachers tried to teach me Spanish by worksheets and translations. When looking back I think I would have learned more if we were speaking to each other rather than doing worksheets and memorizing words. So, I really liked the quote you used.
Hi Shelly!
ReplyDeleteI liked that you pointed out how some teachers may get stuck in their own traditional way of teaching. As teachers, we must all gain a sense of flexibility in our mindsets in order to use research to better ourselves and use new research to drive better instruction for students. There is a movement to create more PBL in the classroom as research has stated that these are more engaging and beneficial for students to retain more information when they are actively and hand-on engaged in their own learning.
Your response was very organized and easy to relate to. I absolutely agree with you that research is an important aspect for teachers to look upon. I believe that as teachers we are constantly growing and learning. In student teaching, I learned that my mentor teacher is willing to try new ideas to improve her teaching that would benefit her class. I really respect the fact that she is open-minded even though she has more than 15 years of teaching experience. On the other, I am pretty sure that there are some teachers out there that are not willing to give up on their teaching method because they have found both comfort and results in them through experience. For instance, the majority of the teachers use the Grammar Translation Method because it has so much to offer. As it states, “tests of grammar rules and translations are easy to construct, can be objectively scored, and don’t required fluent knowledge of the L2…” (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 18).
ReplyDeleteShelly, I enjoy reading your blog entry 2. I agree with what you said hands-on projects and group activities can affect your learning language. It is useful to practice through lots of worksheets, but learning a language also need to practice how to communicate. It is necessary for teachers to catch students' attention in learning.
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