scholarly journals PRINCIPLED PRAGMATISM AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: TWO FACETS OF CONSTRUCTIVISM IN ESP

2020 ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Oleg B. Tarnopolsky ◽  
Svitlana P. Kozhushko
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Target Language ◽  
School Level ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Knowledge And Skills

The article discusses two approaches that are considered to be the most promising ones in today’s teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The two approaches in question are Kumaravadivelu’s principled pragmatic approach and the experiential learning approach. It is shown that they both help to unify into one single new paradigm the three leading paradigms in modern ESP teaching: content-based instruction, English immersion, and culture-specific target language learning. After defining each of the two approaches in ESP courses at tertiary schools, the paper proceeds to prove the authors’ leading idea that both principled pragmatism and experiential learning are a perfect match embodying two facets of a broader pedagogical approach that is applicable not only when teaching ESP (and teaching foreign languages in general) but also when teaching other disciplines, especially at the tertiary school level. This broader pedagogical approach is constructivism, which provides students with opportunities for ‘constructing’ their own knowledge and skills through practical experience in real-life or modeled activities. In this case, students acquire their knowledge and skills (including skills of communicating in the target language) as a by-product of their real-life or modeled activities, thus internalizing (appropriating) the knowledge and skills and not just learning them. The peculiarities of constructivism in ESP courses are discussed, and the guidelines are given for the practical implementation of the principled pragmatic approach through experiential learning activities in the framework of the fully constructivist ESP course (in what concerns its theoretical and methodological foundations).

Crowdfunding Campaign As a Design-Based Pedagogical Approach for Experiential Learning of Technology Entrepreneurship

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxi Luo ◽  
Kin Leong Pey ◽  
Kristin Wood
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Technology Entrepreneurship ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The World ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
Quality Learning

Engineers are increasingly expected to master the knowledge and skills for entrepreneurship. Academic courses on entrepreneurship have been adopted in engineering schools around the world. However, the experiential learning of technology entrepreneurship remains challenging because it requires not only the experiences of ideation, design and prototyping in classrooms and fab labs but also broader engagement with users, manufacturers, marketers, and investors in business contexts. To conquer this challenge, we developed an approach to use an online crowdfunding campaign as a pedagogical approach to intensify the experiential learning of students in a technology entrepreneurship course. This approach, as part of a course module, provides a real-world context of uncertainty and resource constraints that characterize the entrepreneurship process, and it allows university students to discover and interact with actual users, investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders of their products around the world. We experimented with the use of a crowdfunding campaign as a pedagogical approach for experiential learning in the Entrepreneurship course at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). We found evidence of increased prototyping quality; learning intensity; empathy toward users, manufacturers, marketers and other stakeholders; and an increased interest in pursuing an entrepreneurial career.

scholarly journals Some peculiarities of Italian language instruction at primary school age

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-164
Author(s):  
Danijela Djorovic ◽  
Natasa Lalic-Vucetic
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
School Students ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Italian Language

Instruction of Italian language at primary school level has not been studied more comprehensively in our expert and scientific literature so far, since Italian has been studied as a compulsory foreign language in Serbian schools since the school year 2001/2002. This paper discusses some peculiarities of learning and teaching a foreign language, with emphasis on the socio-cultural aspect and functional usage of the language as the primary task of instruction. The paper presents the results of one part of a larger empirical research that studies the attitude of primary school students towards learning Italian as a foreign language. The goal of the research refers to identifying the competences that students acquire by learning this language and the possibility of applying the linguistic knowledge and skills in real-life situations of students' interaction with the members of other culture, as well as identifying learning difficulties. The sample comprised 185 fifth grade students and 110 seventh grade students from three primary schools where the Italian language has been studied the longest. Research findings indicate that there is an initial positive attitude towards learning Italian and the sensitivity for extralinguistic and cultural elements of instruction of foreign language. Students pointed out to the need for a more active participation in instruction and selection of teaching contents, for more modern approaches to learning, and for a larger degree of applicability of linguistic knowledge and skills in real-life situations.

The “Ill-Structured Problem” is NO PROBLEM for Gifted Curriculum Design

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-189
Author(s):  
Thomas A Felton
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Language And Culture

A unique curriculum design approach, “the ill-structured problem,” used for a gifted foreign language program has implications for many subjects. This approach is based on the premise that school curricula should be designed close to real life situations. Answers become solutions to real problems—problems that are defined and explored by students, not structured by teachers. Chesapeake Public Schools offers a summer FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) Program for its academically gifted fifth and sixth grade students. This curriculum design approach has been very successful in motivating both pupils and teachers. On the first day of class students confront an “undecorated” room. It becomes their task to make the classroom an island of the culture they are studying. This cultural island becomes a place where students exhibit their ongoing exploration of the target language. Students are asked a series of questions designed to guide them toward a structure for their language acquisition. What do you want to learn? How do you want to learn it? With these questions, students begin to build their curriculum. The acquired knowledge of the new language and culture is reinforced daily. The “ill-structured problem” curricula design model is a perfect match for the creative, intelligent student.

Experiential Learning in Graduate Archival Education at the University of Botswana

Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olefhile Mosweu
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Archival Theory ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
The Real ◽  
The University

Most curriculum components of archival graduate programmes consist of contextual knowledge, archival knowledge, complementary knowledge, practicum, and scholarly research. The practicum, now commonly known as experiential learning in the global hub, is now widely accepted in library and information studies (LIS) education as necessary and important. It is through experiential learning that, over and above the theoretical aspects of a profession, students are provided with the opportunity to learn by doing in a workplace environment. The University of Botswana’s Master’s in Archives and Records Management (MARM) programme has a six weeks experiential learning programme whose purpose is to expose prospective archivists and/or records managers to the real archival world in terms of practice as informed by archival theory. The main objective of the study was to determine the extent to which the University of Botswana’s experiential learning component exposes students to real-life archival work to put into practice theoretical aspects learnt in the classroom as intended by the university guidelines. This study adopted a qualitative research design and collected data through interviews from participants selected through purposive and snowball sampling strategies. Documentary review supplemented the interviews. The data collected were analysed thematically in line with research objectives. The study determined that experiential learning does indeed expose students to the real world of work. It thus helps to bridge the gap between archival theory and practice for students without archives and records management work experience. For those with prior archival experience, experiential learning does not add value. This study recommends that students with prior archives and records management experience should rather, as an alternative to experiential learning, undertake supervised research, and write a research essay in a chosen thematic area in archives and records management.

THE LAPBOOK AS A DIDACTIC TOOL TO IMPLEMENT INTEGRATED TRAINING IN NATURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 959-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yordanka Peycheva ◽  
Snezhana Lazarova
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
School Level ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
The World

The formation of comprehensive and in-depth notions of objects and phenomena in the world can be achieved when the mastery of knowledge and skills is carried out in a system realized in the context of integration of different scientific directions. One of the main issues in modern education is related to the contradiction - on one hand between the need to form the skills necessary for the orientation and adaptation of the personality in the dynamics of the globalizing world and on the other - the education which is largely based on unilateral acquiring of knowledge and skills within the different subject areas. This influences the development of a worldview and the formation of an adequate attitude towards the problems under consideration and the world as a whole. The knowledge and skills acquired today are often “locked” in the respective direction. The cross-curricular unity in the curriculum is of a recommended nature, but even if it is realized, it does not fully meet the need for a comprehensive and multifaceted consideration of global issues, as a result of which the student not only understands, reflects, but also applies the lessons learned in the process of creating a product - ideal or material. Combining the intellectual nature of the cognitive process with the practice activity are conditions in which the students are highly active and achieve better learning outcomes. Therefore, it is expedient for the different directions to correspond more closely to each other and to carry out effective cross-curricular integration. The concept of applying an integrative approach in the current paper is based on the idea of creating pedagogical conditions for reconciling the goals and expected outcomes of technology and entrepreneurship and natural sciences studied at the initial stage of the primary education. Integration can take place on two levels - knowledge and skills. We believe that the lapbook as an innovative didactic tool contains the necessary potential for effective realization of the educational goals in both directions in terms of achieving the expected results. In the course of its elaboration, new information is acquired in the field of engineering and technology, specific skills underlying the curricula of technology and entrepreneurship programs are developed. At the same time, a number of subjects from the learning content, which are considered from the natural science point of view, are enriched and perceived in a technological way, after which they find place in an attractive book - a lapbook, made by the students themselves. Its utilitarian value is multiplied by the personal contribution to its creation - not only as an object but also as content. The main topics that are of interest to the students are exploring and preserving nature, jobs, modern technical achievements, holidays and customs. As a result of the adequate integration of competences, tailored to curricula, a number of skills are formed, such as: skills for searching on their own, systematization and presentation of information, and application of the lessons learned in a new situation.

scholarly journals Recontextualizing Quality Talk for an Eighth-Grade English Classroom in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 209653112097017
Author(s):  
Liwei Wei ◽  
P. Karen Murphy ◽  
Shenghui Wu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Small Group ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Eighth Grade ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Language Class ◽  
English Classroom

Purpose: Conducting meaningful interactions in the target language is essential for language learning. However, in many English language classrooms in China, it is rare that students are provided with such opportunities. In the current study, we presented and critically evaluated the implementation of a small-group discussion approach called Quality Talk (QT) in an eighth-grade English language classroom in China. Design/Approach/Methods: One eighth-grade English teacher and 82 eighth-grade students in a public middle school in Beijing participated in the study using a pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design. Recordings of teacher coaching sessions and student discussions, researchers’ field notes, and participating teacher’s written reflections were used to identify successful practices and lessons learned with respect to the implementation of QT. Implications for future directions were also discussed. Findings: The results revealed that to successfully implement a discourse-intensive pedagogical approach in a large English language class, it is essential that (a) the materials used for discussion closely align with the school curriculum, (b) students are grouped heterogeneously and scaffolded to engage in discussions both in their native and target languages, and (c) student leadership be leveraged to facilitate discussion in each small group. Originality/Value: The present study delineated the details with respect to implementing a discourse-intensive pedagogical approach in an eighth-grade English classroom in China. We derived several key insights from recontextualizing QT in an English learning, large class context in China. These insights might hold the potential to improve the effectiveness of English teaching and learning in China.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE, COMPETENCIES, AND VALUES OF THE NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Oksana Yakymchuk
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Essential Characteristic ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Pedagogical Action ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Competencies ◽  
High Level ◽  
Unity Of Knowledge ◽  
Educational Potential

The formation of a powerful, active, and dynamic axiological foundation of personality is one of the essential tasks of the competency approach because even a high level of knowledge and skills acquired in the process of learning and education cannot ensure the integrity and progressively oriented unity of personal and professional competencies for future successful life, socio-cultural and professional self-realization. Given this, within the competence paradigm of education, qualitatively new content is the unity of learning and education. If before a significant amount of theoretical knowledge, detached from real life, had a shallow educational potential, now any pedagogical action, even focused on the cognitive assimilation of basic scientific knowledge, will have a worldview. An essential characteristic of the competency approach in education is that it can ensure each student’s unique structure the unity of knowledge, competencies, and values.

scholarly journals Literature in efL: Beyond language learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Luis Jesús Rincón
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Private School ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Willingness To Use

This article presents the results of a qualitative research which looks into the field of literature in EFL. Seventh grade students of a private school in Bogota took part in the research. Data was collected by means of audio recordings of small group discussions, teacher´s journal, and responses to literature logs. The results show that the connections that EFL learners make with literary texts enrich their interpretations, analysis and value judgments of experiences and real life events. Furthermore, critical thinking skills are potentiated. In addition to this, literary texts bring up appealing and meaningful topics in the classroomenhancing students´ motivation and willingness to use the target language.

scholarly journals Role Play Activities: An Innovative Approach to Teaching Speaking Skills in an ESL Classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Nurhamimi Togimin ◽  
Haliza Jaafar
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Real Life Situation ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Esl Classroom ◽  
Speaking Skills

Encouraging students to speak during classroom activities is an effective strategy to improve their acquisition of the target language. Activities related to real life situation such as role play, debate and simulation provide substantial rehearsal and practice and they allow students to not just learn phrases, but also learn how to communicate in various circumstances. Recent studies have revealed that students who are exposed to learning using role play activities improve significantly in speaking competency. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate how role play activities in an ESL classroom can be an innovative approach in improving students’ speaking skill. A total of nine undergraduate students from the Faculty of Computing in a public university in the Southern region of Malaysia were involved in this study. The main purpose for choosing the students as participants of the study was due to their low English proficiency based on their MUET results. The instruments used in this study were observation checklist and questionnaire. All the findings were tabulated and analysed qualitatively (observation checklist) as well as quantitatively (questionnaire). From the analysis carried out, it was evident that the students made positive improvement particularly in fluency, comprehension, context, and interactive communication. Besides that, the students felt that role play activities had brought positive effects on their English-speaking skills as obtained from the results of the questionnaire. Thus, it can be deduced that role play activities do have positive effects on students’ English-speaking skills.

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