My Operainvisible pedagogies
Thursday, March 22, 2007 8:53:36 AM
Task-based Approach is a good example of a curriculum reform initiative of the invisible pedagogy.
The traditional PPP English teaching in China is teacher-dominated, knowledge-transmitting, teacher-centered, receptive, result-oriented and grammar-based. As a result, teachers consider students as containers; They use most of their time explaining the structures of the language. The procedure is instructive. The students learn passively. With the receptive format, Chinese students’ communicative competence is very weak (Wei, 2004).
To improve the English teaching quality, Chinese education authority introduced TBA into the new curriculum in the National curriculum reform. TBA demonstrates swift from the focus on “how to teach” to “how to learn”, from teacher-centered to student-centered, from language content to the use of language, from “what to learn” to “how to learn”.
Task-based learning is an approach that makes the classroom more “student-centred” in which students can play more active roles in discovering and processing knowledge. The rationale for using TBL is that language is more likely to be acquired if the students are engaged in attempting to use it to convey meaning. Here are some principles in TBA teaching. 1) Interaction principle: students construct their communicative competence through meaning negotiations in the interactive activities. 2) Learning By Doing principle: Learners acquire a language by using and experiencing it rather than be taught to receive passively. Thus, effective learning is not instructional, but experiential. Learners master the language by using it communicatively in the classroom. 3) Principle of learning process: In the task-based syllabus, “how to learn” is more important than “what to learn”. The learning procedure is more important than the examination result.
Who decide the learning content? In the traditional syllabuses, experts decide what learners should learn. The teaching contents are sequenced by the grammatical orders. Whereas in TBA, it is the learners who decide what to learn. Learning contents are sequenced by the learners’ internal syllabus. Different learners have different need. The thing, which is difficult to a learner, might be easy to another learner. If a learner is not ready for a grammar item, such as the third person s, it takes much longer time for him to learn. Many researchers (Long, 1997; Long & Crookes, 1992; Nunan, 2004) have pointed out that the learning objectives of TBA should be decided primarily by needs an analysis of what tasks the learners need to undertake in the real life situation, especially in the strong form of TBA.
Invisible pedagogy and ICT
1. ICT provides learners larger autonomy and opportunities to learn. For instance, on-line courses provide opportunities for learners to learn in their own speed, their own schedule, in the place they feel comfortable with. They can decide what to learn, how to learn, when to learn, etc. ICT also changes the learning ways. For example, students can learn English by writing email to their email pals.
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The traditional PPP English teaching in China is teacher-dominated, knowledge-transmitting, teacher-centered, receptive, result-oriented and grammar-based. As a result, teachers consider students as containers; They use most of their time explaining the structures of the language. The procedure is instructive. The students learn passively. With the receptive format, Chinese students’ communicative competence is very weak (Wei, 2004).
To improve the English teaching quality, Chinese education authority introduced TBA into the new curriculum in the National curriculum reform. TBA demonstrates swift from the focus on “how to teach” to “how to learn”, from teacher-centered to student-centered, from language content to the use of language, from “what to learn” to “how to learn”.
Task-based learning is an approach that makes the classroom more “student-centred” in which students can play more active roles in discovering and processing knowledge. The rationale for using TBL is that language is more likely to be acquired if the students are engaged in attempting to use it to convey meaning. Here are some principles in TBA teaching. 1) Interaction principle: students construct their communicative competence through meaning negotiations in the interactive activities. 2) Learning By Doing principle: Learners acquire a language by using and experiencing it rather than be taught to receive passively. Thus, effective learning is not instructional, but experiential. Learners master the language by using it communicatively in the classroom. 3) Principle of learning process: In the task-based syllabus, “how to learn” is more important than “what to learn”. The learning procedure is more important than the examination result.
Who decide the learning content? In the traditional syllabuses, experts decide what learners should learn. The teaching contents are sequenced by the grammatical orders. Whereas in TBA, it is the learners who decide what to learn. Learning contents are sequenced by the learners’ internal syllabus. Different learners have different need. The thing, which is difficult to a learner, might be easy to another learner. If a learner is not ready for a grammar item, such as the third person s, it takes much longer time for him to learn. Many researchers (Long, 1997; Long & Crookes, 1992; Nunan, 2004) have pointed out that the learning objectives of TBA should be decided primarily by needs an analysis of what tasks the learners need to undertake in the real life situation, especially in the strong form of TBA.
Invisible pedagogy and ICT
1. ICT provides learners larger autonomy and opportunities to learn. For instance, on-line courses provide opportunities for learners to learn in their own speed, their own schedule, in the place they feel comfortable with. They can decide what to learn, how to learn, when to learn, etc. ICT also changes the learning ways. For example, students can learn English by writing email to their email pals.
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