ambitious teaching' and 'transformational learning': the use of structured academic...
TRANSCRIPT
‘Ambitious teaching’ and ‘transformational learning’?
Jenny BruenSchool of Applied Language and Intercultural StudiesDublin City University
Can techniques such as Structured Academic Controversy actually facilitate the language learning process?
•Are there other potential applications for example in the preparation for study abroad?
Structured Academic Controversy
•Pedagogical technique•Borrowed from the political sciences•Designed to increase engagement
with content through development / transformation of belief systems•Constructivism• Transformational learning
Choose a controversial issueor ‘dilemma’
“an issue about which reasonable people disagree”
Dilemmas from other disciplines
• Literature: Different interpretations of a literary text
Hamlet is a complete and utter coward. • Politics/History: Opposing analysis of a
historical or current event The people of Crimea have a right to be accepted as Russian if that is what they want which they evidently do. - Eamonn McCann Irish Times, 20th March 2014, page 14
Dilemmas from other disciplines
• Environmental Science: Alternative approaches to dealing with species extinction
• Geography: Significance of evidence on climate change
Recent extreme weather conditions are a result of climate change.
SAC
• Provide students with or direct them to source information on the issue• Blended learning: • students source & share online
• Flipped classroom • Information in advance, interaction during contact hours • Is the class a time to receive or use
information?
SAC
• Divide learners into groups of 4. • Each pair presents a polarised, ‘advocacy’
position. Focus on 3 key arguments.
• Roles are reversed (& groups swapped in a double switch approach).
SAC• Dissolve pairs to reach consensus• Goal not to win but to uncover relevant arguments on both sides
• Direct students to seek reasoned, consensual positions. “Forge a position as a group. Feel free to change your mind. See if you can come to consensus on this issue.”
Why are learners engaged
• Cognitive dissonance• Psychological phenomenon - holding contradictory
beliefs causes stress – try to accommodate new ideas into existing understandings.• Uncomfortable process engagement.►
• Language learning research: engagement ► acquisition
Study: Does the use of SAC in the language classroom faciliate language learning?
Study
DilemmaFacebook facilitates cyberbullying and should be banned for those under 18.
Procedure
In advance:1. 18 students complete a C-test on
cyberbullying2. Given material in German on
cyberbullying to read in advance3. Asked to source additional
material themselves
5 Steps
Treatment Group
1. Participants divided into 2 groups of 4 (2 pairs in each group)2. Each pair argues an advocacy position3. Each pair argues the alternative position4. Each group of 4 attempts to reach a consensus5. Each group of 4 presents its ‘compromise’ position
Comparison Group
•Completes reading comprehension exercise on cyberbullying.• Open-ended written
questions and free writing
Post-test stage
•C-tests returned to both groups•All students ‘improve/correct’ their
C-test•Change in score determined.
Change in C-test score:Improvement for both groups
Change in C-test score treatment group
+ 17%
Change in C-test score comparison group
+ 14%
Nouns (17 )
Verbs (15 )
AdjectivalEndings (7 )
% Improvement Treatment
21% 26% 10%
% Improvement comparison
15% 22% 11%
Preliminary Findings
Useful technique in language teaching
Contributes more to vocabulary acquisition
Needs to be scaffolded by explicit grammar instruction
Participant feedback on SAC• …was helpful as it gave us a chance to form sentences, work
with others and try and hold a conversation/debate through German alone.
…was a good way to build up fluency with the language.
Implications
• Considerable potential for ‘borrowing’ methodologies such as SAC from other subject domains in a ‘post-method’ environment
• Need for explicit grammar instruction remains
Additional applications of SAC
Preparation of students for study abroad
Background
Study abroad will…‘….give students a better sense of what it means to be a European citizen’.
(Erasmus website)
Exploratory study conducted in DCU
Understanding of Citizenship Pre-Year Abroad – ‘What does citizenship mean to you?’
Belonging Rights
Obligations Responsibilities
European
Understanding of Citizenship Post-Year Abroad – ‘What does citizenship mean to you?’
Belonging Rights
Obligations Responsibilities
Language Representative Role
• European / global citizenship not always facilitated by a year abroad
Cicero’s concentric circles
Humanity
Country
Family
Self
Draw the circles closer - ‘enter the mind of the other’
Study abroad does not automatically result in transformational learning
• Fry, Paige, Jon, Dillow and Nam (2009)
Four D’s of study abroad•Demography•Destination•Duration &•Depth - Do students engage in a
meaningful manner with study abroad?
To encourage depth of experience & transformational learning….recommend:
• Pedagogical techniques from experiential pedagogy before, during & after study abroad:
Role play, cultural and political simulations
tandem work, virtual classrooms
Games
literature, project work
“scaffolded” or facilitated (critical) reflection, critical incidents
SAC & European Citizenship
DilemmaNational borders are irrelevant today. We are European not Irish/Czech.
SAC, Ethics & Tolerance of Ambiguity• DCUBS• MBA Ethics / Dilemma “Stealing is always wrong”• Base-line assessment of Tolerance of Ambiguity
before and after engagement with SAC.• Staying in uncertainty, or staying with the
question, despite the discomfort of not knowing the answer, or not knowing where we’re headed. …relinquishing control• Associated with Innovation & Creativity
Related PublicationsPublished• 2013 The impact of study abroad on language learners’ perceptions of the
concept of citizenship. AISHE-J. All Ireland Journal of Studies in Higher Education.
• (forthcoming) Translation in Language Teaching: A qualitative study of attitudes and behaviours. Language Teaching Research
Under review• The use of the L1 in the L2 classroom to reduce cognitive overload and learner
anxiety. The Language Learning Journal (first revision complete)
• Cognitive Dissonance and the Subjective Mind in Foreign Language Learning: The use of Structured Academic Controversy in the German language classroom In Arnd Witte and Theo Harden (eds). Language learning and the Subjective Mind. Peter Lang.