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By the end of this chapter, the reader may have a hard time keeping track of each theory introduced. The summary does well to emphasize that it's important to pull important strategies and consensus from each of the theories that Wright explores. Vygotsky's influence looms large over our entire education trajectory. It's clear that his insights were long under-appreciated in the west and that his approach to education is applicable in every facet of the learning process. It was interesting to see how scaffolding and social learning is instrumental in language acquisition. The way ZPD and n+1 relate to one another so intuitively that the reader could believe that they could have made the connection independently. What is particularly striking by the reading, prior to the summary, is a reluctance from some theorists to acknowledge theoretical overlap or room for multiple approaches to language acquisition. Krashner is particularly dogged in his defense of the monitor model as a "be all end all" approach to SLA. I was puzzled by his insistence that comprehensible input negated the importance of comprehensible output. These two strategies do not at all seem mutually exclusive and, like any skill, I imagine that language use would be improved with practice. Perhaps there is a tendency among theorists to believe we've reached "the end of history," but it doesn't seem as though we've reached a unifying theory on SLA. If we ever do find an optimal strategy for language development, I imagine that it will pull from the many diverse theories that we have explored.

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WWR3

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Aqui

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Wright CH 3

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WRR #3 is here and it's here to stay!

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JEhhf4uD-PhHBln5GrC6Qt8XVp_sbNttJzrt8_-nGYQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Chapter 3

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Document

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Wright Chapter 3

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The Ramble

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This week’s reading took me back to Dr. Z’s class where we learned (kind of) about learning theories. I appreciate that Wright didn’t feel the need to take us back to the beginning of time like the authors of Perspectives on Learning apparently did. Many of the early theories are not particularly relevant, but I do think they were foundational to our current understanding of modern theory. I believe that humans learn in a variety of modalities, which is why I felt like most of the learning theories were too limited or don’t appear to take the whole student, or the student as an individual with individual needs into consideration. While I realize that education and theories on how humans learn, is ever-evolving and changing, I think a one-size or one theory fits all approach definitely doesn’t work, yet many theorists tend to focus on one or maybe two aspects of learning that they deem important. It is interesting to me that each theorist criticizes aspects of other theories, but none of the theorists have combined some aspects of multiple theories that have been found to work to make one super theory that might take a more wholistic approach. I suppose that’s what we’re supposed to do as educators, but still something I have wondered about while reading all these theories.

The multiple intelligences and cooperative learning approaches resonated with me because as Gardner asserts: “intelligence is multidimensional; thus, classroom instruction should be designed to maximize learning according to the particular set of intelligences a child may have. These intelligences include linguistic, logical/mathematical, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic.” (Wright 63). Each student learns differently so it makes sense that a teacher would use their student’s identified strengths to help their students learn more effectively. Cooperative learning is essentially social learning. Students work together to accomplish academic tasks, solve problems, and engage in meaningful communication. (Wright 63)

I also felt that Critical Pedagogy resonated with my approach to teaching in general, as well as to EBs. It is important that students have a voice in their learning and are able to critically examine the world and the imbalance of power within the social system that has been established specifically to oppress them. (Wright 63) According to Paolo Friere, “Critical pedagogy involves “problem posing, reflective thinking, knowledge gathering, and collaborative decision making.”” (Wright 63) All of these skills are important for students to learn to think critically about what they are reading in class and how they may see these issues reflected in society.

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I apologize in advance for this daunting lengthy response there was just so many good approaches to address I couldn't help but ramble on.

Click here for link to google doc.

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Doc here

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The reading resonated with me as an adult traveling to Tokyo, Japan to visit a friend playing professional basketball. The cognitive model I used was comprehensible input, and comprehensible output. My friend who lived in Japan for 2 years prior had developed the basics of a conversation speaking Japanese. I would listen to his conversations, ask questions, and pronounce words back to him. Eventually, I would developed basic words that were essential to go sightseeing while he was in practice. As a secondary teacher, my personal experiences provides clarity on how difficult is to acquire a new language. Another section of the chapter that's prevalent to todays culture is the sociocultural perspectives on language and teaching. "The focus is not on what happens in the brain", but much more about the circumstances surrounding the individual.

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Link to Google Doc

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It’s weird to realize how young the field of learning is, and how much younger the study of specifically learning an additional language is. Although I recognize the field of cognitive studies as deeply important to understanding of learning and child development, the science, results, and application of cognitive theories continually fails to impress or be useful to me. The sociocultural aspects have always been more interesting and valuable, particularly because there’s so much about the brain and the process of learning that we still don’t understand, so computer and robot metaphors are 1) inaccurate and misleading, and 2) confusing to me. Despite that, our pedagogical history has used both scientific and sociocultural methodology, so I appreciate that Wright has gone through the basics of both.

I think as the chapter began delving into the historical methods of teaching English to language learners it missed out on an important opportunity to examine America’s racist history and the legacy of Indian boarding schools which began with the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and promised to ‘wipe out’ the Indian culture, heritage, and crucially, language. English language teaching was highly important to assimilate the constant arrival of immigrants coming from other countries. Although the grammar-translation method was indeed used (p 60), its important for us to remember why and how English language teaching began in the United States.
The ending sections of Critical Pedagogy and Beyond Approaches and Methods are both important due to their modern usage, even if people may not know the pedagogy, but focus on how to improve their classrooms and lessons for students. The example questions (p 64) help clarify the focus, beyond the history and names of the previous sections. Unfortunately, although much of it could be interesting, some of the sections and ideas aren’t useful to learn about unless we are comparing lessons, teaching styles, or objectives across the decades. Which could be its own kind of interesting, but is not particularly valuable in today’s classrooms.