Readiness to learn and situated learning

Richard Watson Todd

KMUTT

http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/crs/workshop.htm

• Level 1– Critical incidents raise awareness of how

people learn on a PhD– Thinking through what this means for

language learning

• Level 2– Importance of anecdotal specific cases in

forming beliefs about teaching

Case 1: PhD thesis feedback

• August 2011: Overview of thesis with discussion focused only on differences; my comment “Why no discussion of non-significant findings?”

• January 2012: Outline of discussion chapter; my comment “Why no discussion of non-significant findings?”

• Student searched for articles that discuss non-significant findings

• March 2012: Discussion of non-significant findings included

Case 2: PhD thesis feedback

• May 2011: Thesis work plan for semester; my comment “Use QUANT to inform QUAL”

• July 2011: Broad overview of methodology; my comment “Use QUANT to inform QUAL”

• Late 2011: Conducted numerous corpus comparisons without knowing why

• January 2012: Working on an article, realised how QUANT could inform QUAL

Case 3: Applying theory to research

• February 2011: Submitted an assignment for a course that claimed differences with no clear basis; my comment “Use chi-square to show differences” plus a sample calculation

• Student ignored feedback

• October 2012: Working on thesis research, needed to show a difference, looked back at assignment, applied chi-square

Case 4: Understanding reading

• Late 2011: Read an article on the statistics of keyness several times, did not really understand it, forgot the article

• January 2013: Needs answers to several questions about the statistics of keyness; finds the article again (initially without realising it is the same article); fully understands and realises the importance of the article

Learning from PhD cases

• Input does not necessarily lead to understanding

• Need a real purpose and motivation for deep understanding

• Potentially a long gap (up to 3 years) between input and understanding/use

Readiness to learn

• Physically, emotionally ready

• Ready in terms of grammatical order of acquisition

• Ready in terms of deep, not surface, understanding

Situated learning

• “When you know something but don’t act on it, your knowledge of it is still superficial. After you’ve personally experienced it, your knowledge of it will be much clearer and its significance will be different from what it used to be.”– Zhu Xi (12th century Chinese philosopher)

Language learning

• My realisations about the importance of readiness to learn and situated learning come from PhD supervisions

• Are the concepts applicable to language learning?

Case 5: Plagiarism

Case 6: Academic genre

• Li (2007): Case study of a Chinese chemistry student writing a research article

• Student came to understand generic structure of research articles by himself

• Conclusion: “EAP practitioners like myself can certainly provide assistance more systematically, earlier in the student’s graduate program, to reduce the time when students like Yuan are left in the dark.”

Surface v. deep learning

• Surface learning = acquisition of facts and information

• Deep learning = searching for personal meaning, integrating new knowledge with existing concept maps

Traditional language teaching

• Aim = transfer knowledge• Learning assessed through

tests of knowledge, esp. multiple-choice exams

• English is viewed as a subject, not as a living language

• Surface learning

Promoting deep learning

• Need a real motivation and purpose for learning (readiness to learn)

• Need to learn through personal experience (situated learning)

• NOT task-based learning

• Need real-world projects

Real-world projects

• Writing/adding to a Wikipedia page

• Contributing to discussion forums

• Extended conversation with a foreigner

Evaluating real-world projects

• Opinion poll task– Confidence in using English– Foreigners’ views on Thailand– Wording of questions– Communicating with strangers– Working together as a group– Awareness of and improving accent– Foreigners’ English competence

Evaluating real-world projects

• Of top 13 learning outcomes reported:

• 8 were non-linguistic

• 9 were unanticipated

• 11 were learnt mostly outside the classroom

Implementing change

• Educational inertia

• Real-world projects as supplement, not replacement

• For deep learning, students need to be ready to learn

• Readiness to learn means having a real motivation or purpose for learning

• Real motivation comes from real-world personal experience

• Real-world personal experience achievable through real-world projects

• To avoid resistance to innovation, start as a supplement to traditional teaching

The journey

• PhD students delaying implementation of my feedback on their theses

• A principle underlying ELT curriculum design

Critical incidents

Confirmation bias

Overgeneralization

Awareness of beliefs

• Beliefs influence practice– Teaching– Curriculum design

• Important to be aware of what your beliefs are and where they come from