Whole Language, Multiple Intelligence, and Beyond Method
- 1. Presentation for the Course Theories and Approaches in Language Teaching (TEFL-511) Title: Whole Language, Multiple Intelligence, and Beyond Method BY : Dawit Dibekulu January ,2018 Debere Markos University College of Social Sciences and Humanities Department of English Language and Literature
- 2. Outlines Whole language : Concept and backgrounds Principles Goals and objectives Related concepts Multiple intelligence Concept and backgrounds Types Benefits View's on usage of MI in Language classroom Implications In my presentation, I am going to present you : Beyond methods Concept Post method era Roles of teachers Macro and micro teaching Macro strategies of language teaching Dimensions of
- 4. Background The Whole Language was created in the 1980s by a group of U.S. Educators. The Whole Language movement argues that language should be taught as a “whole”. The Whole Language aims to help young children to read and write naturally with a focus on real communication, and to do these skills for pleasure.
- 5. Whole Language views language as a vehicle for human communication. Whole Language also views language psycho- linguistically as a vehicle; for internal interaction and for thinking. Language as a whole User of language develops decoders and create mental skills of process language. Theory of Language
- 6. Theory of learning It has a constructivist conception Students create knowledge from trial and error. Constructivist learners : should create meaning, learn by doing and work collaboratively in mixed groups on common projects. Exposure to the real world
- 7. The use of authentic literature rather than artificial. A focus on real and natural events relate to the students’ experience. The reading of real texts of high interest, particularly literature. Reading for the sake of comprehension and for a real purpose. Writing for a real audience and not simply to practice writing skills. Cont…. The Major Prıncıples of Whole Language
- 8. Writing as a process through which learners explore and discover meaning. The use of student-produced texts. Integration of reading, writing, and other skills. Student-centered learning. Reading and writing in partnership with other learner. Encouragement of risk taking and the acceptance of errors. The Major Prıncıples of Whole Language
- 9. Goodman (1986) suggested the following goals: to expand students effectiveness, broadness on language knowledge and conceptual base, to expand students flexibility and help them broaden and refine their taste and breadth of interest, to build a love of reading and writing and to foster students total communication Through the above goals the following Objectives will achieve: students will develop competency in skill necessary for effective communication students will develop competency in skills necessary for academic achievement so from this goal he drives the objectives students will developed an appreciation of literature Goals and Objectives of Whole Language
- 10. The Roles of Teachers The teachers ; are facilitators and active participants should not follow a preplanned lesson plan should support collaborative learning should negotiate a plan of work with the learners.
- 11. • The learners are ; Collaborators Evaluators Self directed Selectors of learning materials and activities. learning through a model that is given by the teacher, share responsibility for learning get feedback The Roles of Learners
- 12. Using real-world materials Students ought to bring newspapers, signs, handbills, storybooks, and printed materials to class. Students should produce their own materials. The Roles of Materıals
- 13. Criticisms of Whole Language Weir (1990) stated Whole language belief that reading should develop naturally assumes that the home provided the resources to enable it to occur. Therefore, if reading didn’t develop the initial blame was sheeted to the home. Delpit (1988) said rather than Whole Language being supportive of personal growth as it claimed, she saw the approach as being disempowering to minority students in particular. Cont….
- 14. Criticisms of Whole Language Liberman and Liberman (1990) did not accept that the fault lay with the absence of home resources or the harmful intervention of society through the education system. They argued that reading and speaking are qualitatively different activities, and cannot be expected to be mastered in the same epigenetic manner.
- 15. They highlighted a number of differences: all humans have developed language systems but only a minority a written form; speech has a history as old as the species and appears to be biologically driven; written codes, or more accurately, alphabets have a cultural basis and a relatively short history; speech all around the world is produced in a similar fashion using a limited range of sounds, while scripts are artificial systems that differ enormously across different cultures; speech develops merely through exposure to the speech of others, reading usually requires formal assistance. Criticisms of Whole Language
- 16. In this way, Liberman and Liberman (1990) concluded that learning to speak and learning to read are qualitatively different. Treating the two forms of language development as similar involves a false assumption, and, they argued, the practices that derive from that assumption are part of the cause of reading failure Criticisms of Whole Language
- 18. Howard Gardner is a psychologist and Professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. He performed interviews with and brain research on hundreds of people. Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mind in 1983. He added the last two in Intelligence Reframed in 1999. Background of Howard Gardner
- 19. • “An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings” Howard Gardner (1983) • “Intelligence is the capacity and the ability: to do something useful in the society in which we live. to respond successfully to new situations and the capacity to learn from one’s past experiences.” Dr. Howard Gardner What is intelligence?
- 20. In his research he found that: Each intelligence is capable of being symbolized. Each intelligence has its own developmental history. Each intelligence is vulnerable to impairment through insult or injury to specific areas of the brain. Each intelligence has its own culturally valued end states. Gardner defines an “intelligence” as a group of abilities that:
- 21. In this view, intelligences are not something that can be seen or counted, but rather neural potentials that may be activated or not depending on the values of a particular culture and the decisions made by each person, their parents, their teachers, etc. Intelligence cannot view in counted way and but it’s a unique ability of an individual. Traditional View
- 22. Gardener’s Premise : Intelligence is not a single general capacity that each individual has to a greater or lesser extent of the mind Intelligence cannot be measured by simplistic pen and paper tests or their like. The Views of Howard Gardner
- 23. Gardner tells us that he believes that intelligence is the: Ability to solve problems that one encounters in real life. Ability to generate new problems to solve. Ability to make something or offer a service that is valued within one’s culture. Gardner defines an “intelligence” as a group of abilities that: Is somewhat autonomous from other human capacities Has a core set of information-processing operations Has a distinct history in the stages of development we each pass through Has plausible roots in evolutionary history The Views of Howard Gardner
- 24. All human beings possess all intelligences in varying amounts. Each person has a different intellectual composition. We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students. These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together. These intelligences may define the human species. Multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. Each individual has nine intelligences (and maybe more to be discovered). Gardner claims that:
- 25. Types of Intelligence Naturalist - "Nature Smart" Logical/Mathematical - "Math Smart" analytical Musical/Rhythmic - "Music Smart" Visual/Spatial - "Art Smart" Intrapersonal - "People Smart” introspective Existential - "Wondering Smart“ Verbal/Linguistic - "Word Smart" Bodily/Kinesthetic - "Body Smart“ interactive Interpersonal - "Self Smart"
- 26. Language consists of : Phonology, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics The first two are all about pure linguistic intelligence The latter have input from other sources of intelligence such as inter-personal, logical etc. Which means the ability of students’ language skill or linguistic capacity. Linguistic Intelligence
- 27. As Gardener (1983) stated that linguistic intelligence is the ability to learn languages and the capacity to use language to accomplish goals (p.41). Wilson (2014) said it is word Smart. Armstrong (2009) said thinking symbolically and reasoning abstractly fall under this category, as does the ability to create conceptual verbal patterns. Example: poets, writers and newscasters Linguistic Intelligence
- 28. Musical intelligence To some the art of musical composing is something that flows naturally. Music is made up of two major components: Pitch (or melody) and Rhythm If you are musically intelligent, you are able to: Perceive Discriminate Transform Express All kinds of musical forms Example: music composers, music teachers, musical theatre
- 29. Mathematical/Logical Intelligence Calculation in left brain Maths unlike all other intelligences is not auditory and oral but is concrete and established through the confronting of objects Logical-mathematical intelligence (Logic Smart) is the capacity to use numbers effectively and reason well. People with this intelligence think by reasoning, and they love experimenting, questioning, figuring out logical puzzles, and calculating. They are able to identify a problem and solve it right there on the spot. Example : accounting, banking, medicine, scientific research
- 30. Spatial intelligence Sometimes called visual-spatial It deals with the ability to perceive visual things. It features the potential to recognize and manipulate the patterns of wide space. Gardener (1999) Wilson (2014) said , it is Picture Smart and is the capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly. People with high visual-spatial intelligence have the ability to visualize with mind’s eye. Example: artists, architecture, advertising
- 31. Entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems (Gardner, 1983, p.42). It is having a well-coordinated body, something found in athletes and crafts persons. Ability to use the body skillfully and to take in knowledge through bodily sensation Example: dancers, dramatic acting, mime, physical education Bodily/ Kinaesthetic Intelligence
- 32. Interpersonal Intelligence Interpersonal is how we relate to others These intelligences are strongly culturally based The interpersonal skills in cultures are rarely transferable deals with the ability to understand and communicate with others and to facilitate relationships and group processes. Wilson (2014) explained that Interpersonal Intelligence is people smarts. Example: counselors, politics, sociologists, and therapists
- 33. Intrapersonal intelligence It is how you understand yourself. It involves the capacity to understand oneself. Gardener (1983) said “to have an effective working model of oneself including one’s own desires, fears, and capacities and to use such information effectively in regulating one’s own life” (p. 43). It is the ability to understand oneself and apply one’s talent successfully. Wilson (2014) Example: Psychiatry, spiritual counseling, and philosopher
- 34. Naturalistic Intelligence The ability to sense patterns in nature, and Making connections to elements in nature. Using this intelligence, children possessing enhanced levels of “nature smarts” They may have a strong affinity to the outside world or to specific animals, Brualdi (1996) stated that they are often keenly aware of their surroundings and changes in their environments, even if these shifts are at minute or subtle levels. Wilson (2014) said it is called Nature Smarts. Example: Farmers, gardeners, florists, geologist, and archaeologists
- 35. Existential Intelligence Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence such as: the meaning of life, why do we die and how the world came into being(deep question smart).
- 36. How intelligences develop •Nature - Genetics •Nurture -Environment •Culture -Values
- 37. Teachers can promote new possibilities for learning. Different teaching and learning strategies can accommodate students. Empowering students to learn through multiple modalities. Fosters a collaborative classroom. It can allow students to safely explore and learn in many ways, and they can help students direct their own learning. opportunities for authentic learning based on your students' needs, interests and talents. Benefit of Multiple Intelligence
- 38. Views on Usage of Multiple Intelligence Model in Classroom Christison (1996) proposed these views: Play to strength: Variety is the spice: varied activities Pick a tool to suit the job: language has a variety of dimensions, levels, and functions. All sizes fit one: Whole Person within each learner. Me and my people: IQ testing
- 39. Curriculum Development and Multiple Intelligences MI is the dominantly factor to develop multiple effective curriculum. MI theory offers a means for building daily lesson plans, weekly units and year long things. Scarr (1985) MI is one of a set of such perspectives dealing with learner differences and borrows heavily from these in its recommendations and designs for lesson planning. As curriculum development must conceder MI
- 40. Implications of Multiple Intelligences Gardner (1993) proposed the following implication: Scientific implications of the Theory of MI : The intelligences constitute the human intellectual toolkit. Each human being has a distinct intellectual profile. Educational implications of the Theory of MI Individuation (also termed personalization): Since each human being has her own unique configuration of intelligences, we should take that into account when teaching, mentoring or nurturing. Pluralization : Ideas, concepts, theories, skills should be taught in several different ways.
- 42. Background Emerged after the gradual dissatisfaction with conventional Methods. Kumaravadivelu (2006) termed those ‘designer non- methods’ Prime success of methods lasted up till late 1980s. Eclecticism was widespread Post-method came to light during 1990s. Aimed to break the ‘cycle’ of methods
- 43. Background Refigures relationship between theorizers and practitioners. Signifies teacher autonomy. Principled pragmatism The main purpose is “ to facilitate the growth and development of teachers’ own theory to practice”…
- 44. Basic considerations Seeks to transcend the limitations of Method. Facilitate the advancement of context-sensitive language education based on a true understanding. Treating Teachers and Learners as Explorers. Signifies teachers Autonomy. Reconsiders the relationship between theorizers and practitioners of methods.
- 45. Shifting assumptions From method to post method Transmission models and the concept of method are both top-down exercises. Post method pedagogy Needed: not an alterative method but an alternative to method Being/becoming strategic thinkers, strategic teachers and strategic explorers.
- 46. The role of teachers The teacher has been variously referred to as: an artist and an architect; a scientist and a psychologist; a manager and a mentor; a controller and a counselor; a sage on the stage; a guide on the side; and more. Kumaravadivelu (2003) Teachers as passive technicians, reflective practitioners, and transformative intellectuals.
- 47. Teachers as a passive technician • The teacher is passive than active. • the behavioral school of psychology that emphasized the importance of empirical verification. Kumaravadivelu (2003) • In the behavioral tradition, the primary focus of teaching and teacher education is content knowledge that consisted mostly of a verified and verifiable set of facts and clearly articulated rules. • Teachers and their teaching methods are not considered very important because their effectiveness cannot be empirically proved beyond doubt.
- 48. Classroom teachers are assigned the role of passive technicians who learn a battery of content knowledge generally agreed upon in the field and pass it on to successive generations of students. As a result of this, the primary goal of such an activity, of course, is to promote student comprehension of content knowledge. Teachers as a passive technician
- 49. Teachers as a reflective practitioner • Examines, frames, and attempts to solve the dilemmas of classroom practice. • Is aware of and questions the assumptions and values he or she brings to teaching, • Is attentive to the institutional and cultural contexts in which he or she teaches, • Takes part in curriculum development and is involved in school change efforts; and • Takes responsibility for his or her own professional development • The teachers act as a reflective or instructing the students.
- 50. • Maximize sociopolitical awareness of their learners using consciousness-raising, problem- posing activities. • Become aware of inequalities and injustice in society. • Address them in purposeful and peaceful ways • Classroom reality is socially constructed and historically determined. Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals
- 51. Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals Critical pedagogists view teachers as : professionals who are able and willing to reflect upon the ideological principles that inform their practice, who connect pedagogical theory and practice to wider social issues, and who work together to share ideas, exercise power over the conditions of their labor, and embody in their teaching a vision of a better and more humane life” (Giroux and McLaren, 1989, p. xxii as cited in Kumaravadivelu (2003).
- 52. Giroux points to the role that teachers : who develop counter hegemonic pedagogies that not only empower students by giving them the knowledge and social skills they will need to be able to function in the larger society as critical agents, but also educate them for transformative action Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals
- 53. Figure 3.3. A hierarchy of teacher roles Adopted From Kumaravadivelu (2003) Teacher as transformative intellectuals Teachers as reflective practitioner Teachers as passive technician
- 54. Particularity Practicality Possibility Three pedagogic parameters or operating principles
- 55. The parameter of particularity Requires that any language pedagogy, to be relevant, must be sensitive to : a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu. (Kumaravadivelu ,2006)
- 56. Parameter of practicality Entails a teacher-generated theory of practice. It recognizes that no theory of practice can be fully useful and usable unless it is generated through practice. A logical corollary is that it is the practicing teacher who, given adequate tools for exploration, is best suited to produce such a practical theory. In this sense, a theory of practice involves continual reflection and action.
- 57. Parameter of possibility They call for recognition of Learners’ and teachers’ subject-positions, that is, their class, race, gender, and ethnicity, and for sensitivity toward their impact on education. concerned with individual identity. “Language is the place where actual and possible forms of social organization and their likely social and political consequences are defined and contested. (Weeden (1987, p. 21) cited in Nilufer (2017)
- 58. Macro and Micro Teaching Macro and micro teaching help dictate what a teacher teaches, how the teacher provides that instruction and who is included in each classroom activities. Ipatenco (2017) Macro teaching: occurs when a teacher provides instruction to the entire class at one time for an extended period of time. Macro lesson planning involves mapping out the bare bones of the entire school year . Macro teaching is when a teacher teaches a large group of people.
- 59. Micro teaching: occurs when a teacher works with a small group of students for a short period of time. Ipatenco (2017) Micro lesson planning happens when a teacher creates individual classroom activities that occur on a day-to-day basis. Murugan (2016) stated that micro teaching is a method that enables teacher trainee’s to practice a skill or combination of skills by teaching short lessons to a small number of students, or a group of peers. In short, Macro teaching occurred when the teacher gives instruction to the entire class at one for extended period of time while micro teaching occurred when the teaching occurred when the teacher work with small group of students for short period of time. Macro and Micro Teaching
- 60. Macro strategic frame work Maximizing learning opportunities Facilitating negotiated interaction minimizing perceptual mismatch Activate intuitive heuristics Promote Learner Autonomy Foster language awareness Contextualizing linguistic in put Raise Cultural Awareness Ensure social relevance Integrated language skills
- 61. Macro strategic frame work Maximize learning opportunities Teachers both as creators and utilizers of learning opportunities. creators of learning opportunities : Willing to modify their lesson plans based on feedback to suit the needs of target learners utilizers of learning opportunities (created by learners) Duties: Shouldn’t ignore contributory discourse from learners Must bring learners’ problems to the attention of the class
- 62. Meaningful learner-learner, teacher-learner interaction. Activities related to learners’ intrinsic motivation can be focused on. Encouraging ‘peer-initiated’ and ‘self- initiated’ topics to discuss. Clarification Confirmation Comprehension checks Requests Repairing Reacting Turn taking Facilitate Negotiated Interaction
- 63. The mismatch between teachers and students There are different perceptual mismatches Minimize perceptual mismatches Mismatches Cognitive Cultural communicative Evaluative Linguistic Procedural Pedagogy Instructional Strategic Attitudinal
- 64. Equipping students with authentic materials Help learners ‘self-direct’ and ‘self-monitor’ their own erudition. Involves helping learners learn how to learn. Promote Learner Autonomy
- 65. Foster language awareness A person’s sensitivity to and awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life How to achieve? (Teacher’s role) Draw learners’ attention to the formal properties of L2 deliberately Lessons should be learner-oriented, cyclic & holistic Strategies adopted: Understanding, general principals & operational experience
- 66. Contextualizing linguistic in put Focus on syntactic, semantic, pragmatic features of language. Language skills are essentially interrelated Isolation of four skills is uncomfortable for students. Language best developed when it is learnt holistically (Rigg, 1991 as cited in Kumaravadivelu, 1994) Word/s sentence/s meaningful contexts
- 67. The nature of language is integrated shouldn’t be taught in discrete items How to achieve? (Teacher’s role) Classroom teacher takes more responsibility than textbooks authors / syllabus writers Succeed / fail in creating contexts for meaning making within classrooms ( language learning scenarios, problem-solving tasks, simulation & gaming role plays) Contextualizing linguistic in put
- 68. The Three-Dimensional Framework The Intra-lingual and Cross-lingual Dimension The Analytic-experiential Dimension The Explicit-implicit Dimension
- 69. Giving opportunity to differentiate between own culture and the culture of target language. Emphasizes the need to treat learners as cultural informants . Culture teaching aims at helping the learners gain an understanding of the native speaker’s perspective, both teachers & learners can be the cultural informants It enables ‘cultural versatility’, raise learners’ self-esteem, raise cultural awareness, and gives opportunity to differentiate between own culture and the culture of target language, Raise Cultural Awareness
- 70. Integrated language skills Traditional sequencing & identification of language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing (= remnant of audio-lingual era) Fragmenting language skills runs counter to the parallel & interactive nature of language and language behaviour Must integrate language skills effective language teaching Knowledge & language ability are best developed when it is learned and used holistically
- 71. Ensure social relevance: McPhail (2013) explained Ensure Social Relevance, The need for teachers to be sensitive about: societal, political, economic, and educational environment where L2 takes place.
- 72. The Intra-lingual and Cross-lingual Dimension While intra-lingual strategy involves keeping the two language systems completely separate from each other, cross- lingual strategy suggests that L2 is acquired and known through the use of first language. In other words, this principle does not bring any restrictions regarding the use of native language in the classroom unlike many conventional methods It is suggested that cross-linguistic techniques are appropriate at the initial stages of language learning whereas intra-lingual techniques are appropriate in advanced stages.
- 73. Intra-cultural L1 as reference system Immersion in l2 No translation Direct method Coordinate bilingualism Cross cultural L2 as reference system Comparison between l1 and l2 Translation GTM Compound bilingualism The Intra-lingual and Cross-lingual Dimension
- 74. The Analytic-experiential Dimension While the analytic strategy involves explicit focus on forms of language such as grammar, vocabulary, notions and functions with emphasis on accuracy; experiential strategy is message oriented and involves interaction in communicative contexts with emphasis on fluency (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Experiential strategy; on the other hand, emphasizes meaningful activities such as projects, games, problem-solving tasks, writing a report, discussion and giving a talk. Stern (1992) as cited in Nilufer (2017) puts forward that one type of strategy cannot be effective without the other type.
- 75. Focus on code Observation Focus on language Emphasis on accuracy Linguistics interaction Language practice F0cuse on communication Participation Focus on topic/purpose Emphasis on fluency Interpersonal interaction Language use The Analytic-experiential Dimension
- 76. The Explicit-implicit Dimension language can be taught both explicitly through conscious learning and implicitly through subconscious acquisition. Decision on the degree of using explicit and implicit strategies depend on the language topic, the course objectives, the characteristics of the students, the needs, students’ age, maturity, and previous experience (Stern, 1992 as cited in Nilufer , 2017). While some forms of language are of an appropriate complexity to be presented and taught explicitly, other forms are not easy to be introduced explicitly as “language can be much too complex to be fully described” (Stern, 1992, p. 339 as cited in as cited in
- 77. Rational/formal Conscious learning Cognitivism Inferring Systematic study deliberate The Explicit-implicit Dimension Intuitive Subconscious learning Behaviorism Mimicry and memory Exposure to language use incidental
- 78. To sum up in my presentation : whole language , multiple intelligence and beyond methods The Whole Language was created in the 1980s by a group of U.S. Educators. The Whole Language aims to help young children to read and write naturally with a focus on real communication, and to do these skills for pleasure.
- 79. To sum up Multiple intelligence developed by Howard Gardeners in 1983 There are nine intelligences All human beings possess all intelligences in varying amounts Each person has a different intellectual composition We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students Multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened
- 80. To sum up Not an alternative method, but alternative to methods. Allows teachers to look at language teaching and learning from a different and innovative perspective. Pedagogy doesn’t imply the end of methods, rather it is a mélange of theoretical knowledge of methods and practical understanding. Need to become researchers and practitioners to move beyond the idealistic domain of the methods The focus should be shifted from method based pedagogy to a post method pedagogy ‘To teach is to be full of hope’ ( Cuban, 1989)
- 81. Thank You