Reflective.docx
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Reflective.docx
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Reflective
Reflective Teaching in EFL:
Integrating Theory and Practice
作者:
Santiago… 文章来源:
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1451 更新时间:
2006-8-13
Introduction
Thereisatendency--atleastwithinSpanishUniversities--toseparatelinguistictheoryfrommethodologyinlanguageteaching.Ourunderstandingisthatlinguistictheoreticalinputshouldnotsystematicallybetaughtindependentlyofpedagogicalconsiderations.Instead,itmaybeverybeneficialtointegratelinguistictheorywithinthepracticalmethodologicalframeworkinwhichlanguageteachersbecomeinvolvedintheirprofessionalcareers.Thisisspeciallythecaseinappliedlinguisticswherebothdiscourseandgenreanalysis(Swales,1990;Fairclough,1992;Bhatia,1993)representanimportanttoolforlinguistsintheireffortstocomprehendthevariationoflanguageacrossdifferenttypesoftexts.
Ouraimistoovercomesomeoftheproblemsbasedontheexistinggapbetweentheoreticalinputandpedagogicalteachertraining.WeagreewithLewiswhenhestates:
Manynon-nativeshavespentmanyyearsstudyingthelanguagebuttheirtheoreticalstudies--philology,phonetics,linguisticsandthelike--arefrequentlynotrelatedtopedagogyandtheclassroom.Extensivetheoreticalknowledgewhichprecedesclassroomexperienceoftenremainstooabstractforteacherstoseeitsrelevance?
(1993,p.189)
Inordertoovercomethisgap,wearedevisingagraduateprogramforEnglishLanguageTeachersatUniversitatJaumeI,Castelló(Spain),placingaspecialemphasisonmakingtheseprospectiveEFL/ESLlanguageteachersawareoftherelevanceofappliedlinguisticsresearchtoolsinthedevelopmentofsyllabusesandcoursedesign.Thisawarenessisraisedbymeansofathoroughreflectiveprocessonlanguageteachinganditsimplications.Therelevanceofthisreflectiveapproachhasbeenattestedbyaseriesofstudies(Bartlett,1990;Korthagen,1993;Hatton&Smith,1995;James,1996;Farrell,1999).[-1-]
Thesamplecoursesinthisgraduateprogram,aspresentedinthispaper,arebasedonpreviousinvestigationsintheareaofgenreanddiscourseanalysisinBusinessEnglish,EAP/ESPandESLbyourlinguisticsresearchgroupfinancedbyBancaixa,aSpanishprivatebankinginstitutionwhichmainlyoperatesontheMediterraneancoast(Posteguillo,1996;Fortanet,Palmer&Posteguillo,1997).
UniversitatJaumeI
UniversitatJaumeIisaneweducationalinstitutionfoundedin1991.TheUniversityisdividedinthreemainschoolsandoneinstitute:
theSchoolofSocialSciences,theSchoolofLawandEconomics,theSchoolofExperimentalSciences,andtheTileIndustryInstitute.
Thereare19degreesofferedatUniversitatJaumeI.TheSchoolofSocialSciencesofferscoursesonPsychology,Humanities,TranslationandInterpretation,andEnglishPhilology,aswellasfourdifferentdegreesonPrimaryEducationTeaching.TheSchoolofLawandEconomicsoffersLawStudies,BusinessStudies,BusinessAdministrationandManagement,PublicManagementandLabourRelations.Finally,theSchoolofExperimentalSciencescomprisesthedegreesinChemistry,ChemicalEngineering,TechnicalEngineeringinComputerScienceManagement,ComputerScienceEngineering,IndustrialEngineering,andTechnicalEngineeringinIndustrialDesign.TheTileIndustryInstituteremainsasaresearch-orientedinstitutionincoordinationwiththeSchoolofExperimentalSciencesandmosttile-relatedcompaniesintheCastellóarea.
Asignificantanduniquefeatureinallthedegreesabove-mentionedisthatEnglishisacompulsorysubject.ThisisnotonlybecaauseEnglishisaninternationallanguageforresearchinmostacademicdisciplines,butalsobecauseoftheparticularneedofEnglishlanguageskillswithintheCastellóindustrialcommunity.Infact,90%oftheSpanishtile-relatedindustryisconcentratedinafairlysmallarea(ofabout300,000inhabitants).Thisisaexport-orientedindustryforwhichEnglishlanguageisanessentialtool.Additionally,thisisaveryimportanttouristareaontheSpanishMediterraneanCoast.Previousresearch(Palmer&Posteguillo,1996)indicatesthatamong59companiesinterviewed,54confirmedthattheyusedEnglishlanguagedaily.Additionally,datashowedthatEnglishwastheforeignlanguagemostfrequentlyusedamongthesecompanies(with58.6%ofthetotalusageofforeignlanguages),followedbyFrench(24.5%),Italian(10.2%),andGerman(6.3%).
Theorangeindustry,furniturefirms,andevensomeoilcompanies(viz.BritishPetroleum)completeanexport-basedsociety.WhenourUniversitywasfounded,itwasagreedthatallstudentsshouldacquireatleastanintermediatelevelofEnglishproficiencyand,insomedegrees(e.g.,business,computerscience,andteaching,amongothers)anadvancedproficiencylevelinEnglish.ThissocialdemandthatourUniversityagreedtosatisfytransmittedagrowinginterestandneedforEnglishlanguageteacherstootherco-lateralteachinginstitutions.Thoseco-lateralinstitutionswereprimaryandsecondarypublicschools,privateschoolsandotherteachingcentres,suchastheOfficialSchoolofLanguages,privatelanguageacademies,theChamberofCommerce,andseveralothercentres.[-2-]
Thissituation,inturn,madeustakeheedwhendesigningthecurriculumofourownEnglishPhilologydegree,whichrepresentsthemainteacher-trainingcentre.Thefour-yearEnglishPhilologycurriculumwasinfactrevised,andseveralnewcoursesincluded,allofwhichfocusedspecificallyondevelopinglanguageteacherskills.
However,afterafewyearswithsomeofourstudentsinvolvedintheirteachingprofessions,andsomeevenattendinggraduatecourseswithinourownuniversity,wenoticedthatourobjectiveofintegratingthelanguageteachingcoursesinapreviouslylinguisticandliterature-orienteddegreehadnotbeenfullysatisfactory.Therewasagapbetweenlinguistictheoryandlanguageteachereducation,anditwasouraimtofindasolution.
Thegapbetweenlinguistictheoryandlanguageteachereducation
ThisgapisclearlydetectedattheundergraduatelevelatmostSpanishuniversities.Forinstance,ifwerevisetheEnglishStudiescurriculumofferedatourUniversity,asubstantialgapappearsbetweenourlinguistictheorycoursesontheonehand,andcoursesonlanguageteachingskillsontheother.Inotherwords,theoreticallinguisticinputissystematicallytaughtseparatelyfrompracticalmethodologyinlanguageteaching.Accordingly,undergraduatestudentsfinishtheirEnglishstudieswiththeideathatlanguageteachingandlinguisticshavenothingincommon.
Thecurriculumforanyfour-yearEnglishdegreeataSpanishuniversityusuallyprovidesthreemaintypesofcourses:
thosedealingwithliteraturewritteninEnglish,studiesonlinguistics,orlanguageteachingclasses.AtUniversitatJaumeIatCastellóthissituationisreproducedwithallcoursesfallingintothesethreemaincategories.Thus,wefindthefirstgroupofcoursesfocusingonEnglishliteraturestudies,withtwosubcategories:
coursesonliteratureitself,andcoursesonliterarycriticism.Thosebelongingtothefirstsubcategoryare:
EnglishLiteratureI,II,IIIandIV,IntroductiontoAmericanLiterature,AmericanLiteratureIandIIand,finally,OtherLiteraturesinEnglishLanguageIandII.Inrelationtoliterarycriticism,studentsmaytakeStylisticsinEnglishLiteratureIandII.
TheoreticalLinguistics,thesecondmaincategoryofcoursesofferedinanEnglishdegreeatSpanishuniversities,isrepresentedbyalargevarietyofsubjects:
IntroductiontoLinguistics,EnglishLexicology,TheoreticalLinguistics,DiscourseAnalysis,AppliedLinguistics,Dialectology,Sociolinguistics,ComputationalLinguistics,DiachronicLinguistics,andTheoryofSpeechActs.CoursesinLanguageTeacherEducationarerepresentedbythefollowingsubjects:
TeachingEnglishforSpecificPurposesIandII,MethodologyIandII,andTeachingSkillsfortheLanguageClassroom.[-3-]
Besidesthegapbetweentheoreticallinguisticscoursesandthosefocusedonlanguageteachingskills,thereisalsoaquiteunbalancedsituationregardingtheacademicloadthateachofthesetypesofcoursesoccupyinthecurriculum:
therearetencoursesonlinguistics,andonlyfivedevotedtolanguageteaching;literaturedoesnotsufferfromthisdiscrimination,withelevenspecificcoursesbeingtaught.
Integrationofsourcedisciplinestolanguageteachertraining:
areflectiveprocess
Asindicatedabove,ouraimistheintegrationoftheoreticallinguisticscourseswiththoseinmethodologyandlanguageteachertraining.Webelievethatthewaytoachievethisintegrationisthroughthekeyconceptofreflection.Bartlett(1990,p.204)states:
Improvementofteachingmaybeachievedthroughreflection.Reflectionismorethan"thinking"andfocusesontheday-to-dayclassroomteachingoftheindividualteacheraswellastheinstitutionalstructuresinwhichteacherandstudentswork.
InBartlett'sopinion,thisprocessofreflectionshouldbeaimedatbecomingacriticallyreflectiveteacher.Inordertodothis,teachershavetotranscendthemethodologicalstageandbecomeimmersedinthewidercontextofactualteaching.Hedistinguishesbetweenhowtoquestionsandwhat/whyquestions.Howtoquestionswouldbethosedirectlyrelatedtothemethodologicalconcernsofteaching,whereaswhat/whyquestionsextendthereflectiveprocesstoincludeissuessuchasthefollowing:
Whatcountsasknowledgeinsecondlanguageteaching?
[蒥Howiswhatcountsasknowledgetransmitted?
[蒥Whatkindofmulticulturalsocietyorculturalsystemusesthisknowledgelegitimately?
[蒥Whatisthenatureofknowledgethatguidesmyteachingofcontent?
(Bartlett,1990,p.206)
Bartlettdoessuggestthatteachersshou
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