E-learning (week 3) - Bao Ru

Basically, two main theories or paradigms are enacted in the lesson plan – behaviourism and interactionism.

Behaviourism
Firstly, for behaviourism, I could identify in the lesson plan that the teacher is concerned with the students learning in general. The students are seen as ‘clean slates’ as the teacher imparts her knowledge to them. For example, in main activity 1, there is a teacher talk session where the teacher teaches them expressing speech with varying pitch and tone. The teacher then explicitly emphasizes to the students that they should use a falling tone for syllables ending with a full stop or exclamation mark, as well as a rising tone for syllables ending before a comma or question mark. The students just accept the fact without questioning the teacher about the rules. According to Christine and Rita (2006), “Grammatical rules did not have to be explained because teachers were to teach the language, not about the language” (p. 42). Hence, the rules were taught through repetitive drills without explanation. This proceeds on in the lesson plan that after the teacher told them the requirement for adopting the varying pitch and tone, the teacher then got the class to listen to an audio clip of the scripted conversation. The main purpose of this activity may be to further reiterate the rules to the students by letting them hear the different pitches and tones used in the audio clip before application. Thus, students can remember the rules better with an example to model from. Bandura’s social learning theory under behaviourism states that behaviours are learned quickly through observation and imitation of others (learning-theories.com). Besides modelling, imitation and memorisation, the lesson plan also depicts practical or application session where the students are to practise conversing with their pairs using the script. The script is exactly the one earlier, so they can better assess themselves if they read like the speakers from the audio clip and meet the requirements for the rules their teacher has set for them. With the feedback or reinforcement given by their partner, the student undergoes a habit formation where he/she will remember what needs to be improved and what he/she has done well. Behaviourist theory is identified as reinforcement increases the frequency of a response and decreases any undesirable response. Therefore, the student will be able to achieve the objectives through these learning tasks set for them.

Interactionism
Secondly, interactionism is also enacted in the lesson plan. It is concerned with the social aspect of learning in the environment through the meaningful linguistic input and interaction with peers. This theory also means adopting a variety of different approaches to teaching which include content-based and task-based activities. For example, in the second main activity, 6 students are selected to read a line of the script given out to them. They are not taught explicitly how to go about reading it, such as what is the appropriate pitch and tone to adopt. However, there are instructions stated on the paper on how they can go about expressing the speech. Then the other peers will answer the questions posed by the teacher which is to match the tone and expression of the reader. The teacher will then call upon some students to explain why they have chosen the particular answer. This content-based activity has little reliance on drill work and memorisation and has less explicit, rule-based teaching. This is because the students may by then would already know and remember the rules imparted to them in the first main activity and in this second main activity, they would know how to assess people on their expressiveness according to what they have learnt. They are then able to provide interactional feedback and comments to explain their answer. In the post activity, the students are split into pairs to work on the learning task set by the teacher. They are required to listen to 3 different audio recordings and then comment on the intonation and pace adopted by the readers. They are then required to communicate and discuss with their partner to give an overall grade on the readers based on the checklist given out to them. Other than negotiating what grade to give to the readers, they also need to interact with each other to give a reason for justification of the grade they have given using the criteria on the checklist. This task-based activity is a proof of interactionism as the students can manage the task on their own without assistance from the teacher. This maximises the students’ capacity to learn as it is more learner-centred and less teacher-centred.

Strengths
Firstly, a variety of ICT tools are adopted in the lesson. These include video clip, audio clip/ recordings, IFS, computers with internet access, E-portal system, microphone and headphone. The use of computers for teaching and learning is implemented to draw learners’ attention (Chapelle and Jamieson, 2008). Towndrow (2007) supported that teachers incorporate ICT tools into the lesson to increase in interaction, variety and flexibility. I feel that the teacher has adopted the ICT tools appropriately in the lesson where activities are useful and beneficial for the class. For example, the video clip used in the pre-activity will definitely amuse and entertain the students which make them pay attention to what is going to portray in their lesson. The activities carried out allow students to practise what they have learnt, by recording their own speech in the E-portal system. In addition, the students are also asked to work in pairs to assess learning and give reason for justification in the E-portal forum. Every pair will also be asked to post a reply to another group’s justification to say if they agree or disagree with that group’s justification. I feel that learning does not only evolve around oneself and believe that getting each pair to reply and comment on other group’s justification promote in-depth learning. Nonetheless, incorporating ICT into lesson planning is necessary as “children are generally excited about using technology” and “ICT is acknowledged for its power to motivate, engage and empower especially in the area of providing access to information” (Towndrow, 2007, p. 39).

Secondly, there is evidence that the learning objectives are specific with the details of what is to be accomplished at the end of the lesson stated clearly. For example, it is stated that the students will be able to express speech with varying pitch and tone, such as using a fall tone for syllables before a full stop and exclamation mark as well as using a rise tone for syllables before a comma or question mark.

Thirdly, there is reiteration on the requirement of tone and pitch of speech. After the teacher has explicitly taught them the language rules, she would play audio recordings and get them to apply what they have learnt into practice by judging what makes a good reader in the post activity to consolidate the whole lesson carried out. Drill and memorisation are also adopted on the students when the teacher reinforces that the tone of speeches must match the given description of how the speech is meant to be expressed in the second main activity. I feel that although it is important to make learning fun to allow students to think out of the box to promote critical thinking, sometimes drill and practice are still essential to allow the students to remember the rules and facts. Thus, it provides the teacher to evaluate and assess students’ learning through the exercises later on to gauge how much the students have absorbed. Behaviourist theory also works well as reinforcement would increase the frequency of a response and decreases any undesirable response (learning-theories.com). Therefore, the student will be able to achieve the objective set for them.

Lastly, pair work discussion is adopted which fulfils the interactionist theory. This maximises learning when they are given the opportunity to work with their peers. Students learn best when they are interacting and socialising with one another, where they collaborate and share their own views, which at the same time accepting their peer’s views. Hence, in main activity 1, opportunities are provided for the students to work in pairs whereby they can provide feedback on their partner’s reading and learn from the feedback provided by the partner. In the post activity, the pairs once again work together to comment on the audio recordings where they exchange thoughts and ideas on what makes a good reader, before commenting on other group’s post. Chapelle and Jamieson (2008) stated that it is good to engage learners with opportunities to interact with one another so as to promote clarification of learning doubts they have and thus, learn from one another.

Weaknesses
Firstly, the lesson is largely teacher-centred as there are teacher-talk sessions with explicit instruction especially in the first main activity. It is acceptable that teachers are usually the ones who make the decision in setting learning tasks in the classroom. However, student-centred learning is essential to promote full participation in the learning tasks. With the active role they play, meaningful learning is exhibited. Towndrow (2008) suggested the four dimensions of student-centred instruction – climate, content, process and outcome. I believe that two out of the four dimensions can be further improved in the lesson plan. For content, students should be encouraged to select their learning resources based on their needs and interests. For process, students are given the opportunity to deal with issues in a collaborative way. Perhaps the students can work with different partner as there are 2 activities that involve pair work. Working with different people will allow them to be exposed to different learning abilities of their peers, thus allowing more exchanging of ideas.

Secondly, I feel that teachers should not use technology for the sake of using it without keeping in mind what are the objectives they want the students to attain at the end of the lesson. “Not everything done in class needs to involve using ICT. The trick is to choose where and when its use will add value to both the teacher’s and students’ experiences” (Towndrow, 2007, p. 70). Technology can also make the teaching and learning poor if the tools are not used in a strategic way. It is acceptable for the teacher to select the Friends video for the pre-activity to activate students’ schema. Perhaps, the teacher can provide more scaffolding questions that are in line with the objectives (as the video depicts more on enunciation instead of intonation) so students will be able to see the link to the lesson.

Lastly, it does not seem appropriate to play the audio script of the couple arguing in the first main activity for the students to explore the intonation used. It is a good point that the recording is conversed by local speakers so that students will be able to relate very well with their own. However, the content does not seem to appeal to the Primary 5 students. Furthermore, students might not be able to catch the intonation used by the speakers as their pacing is rather fast.