Experimental learning

First Assignment
Due date: May, 30th

The group chosen is “B”. It has to do with Experimental learning (Constructivism). As the name suggests, experiential learning involves learning from experience.It builds a “bridge” from the known to the new by taking the learner’s perceptions and experiences as the point of departure for the learning process.The theory was proposed by psychologist David Kolb. According to Kolb, this type of learning can be defined as "the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combinations of grasping and transforming experience." The experiential theory emphasizes how experiences, including cognitions, environmental factors, and emotions influence the learning process. In this model the teacher is seen as a learner among learners, his/her role is to facilitate the learning process and the students have an active participation (largely in collaborative small groups). This model puts the emphases on the process (learning skills, self-inquiry, social and communicative skills) and the learner (self-directed learning). Its motivation is mainly intrinsic and the evaluation is process-orientated (reflection on process, self-assessment; criterion-referencing) According to the view of knowledge, is a personal knowledge construction and identification of problem. The curriculum is dynamic; with looser organization of subject matter, including open parts and integration. Group B:
Comprehensible input:
Comprehensible input means that students should be able to understand the essence of what is being said or presented to them. This does not mean, however, that teachers must use only words students understand. In fact, instruction can be incomprehensible even when students know all of the words. Students learn a new language best when they receive input that is just a bit more difficult than they can easily understand. In other words, students may understand most, but not all, words the teacher is using.
Making teacher talk comprehensible to students goes beyond the choice of vocabulary and involves presentation of background and context, explanation and rewording of unclear content, and the use of effective techniques such as graphic organizers. By using context or visual cues, or by asking for clarification, students enhance their knowledge of English. When input is comprehensible, students understand most aspects of what is required for learning, and the learning experience pushes them to greater understanding.

Scaffolding and ZPD: “The Zone of Proximal Development is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance” The scaffolding teaching strategy provides individualized support based on the learner’s ZPD.The scaffolds facilitate a student’s ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The activities provided in scaffolding instruction are just beyond the level of what the learner can do alone. The more capable other provides the scaffolds so that the learner can accomplish (with assistance) the tasks that he or she could otherwise not complete, thus helping the learner through the ZPD. Vygotsky defined scaffolding instruction as the “role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level.
Play in the classroom:
Cook points out that language play includes mimicry and repetition, the explicit discussion of rules and the linking for “form-driven rather than meaning –driven behaviour”. Play and language play is often a collaborative affair, playful mislabelling and puns often generated extended repair sequences that could be seen as informal “language lessons” focused on formal aspects of language. Finally, as Cook has pointed out, humour and playful activities occupy large amounts of our real-life existence. The formulaic jokes and dialogue of much ELT may be extremely useful for student language development.
Focus on form:
It occurs when students direct their conscious attention to some feature of the language, such as verb tense, a new word or structure) It can happen at any stage of a learning sequence as the result of intervention by the teacher, or because students themselves notice a language feature. Focus on form is often incidental and opportunistic, growing out of task which students are involved in, rather than being pre-determined by a book or a syllabus.
Affective filter
S. Krashen claims for the beneficial value of comprehensible input depends upon students being relaxed and feeling positive and unthreatened. If they are not, then their affective filter is raised and blocks the input from being absorbed and processed. But if, on the other hand, the affective filter is lowered-because students are relaxed- then the comprehensible input the students are exposed to will contribute far more effectively to their acquisition of new language.
Noticing
It describes a condition which is necessary if the language a students is exposed to is to become language “intake”, that is language he or she takes in. Unless the student notices the new language, he or she is unlikely to process it, and therefore the chances of learning it are slim.
1. Describe a teaching- learning situation in which all of these words occur. A successful teaching learning situation is when the atmosphere in the classroom is relaxed, happy, and well-ordered (affective filter). Success is a great motivator; both positive and negative feeling will affect the learning process. Therefore, try to make each child feel successful and praise their attempts enthusiastically. Errors need to be corrected, but use positive and tactful feedback so that children feel sure and confident and not be afraid of making mistakes. Games (play in the classroom) provide a natural context for language practice and are very popular with children. They promote the development of wider cognitive skills such as memory, sequences, motor skills and deductive skills. Another important element to take into account in a teaching learning situation is when the student is exposed to an activity where he/she can balance both the familiar and new language. Children develop the confidence to recognize and use the language they already know and the new information with the guide of a teacher (Scaffolding-ZPD)
For example: (Presenting new vocabulary) to introduce new words in relation to a unit’s topic, the teacher can bring flashcards to present new vocabulary or posters which offer the learners a more complex visual stimuli. Teacher may also ask students if they know other words related to the topic. In that way, you are exposing children to their previous knowledge. With Flashcards and posters, a number of activities can be carried out: predicting and anticipating, descriptions, mind maps, re-order the stage, mime and point, label the pictures, try to remember (memory games), say as many words as possible about…, etc. These ranges of activities allow the teacher to interact with the students in the classroom. For example, use the same flashcards you have been using, and hold them facing you so children cannot see them, after that, show the card for a very short time and ask what’s this? And continue until you have practiced all the words. Besides this, you can teach grammar through examples rather than explanation. Say the student the word you had already taught so that he or she can try to make a sentence using the word given. Apart from that, teacher can use songs or chants where children can practise new target grammar structures or vocabulary. Melody and rhythm are an essential aid to memory. By singing, children are able to forget fears and shyness and practise the language in a joyful way together. Finally, the teacher can use worksheets that can be a great help for students to put into practice everything they have learned. Students are given the opportunity to make productions by themselves.
Activities suitable for all edges.

2. Method: Total Physical Response: It is based on the coordination of language and physical movement. Students of any age, especially kinaesthetic learners, benefit from associating language with movement and actions. The more the body is involved in the learning process, the more likely the student is to absorb and retain the information.The majority of class time in TPR lessons is spent doing drills in which the instructor gives commands using the imperative mood. Students respond to these commands with physical actions. Initially, students learn the meaning of the commands they hear by direct observation. After they learn the meaning of the words in these commands, the teacher issues commands that use novel combinations of the words the students have learned.
Activities for TPR lessons:
Simon says….
A typical Total Physical Response lesson might involve the teacher introducing a situation in which students follow a set of commands using actions. For example, ask the children to stand at their desk. Then explain that you are going to give instructions. If the instruction begins with the word Simon says…, children must do as you ask. If not, they stand still and wait for the next instruction. Any child who gets this wrong is out of the game and has to sit down. Give tan instruction that is relevant to the unit’s language, e.g. Simon says…brush your teeth; Simon says…read a comic; Simon say…eat cereal. Intermittently insert an instruction which is not preceded by “Simon says…” to see which children are really paying attention.
TPR Storyline: (script)
Other ideas in a TPR lesson: Before reading a children's story, the teacher select some action words and ask the students to perform these actions as you encounter them in the pages. After that, tell students to act out the story with simply drama activities. Play the recording. Pause after each line for children to repeat. Then, divide the class into two groups, with each child having a different role in the story. Each child says the lines of his / her assigned character. The teacher encourages children to perform actions as they speak. Drama, by appealing to the imagination, is an excellent way for children to lose themselves in the story, thereby increasing their communicative ability.
Activities mainly use for children
Teaching materials
Usually props such as pictures, posters or real objects accompany the actions. Some actions may be real while others are pretended.Teaching materials are not compulsory, and for the very first lessons they may not be used.

3. Examples of text books for each method:
Presentation, Practice and Production: Presentation – Practice – Production, or PPP, is a method for teaching structures (e.g. grammar or vocabulary) in a foreign language. As its name suggests, PPP is divided into three phases, moving from tight teacher control towards greater learner freedom. Note that some writers use the name to refer to a specific method that focuses on oral skills, but it can also be applied more broadly to a family of related methods which rely on the progression from presentation, through controlled practice, to free production

Example taken from “Excellent” 1 Pupil’s book and Activity Book by Coralyn Bradshaw and Jill Hadfiled -Longman
Communicative Language Teaching: Communicative language teaching can be understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching (communicative competence). How learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom. Examples taken from the course book: “Passages 2” Jack C. Richards and Chuck Sandy 1998 Cambridge.

Task-Based Learning: Task-based learning focuses on the use of authentic language through meaningful tasks such as visiting the doctor or a telephone call. This method encourages meaningful communication and is student-centred.
Characteristics:
Students are encouraged to use language creatively and spontaneously through tasks and problem solving
Students focus on a relationship that is comparable to real world activities
The conveyance of some sort of meaning is central to this method
Assessment is primarily based on task outcome
TBLT is student-centred
Examples taken from the book:

Lexical Approach: The lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages described by M. Lewis in the 1990s. The basic concept on which this approach rests is the idea that an important part of learning a language consists of being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students are thought to be able to perceive patterns of language (grammar) as well as have meaningful set uses of words at their disposal when they are taught in this way. In the lexical approach, instruction focuses on fixed expressions that occur frequently in dialogues, which Lewis claims make up a larger part of discourse than unique phrases and sentences. Vocabulary is prized over grammar per se in this approach. The teaching of chunks and set phrases has become common in English as a second or foreign language, though this is not necessarily primarily due to the Lexical Approach.
Example taken from the book: “English in Mind” 1b by Puchta Herbert and Stranks Jeff 2nd edition. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS