Ash FL694 Journals #3

Journal #15: Reflection on Postmethod Pedagogy

This chapter from Understanding language teaching: From method to postmethod

(Kumaravadivelu 2006) introduced me to a new researcher and various ideas related to

pedagogy. The chapter advocates for middle of the road approach to language teaching. This is

exactly how I have come to structure my own teaching; attempting to mesh the traditional and

nontraditional methodologies. I found it interesting to suggest that we abandon the term method

for strategy and was not convinced by the end of the article that such a change is not simply

semantic. Whether you call it a method or a strategy, it is the act of combining various structures

in order to promote learning that Kumaravadivelu (2006) suggests.

I greatly appreciated the validation of native language use in the classroom.

Unfortunately, in my school, we still struggle to prepare students for the switch from lower levels

of language learning where it is ok to fall back on native language explanations, and upper levels

that tend to be taught predominately in the target language. The article proposes the switch

should be a gradual and deliberate transition (Kumaravaivelu 2006 p. 188). It would be

interesting to track the amount of Spanish that is used for instruction and interaction in the lower

level classes. This data could then be looked at beside student success. Such a comparison would

greatly help guide curriculum creation while keeping expectations for students realistic.

Sometimes I feel as if my department forgets that there must be a balance between native and

target language use in order to promote confidence in the students.

One concern that I continue to have while reading the assigned articles is that the ideas

expressed often clash with mandates from administration and/or state levels. For example,

implementing the exploratory practice and focusing on the quality of life in my classroom may

not result in my students being as prepared for the next level of language learning with a
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different teacher. If students were placed in cohorts and expected to complete a certain

curriculum before graduating high school then such practices may be more feasible but as it

stands, with mandated common assessments, it just isnt a realistic strategy to fully adhere to.

Some aspects that I can consider implementing in my curriculum include the steps outlined on

page 197 (Kumaravadivelu 2006). These steps are very similar to those of Project Based

Learning. In order to accomplish curricular goals, as the teacher, I will have to limit the puzzle

students identify but I can easily construct a unit which is more student discovery focused.

Creating that sort of unit also allows for easier implementation of the macrostrategies outlined on

page 201 (Kumaravadivelu 2006). I believe I need to focus specifically on improving the way in

which I minimize perceptual mismatches, activate intuitive heuristic and foster language

awareness.

#16 Journal: Reflection on What can go into a lesson?

First off, the various garden references made me smile as I read through this chapter. The

garden metaphor is one I prefer to use when thinking about the learning and teaching process.

However, the random flower drawings and references were not (thankfully) the most intriguing

part of the chapter. Instead I found the layout and therefore the usefulness of the article. Instead

of having to sift through many citations Woodword (2001) offers a brief summary of relevant

aspects of teaching methodology and then further reading. This is a perfect tool for guiding

teachers who may struggle in a specific area. It is also a great refresher for teachers that are not

struggling to fill their class time.

Its ironic that this article came as an assignment this week because I was struggling to

figure out exactly how to best spend my time in my Spanish 2 course. Our renewed focus on the

specific language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking has stretched my creativity
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thin. In addition to a specific goals of these four language skills (students may actual benefit

from having these goals at the beginning of the semester), this article has given me a new way to

approach my lessons. Specifically I intended to use some of the ideas for increasing my

students remembering capabilities. I am continually disappointed with the quantity of

information my students remember. There are many ideas in this article to help facilitate

memory. Ive been using methods such as grouping and ordering but this year I have been

avoiding activities such as matching exercises, rote learning, and serial practice. These activities

lack the engaging, real-world and 4C abiding characteristics of other techniques. However,

Woodword (2001) reminds readers that these activities have valid learning benefits. It is my

preference that these activities be done outside of class but if these strategies are meaningful to

the students then they should be used in the class as well (Woodword 2001).

Finally, I was saddened to read that there were no available references for teaching using

situations/themes in language lessons. This is a great opportunity for further research and a great

opportunity to fill a gap in current pedagogy research. Ideally in the future I can work with

curriculum development or teaching strategy development and offer some valuable contributions

to this vain of research. This could be done through a compilation of unit planner and individual

lessons. Data tracking of the success of the language learners involved in these units would be

necessary to demonstrate their effectiveness in comparison to more traditional lesson

presentations. It would be great if I could help construct the lessons and gather the data without

having to worry about classroom management and other day to day tasks of being a teacher.

#17 Journal: A unit with a project

Im so excited about the results of teaching the students about the verb gustar through a

project. In previous years it has been one of the biggest battles of the Spanish 1 curriculum.
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Students, acting as they should, draw on previous knowledge and apply previously learned

grammatical skills to the verb and it just doesnt work that way. However, this year I provided

several examples and then asked students to create travel brochures that included multiple

examples of what they like about and what they like to do in the city they chose. The results have

been great! Not only were the brochures done accurately but students have also continued to use

the verb correctly as weve moved on to a new topic (foods).

Even though Ive read and learned a lot about the effectiveness of real world application

this is honestly the first time Ive seen its positive results first hand. Weve offered students the

opportunity to complete various projects in the past, theyve been draped in artificial contexts.

These contexts have always been geared towards eliciting specific grammatical skills instead of

eliciting authentic interest and personal investment in accurately expressing themselves. Im

looking forward to discussing the results the other Spanish teachers in my department have seen.

Hopefully similar results will boost our confidence as a professional learning team (PLT) to

continue to expand our curriculum beyond the confines of the textbook series we have relied on

for too long.

I did find myself at a loss for the students who decided not to complete the project. Not

only did their grade take a major hit for not completing a test grade but they are now also very

behind knowledge wise. In traditional units I provide many and much more structured learning

opportunities (guided notes, exit slips, pre-planned interviews, etc.). With this project based unit

this was not the case. For future semesters I will probably want to re-visit how I structure each

class period so that I can continue to offer a more structured process for those who need it in

order to be successful. For now however, I will need to be creative about how I offer remediation

and further guidance for those who are behind.

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This may be a great opportunity for me to implement some of the emotional, social

learning techniques I have learned about this year. There must be a reason these students did not

complete their assignments. If I take the time to find out and offer them reasonable ways to

improve their current grade they may begin to trust me more and therefore put more effort into

our class. I may also gain valuable insight as to why this project did not pique the interest of all

my students, allowing me to make even better revisions to next semesters version of this unit.

References
Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning.
(2nd ed.). Heinemann,
Portsmouth, NH.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Postmethod pedagogy. In Understanding language
teaching: From method
to postmethod. (pp. 185-214). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Woodword, T. (2001). What can go into a lesson? In Planning lessons and courses:
Designing sequences
of work for the language classroom. (pp. 73-108). New York: Cambridge
University Press.