Many ELL come from countries where the teacher dominates the classroom. The teacher lectures to the class. The teacher is the only one who does all the talking while the students are expected to be quiet and listen to the teacher. The only time a student talks in class is if the teacher asks the student a question. Students memorize information, regurgitate that information on a test to evaluate mastery of a new skill or new lesson introduced by the teacher. The student is not expected to do any problem solving or critical thinking in the class. Students do what Bloom's Taxonomy considers the two lower levels of learning--the gathering of knowledge from the teacher and then understanding the new concepts presented by the teacher and then evaluated using multiple choice/matching/True False questions. No higher order thinking like application to students' life, analysis of problem, or synthesis are expected from the student. Students are not expected to form their own opinions because only the teacher is the expert on the topic, so only the teacher is allowed to have an opinion on the topic. This is the passive way of learning where students listen and teacher lecture, assign assignments and tests, correct errors, give feedback and give a final grade. The teacher gives orders, while the student plays a passive subordinate role. Many countries in South America, Asia and Europe use this teacher centered classroom way of learning.The parents schooling experiences in the country of origin affect the way the children's schooling is perceived. Information about parents and students previous schooling is vital not only for making curricular adjustments but also for taking an affirmative posture toward the learner. Some immigrant parents for example arrived from countries stressed the authoritarian style school: the adult commands and the children play a subordinate role. Placing a child from such a setting into one an educational setting of academic and physical freedom often confuses the learner. In some countries, children are exposed to a fairly standardized pedagogy nationwide, and there is a high degree of uniformity in pedagogy methods. Families from such backgrounds, the variety of options available in most American school systems today may seem puzzling. A predominant approach to instruction in some countries emphasizes memorizing information rather than problem posing, inquiry-driven, or open -ended learning activities. Students or parents accustomed to such a pedagogy may feel uncomfortable initially with the critical thinking and discussion format that they may encounter a new school environment. The student may have been rewarded previously for taking a passive learning role, or the family may have expected as him or her to assume that role. A teacher who is aware of the different traditions that enabled the student or the student's parents is to survive previous academic environment can help this student adjust to a more active role… Stamdardized tests, authentic assessment, varied grading systems, learner centered instruction, cooperative learning structures and interactive experience learning are among many practices that may be unfamiliar to immigrant parents or their children . (Ovando, 16)
As a result, students may have difficulty in a Discovery Inquiry learning situation such as the American Educational system which does not emphasize rote memorization, but instead emphasize a more hands on approach to teaching where students are involved in their learning by doing projects, writing papers, problem solving, giving opinions, exploration of new topics and ideas with the teacher more as a guide than as a master or lecturer. Students will have to be taught how to participate in class, how to speak out and how to formulate their own opinions. Students will have to 'unlearn' the memorization passive learning roles they had assumed in the end. Teachers who know that many ELL students come from a more teacher centered classroom can then create lessons to teach ELL the expectations of the Discovery Inquiry method of critical thinking and opinion making in an American classroom.
When I first started teaching, UCLA taught me a lot of teaching theory about Second Language Acquisition, Linguistics, Phonetics, ESL Grammar, ESL Reading Theory and ESL Writing Theory. When I entered a classroom filled with Japanese students, I had a head full of theory, but had no idea about the previous schooling of a teacher centered classroom my Japanese students was used to in a classroom. As a result, I got up in front of the Japanese students and asked them who were their favorite movie star or I asked them their opinion on controversial topics like immigration, abortion, etc..and not a word..not a single student spoke. Nobody raised their hand. It was dead silence. I ended up doing all the talking and spouting off my opinions on all these different topics while the Japanese students politely took notes. If one student did speak, she tended to speak for the whole group. She would say " We feel....or We think...." and when I would ask her what she felt, she gave me a puzzled look.
It turns out that in Japanese culture, students are expected to be quiet. No one student gives an 'individual' opinion. When students speak in class, they speak for the group because Japanese culture is a group oriented culture. I learned all of this later on from other teachers when I went back to the Teacher's lounge to ask them why the class was so silent and why none of the students gave me their individual opinions. The teachers told me "You have to teach them how to formulate individual opinions. You have to teach them to speak up in class." So if an ESL teacher is aware of the previous schooling/customs students are used to, then she can adjust her lessons accordingly. Later on, I did teach my Japanese students to debate, form an opinion, how to speak and write the American way and then lo and behold, my Japanese students held many individual opinions on everything just like everybody else.
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