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Presented by Ola Sayed Ahmed. Appropriate Methodology and Social Context by Adrian Holliday. 1

Student Groups by Adrian Holliday

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Presented by Ola Sayed Ahmed.

Appropriate Methodology and Social Context by Adrian Holliday.

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Approach

v

Classroom

Micro Context

v

FamilyFriends

Other Teachers

Macro Context

Resources

L1 L2 Relationship

To study the micro context by looking at the macroone.

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Classroom Cultures

Interest Groups

Student

Groups

Teacher

Groups

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The Learning Group IdealSLA research from a social psychology point of view aimed to design collaborative methodologies for the classroom that depend on:

o normal human work behavior. o Features within cultures surrounding classroom interaction.

Learning Group Ideal

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The Learning Group IdealThe notion of optimum interactional parameters within

which classroom language learning can take place.

It sets the conditions for process-oriented, task-based, inductive, collaborative, communicative English Language Teaching Methodologies.But this notion is based on a micro study of student groups. It

doesn’t look at the macro social factors, so it does not

consider how classroom cultures in different social settings might react differently to English Language teaching methodologies.

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The National Cultural Argument

There is growing literature on the influence of cultural differences on the learning behavior of overseas students in :

The context of their own countries.

The context of countries where the target language is spoken.

Within this literature there are two norms:

1. Learning group ideal as the norm.

2. Host culture as the norm.

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The National Cultural ArgumentLearning group ideal as the norm Host culture as the norm

The cultural backgrounds of the students are seen as inhibiting the practice of learning group ideal.

‘cultural profiling’: an attempt to describe common characteristics of students from one particular country or region.

Focus on religion. E.g. Koran’s influence on the way students from the Middle East approach learning, or Buddhism in India.

Typology as a model to describe basic cultural differences between West & East concerning ‘learning’

The local national cultural norms influence what happens in the classroom whereas the learning group ideal is considered intrusive. This intrusion is seen as cultural imperialism.

Shamim (a teacher and researcher in University of Karachi) noticed the cultural influences of her students’ opposition to the introduction of English language teaching practices such as group work.

She looked for new ideas in teaching in BANA-published literature and applied them intelligently. She found that problematic.

Shamim’s point of view is one of an insider while Coleman’s in Indonesia and Miller and Emel’s in Pakistan are ones of outsiders.

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The Need to Consider Smaller Cultures

Students behavior is not only influenced by national or regional influences but also by a variety of cultural influences such as classroom and institution culture, which is important to consider in the search for appropriate methodologies.

Although national culture can be a major influence, professional- academic communities transcend national cultural boundaries and are influenced and are influenced by international education-related cultures.

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The Need to Consider Smaller Cultures

While conducting an ODA-USAID project(Official Development Assistance-U.S Agency for International Development) in Ain Shams University , observations about the ways in which diverse variables can inhibit or enable the practice of the learning group ideal.

National cultural traits or lack of resources.

Responsibility and motivation.

Conservative attitudes to education.

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Classroom Culture

• Students appeared to prefer close proximity.

This ability to share place and an overall

gregariousness seemed fundamental in the

ways in which students coped with large classes of between 60 and 450.

• Informal group cooperation to cope with crises of scarce

resources. E.g. arranging seating and the

distribution of lecture notes.

Institution Culture

• Space sharing was also seen in the wider institute culture. For example, a seminar

took place in the room of the head of the department who

was conducting business.

National culture

• Informal co-operation in the face of crises was seen frequently in the national culture when seated passengers on

crowded trams held the bags of standing

passengers to whom they were strangers.

National Cultural Traits or a Lack of Resources

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National Cultural Traits or a Lack of Resources

The close proxemics, gregariousness and connected informal co-operation of students could thus be traced to wider cultural

traits seen both in the host institution and the wider society.

National Cultural Traits Economic Variables

The severe lack of resources in terms of space, acoustics, seating, books and materials and distance from the teacher.

Morain(1986:73) refers to the ‘high contact cultures’ of Arabs, Latin-

Americans, Greeks and Turks as distinct from the ‘low contact cultures’ of Americans and North Europeans.

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Responsibility and MotivationThe teacher in the University of Ain Shams didn’t monitor his students, he

asked them to read for preparation, he didn’t tried to motivate the students to attend and they attended despite boredom. This shows the

Students’ ability to take responsibility of their own learning and motivation

Students didn’t expect close monitoring by the teacher supposedly because:

They see the role of the teacher as the fount of knowledge (Koranic attitude to education)

It’s the culture of large classes which is found in developed countries such as Japan where there is no lack of resources.(International education ideology)

Thus, students gregariousness and responsibility for learning were partially influenced by factors that transcend the host national culture.

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Conservative Attitudes to education

Students showed uneasiness or remained unconvinced by the innovative methods and practices of teaching such as discovery-oriented activities (having to think not to reiterate), problem-solving, silent reading or brainstorming.

Preference of didactic instruction This could be associated with national Koranic culture.

Or the common international view of education in which the learning group ideal tries to connect target skills with those outside the classroom in real life, whereas the more formal attitude sees classroom skills as quite separate from real-life skills.

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Conservative Attitudes to educationStudents were so exam anxious that they wanted to learn superficial

knowledge for the examination. They had problem adapting to the learning group ideal’s inductive approach in grammar lessons which they found fun but inappropriate. They adapted more easily with inductive approach when the lecturer was an MA holder. They insisted on calling all their teachers ‘doctor’.

Preference of deductive methodology This could be an influence of the professional-academic culture of

the teachers and the norms of the host institution culture which is exam-oriented and interested in teaching language theory more than language skills.

This might also be the influence of an international educational ideology. Because this preference of deductive methodology is also reported with regard to French students.

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The Problem of Appropriacy Dudley-Evans and Swales refer to a further ‘cultural’ problem of

discourse style with regard to Middle Eastern students. Arabic and English have different rhetorical and organizational forms.

We will try to see this problem form a discourse culture point of view which correspond to a discourse community.

In a multi-national Diploma TEFL class with 50% British students, all parties seemed to have difficulty mastering the academic discourse of English Language Education required by their assignment. (argue their opinions and support it by formalized references from their own experience or from literature). Despite that features of academic writing are not a product of national cultural differences.

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The Problem of Appropriacy Students from many parts of the

world find the British way different from what they expect, but they find it different in many similar ways.

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• British students from other

academic discourse communities such as literature, found it distasteful that their writing should be devoid of artistic expression.

It is where the student come from which determines ,alongside individual motivational factors, the way in which the new culture is approached. The student’s

national culture will play a significant role but it doesn’t tell the whole story. E.g. German & Indonesian students come from widely different national cultures but had

been influenced by professional-academic cultures that might have something in common

The divide in English Language education is a BANA-TESEP rather than East-West.

Non- pedagogic Factors

They are factors that have nothing to do with the learning process per se, but affect the way in which student groups behave. They are related to social relationships within the classroom and their relation with forces of role, power and status in the wider society.

Transaction and Interaction

Coping Strategies

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Transaction and Interaction

Groups in the classroom culture may have covert, interactional agendas other than the transactional participation in lessons. i.e. student group and individual groups within the student body can have identities and agendas which are independent from the agenda of the lesson.

“They will develop their own group dynamic and this will be controlled by their own norms and expectations” (Ibid:87)

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Transaction and Interaction

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v

FamilyFriends

Other Teachers

Resources

L1 L2 Relationship

Transaction and InteractionWithin the host institution: each student will take on a

multiplicity of roles as he/she moves from one classroom group for one subject to another.

Through informal groups(out-of-class groups) of eating, clubs, playing and waiting in the corridors.

Within one particular classroom culture: students will be members of one group with one culture for one type of activity, and another for another activity. Each pair and group organized by the teacher will have its

own culture.

Informal groups within the classroom with non-pedagogic functions such as playing, sending messages, etc.

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Transaction and Interaction

A gap or conflict between the transactional and interactional functions could be seen in secondary schools and tertiary education in countries where education is available for all. Because presence in classroom doesn’t necessarily correlate with the individual student’s motivation towards transactional ends. E.g. students may attend for a variety of reasons such as secondary school scores, family preference, etc.

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Coping Strategies

Coping with classroom and host institutional condition is one of non-pedagogical student interaction. (Egyptian undergraduates).

American high school students cope with: Having to live in a crowd

Constantly having their words and deeds evaluated by others

The sharp difference in authority between teachers and students.

Coping strategies can be considered universals in lives of educational institutes

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Coping Strategies

There are political and racist factors in coping. E.g. black South American education where students and teachers collude in preserving their dignity.

Interactional styles serve social rather than academic purposes. E.g. chorusing gives the pupils opportunities to participate in ways that reduce the possibility of the loss of the face associated with providing incorrect responses.

Educational Oppression: oppressive distribution of social power and knowledge where the teacher dominated the lesson by nominating one student at a time and giving the false impression of dynamism.

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