CHAPTER: 20 CONSTRUCTIVE-APPROACH-in-english
CHAPTER: 20
CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH
Introduction
Definition of Constructive Approach (co-operative Learning)
Characteristics of Constructive Approach (co-operative Learning)
Principles of Constructive Approach (co-operative Learning)
Organizing Constructive/ Co-operative Learning Environment
Instructional Strategies of Constructive Learning
Steps of Co-operative Learning Technique
Advantages of Co-operative Learning
Limitations of Co-operative Learning
Conclusion
Constructive Approach
“What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow”
Introduction: The various methods, approaches and techniques of teaching English are very useful for the English teacher. The various methods of teaching English suffer on one aspects or the other. As such, no one method can be said to be complete in itself. School is place where people acquire knowledge through learning by influencing each other. For acquiring better knowledge, there is a need of effective learning approach which is different from traditional classroom teaching learning process. In the search for an effective approach to learning, a re-examination of learning theory is acquired. In recent years Constructive Approach (Co-Operative Learning) has received considerable attention in education scholarship and it has been heralded as a more natural, relevant, productive and empowering framework for instructing students. Constructive approach is not a theory of teaching rather it is a theory of learning. It is link of practice to theory not theory to practice. Constructive approach is an epistemology, a learning or meaning making theory, that offers an explanation of the nature of knowledge and how human being learn. It maintains that individual create and instruct their own new understands or knowledge through the interaction of what they already know and believe and the ideas, events, and activities with which they come in contact. Knowledge is acquired through involvement with content instead of imitation and repetition. Constructivism is basically a theory based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to bring together it with our previous ideas and experiences, may be changing what we believe, or may be discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore and assess what we know.
In recent decades, the constructive approach to learning language is one of the accepted approaches for learning target language. it gained ground as providing a foundation for pedagogical theory. It is an approach to teaching and learning based on the premise that learning is the result of mental construction. Constructivists believe that learning is affected by the environment in which an idea is taught as well as by students’ beliefs and attitudes. This approach facilitates s learning by the students from each other in group. In this approach the learner is active than the teacher and the teacher only assist the learner to learn effectively. This kind of learning approach develops social skills in the students for allowing them to work together more effectively. So the constructive approach is well known as a cooperative learning approach. The learning group can only be effective if there is cooperation among all its members. Generally cooperative learning as the instructional use of small groups, so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning; a method of instruction by which students work together in small groups to reach a common goal; and an activity that facilitates collaborative efforts among students. Cooperative learning is an arrangement in which students worked in mixed ability groups and are rewarded on the basis of the success of the group. Cooperative effort results in participants striving for mutual benefits so that all group members:
Ø gain from each other’s efforts;
Ø recognize that all group members share a common fate;
Ø know that one’s performance is mutually caused by one self and one’s team members ; and
Ø Feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement.
Definition of Constructive Approach (co-operative Learning)
“Constructive is a view of learning that believes that learners use their experiences to actively construct their understandings that make sense to them, rather than have understanding delivered to them in an organized form”
Dr. H.K. Kashinath
“Constructivism emphasizes active learners, the linking of new knowledge to knowledge learners already possess, and the application of understanding to authentic situation”.
Good and Brophy, 1994
“The central principles of this approach are that learner can only make sense of new situations in terms of their existing understanding”
Nyoler and Keogh, 1999.
“Constructivists of different persuasions hold a commitment to the idea that the development of understanding requires active engagement on the part of the learner”.
Jenkins (2000).
Constructivism is
- A trainer working with college students and posing questions about a subject
- Students hypothesizing their very own answers
- Engaged college students working collectively and creating discovery
- Students making connections with what they’ve until now learned
- Students asking questions when statistics is contradictory
Constructivism is not
- A trainer standing at the front of the room spitting out data to be memorized
- Bored college students memorizing “the answer”
- Students sleeping off to sleep when they don’t recognize the new concept
- Memorization of new, unrelated facts
- Students making an attempt to keep in mind the new data blindly, even if it contradicts prior knowledge
- Learner constructs their own understanding.
- New learning depends on current understanding.
- Learning is facilitated by social interaction.
- Meaningful Learning occurs within authentic tasks.
Principles of Constructive Approach (co-operative Learning): The constructive Approach based on the following principles-:
Ø Principles of Interdependence: In this the entire foundation of their thinking is based on their cooperativeness among the group. In this Approach there are a number of ways of structuring interdependence within a learning group, such as-: Goal interdependence, Reward Interdependence, Resource Interdependence, Role Interdependence and Task interdependence.
Ø Principles of Responsibility and Accountability: In this approach, each student is active and responsible in the group. It is important that the group know who needs more assistance, support and encouragement in completing the assignment. it is also important that group members know that they cannot “hitch-hike” on the work of others. What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow.
Ø Principles of Purpose: The language is taught with the help of this approach not only for academic purpose but also for social purpose.
Ø Principles of Leadership: In this approach of learning, the learner finds himself as a leader in the group. Contribution of everybody id truly acknowledged.
Ø Principles of Social skills: This approach enhances the social skills of the learner on which constructive approach is based.
Ø Principles of Performance: In this the students themselves view the performance of the group considering the criteria provided by the teacher. They possess the ability to observe very objectively and without any kind of favoritism.
Ø Principles of encouragement: The role of teacher is vital for making the learning process success. so that the teacher should encourage the students in a possible way to functioning of cooperative learning.
Ø Principles of Heterogonous Group: In each group, each learner is mixed whether male or female. They aim at learning from one another in every kind of situation.
Ø Principles of Attachment: Students attachment to the group develops the understanding of the students.
Ø Principles of Criteria of Working: All the students in the group form criteria of working. They work in the group, for the group and of the group. so they develop a sense of belongingness. If one student of a group rewarded, then the whole group should have to feel happy.
Ø Principles of Interaction: This is one of the principles of this approach that it helps in developing face to face interaction among the students. Here the learners are encouraging and facilitating each other’s efforts to achieve complete tasks and produce in order to reach the group’s goals.
Ø Anchor every learning activity on large tasks or problems.
Ø Help the learner in the mastery of the complete task or learning problem.
Ø Allow the student to mastery the process used in creating the solutions.
Ø “Learning engages the entire physiology” teacher cannot address just the intellect.
Ø Learning is influence by emotions, feelings, and attitudes.
Organizing Constructive/ Co-operative Learning Environment: The following points should be kept in mind while organizing constructive/ co-operative learning environment.
Ø The group should be heterogeneity in ability with brilliant, average and slow learners in each. There will be no proper working if the group will be made on the basis of their mental ability as per example-: Brilliant Group and Average group.
Ø The students of the whole class should be divided into groups once in an academic year. The group should not be interchange or changed in the mid of academic year which will be the cause of wastage of time.
Ø The learning will be more effective if the group should be confined to 5 to 10 students and it should not be large.
Ø Here the students are supposed to do the activity according to the situation arises.
Ø At the time of working in a group, there should be some distance between the groups.
Ø Appropriate names should be assigned to each group. There will not be partiality for assigning the name of the group. The name of the group may be as-: TILAK, SUBASH, NEHRU, GANDHI etc.
Ø The group leader should be chosen as per the interest of the group learners. Good students should be chosen for this.
Ø The teacher is not the instructor but the role of the teacher is helper and it is also the duty of the teacher to prepare different exercise for the different groups.
Ø The teacher should take care that each group understands clearly what they are supposed to do. For this, the teacher expounds everything to them. After that the students are required to work in groups.
Ø In this approach the role of the teacher is as a guidance worker and counselor.
Ø The seating arrangement of the group should be in a proper way as a result the teacher can assign the task easily.
Ø The material to be learnt is initially presented to the whole class by the teacher or in an audio visual presentation.
Ø The students are evaluated via individual quizzes that access individual achievement on the material presented in the class and practiced in the groups.
Ø A detailed scoring system should be used to allow the students to earn points for their groups based on their improvement over a running average of the past scores.
Ø The teacher should use newsletters, bulletin boards or other forms of social recognition and rewards for groups showing high individual weekly performance and high cumulative standings.
Ø In the upper elementary stage the teacher should use the method of cooperative integrated reading and composition.
Instructional Strategies of Constructive Learning: An important instructional issue is constructivist learning is the role of social interaction. Many of the popular instructional methods such as cooperative learning, team teaching, problem solving etc, require that a student learns as a part of group. There are some popular methods that help cognitive processing are presented below:
Ø Team Teaching: This method is suitable whenever there is a need to pool resources, interests and expertise in order to devise and implement a scheme of work suitable to the needs’ of the pupils and the facilities of the school.
Ø Brainstorming: Brainstorming serves the purpose of collective of individual generation of ideas as possible solutions to any particular problem. It is more appropriate when a problem to be solved requires collective rummaging for ideas.
Ø Experimental learning: The concept of experimental learning as a method for teaching began only in the early 1930 in the United States. In its simplest form the term experimental learning connotes learning from experience or learning by doing. The experimental learning model which is illustrated in the following process-:
Ø Cooperative Learning: Learning can be enhanced in cooperative groups through rehearsal and Elaboration, creation and resolution of disequilibrium (Piagetian), or scaffolding of higher mental processes (Vygotskian). There are different forms of cooperative learning such as (Elaboration, Piagetian and Vygotskian) fit different purposes, need different structures and have their own potential problems and possible solutions.
Ø Cognitive apprenticeship: Cognitive apprenticeship is a relationship in which a less experienced learner acquires knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert. There are many cognitive apprenticeship models which are as follows-:
(i) Student observe an expert
(ii) External support from coaching
(iii) Student receive conceptual scaffolding, which is then gradually faded as the students become more competent and proficient.
(iv) Students continually articulate their knowledge –putting into words their understanding of the processes and content being learned.
(v) Students reflect on their progress, comparing their problem solving to an expert’s performance and to their own earlier performances.
(vi) Students are required to explore news ways to apply what they learning –ways that they have not practiced at the master’s side.
Ø Problem based Learning: In problem based learning students are confronted with a real problem that has meaning for them. Ideally, the problem is real; students’ action matter and they collaborate to find solutions.
Ø Discovery Learning: The term “Discovery” refers to a process of self-learning whereby learners generate concepts and ideas.
Steps of Co-operative Learning Technique
Step I: The members in this group work in a relaxed way. They make an effort to maintain such a mood that they are capable of working in co-ordination in order to complete the task given by the teacher.
Step II: Each Member of the group first attempt to comprehend the subject matter provided to them.
Step III: One member effort to recall and thus summaries the important points.
Step IV: When step III is in process, other members of the group endeavor perceive the omissions or the errors in summarizing.
Step V: Members endeavor to elaborate the points giving their own views or relating them other experiences of life.
Step VI The members of the group review the entire thing. They make efforts to put together the ultimate summary and thus the task is finished.
Advantages of Co-operative Learning: The following are the advantages of constructive and cooperative learning
- The students able to learn the meaning of true democracy. They learn from one another how to respect each individual.
- It makes everybody blossom, grow and develop fully.
- All the Learners feel excited in the process of co-operative learning.
- The learners develop the ability to acquire the social skills.
- It provides the leadership training to one and all. Everybody learns to how to give respect to others and how others will offer respect to them.
- It promotes interaction among the member of the group learning.
- It makes the pillars the language learning strong. That finally helps the learners to become brilliant.
- Language learnt by the students in various situations is more meaningful and that can be retained by them for longer duration.
- Everybody in the group is able to make psychological adjustment which guarantees his/her better future as a learner.
- Student’s interaction with another is given priority here.
- Social competency is achieved by everybody. Thus the society flourish.
- The environment created in this sort of learning is very conducive. This atmosphere provides great assistance to the learners in furthering the language learning.
Limitations of Co-operative Learning: The following are the limitations of the Constructive and cooperative learning environment
1. A lot is expected from each student. It may fail to come up to the expectations of all related with it.
2. It lays too much stress on social skill training and lesser on language acquisition.
3. Every learner is made accountable for his performance in the group but in practice the accountability is difficult to be found out.
4. It may not possible to complete the syllabus in time.
5. It may be appreciated approach from theoretical side but actually it is too difficult to implement this approach in practically.
Conclusion: We can say that the Constructive Approach (Co-operative Learning) not only develop or motivates a students to take active participation in teaching-learning process but also develops co-operation with the other students of his group. The student share his or ideas and knowledge with other students and thus develops social development. A teacher should encourage co-operation learning in the classroom to provide a harmonious development of students.
Comments
Post a Comment