FOREIGN/SECOND LANGUAGE EDUCATION FOR VERY LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE. ... SPEAKERS NOT ONLY OF ENGLISH (ITS COMMON LANGUAGE) BUT LOCAL LANGUAGES TOO. ... WHEN I LOOK AT OUR FIELD (BOTH RESEARCH AND PRACTICE) ... ELLIS AND JEREMY HARMER COMING NEXT.
OUR CONTEXT: THE AEC • WORLDWIDE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS HAVE CREATED GREAT PRESSURE TO ENGAGE IN SUCCESSFUL FOREIGN/SECOND LANGUAGE EDUCATION FOR VERY LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE.
• THE ADVENT OF THE AEC IS SUCH A DEVELOPMENT AND PLACES PRESSURE ON AEC MEMBERS TO INCREASE THE OUTPUT OF HIGH QUALITY PROFICIENT SPEAKERS NOT ONLY OF ENGLISH (ITS COMMON LANGUAGE) BUT LOCAL LANGUAGES TOO.
• POTENTIAL STUDENTS COME FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND ARE NOT CONFINED TO THOSE WHO WILL STUDY IN CLASSROOMS. IN FACT, MOST STUDENTS ARE LIKELY TO BE NON-CLASSROOM-BASED STUDENTS.
• THIS PRESSURE, PROVIDES AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE NEW LANGUAGE-LEARNING SYSTEMS WHOSE THEORETICAL BASIS COULD HAVE A WORLD-WIDE IMPACT, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THAT CURRENT SYSTEMS SEEM TO BE STAGNANT, WITH NO PROGRESS IN SIGHT, EXCEPT FOR SOME MINOR TWEAKING HERE AND THERE.
21C: THE MOST EXCITING TIME EVER! • TECHNOLOGY HAS DEVELOPED AT AN EXTRAORDINARY RATE. BECAUSE OF THAT, WE ARE FREER THAN EVER BEFORE AND WITH MORE POSSIBILITIES THAN EVER BEFORE AND MOVING TOWARD MORE AUTONOMOUS ACTIVITY.
• THESE CONDITIONS HELP TO BRING OUT THE ESSENTIALLY INDIVIDUALISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN BEINGS
• WE ARE ALSO BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND THAT DEALING WITH HUMANS STATISTICALLY IS SIMPLY NOT PRODUCTIVE. THIS IS TRUE OF EDUCATION BUT ALSO OF OTHER ASPECTS OF HUMAN LIFE, LIKE MEDICINE
SO… HERE IS A STORY FROM PHYSICS • WHEN MAX PLANCK (THE CREATOR OF QUANTUM PHYSICS) BEGAN HIS CAREER IN PHYSICS
FAMOUS PHYSICISTS LIKE LORD KELVIN
• SAID: "THERE IS NOTHING NEW TO BE DISCOVERED IN PHYSICS NOW. ALL THAT REMAINS IS MORE AND MORE PRECISE MEASUREMENT.” I.E. ONLY SMALL ADJUSTMENTS ARE NECESSARY. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO DO: WE KNOW IT ALL
SOMETIMES… • WHEN I LOOK AT OUR FIELD (BOTH RESEARCH AND PRACTICE) • I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT WHAT KELVIN SAID APPLIES TO US TOO. • WE SEEM SATISFIED WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE. WE JUST NEED TO DO IT A BIT BETTER. BUT (AS EXAMPLES)… • LANGUAGE EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY IN NON-EUROPEAN MASS MARKETS HAS CLEARLY NOT MET WITH HUGE SUCCESS. THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE SOLVED QUICKLY AND
• EVEN WHEN NEW RESEARCH APPEARS IT OFTEN REMAINS INVISIBLE BOTH PRACTICALLY AND, STILL WORSE, INTELLECTUALLY – ARE WE TIRED? ARE WE RISK-AVERSE?
WE KNOW THAT THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE… • WE CLEARLY HAVE NOT SOLVED FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE LEARNING/TEACHING OF LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING AND WRITING TO ANY SIGNIFICANT DEGREE (NOT TO MENTION CULTURE) – EVEN WITH SOPHISTICATED MODELS (MAYBE NOT SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH)
• WE ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH CONCEPTS SUCH AS: “WHAT IS LISTENING?” OR “WHAT IS READING?” • YET NOTHING RADICALLY NEW IS APPEARING ON THE HORIZON – AT LEAST IN THE TRADITIONAL TESOL LITERATURE (WHICH CONTROLS THE FIELD)
• NOR IS ANYTHING RADICALLY NEW APPEARING ON THE HORIZON IN OUR TEACHER EDUCATION COURSES: • WITH MINOR DIFFERENCES, COURSES KEEP REPEATING THE SAME THINGS THAT WERE BEING SAID IN THE PAST AND TO FOCUS ON THESE, LARGELY DRIVEN BY LINGUISTICS
FOR INSTANCE… OUR COURSES KEEP SAYING OR IMPLYING (AND THEREFORE OUR GRADUATES KEEP BELIEVING) THINGS LIKE:
• LANGUAGE (THE THING WE LOVE) IS/SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF TESOL EDUCATION • THE CRITICAL AGE HYPOTHESIS IS TRUE • UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR IS TRUE • THE WAY FORWARD IS THROUGH A SIMPLISTIC FORM OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING – JUST KEEP SPEAKING (PREFERABLY LIVING) IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE
• COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT (A COMMONSENSICAL CONCEPT PROBABLY ACCOUNTING FOR ITS POPULARITY AND SUCCESS), SHOULD CONSTITUTE THE PRIMARY FORM OF LEARNERS’ CONTACT WITH LANGUAGE
THIS IS CONFIRMED BY MY OWN RESEARCH • WHERE THE NAMES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS TO LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING ARE PERCEIVED TO BE:
• KRASHEN AND CHOMSKY, WITH • ELLIS AND JEREMY HARMER COMING NEXT • WHERE THE TOP LEARNING/TEACHING APPROACHES ARE PERCEIVED AS: • COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (OF COURSE IT MUST BE – AT THE MOST ABSTRACT LEVEL) AND • TASK-BASED LEARNING • WHERE DO THESE BELIEFS COME FROM? TEACHER EDUCATION COURSES …
THE IRONY OF THIS IS THAT… THERE IS PLENTY OF RESEARCH EVIDENCE (OFTEN FROM NON-TESOL FIELDS) THAT
• WE NEED TO FOCUS MORE ON PEDAGOGY THAN LANGUAGE (AND THAT ACQUISITION AND LEARNING ARE THE SAME THING) AND THAT WE NEED A PROPER THEORY OF LEARNING THAT WE ACTUALLY USE NOT JUST TALK ABOUT
• THE BRAIN IS PLASTIC AND WE CAN DEFEAT THE CRITICAL AGE HYPOTHESIS BY THE WAY WE LEARN • UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR IS DYING/DEAD, AS REVEALED BY MODERN RESEARCH • COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE-LEARNING IS BASICALLY A COMMON-SENSE, UNTHEORIZED, MODEL OF LEARNING • COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT, ALTHOUGH COMMONSENSICAL, IS NOT A MANAGEABLE CONCEPT IN THE CONTEXT OF MASS MARKETS – ASSUMING THAT IT HAS ANY CURRENCY
• THE TEACHER/SYLLABUS DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE IN CHARGE OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
AND… • WE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY DEMANDING OF OURSELVES INTELLECTUALLY WHEN WE CONSTRUCT SOLUTIONS • IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAY THAT SOMETHING IS A GOOD (MYSTERIOUS) SOLUTION, WE NEED TO JUSTIFY IT IN SOME THEORETICALLY VALID WAY BOTH TO OURSELVES AND TO THE REST OF THE WORLD
SO, MUCH OF THE RESEARCH WE DO… TENDS TO BE LIKE THE LORD KELVIN QUOTE. FOR INSTANCE,
• WE MAKE LITTLE ADJUSTMENTS HERE AND THERE TO MAKE TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS BETTER, BUT WE ALMOST NEVER CONSIDER THROWING OUT ALTOGETHER THE TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM IN ITS PRESENT FORM.
• OR, MAYBE, • WE DO A NEEDS ANALYSIS WHICH YIELDS SOME DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS WHICH WE THEN APPLY TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE GROUP AS THOUGH THEY WERE THE GROUP
• EVEN IF, IN OUR HEARTS AND MINDS, WE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIVIDUALISATION AND LEARNER AUTONOMY
• WELL… WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS • AND IN SOME PLACES IT IS NOT (SUGATA MITRA’S WORK, SUDBURY VALLEY SCHOOLS), BUT IT IS ON A SMALL SCALE • WE CAN HAVE FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS WHICH DO NOT DEPEND ON STATISTICS OR STATISTICAL REASONING • STATISTICS, OF COURSE, IS A VERY IMPORTANT FORM OF ANALYSIS AND HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND MANY THINGS • FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN WE DO A NEEDS ANALYSIS, WE WILL GET A PICTURE OF WHAT PEOPLE SAY THEY NEED • WE CAN USE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS TO REVEAL THE EXTENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF THESE ISSUES • HOWEVER WHAT PEOPLE SAY THEY NEED IS NOT NECESSARILY WHAT THEY ACTUALLY NEED AND • USING DESCRIPTIVE (I.E. GROUP) STATISTICS TO SOLVE INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED AS IT CAN LEAD TO A ONE-SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH TO INTERVENTION
NOW, BECAUSE IN GENERAL… • WE HAVE NO WELL-ARTICULATED THEORY OF LEARNING • THAT WE ACTUALLY APPLY (EVEN IN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITIES) • AND WE OFTEN GIVE IN TO ADMINISTRATIVE CONVENIENCE • WE KEEP PERPETUATING MODELS THAT ARE NOT APPROPRIATE (OR COULD CERTAINLY BE IMPROVED AT THE LEVEL OF PRINCIPLE, NOT JUST DETAIL)
• THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO HAVE IT LIKE THAT. THINGS CAN BE DIFFERENT.
ON THE BASIS OF WHAT I HAVE SAID… • THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR TO HELP BRING ABOUT CHANGE IS TO LEARN TO THINK DIFFERENTLY • WHY? • BECAUSE IN MAX PLANCK’S OWN WORDS: “CHANGE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT THINGS AND THE THINGS YOU LOOK AT CHANGE”.
• BY LOOKING AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY WE MAY BE ABLE TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN NEW DIRECTIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN THOUGHT OF – JUST AS PLANCK DID WITH PHYSICS – TAKING IT FROM STAGNATION INTO NEW AND EXCITING DIRECTIONS
• HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES BASED ON MY WORK AND THAT OF MY STUDENTS WILL HELP TO ILLUSTRATE. THERE ARE SURELY OTHER POSSIBILITIES… BUT FIRST LET’S BEGIN WITH…
A THEORY OF LEARNING: THE HUMAN CONDITION
• IT BEGINS WITH THE REALIZATION THAT WE ARE EMBODIED, I.E. WE ARE TRAPPED INSIDE OUR HUMAN BODIES • EVERYTHING IS PERCEPTION: SENSING THE WORLD IS NEVER DIRECT BUT MEDIATED BY OUR MEANING-MAKING MECHANISMS • MEANING-MAKING MECHANISMS ARE DETERMINED BY OUR OPERATIONAL HISTORIES: OUR UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE SUMTOTAL OF OUR EXPERIENCES. OUR MEANING-MAKING MECHANISMS HELP US UNDERSTAND THE WORLD BUT ALSO LIMIT US
• UNDERSTANDINGS ARE LIKELY TO BE DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON AS WE ALL EXPERIENCE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY. RESULT: WE LIVE ENTIRELY INSIDE OUR HEADS NOT IN THE REAL WORLD
• WHAT IS IN OUR HEADS IS LIKELY TO BE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE AND NOT AMENABLE TO STATISTICAL NORMALIZATION • AND SO… OUR SPECIFIC NEEDS ARE LIKELY TO BE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF OTHERS THOUGH SOME COMMON PROBLEMS MAY EXIST – WE CANNOT TREAT A CLASS AS THOUGH IT WERE HOMOGENEOUS IN ALL MATTERS – ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
• TO LEARN WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR OPERATIONAL HISTORY BUT WE MAY BE UNABLE TO DO SO BECAUSE IT HIDES REALITY
THE KEY IS AWARENESS
• OUR OPERATIONAL HISTORY HIDES REALITY BY REDUCING OR REMOVING OUR AWARENESS OF IT • SO… THE TRICK IS TO FIND WAYS OF BRINGING NEW AWARENESSES INTO OUR OPERATIONAL HISTORY • THIS WILL ENABLE LEARNERS TO MAKE MEANINGS AND CREATE NEW PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE • I.E. LEARN.
HOW DO WE MAKE IT HAPPEN?
• WELL, BECAUSE WE ARE TRAPPED INSIDE OUR BODIES, • THE ONLY WAY SEEMS TO BE TO MODIFY OR MANIPULATE INPUT TO THE BODY IN SUCH A WAY THAT THIS MODIFIED SIGNAL BYPASSES THE BLOCKAGES CREATED BY OUR CURRENT MEANING-MAKING SYSTEMS,
• THIS SHOULD RESULT IN THE SIGNAL ACTUALLY BEING NOTICED OR OTHERWISE BROUGHT INTO THE STUDENT’S FIELD OF AWARENESS
• IN OTHER WORDS, THE SIGNAL IS MADE FUNCTIONALLY MEANINGFUL AND, AS A CONSEQUENCE, IT BECOMES EMBEDDED STUDENTS’ OPERATIONAL HISTORIES
MOST IMPORTANTLY… • THIS MEANS THAT BECAUSE PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT OPERATIONAL HISTORIES THEY WILL HAVE DIFFERENT NEEDS AND, IN PARTICULAR, DIFFERENT WAYS OF MEETING THOSE NEEDS,
• I.E. DIFFERENT WAYS OF FIXING THEIR PROBLEMS • SO IF STATISTICAL MODELS OR NEEDS ANALYSES DO NOT WORK AND • A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL-MODEL CANNOT WORK • HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY PEOPLE’S NEEDS AND FIX THEIR PROBLEMS?
A SIMPLE WAY IS…
• TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SOMETHING AND OBSERVE WHETHER AND HOW THEY SUCCEED OR FAIL
• THOSE OBSERVING DO NOT HAVE TO BE TEACHERS • OBSERVERS CAN ALSO BE THE STUDENTS THEMSELVES, OTHER STUDENTS, FRIENDS, OUTSIDERS OR WHOEVER ELSE HAS ACCESS TO THE STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCES
• ONCE PROBLEMS ARE IDENTIFIED, THE STUDENTS THEMSELVES, TEACHERS, FRIENDS OR OTHERS CAN IDENTIFY OR PRODUCE RESOURCES TO HELP FIX THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED.
HERE IS A SCHEMATIC TO ILLUSTRATE…
STUDENT
TASK
NEEDS
AS YOU CAN SEE… • THIS SYSTEM IS ESSENTIALLY SELF-MANAGING • ALL THAT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS HAVE TO DO IS TO NEGOTIATE TASKS THAT NEED TO BE PERFORMED • E.G. THEY MAY ENGAGE IN A MACROSIMULATION (A LONG-TERM SIMULATION) WHERE PEOPLE ADOPT ROLES FOR
EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME (E.G. A SEMESTER) AND ENGAGE IN REAL-LIFE ACTIVITIES SUCH AS LIVING TOGETHER IN A VILLAGE, OR WORKING TOGETHER IN A COMPANY, OR CREATING SOMETHING COMPLEX LIKE “A DAY ON AMERICAN TELEVISION”. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO HAVE SETS OF COMPLEX HIGH-LEVEL (NOT LOW-LEVEL) COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES RATHER THAN SETS OF EMPTY EXERCISES (LIAN, 1985, LIAN & MOORE 2014; PARNKUL, 2016)
• THIS HELPS TO PRODUCE SOMETHING LIKE SUGATA MITRA’S SELF-ORGANISING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (HOLE IN THE WALL EXPERIMENT) OR THE RESEARCH GROUP AT SURANAREE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY IN THAILAND.
THE HOLE IN THE WALL EXPERIMENT
SO NOW THAT WE HAVE IDENTIFIED NEEDS • WE HAVE TO IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS • WE CAN DO SO BY CREATING SOLUTIONS TO THESE NEEDS BASED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF AWARENESS-RAISING DISCUSSED EARLIER
• SOME EXIST ALREADY, OTHERS WILL HAVE TO BE CREATED • FOR SUCCESS, WE WOULD PROBABLY NEED TO THINK DIFFERENTLY DIFFERENTLY ABOUT SOLUTIONS. • A GOOD PLACE TO FIND INSPIRATION IS IN COGNATE FIELDS OF RESEARCH RATHER THAN IN STANDARD TESOL LITERATURE.
• HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES – THERE ARE MANY MORE
EXPLOIT NEUROPLASTICITY… • NEUROPLASTICITY IS STILL POSSIBLE IF WE CAN BYPASS OUR PAST – AND IT CAN BE DONE – BUT HOW? • ESSENTIALLY BY DEALING WITH THINGS IN DIFFERENT AND NOVEL WAYS • ONE IMPORTANT WAY IS TO ESTABLISH NEW NEURAL PATHWAYS THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT BRAIN STIMULATION: WE LIVE IN A VERY LEFT-BRAINED WORLD (THIS IS WHAT TODAY’S WORLD VALUES AND DEVELOPS, IT IMPOVERISHES OUR THINKING AND REMOVES POSSIBLE IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE RIGHT BRAIN).
LOW-PASS FILTERING: RIGHT-BRAIN STIMULATION BASED ON VERBOTONAL THEORY (GUBERINA ET AL.) AND SELF-SYNCHRONY – EXPERIMENTAL: SURPRISING RESULTS IMPROVES INTONATION, PRONUNCIATION, COMPREHENSIBILITY AND FLUENCY – STUDY CONCLUDED (HE BI 2014)
IN CLASS, YES - BUT INDIVIDUALIZED
SELF-SYNCHRONY DEVELOPMENT
THE STRENGTH OF THIS SPECIFIC SYSTEM • IS THAT IT IS ESSENTIALLY AUTOMATIC • THIS IS ACHIEVED BY TARGETING THE RIGHT BRAIN RATHER THAN THE LEFT BRAIN • AND THE RIGHT BRAIN DOES ITS TASK • AS A RESULT, LESS CONSCIOUS WORK SEEMS TO BE REQUIRED FROM BOTH TEACHER AND STUDENT • THIS IS A HUGE ADVANTAGE
DICHOTIC LISTENING
BAND-PASS FILTERING: RESIDUAL PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS VERBOTONAL THEORY (A) INDIVIDUAL DIAGNOSIS (B) SELF-MANAGED TAILORED CORRECTION BY-PASSES NORMAL STRUCTURING MECHANISMS – EXPERIMENTAL – IN PROGRESS CONTRAST “SHIP” AND “SHEEP” – USES OPTIMAL ENVIRONMENT 2 sheep (2400-4800Hz) vs ship (1600-3200Hz) one-third-octave-filtered WEN FENGWEI, 2016 6 sheep (300Hz+2400-4800Hz) vs ship (300Hz+1600-3200Hz) one-octave-filtered
12 sheep (300Hz+2400-4800Hz) vs ship (300Hz+1600-3200Hz) one-third-octave-filtered
OR… WE CAN SENSITIZE STUDENTS TO Once upon a time there were three bears
e.g.
• THE LENGTH OF CHUNKS (BASIC UNITS OF COMPREHENSION PROCESSING) BY EXPOSING THEM TO CHUNKS (EITHER WRITTEN OR SPOKEN) IN WAYS WHICH WILL MAKE CHUNKS OBVIOUS.
• BY REPEATED PLAYBACK OF THE CHUNKS OF THE SENTENCE, LEARNERS CAN BEGIN TO GET A SENSE OF CHUNK LENGTH AND CHUNK CONTENT. YOU CAN COLOUR THE CHUNKS DIFFERENTLY TO MAKE THEM CONTRAST MORE
OR WE CAN PROVIDE… AUTOMATIC COMPUTER-BASED FEEDBACK SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPING LISTENING COMPREHENSION SUCH AS THIS ONE (LIAN, 2016)
OR WE CAN PROVIDE… SPEECH AND GESTURE ANALYSIS/ANNOTATION TOOLS (ANVIL - MICHAEL KIPP)
OR WE CAN PROVIDE… SPEECH ANALYSIS TOOLS WINPITCH (P. MARTIN)
OR WE CAN PROVIDE… ON-DEMAND COMPUTERGENERATED LESSONS (LIAN, 2014) - LESSONS THAT STUDENTS GENERATE FOR THEMSELVES WHEN THEY NEED THEM BY ACCESSING A DATABASE E.G. DB OF INTONATION PATTERNS CONNECTED TO LESSON-MAKERS
OR WE CAN PROVIDE… A MULTIMEDIA DATABASE OF LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS, NOTIONS, TOPICS ETC. (LIAN 2004 - …)
OR WE CAN SIMPLY… • GIVE STUDENTS TOOLS TO ENABLE THEM TO DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES THE ORGANISATION AND FEATURES OF TEXT BY MANIPULATING IT (OTHER PEOPLE’S TEXT OR YOUR OWN). FOR EXAMPLE (FOR VOICE);
• AUDACITY FOR FILTERING TEXT, • WINPITCH FOR CHANGING INTONATION YOURSELF E.G. CHANGE YOUR VOICE FROM A STATEMENT TO A QUESTION? • VIDEOLAN FOR SLOWING DOWN OR ACCELERATING VOICE WITH NO DISTORTION • OR EVEN…
DISCOVER HOW TO PRONOUNCE ANY WRITTEN TEXT HTTP://WWW.ODDCAST.COM/HOME/DEMOS/TTS/TTS_EXAMPLE.PHP + HTTP://NANOGONG.UST.HK
OR…
WHO KNOWS? IT IS ALL UP TO US: OUR IMAGINATIONS OUR THINKING!
ALL OF THESE… • ARE EXAMPLES OF THINKING (DIFFERENTLY?) ABOUT SUPPORTING THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNERS. SOME OF THE WORK IS EXPERIMENTAL, SOME IS NOT. SOME IS WELL-KNOWN, SOME IS NOT. BUT ALL SHARE CERTAIN FEATURES:
• FIRST THEY ARE BASED ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIFIC NEEDS FOR SPECIFIC LEARNERS (USUALLY AS EXPERIENCED
BY THEM) AND DO NOT DEPEND ON BEING MEMBERS OF A SPECIFIC CLASS (THOUGH BLENDED AND FLIPPED APPROACHES HELP BUT NOT ENOUGH). IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT LEARNING/TEACHING IN GROUPS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.
• SECOND THEY ARE BASED ON A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDINGS OF HOW LEARNING AND PERCEPTION WORK • BY APPLYING SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS TO SPECIFIC PROBLEMS, WE DEAL ONLY WITH PROBLEMS THAT EXIST IN SPECIFIC LEARNERS, WE DO NOT WASTE TIME, OUR FOCUS IS WHERE THE FOCUS IS NEEDED, AND WE DO NOT RUN THE RISK OF STUDENTS UNLEARNING WHAT THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY LEARNED. THIS REQUIRES A MUCH GREATER RESEARCH EFFORT
• TIME IS PRECIOUS AND IT IS TREATED PRECIOUSLY AND RESPECTFULLY AS IS THE STUDENT • AS A RESULT, THIS IS, ARGUABLY, A MORE ETHICAL APPROACH TO LEARNING
THEY CAN BE PROVIDED RANDOMLY OR SYSTEMATICALLY E.G. RHIZOMATIC SYSTEMS In a rhizomatic systems, control is vested primarily with the students not the teacher. In this model, students construct their own personal learning environments (PLEs) (Lian, 2004 etc., Lian & Pineda, 2014). Currently, the decision-making process is being investigated by Boonrasamee, 2016
DOES THIS WORK? • WE HAVE HAD EXCELLENT AND SURPRISING SUCCESS WITH THE LOW-PASS FILTERING DESCRIBED EARLIER (HE BI) • WE HAVE ALSO HAD SURPRISING SUCCESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING SKILLS WITH NO TEACHER SUPPORT – A SOCIAL NETWORKING STRUCTURE WHICH COMPARED TEACHER-LED AND NON-TEACHER LED ACTIVITIES: THE NON-TEACHER-LED WAS SUPERIOR (OF COURSE THIS IS COUNTER-INTUITIVE) (SUCHADA CHAIWIWATRAKUL)
• COGNITIVE (CONCEPTUAL) LINGUISTICS (CHAI NENG) • SELF-MANAGED (RHIZOMATIC-BASED) LISTENING COMPREHENSION (NGUYEN MINH TRANG) • OF COURSE, THIS IS RESEARCH, NOTHING IS CERTAIN AND WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO • BUT REMEMBER: NOW WE CAN ALL BE RESEARCHERS! WHY DON’T YOU TRY SOMETHING NEXT WEEK (DON’T WAIT FOR EXPERTS TO DO IT – WE ARE IN A DO-IT-YOURSELF ERA)?
TAKING THESE FINDINGS TOGETHER, SOME CONCLUSIONS APPEAR
• THE ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL, SYLLABUS-BASED, FIXED CONTENT-BASED, TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM-BASED, MODELS NEED TO BE SERIOUSLY REVIEWED AND BE REVISED IN FAVOUR OF
• A MORE PERSONALISED INDIVIDUALISED FORM OF EDUCATION WHICH RESPONDS MORE PRECISELY TO THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNERS
• THIS IS A FORM OF EDUCATION WHICH ALSO FITS IN WELL WITH THE NEEDS OF ASEAN CITIZENS WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO HAVE THE TIME AND POSSIBILITY OR THE NEED TO STUDY IN TRADITIONAL CLASSES
• WE CAN STILL HAVE MAJOR OBJECTIVES BUT THEY CANNOT BE OVER-SPECIFIED THE WAY THAT THEY ARE NOW AND • CONTROL MUST PASS TO THE LEARNERS WHOSE NEEDS ARE BOTH UNPREDICTABLE AND UNPREDICTED. • THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT TEACHERS NO LONGER TEACH OR TEACH IN GROUPS – JUST THAT WHAT THEY TEACH, HOW THEY TEACH AND TO WHOM THEY TEACH AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME MAY NEED TO CHANGE
MEDICAL SCIENCE… • WHICH HAS BEEN HEAVILY STATISTICS-BASED (TRYING TO DISCOVERING WHETHER CURES WORK ON GROUPS) • HAS RECOGNISED THE PROBLEM OF GROUPS AND THE NEED FOR INDIVIDUALISATION OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
• IT HAS TAKEN UP THE CHALLENGE WITH THE CREATION OF A NEW KIND OF MEDICINE CALLED PRECISION MEDICINE • IN PRECISION MEDICINE, EACH DISEASE IS REGARDED AS A PERSONAL DISEASE, NOT AS REPRESENTATIVE OF A GROUP SPECIFICATION. IT IS THIS PERSON’S CANCER, THIS PERSON’S BLOOD PROBLEM, NOT A GENERALIZED OR EVEN GENERALIZABLE PROBLEM.
• I PROPOSE THAT WE ADOPT THE CONCEPT FOR EDUCATION AND CREATE… • PRECISION (LANGUAGE) EDUCATION. THE NEXT SLIDE WILL EXPLAIN…
THE NOTION OF PRECISION MEDICINE
IN PRECISION EDUCATION • WE WOULD NEED TO DIAGNOSE • INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PRECISELY AS POSSIBLE (AS IN WEN FENGWEI’S RESEARCH ON VOWEL OPTIMALS) • AND PROVIDE EFFECTIVE ACTIVITIES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS • THIS MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING • BUT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR SOME THINGS • TEACHERS WOULD HAVE DIFFERENT AND (MORE INTERESTING?) ROLES • OF COURSE… THERE IS MORE AS THIS MAY REPRESENT A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN OUR STRUCTURES
EVERYBODY WINS WITH PRECISION EDUCATION • HOWEVER, IT TAKES COURAGE, BUT THIS MAY NOT BE A BAD TIME TO START • IF YOU ARE FEELING AMBITIOUS, • IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO ACT BOTH NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY USING TECHNOLOGY FOR LEVERAGE TO FUND THE CREATION OF TECHNOLOGY-BASED CENTRES THAT WOULD WORK IN THIS SPIRIT
• BUT… RIGHT NOW, AT THIS VERY MOMENT… • IT IS TIME FOR ME TO STOP • AND TO THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO ME
• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS… • THESE SUGGESTIONS ARE MINE AND BASED ON MY OWN RESEARCH AND THAT OF MY STUDENTS • THERE ARE SURELY OTHERS! • BUT YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN IN A GENERAL SENSE
THE IRONY OF THIS IS THAT… • EVEN IN THE TESOL FIELD WE KNOW BETTER THAN TO ACCEPT THESE STATEMENTS BLINDLY BUT… WE DO: • INERTIA IS STRONGER THAN THE NEAND THE ADMINISTRATIVE DESIRE TO CONTROL (WE CANNOT HAVE CHAOS) OR • KEEP THINGS MANAGEABLE (LET’S JUST USE A TEXTBOOK, OR LAST YEAR’S ARTICLES, – TOO MUCH WORK FOR EVERYBODY)
• REMOVE THIS PAGE?
OR WE CAN… •
INCREASE THE SIZE OF WORKING MEMORY THROUGH SPECIAL EXERCISES OR EVEN THROUGH ELECTRICAL STIMULATION TO PROVIDE MORE SPACE FOR COMPREHENSION PROCESSING (YANG YAN, 2016)
•
INCREASE SHORT-TERM MEMORY TO ENHANCE COMPREHENSION BY MANIPULATING THETA WAVES IN THE BRAIN (VOSSKUHL ET AL. 2015)
•
OPTIMIZE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS BY CAPITALIZING ON PHASE OSCILLATIONS IN THE BRAIN TO PROVIDE MORE ATTENTIONAL SPACE (HERRMANN, ET AL. 2015)
•
TRY TO MAKE USE OF THE FACT THAT SPEECH PERCEPTION IS TIME-LOCKED TO THE SPEECH ENVELOPE, TO ACOUSTIC MARKERS OF SYLLABLE ONSETS, AND TO PITCH PERIODICITY? AND THAT THE SPEECH ENVELOPE IS RIGHT-LATERALIZED? (IN OTHER WORDS, HOW CAN WE USE THE SYNTHETIC AND HOLISTIC RIGHT BRAIN, TO UNDERSTAND LANGUAGE)? (HERTRICH ET AL., 2012)
•
USE THE FACT THAT, IN READING, EYE FIXATIONS OCCUR AT ABOUT 8 CHARACTER SPACES AND AUDITORY LANGUAGE CHUNKS ARE ROUGHLY 7 ± 2 SYLLABLES AND 1.5 SECS. IN LENGTH (A PHYSIOLOGICAL LIMIT?) ? (VALSECCHI, 2008)
MORE ON AWARENESS-RAISING
• INPUT-ENHANCEMENT OR MANIPULATION IS THE ONLY WAY WE HAVE OF ACTING ON THE SIGNALS THAT GO INTO STUDENTS (LINGUISTIC OR NON-LINGUISTIC SIGNALS THAT STUDENTS RECEIVE). BTW… THAT IS WHAT WE ALL DO WHEN WE TEACH
• INEVITABLY, BECAUSE OF THE STUDENTS’ OPERATIONAL HISTORIES, THESE SIGNALS WILL BE “DISTORTED /MODIFIED” (AS REALITY IS NEVER PERCEIVED DIRECTLY) AND TEACHING/LEARNING SYSTEMS WILL NEED TO COMPENSATE FOR SUCH DISTORTIONS OR MODIFICATIONS BY CHANGING THE FORMS OF INPUT.
• THUS, AT LEAST PART OF THE JOB OF TEACHING/LEARNING IS TO FIND WAYS OF MANIPULATING THE INPUT, INCLUDING THE WAYS OF THINKING.) TO WHICH STUDENTS ARE EXPOSED, IN ORDER TO
• ELICIT THE KINDS OF OUTCOMES SOUGHT BY THE TASK THEY ARE TRYING TO PERFORM (WHETHER IT BE THE PRONUNCIATION OF A SOUND OR A GRAMMAR RULE OR A SPECIFIC CULTURAL BEHAVIOR ).
