Devon Hanahan Department of Hispanic Studies College of Charleston 4 November 2017 AATSP- SC Learner Centered Teaching Practices in the Language Classroom
Devon Hanahan
Department of Hispanic Studies
College of Charleston
4 November 2017
AATSP- SC
Learner Centered Teaching Practices
in the Language Classroom
Comments or questions?
Log onto:
Todaysmeet.com/CapeFear2018
Type in a nickname (or your real
name).
Send comments or questions
throughout!
My goal: To acknowledge the
neurological aspects of
language acquisition in the
context of learner centered
teaching practices and to create
the best atmosphere to fire up
and strengthen those synapses.
The Goal of Learner Centered Teaching
…is to create learning
environments that optimize
students’ opportunities to pay
attention and actively engage in
authentic, meaningful, and useful
learning. (Doyle, 2011).
Two kinds of classrooms….
Teacher Centered Learner Centered
Lecture predominates.
Students are mostly passive.
Teachers offer help and
solutions readily.
Students are happy because
they can let the teacher do all
the work. Teachers are happy
because they can do the same
routine repeatedly.
Lecture is one of many approaches.
Students are actively engaged.
Students have to figure things out on their own.
Students can get frustrated because they have to work harder. Teachers have to plan more to make this work.
Question
Outside of content knowledge, pedagocial
knowledge, and technological knowledge, what
do you do as a language teacher to increase your
students’ chances for success? Do NOT include
foreign language-specific pedagogical practices
in your answer. Acceptable: I write in huge letters on the board so they can all see.
Unacceptable: I use only the target language in the classroom.
Five highlights for today Establish a personal bond with students.
Teach students that they can improve their ability to learn: they are in control of their success.
Maximize the use of their senses and physical motion to increase learning.
Involve students in the teaching and assessment process.
Ensure that learning is meaningful and challenging.
The Student/Professor Relationship…
…is like any other human-human interaction.
Showing students that we respect and value them and that their success is important to us helps them fully engage in the learning process.
Emotions and cognition are inextricably bound in the brain.
Three benefits to a good relationship:
Our guidance and criticism are more likely to be valued, accepted, and implemented.
If students trust that we have their best interests in mind they will have the confidence to face challenges and succeed.
The affective filter that inhibits communication will be significantly lower.
Balancing authority and bonding
Rules, routines, and high standards are vital. The effort behind them is proof that you care about their success.
Remind them of the intrinsic value of what they are learning. Knowing that you are providing them with skills they can use in the real world automatically creates a bond.
Create opportunities for success for struggling students and heap on the positive reinforcement.
Practice #2
Teach students that they can improve
their ability to learn: they are in
control of their success.
There are only two kinds of
students in our classes:
Those with a FIXED MINDSET and
those with a GROWTH MINDSET.
(Dweck, 2006)
The Student’s Self-view of.. Intelligence
Fixed mindset Growth mindset
Intelligence is a
fixed trait: you have
it or you don’t. All
I can work with is
what I have now.
Through practice
and effort I can
increase my
intelligence. I can
become as smart as
I want.
Working hard
Fixed mindset Growth mindset
Working hard is a sign that I’m not smart. I just want to look smart in front of others, so I will not let them see me struggle.
Hard work is a sign
of intelligence and
a harbinger of
success.
Challenges
Fixed mindset Growth mindset
I don’t like to be
challenged. If I
don’t try hard, I
have a good excuse
for not doing well.
Challenges will
make me smarter
and stronger.
Criticism
Fixed mindset Growth mindset
Criticism is a
personal attack on
me and makes me
more afraid to try.
Criticism helps me
grow and improve.
I may not enjoy it,
but I can learn
from it.
Success of others
Fixed mindset Growth mindset
Those smart kids in my class make me look bad. I can never be as successful as they are. I’ll just stay under the radar.
Those smart kids in
my class make me
realize that I can
reach that level of
success as well.
You CAN Grow Your Brain! Let them know straightaway that they can literally grow their
brains, creating new neural pathways, with effort and practice.
Praise students’ efforts and results rather than their intelligence.
When they do fail, focus your feedback on improved strategies for the future and not just on their errors.
Remind them that current performance reflects ONLY their current skills. It is not necessarily a predictor of future results.
Teach them the study skills they need.
Physical Movement
In class: Natural selection favored brains that could solve
problems related to survival while in nearly constant motion.
Our brains have evolved to work best when moving, not
sitting. (Medina, 2008)
Out of class: “The sedentary character of modern life is a
disruption of our nature, and it poses one of the biggest
threats to our continued survival.” (Ratey, 2008)
Production of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine
Promotion of nerve cell binding
Development of new nerve cells
See no language, speak no language,
hear no language…learn no language!
1969 1992 2008
Hearing-
20% recall
Touching-
65% recall
Hearing-
10% recall
Seeing-
30% recall
Seeing-
72% recall
Seeing-
40% recall
Both-
50% recall
Both-
85% recall
Both-
65% recall
Haptics…
…is a branch of psychology that investigates the role of the
sense of touch in acquiring information.
Many studies (e.g.,Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014) show
that students retain more information and show far more
conceptual understanding when taking notes or writing
papers by hand than when typing on a keyboard.
Practice and repetition
Homework, reading, writing, speaking, listening: There’s no
such thing as too much practice! Class should NEVER end
early!
Help students find patterns. They may seem obvious to us,
but they are not clear to many students.
-SSSSSSSSSS
Downtime after new material
The time between their seeing the material at home and
seeing it again in class gives them the opportunity to process
the new information and be more ready to work with it.
Space out grammar and new vocabulary lessons as much as
possible.
Less is more!
Explicit instruction
“The past half century of empirical
research has provided overwhelming and
unambiguous evidence that, for everyone
but experts,…direct, explicit instruction
accompanied by practice and feedback is
more effective and more efficient than
partial guidance.” (Clark, 2012)
Make the students do the work:
1-Flip the classroom! Have them do tutorials and homework
before seeing the material in class.
2-Teach inductively. Help them figure out how to explain it
to you. Build on their previous knowledge.
3-Test cumulatively. Do not allow them to forget previously
learned skills.
4-Allow students to rewrite and retest when appropriate.
5-Don’t forget scaffolding: model, model, model. Start
simply and increase complexity as they gain confidence.
Student input in the teaching process
Vocabulary:
Clues
Flashcards
Word per person
Culture:
Discussion boards
Micro-presentations
Quick lookups
Grammar:
Small groups with roles
“Profesor/a” por un día
Discussion boards/
study groups
Student input in the assessment
process5 I stretched my writing to include details. I used transition
words and paragraphs to organize my thoughts. I used as
much new vocabulary as possible.
4 I included several details and a lot of new vocabulary, but
my writing was not very organized.
3 I wrote enough to cover the topics, but I didn’t stretch
myself or make much of an effort to use new vocabulary.
2 I wrote the bare minimum and made no effort to organize
my thoughts or use new vocabulary.
1 I wrote one or two sentences.
0 I didn’t turn in my blue book.
Make it count!
Learning activates the reward pathway in the brain just
as physical exercise does. This pathway evolved to
promote activities essential to survival. Increased
challenge means increased rewards. PLUS….
Students are more willing to engage in authentic
(meaningful) learning. So…..
Our material must be
MEANINGFUL AND CHALLENGING
Characteristics of Authentic Learning:
Meaningful and Challenging
Deals with a real world task. Has value beyond the class setting.
Allows a variety of learning styles.
Allows students some control of their learning.
Is student driven and engages the teacher as a facilitator.
Uses scaffolding to assist learning when necessary.
Encourages students to work together and engage in discussion.
Ask students to produce a genuinely useful product.
(Doyle, 2008)
When did you do these in the past week?
When could you have done these?
Establish a personal bond with students.
Teach students that they can improve their ability to learn: they are in control of their success.
Maximize the use of their senses and physical motion to increase learning.
Involve students in the teaching and assessment process.
Ensure that learning is meaningful and challenging.
Class Discussions
1) What do I want the students to learn or practice?
2) How and when will their results be demonstrated or
shared?
3) How will I assess their results?
Maximizing the benefit of class
discussions
Give everyone a specific role: facilitator, scribe, reporter, skeptic,
etc.
Give students input on the content of the discussion or questions.
Make expectations clear: each person must participate, they must
cover __ questions, and they will report back via __.
Monitor the discussions, but resist the urge to interrupt and help
out when there is silence.
Ask students to write a short summary or reflection on their
group’s discussion.
Clearly assess what was learned or practiced in the discussion.
To make learning meaningful and
challenging, we must…
Write clear and observable student learning
outcomes (SLOs).
Come up with a practical action plan to
achieve those goals.
Create opportunities for students to have
additional practice.
Give them feedback.
Most of this is done outside of the classroom!
ResourcesClark, Richard E. Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided
Instruction. American Educator, Spring 2012. (pp. 6-11)
Doyle, Terry. Helping Students Learn in a Learner-centered Environment: A Guide to Teaching in
Higher Education. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2008.
---. Learner-Centered Teaching. Putting the Research on Learning into Practice.Sterling, VA:
Stylus, 2011.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.
Goldberg, Elkhonon. The New Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes in a Complex World. New York:
Oxford UP, 2009.
Medina, John. Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press, 2008.
Ratey, John. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little
Brown, 2008.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-
laptop/