Backlashes against CLT

     Two of this week's readings focused very heavily on the shortcomings of Communicative Learning Teaching(CLT) and how it is received in the world. Before these readings, I had a relatively positive view of CLT, thinking that it seemed very useful in the classroom.  Last week, when we discussed China attempting to rid schools of CLT, I figured that this was largely due to some ill-informed political move.  After reading the provided article by Guangwei Hu, I was able to see the counter-cultural argument that he brought forth, and how Chinese schools were not wrong for sticking to traditional methods.  Along with Hu's article, Stephen Bax provided a contextual argument that build upon the notion that CLT is becoming a "universal method" that needs to be dethroned.  Together, these articles showed that while innovative methods may be very educationally rewarding for learners, they are only effective in certain contexts.  This idea can relate back to many concepts that we have previously discussed.

     

     Hu links the backlash against CLT to Chinese Culture.  This culture exists on a societal level, as well as an educational level.  Educationally, Chinese schools followed very Confucian ideas, believing that students and teachers were on separate levels.  This largely contrasts with CLT, believing that student interaction is key.  The teacher-centered classroom is a dominant factor in Chinese classrooms.  Some people may criticize these teacher centered methods, but often fail to look at the cultural aspect.  In the conclusion of Hu's article, Hu states that it wold be counterproductive to restructure the Chinese educational system around CLT.  He brings up the idea of an autonomous approach vs. an idealogical approach. (Hu, 102)  By adopting the autonomous attitude, one is assuming superiority of effective pedagogy over all other realms.  It is the ideological attitude that allows one to have a better sociocultural understanding of the educational world around them.  By realizing that different approaches work in different environments, a teacher can teach his/her students more effectively. This last idea relates largely to contexts, which was the focal point of Bax's article.

     Bax's article gave me a much better insight on the Hu reading, highlighting the idea that proper approaches to teaching are contextual.  As I mentioned before, prior to reading Hu's article, I didn't know why CLT would be rejected in some schools.  Perhaps you could say I was under the assumption that CLT was a somewhat superior method, given its ability to promote "real life" language. Bax addresses this opinion I had, along with the opinion of many other educators.  Bax explained the notion that CLT was considered the "best method."  If I have learned anything from this course so far, it is that no one true method exists, nor does one sole approach, unless that approach would be a skeptical, multi-perspectival view that is apt to change to certain situations.  The overarching idea that I drew from Bax's article is that different approaches work at varying levels, given the environment.  Whether it's "learning needs, wants, styles, and strategies" (Bax, 285) or sociocultural factors that are heavily rooted in ideology, a teacher must be flexible and adaptable to whatever learning environment he or she enters.    Certain methods may seem like a perfect fix for one situation, and be counterproductive in another.  In order for a teacher to effectively reach their students, he/she must grasp this concept and be able to look at the educational sphere through a multicontextual lens.

Brown, Chapter 3: Interpretations

     Brown introduces chapter three very appropriately when he builds off the notion from chapter two, in which methods were finite structures.  He built off the idea that methods were very rigid and systematic, not applying to varying student needs.  David Nunan felt that methods could be very limiting, and the best way to go about teaching a second language was through an "eclectic blend of tasks, each tailored for a specified group of learners studying for particular purposes in geographic, social, and political contexts. (Brown, 41) It is ideal that all the diverse needs of each student are addressed, by taking on a number of approaches that Brown has described.

   Brown addresses a number of approaches varying from learner centered instruction to content based instruction.  While reading these approaches, I saw the many values that each brought into the classroom.  Many approaches touched on the aforementioned idea of diversity, whether it applied to the individual sphere of the classroom (learner center instruction) or anchored in the greater sphere of society. (whole language education)  I felt that another way of facilitating the sense of a multi-perspectival could be through the varying group approaches such as interactive or cooperative group learning.

    In particular, I was very drawn to the section on content based instruction.  Being a student who is only getting his endorsement in TESOL, with a Major in History/ Secondary Education, I felt that this could relate very closely to my educational path towards becoming an educator.  While there were many ways of incorporating content into language teaching,  teaching a sheltered form or even the sustained-content language teaching of content based instruction seemed the most interesting.  I imagined teaching a history or geography lesson, while implementing language learning strategies.

    I feel that Brown closed this chapter quite nicely, with addressing the dynamic nature of the classroom.  While all the approaches throughout the chapter seemed very beneficial to learners, no one approach should not be adopted.  This reminded me of the similar mindset towards methods.  Just like with methods, a teacher must keep in mind that theoretical stances are always changing and student needs are all different. There are different approaches for different circumstances.

Kumar: Chapters 1 & 2

     Kumar begins his Beyond Methods book with a very interesting take on the role of teachers in and outside of the classroom.  He delves into David Hansen's idea of teaching being considered a "vocation" as opposed to a career or profession.  Before reading this chapter, I always looked at occupations on a scale from job to career; a job being very low on the scale, and a career being at the top, having meaning and purpose.  After seeing Hansen's take on the matter, I was open to this new idea of a teacher being one who serves his/her students.  Initially, the vocational term did not seem as gratifying as a career or profession, but after reading I began to realize the role teachers would play in their community.  

    Kumar addresses the role of teachers in three categories:  Passive technicians, reflective practitioners, and transformative intellectuals.  These roles seem to develop through the former to the latter. They vary greatly in teacher interaction, but differ most in regards to critical thinking.  Kumar described passive technicians as "implementers of education." While they may have access to a large base of knowledge provided by experts in the field, they are restricted heavily on an autonomous level.  They are also very limited on the level of student interaction.  When reading about passive technicians, I felt that this philosophy of teaching was very rigid and stagnant.   While experts were coming up with educational material, students had very limited access to other ideas.  They were only given material of the experts.  This inhibited newer ideas and a sense of critical thinking.  I believe that the subsequent description of the reflective practitioner improved on the lack of critical thinking.

    Teachers seen as a reflective practitioner did develop a better sense of critical thinking, only in a sense of an introspective level.  Teachers were able to question tradition and long lasting beliefs.  They were able to thinking critically on theories given by experts in their field. The main drawback however goes back to the the idea of critical thinking.  The emphasis of the critical thinking lies solely on the teacher, rather than the classroom.  The classroom may have improved in a sense of challenging old, traditional ideas of passive technicians, but was still lacking in the realm of helping students achieve critical thinking.

    The transformative intellectual encompasses many aspects of the previously mentioned roles and improves on them.  A transformative intellectual brings about historical, social, and political problems and attempts to deal with these communities int he classroom.  I felt that this philosophy was especially important given the multicultural element of the classroom and real world.  Different cultures are bound to give varying perspectives to injustices in the world. Calling upon these injustices, while looking at ways to address these problems encourages both students and teachers alike to think critically, in an attempt to "work towards a more humane life" Without this critical outlook, students and teachers would have a poorer sense of community, and fall into the prior roles of tradition, as portrayed by the passive technician.