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Creativity & Critical Thinking in ELT:asking questions & participating

Nguyen Dinh Thu (PhD)

January 16, 2010

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Outline of presentation

New emphases in ELT Developing creativity Developing critical thinking Developing questioning skills Developing intercultural

communication A multi-dimensional participation

model

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Changing Emphases in Vietnamese ELT

Transmission Teacher Structures/skills

Social construction Learner Contexts of use

Interaction Learning Contexts of learning

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Proposed ELT Development in Vietnam

Knowledge

vocabulary

grammar apply

Communication

use LSRW

Development in

thinking

creativity cultures

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Interaction as kinds of engagement

affectiveinvolving motivation, interestengaging one’s feelingsempathizing with othersexpressing feelings

personalopinions, attitudes, ideas, values, experience of the worldfinding and expressing identities

inter-culturalunderstanding & appreciating other culturesmediating cultures appropriate, effective & satisfying communication

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Cultivating a Creative Spirit

Creativity is the interaction between: K knowledge & relevant skills

‘It is impossible to have novel ideas about something if one knows nothing about it.’ (Sternberg, 1987, p.137)

R recognizing good ideas & solutions;generating original ideas and alternatives

E exploring ideas & possible alternativesA acting, being motivated to do something

different or difficultT taking risksE environment which is encouraging

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Developing Creativity

Exposure to creative examples

Teacher models creative approaches through activities

Encourage students to play with words & ideas

task, problem, challenge

Students draw on existing knowledge of world

Students draw on specific skills in English

outcome

Students’ evaluation

Meta-cognitive reflection on process

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Developing thinking through questioning

Why do I ask questions in teaching? What about students asking questions? Why are students’ questions important? What types of questions are there? What should we avoid in questioning? Is there a simple way to develop questioning? How can I follow up a question? Why is waiting in questioning a good idea? How does questioning develop language and thinking? What are some alternatives for direct questioning?

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Questioning is the door of knowledge.

It is not disgraceful to ask: it is disgraceful not to ask.

He that nothing questions, nothing learns.

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

If you are ashamed to ask questions, you will only lose your way.

Where are these proverbs about questions from?

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Questioning, thinking & creating

Task 1: In pairs, discuss the meaning of this poem.

The Cold FiresideSitting by the cold fireside,Thinking back at life’s long day.When was it I lost my way?Was it when I lost my bride?Was it when I played and lied?Love’s light left; she refused to stay.Where she went, she wouldn’t say.On that day all meaning died.Sitting by the cold fireside, Wondering why I ever lied.

Task 2:

make questions about this poem. Try to ask different kinds of questions to help readers think about the poem and think about this kind of situation.

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Balancing Thinking Skills

generative evaluative

Creative Thinking

Critical Thinking

Imagining: alternatives, innovations, ideas, viewpoints, consequences Constructing mental representations

Judging: usefulness appropriateness in

contexts Interpreting applying

questioning

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Intercultural communication

Mindful awareness and skills

Culture 2 Behaviour Language Knowledge Expectations Interpretations

Culture 1

Behaviour Language Knowledge Expectations Interpretations

?

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Intercultural Communication

appropriate effective satisfying for everyone

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Participation activities

Teacher guidelines: points to consider & feedback on choices

Intercultural information and experience

Situations

choice 1

choice 2

choice 3

choice 4

Student discussion:

reasons interpretations consequences

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A multidimensional participation model for ELT

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Multidimensional participation

Meta-cognitive engagement

Socio-cultural engagement

Cognitive engagement

Changing roles of teachers and learners

Creative engagement

Affective engagement

Developing new materials

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Student Participation

Developing willingness and confidence to interact and use in English

Be explicit about the focus, purpose and outcome of participation activities

Encouraging mental, social, affective, creative engagement in textbook content and activities

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Cognitive engagement Encourage students to:

support ideas with examples, reasons, evidence, sources

ask clarifying questions (to define terms, question relevance & basis of evidence)

judge basis of information (observations, reports, value judgements, assumptions, credibility of sources)

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Meta-cognitive aspects: Get students to discuss:

before activities (planning, procedures, strategies)

after activities (monitoring, summarizing content & process)

outcomes (reporting, evaluating, using criteria)

learning processes (reporting, evaluating, using criteria)

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Socio-cultural & affective emphasis Encourage students to:

express their individual opinions, ideas, experience

co-operate & collaborate in pairs, groups, whole class

support & encourage each other use English & feel how English speakers express

themselves gain insider vision of other communities &

cultures see commonalities & contrasts across cultures

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Creative engagement: Encourage students to:

express themselves in new ways, in new contexts, saying new things

take risks with their expression have something worth saying;

interesting ideas, alternatives

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Teachers’ roles

change participation practices gradually: start with brief focused activities, alter use longer or more complex ones

model thoughtfulness, creativity & socio-cultural awareness in own behaviour; given examples of them

encourage active participation & relevant uses of English; recognize thoughtful & creative contributions

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Autonomy in formal language learning

Three pedagogical principles:

Learner involvement: engaging learners to share responsibility for the learning process (the affective dimension)

Learner reflection: helping learners to think critically when they plan, monitor and evaluate their learning (the meta-cognitive dimension)

Appropriate target language use: Speaking can only be learnt by speaking (the communicative dimension)

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Note that these three principles are not hierarchically related: each implies the other two

Learner involvement(affective)

Learner reflection (metacognitive)

Target language use(communicative)

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What does the teacher do?

Use target language as the preferred medium of classroom communication and require the same of her learners.

Involve learners in a non-stop quest for good learning activities, which are shared, discussed, analysed and evaluated with the whole class – in the target language, to begin with in very simple terms.

Help learners to set their own learning targets and choose their own learning activities, subjecting them to discussion, analysis and evaluation – again, in the target language.

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What does the teacher do?

Require learners to identify individual goals but pursue them through collaborative work in small groups.

Require learners to keep written record of their learning – plans of lessons and projects, lists of useful vocabulary, whatever texts/videos etc. they produce.

Engage learners in regular evaluation of their progress as individual learners and as a class – in the target language.

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References:

Critical Thinking

Baron, J. B & Sternberg, R. J. (eds.) (1987) Teaching Thinking Skills, theory and practice, New York: WH Freeman

de Bono, E. (1993) Serious Creativity, London: Harper Collinsde Bono, E. (1996) Teach Yourself to Think, London: Penguin

BooksFisher, R. (1990) Teaching Children to Think, Oxford: BlackwellFisher, R. (1998) Teaching Thinking: philosophical enquiry in the

classroom, London: CassellHamers, J. M. H. & Overtoom, M. T. (eds.) (1997) Teaching

Thinking in Europe, Utrecht: SARDESLipman, M. (1991) Thinking in Education, Cambridge: Cambridge

University PressSternberg, R. J. & Zhang, L. F. (eds.) (2001) Perspectives on

Thinking, Learning and Cognitive Styles, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Sternberg, R. J. & Speakr-Swerling, L. (1996) Teaching for Thinking, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

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References:

CreativityBoden, M. A. (ed.) (1994) Dimensions of Creativity,

London: MIT PressCarter, R. (2004) Language and Creativity, the art of

common talk, London: RoutledgeDepartment for Education & Employment (1999) All

Our Future: creativity, culture & education, London: DFEE

Gardner, J. (1993) The Creators of the Modern Era, New York: Basic Books

Sternberg, R. J. (ed.) (1988) The Nature of Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Sternberg, R. J. (ed.) (1999) Handbook of Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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References:

CultureAlred, G; Byram, M. & Fleming, M. (eds.) Intercultural

Experience and Education, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Corbett, J. (2003) An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Hall, J. K. (2002) Teaching and Researching language and culture, London: Longman.

Hinkel, E. (ed.) (1999) Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Scollon, R. & Scollon, S. W. (2001) Intercultural Communication, a discourse approach, Oxford: Blackwell.

Ting-Toomey, S. (1999) Communicating across Cultures, New York: Guilford.