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Lateral thinking puzzles and gender:
Creative thinking in language education
Evan Zelezny-GreenEnglish Language FellowUniversité Badji Mokhtar
Annaba, Algeria
Ronda Zelezny-GreenPhD Candidate
Royal Holloway, University of LondonUnited Kingdom
MATE Conference 28-31 January 2013
Outline of presentation What are lateral thinking puzzles?
Why should you use them in your language class?
Adapting the puzzles to your context and the gendered classroom
Example of a lateral thinking puzzle
How do gender and lateral thinking puzzles relate in English language teaching?
LTPs: History
Lateral thinking (Edward DeBono, 1967): a way of thinking “outside the box” that
allows people to restructure their thought patterns and avoid thinking in old, clichéd ways
Lateral thinking puzzle (Paul Sloane, 1991): a type of game for small groups...
LTPs: Process
Players: • 1 "Puzzle Master"
• 1+ "Detectives"
The Puzzle Master narrates a story with a strange, mysterious or unlikely element.
The Detectives try to explain the story.
LTPs: Process (continued)The Detectives can ask an unlimited
number of closed (yes/no) questions.
The Puzzle Master can give one of four responses:
• "Yes"• "No"• "Irrelevant"• "I don't know"
If the Detectives are having difficulty, the Puzzle Master can give them a clue.
What is an example of a lateral thinking puzzle?
Once upon a time, there was a woman and her daughter driving on the highway...
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
LTPs are one answer to the most important question that language teachers should ask themselves:
“How can I create an effective foreign/second language environment, given the particular complexities of my personal teaching context?”
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
(continued)LTPs allow for many of the characteristics of an effective second language environment:
exposure to comprehensible input (i+1) (Krashen, 1985)
pushed output (Swain, 1985)
meaningful, convergent tasks (Dörnyei, 1994)
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
(continued)LTPs allow for many of the characteristics of
an effective second language environment:
interaction and negotiation of meaning (Donato, 1994)
noticing the gap in one’s ability (Mackey, 2006)
content-oriented processing (Groot, 1994)
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
(continued)LTPs allow for many of the characteristics of
an effective second language environment:
form-oriented processing (R. Ellis, 1990)
communication and learning strategies (Westhoff, 1991)
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
They can serve as a base for encountering and practicing:
• various linguistic structures (e.g. interrogatives, negative forms, various tenses, etc.)
• pragmatic aspects of language (e.g. turn-taking, maxims of quantity, relation, manner, etc.)
• intercultural communication (moving beyond assumptions)
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
(continued)Their bizarre and absurd situations can:
• awaken the interest of the learners
• increase the saliency of new linguistic elements (Slobin, 1985)
• and facilitate the formation of associations with existing schema (N.C. Ellis, 2003)
Why should I use LTPs in my language class?
(continued)
And best of all, they are NOT dependent on lots of materials!
This means LTPs are extremely flexible and can be adapted for many different contexts.
They are ritualistic, so “instruction time“ is kept to a minimum.
How can I adapt lateral thinking puzzles to my
context?
What factors do I need to take into consideration?
• Age?
• Class size?
• Time?
• Content of stories?
• Gender-based power dynamics?
• Riddle tradition in the culture?
How does gender figure into LTPs?
Gendered language
Pronoun usage
Appropriate profession names in English as to create gender equality in the world of work
Encouraging girls and women through English language teaching
Discussion: LTPs, Gender and Language Education How do you think use of LTPs can benefit your
teaching situation?
What implementation challenges with LTPs do you think you would face in your teaching context?
How might gender dynamics in your classroom impact or be impacted by LTPs where gender “surprises” are used?
Where can I find lateral thinking puzzles to use
with my learners?
If you are interested, put your name and
email on the list, and Mr. Zelezny-Green will
send you a list of websites with examples of
lateral thinking puzzles.
QUESTIONS?
Thank you for attending our presentation!
CONTACT:
Evan [email protected]
Ronda [email protected]
www.rondazg.com
