Kielididaktiikka ja opettajien pedagoginen ajattelu : Tutkimus englantia toisena kielenä opettavien kielenopettajien käsityksistä ja opetusmenetelmistä kamerunissa

The aim of this study was to describe, analyse and interpret secondary school language teachers conceptions and methods of teaching English as a second language in Cameroon, the justification of their methods and how they scaffolded their students study processes. This was investigated through the following three research questions: (1) What are the main language teaching methods of Cameroon teachers of English as a second language? (2) In what ways do Cameroon teachers of English as a second language justify the language teaching methods they use? (3) In what ways do Cameroon teachers of English as a second language scaffold their students study processes? The data were gathered from five Cameroon teachers of English as a second language from six classes (Form 1 5) in three schools through participant observation. 1) Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the five teachers after lesson observations, 2) a focus group interview was conducted with six teachers of English, 3) a national pedagogic inspector for English second language teaching at the Cameroon Ministry of Education was also interviewed, and 4) informal discussions were held with the participants in order to get a better view of the context and participants. In addition to this, a number of documents were consulted: the Cameroon syllabus/scheme of work, a ministerial circular defining the objectives and organisation of bilingualism at secondary schools in Cameroon, and professional development objectives of the Cameroon English Language and Literature Teachers Association (CAMELTA). The field work period lasted from February 2010 until June 2010. The data were analysed through qualitative content analysis methods. The findings of the present study indicate that the five teachers main language teaching methods were not in line with communicative language teaching methodology since the English second language teaching was highly teacher-centred and the emphasis was on grammar and examinations. Discussions on meaningful language input, functional and skill language learning theories, however, pointed to their awareness of communicative principles. The justification for the use of a non-communicative approach focused on restrictions in the school context, the home context and restrictions coming from the Cameroon Ministry of Education. These contextual restrictions nevertheless affected the five teachers teaching and their conceptions of ESL on personal and professional levels. However, as this study indicates, justifications underpinned by theory and not drawing solely on personal maxims and opting for the best of poor alternatives can still have a positive impact on the language teaching situation. In everyday language teaching, scaffolding English second language students was an important consideration and the students study processes was scaffolded in many ways. The analysed data show encouraging signs of English second language teachers willingness to engage in scaffolding within lesson frameworks, provide a safe supportive study environment, inquire into and pay attention to students previous knowledge, but the results also reflect that the knowledge of when to fully withdraw scaffolding to help the student gain independence was still undeveloped. The highly examination-oriented environment, the teachers practical approach to teaching English as a second language and the non-support of the Cameroon Ministry of Education in the professional development of language teachers are some of the current problems in the teaching of English as a second language. The findings of this study suggest that the Cameroon Ministry of Education should play a more active role in promoting the didactic teaching studying learning process of English as a second official language in Cameroon and in changing the conceptions of how to teach this language. The findings emphasise the need for designing professional development courses, providing opportunities for teachers to reflect on and discuss their teaching experiences and for redefining their role as professionals. Keywords: English as a second language; communicative language teaching; language teachers pedagogical justifications; scaffolding; teaching studying learning process; didactics; professional developmentTutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kuvata, analysoida ja tulkita kamerunilaisten englannin opettajien käsityksiä ja opetusmenetelmiä, menetelmien perusteluja ja miten he tukevat (scaffold) oppilaiden opiskeluprosesseja. Tavoitteeseen pyrittiin vastaamalla tutkimuskysymyksiin, jotka ovat (1) Mitkä ovat kamerunilaisten englannin opettajien ensisijaiset kielenopetusmenetelmät?, (2) Miten opettajat perustelevat menetelmien käyttöä? ja (3) Miten kamerunilaiset englannin opettajat tukevat oppilaidensa opiskeluprosesseja? Aineisto kerättiin havainnoimalla viiden englantia toisena kielenä opettavan kamerunilaisopettajan kuutta luokkaa (Form 1 5) kolmessa koulussa. 1) Puolistrukturoidut haastattelut tehtiin kunkin viiden opettajan kanssa tuntihavainnointien jälkeen, 2) kohderyhmähaastatteluun osallistui kuusi englannin opettajaa, 3) Kamerunin opetusministeriön pedagogista englannin kielen opetuksen tarkastajaa haastateltiin, ja 4) osallistujien kesken käytiin epämuodollisia keskusteluja tarkemman kuvan saamiseksi osallistujista ja kontekstista. Lisäksi käytettiin apuna asiakirjoja: Kamerunin opetussuunnitelma, ministeriön kiertokirje, jossa määrätään kaksikielisyyden tavoitteet ja rakenne Kamerunin kouluissa sekä Kamerunin englannin kielen ja kirjallisuuden opettajien liiton (CAMELTA) ammatillisen kehittymisen tavoitteet. Tutkimuksen kenttävaihe kesti helmikuusta 2010 kesäkuuhun 2010. Aineisto analysoitiin laadullisen sisältöanalyysin menetelmin. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että viiden tutkitun opettajan kielenopetusmenetelmät eivät olleet kommunikatiivisen kielenopetusmenetelmän mukaisia, vaan englannin opetus oli voimakkaasti opettajakeskeistä, ja opetuksen painopiste oli kieliopissa ja kokeissa. Keskusteluista, joissa käsiteltiin mielekästä kielisyötettä, funktionaalisia ja taidonoppimisteorioita, ilmeni kuitenkin, että opettajat tunsivat kommunikatiivisen opetuksen periaatteet. Opettajat perustelivat ei-kommunikatiivisen menetelmän käyttöä koulun ja kodin ja Kamerunin opetusministeriön asettamilla rajoituksilla. Nämä kontekstuaaliset rajoitukset vaikuttivat viiden opettajan opetukseen ja heidän käsityksiinsä englannista toisena kielenä henkilökohtaisella ja ammatillisella tasolla. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa kuitenkin, että opettajien perustelut eivät perustu yksinomaan opettajien henkilökohtaisiin maksiimeihin, vaan pohjautuvat teoriaan, mitä voidaan pitää myönteisenä kielenopetuksen kannalta. Oppilaiden tukeminen (scaffolding) englannin opiskelussa oli kiinteä osa päivittäistä työtä, ja oppilaiden opiskelua tuettiinkin monin tavoin. Tuloksista ilmenee rohkaisevia merkkejä kamerunilaisten englannin opettajien halukkuudesta tarjota oppituntien aikana oikea-aikaista tukea oppilaille, tarjota turvallinen ja tukea antava opiskeluympäristö, aktivoida ja käyttää hyväksi oppilaiden taustatietoa opiskelun tukena. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että opettajilla ei ole vielä selvää tietoa oikeasta ajankohdasta, jolloin tuen antamisesta tulee luopua ja näin tukea oppilaan itsenäistymistä oppijana. Voimakas koekeskeisyys, opettajien käytännöllinen lähestymistapa englannin opettamiseen toisena kielenä ja Kamerunin opetusministeriön puuttuva tuki opettajien ammatillisessa kehittymisessä ovat englannin opetuksen ajankohtaisia ongelmia. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että Kamerunin opetusministeriön tulisi olla aktiivisesti edistämässä didaktista opettaminen-opiskelu-oppiminen -prosessia englannin kielen opetuksessa Kamerunissa ja muuttamassa käsityksiä siitä miten englantia toisena kielenä opetetaan. Tulosten mukaan tarvitaan ammatillisen kehittymisen kursseja, tilaisuuksia, joissa opettajat voivat reflektoida ja keskustella opetuskokemuksistaan ja uudelleen määritellä tehtävänsä opetuksen ammattilaisina

Spartan Daily, October 8, 2001

Volume 117, Issue 27https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9732/thumbnail.jp

Casebooks, Commentaries, and Curmudgeons: An Introductory History of Law in the Lecture Hall

While the methods of instructing American law students have changed over the course of two-hundred years, the primary purpose of American law schools has stayed the same: providing the necessary education for enabling students to effectively practice law. Additionally, legal education should achieve three goals: to provide students a way to learn, organize, and apply the law. Forms of legal education take various forms, each having advocates and opponents. Casebooks—often accompanied by the Socratic method—provide an effective way for students to learn the law through historical rules and decisions, while treatises add organization to a body of law’s relationships among applications. A critique of the casebook method is that the student is presented with a presumably correct adjudication of a legal issue from the start. In response to this critique, problem books were developed to give students the opportunity to practice their developing legal skills by confronting hypothetical legal problems. From these three methods, a host of new variations have developed, which include but are not limited to: canned briefs; commercial outlines; and supplements like the Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (“CALI”) system. These variations present new opportunities for students to seek help outside of the classroom, though they are sometimes in conflict with a professor’s pedagogical design. In-class variations also exist, as many professors have begun to embrace new teaching methods such as team activities and client counseling based role-playing. Even though lecture halls have changed much, educational goals have not. Instructional education and training may still be achieved, despite the methods employed, if professors are active in guiding students in the right direction by synthesizing the three goals of legal education

The Jamaican Tax Reform: it’s Design and Performance

This chapter describes and evaluates the results of the four-year Jamaica tax reform project. We also include an ex post evaluation of the performance and continuing reform of the new system since its implementation. The chapter concludes with a list of lessons learned, as well as some parallels with the conventional wisdom

Creative Management: Disciplining the Neoliberal Worker

This integrated article dissertation examines some of the new managerial practices that have emerged to handle cognitive capitalism’s ongoing need for creative, flexible labour power. The three articles included in this dissertation offer a glimpse into the widespread processes employed by management to regulate and discipline a workforce that must also be granted a degree of relative flexibility, creativity, and autonomy in order to be effective under post-Fordist conditions of production. The first chapter looks at the emergence of corporate improvisational training at the turn of the twenty-first century as an attempt to cultivate flexible and innovative workers, a move that ultimately succumbs to what Andre Spicer (2013) calls “organizational bullshit”—the deployment of cynical and self-serving discourse that functions to build confidence and legitimacy within workplaces where a clear sense of occupational purpose is lacking. Chapter two explores the recent trend of workplace mindfulness as a specific element of the now-prevalent \u27wellness\u27 discourses, which inevitably work to align workers\u27 personal values with those of their employer. The final chapter involves an analysis of the working conditions of voice-over and motion capture actors in the video game industry and the processes of rationalization and neo-taylorization to which they are subjected

Fault detection and correction modeling of software systems

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH