Classroom Work Style For those ESL students who display and self-report a noticeable independent, left-brain, analytical orientation to completing class work, the incorporation of regular small-group activities may not come as a welcome addition to the curriculum. (They may not like to work in groups, they may prefer working individually to working in groups.) The Reluctance: 1. A lack of experience and/ or success in working with peers in a formal learning context and a perception that the educational expert is not in the appropriate position of authority. 2. Insecurity about perceived English language proficiency 3. A lack of familiarity with small-group work processes, procedures, roles, outcomes, and assessment. The purpose When we ask students from diverse linguistic, cultural and educational heritages to readily embrace a potentially progressive instructional approach like cooperative classroom learning, we are, in fact, asking them to adopt an open attitude to a work style that may not be their preferred or most familiar mode of processing and retaining new material.
The benefits Second language educators are well aware of the benefits of regular inclusion of task-based cooperative activities in terms of language and content acquisition as well as the development of pro-social skills and positive race relations.
Different educational systems. ESL students with years of formative education abroad, however, those with analytical and relational orientations alike, may require special consideration before they can confidently and competently work and learn together. Many who have been educated overseas in a comparatively traditional, hierarchical system will regard the teacher as an unquestioned authority on subject matter, these students are likely to expect this revered scholar to deliver formal unchallenged lectures, while they assume a receptive role taking notes. Students coming from an authority-centered educational system may also have been trained to accept anything from a professor as truth, and to never entertain opinions different from those of the expert. They may consequently expect considerable direction from the teacher and perceive little academic value in class discussions or activities in which classmates share and construct knowledge. Collaborative learning is viewed as a viable instructional approach 1. Teachers ask students to~ l Provide input about their prior experiences working with peers l Share the particular variables that contribute to making peer collaboration either a positive or negative learning experience. 2. The classroom work style survey P235-236 It provides teachers of linguistically and culturally diverse classes an instrument for class For example: l You may find that the majority of your students have negative prior experience working with peers in class, initial activities will understandably require considerable justification, high structure, modeling, facilitation, and validation of both academic and social achievement. l In another class, you may discover that the students are very enthusiastic about working collaboratively( positive), but want the teacher to form the small groups and structure the activities very explicitly with initial modeling, rather than leave the process up to each individual group’s initiative through trial and error.
Kinsella and Sherak (1993) They offer a number of suggestions from implementing small-group learning in different classes. These instructional practices enable students with a wide range of learning styles and educational experiences to find cooperative activities more academically and personally rewarding ( a personal evaluation sheet for group work is included in Appendix C)
Implementing Small-Group Learning Figure 15-6. 1. Balance classroom opportunities for learning -unified-class, independent, pair, small group 2. Establish consistent routines and procedures for group work—roles, physical arrangement, grouping formations, reporting, processing and evaluation. 3. Select or design activities that lead themselves to group process, those that clearly necessitate task-based, active collaboration and invite multiple contributions. 4. Make clear purpose, procedures, and expected outcome of the assignment. 5. Include, when possible, group-work assignments that help to personalize the curriculum by relating it to the students’ cultures, communities, daily lives and interests. 6. Build-in considerable context before presenting the assignment, using techniques that accommodate a variety of sensory modalities and brain-hemisphere strengths. 7. Relate the assignment to previous lessons and previous group activities. 8. Break a more complicated and challenging task into manageable, clearly delineated steps. 9. Give clear oral instructions for the assignment accompanied by visual aids; write the goals, time frame, and procedures on a handout, the chalkboard, or an overhead transparency. 10. Model the task or a part of the task, and check to see if all students understand the instruction before placing them in groups. 11. Establish a clear and adequate time frame for students to successfully complete each part of the group assignment. 12. Encourage cooperation, mutual support, and development of group feelings and accomplishment. 13. Take a noticeably active, facilitative role while groups are in progress by providing feedback and guidance and when necessary by getting students back on track. 14. Save adequate time to process the small-group activity as a unified class, clarifying what was learned and validating what was accomplished. 15. Incorporate listening and responding tasks for students to complete during small-group reports, to facilitate task processing and ensure active learning and accountability( note-taking, journal writing, oral summarizing, question formation) 16. Make sure that students clearly see the connection between what was generated, practiced, or accomplished during the small-group activity and any follow-up individual assignments. 17. Reinforce learning accomplished primarily through listening and talking during a small-group discussion, with a follow-up composing, note-taking, graphic organizing, and ‘or reading task. 18. Provide feedback to individuals and groups on their pro-social skills and academic accomplishments using a manageable, consistent evaluation process and form. 19. Allow students to evaluate their individual and small-group performance and to inform them in a safe, not-threatening manner of any difficulties they may be experiencing by way of a quickwrite, journal entry, or feedback form. 20. Balance opportunities for student learning to be assessed and rewarded in varied grouping formations, including working with a partner or small group as well as independently.
| 
字體：小 中 大
