Transcript Learner Commitment Theory: It Works!

Learner Commitment
Theory: It Works!
Fernando Silva, UPTC
[email protected]
The New Language
Institute at the UPTC
• No classes
Students attend on a self-selected
schedule to follow a study plan.
• No groups
At any time the room is occupied by
students of any career and any level.
• No blackboard, no teacher control.
One or more tutors are present at any time
to wait on students as they demmand
attention.
Physical Description
• The Institute is a large study room for
about 80 students with a cafeteria-type
arrangement.
• Students come and go as they wish, and
when they come, they do so to study, to
seek assistance or to take tests.
• Students end up learning the same or more
than they learn in a traditional classroom.*
– How can this happen?
– Put an “s” on your list of “T’s”
The Nature of Learning
• Learning is a change in the state of
awareness, knowledge or ability of a
person. It comes about as a result of
his own experience or involvement.
• Learning can happen without a
teacher, and it often doesn’t happen
when there is one (constructivism).
Teacher Self-Test
• Are you a conscientious teacher?
• Do all your students learn everything that
you teach in class?
• Do some of your students learn only part
of what you teach?
• May some of your students learn little or
nothing of what you teach in class?
• Might someone learn what you teach and
more without your teaching them? (SDL*)
The Nature of Learning
• Real-life learning is (always) the result of two
variables:
– Exposure
– Engagement (commitment)
• The teacher is not a necessary variable.
• School learning should be the result of two
variables:
– Adequate, carefully selected exposure.
– Intensive, carefully encouraged, sustained commitment.
• The teacher may be a valuable catalyst – or a hindrance.
Learner Commitment
Theory
• Can a student learn English on his own?
– Can he learn otherwise?
– Can he become engaged in a classroom with the teacher
using 20, 80 or 100% of the class?
• The role of the teacher is not to teach
– It is to select adequate subsets of English for the
students to be optimally exposed.
– It is to design and sustain adequate engagement on the
part of the student.
• The Teacher is an accessory to learning, not the
VIP.
Institute of Languages UPTC:
Procedural Description
On arrival for the first time the student reads and
signs a contract.
The contract is binding. It states that the tutors
will give him or her a pass when s/he
demonstrates a given conduct.
The materials contain all the instructions, the
contents, and the pass criteria.
The students are not “motivated” by the teacher:
They are challenged by a course program. They
can choose to sink or swim. (Most swim through)
.
Penalty
• Any learner who refuses to adopt the
necessary commitment levels for any given
unit and fails to present the established
evaluation events will not pass the given
unit, and a student who passes fewer than
four out of six units fails the level.
• Most students pass.*
Principles
• Any student can learn anything that s/he sets his
mind to. Even English.
• Learning happens on two necessary and sufficient
conditions:l=e2
– The learner is exposed to the language.
– The learner becomes engaged with the learning task.
– The learner cannot avoid learning.
• Not learning is the sole responsibility of the
unengaged learner. Corollary: It works.
The Episodes Theory
• An “episode” is a very specific, life-like
event that centers on a communicative
purpose: describing everyday objects.
• It takes a lifetime to “learn a language” (6
+ 6 + 4 + ...), but it takes two weeks to
master an episode (+/- 16 hours of student
work)
• Episodes pile up towards proficiency.
Theory Fad
• The “episodes” model is
–
–
–
–
–
Task based
Student centered
Self-determined
Communicative
Competence oriented
The Episodes Learning
Unit
• Target behaviors (like CEF): 3/10/80
• Required input (exposure)
– Lexicon
– Sentence models
– Achievement indicators
• Required action (engagement)
– Study, learn, practice to required level
• Testing event
– Demonstrate required competence
Episodes Application
• “Trails to English” is a secondary
school version of this approach that
is totally viable in the classroom.
(Selling price: $14, Grades 6-11, Susaeta Quito)
• “ABC English” is the series used by
the Institute but is fully applicable in
the ESP classroom.
(Selling price $8, levels 1-4, UPTC Language Institute)
How to reach us:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Susaeta Editores
Thank you