Running head: FAIRY TALES
Proposal: Fairy tales as a means to enhance imagination
and develop communicative competence
Mariana Estallo and Silvina Pallosi
Universidad CAECE
Abstract
This proposal will aim at implementing fairy tales in the foreign language classroom. This device will be studied as an innovative way of improving communicative competence in students that start learning English. The researchers will carry out the experience to see whether this kind of stories promotes effective use of the language by young students who are first exposed to it, while it also enhances their imagination. The experience will be conducted in two courses in a public school in the province of Buenos Aires throughout a school year.
Keywords
Fairy tales, storytelling, interaction, real communication, learning, teaching, context, games, content, topics, communicative activities
Introduction
During the last decades, there has been a trend to believe that cognitive development arises as a result of social interaction. Learning is thought to occur when an individual interacts with an interlocutor in a situation in which the learner is capable of performing at a higher level because there is support from the interlocutor. This cognitive revolution started in the 50’s with Vygotskyian‘s ideas which spread to both psychology and education.
The learner became the centre of attention and the foreign language was not considered as an object of study any longer. Vygotsky’s (1978, cited in Lighbrown & Spada, 2006) theory has also been connected to interaction hypothesis because of the interlocutor’s role in helping learners understand and be understood. Extending this idea, Swain (1985, cited in Lightbrown & Spada, 2006) has been interested in developing the comprehensible output hypothesis with the notion that language production helps the learner to process it more deeply.
What is more, as the Curriculum Design of Province of Buenos Aires (2007) states, to teach English to our children is to provide them with the opportunities to interact with texts and people of other cultures to enrich their view of the world and so strengthen their own identities. The idea is to go beyond vocabulary, syntax and grammar in order to contribute to the development of the students as responsible and tolerant citizens whose critical thinking could help to foster our society’s values. In addition, authenticity makes learning meaningful to students.
However, it is frequent to hear teachers to be dealing with “colors”, ”numbers”, ”family”, or verb to be, what still expresses the habit of focusing on quite non-contextualized topics. It is not the authors’ intention to go in detriment of teaching topics, vocabulary or even grammar, being the latter sometimes considered as hindering the real use of the language, but to change the view towards using the language as a means to learn and enjoy the experience. Enjoyment will add meaning and provide an extra source of motivation to make their leaning more appealing. Thus, it is likely to assert that both issues would contribute to an effective learning.
Among the advantages of using fairy tales in the foreign language class, it would be worthy mentioning that students may have the opportunity of enhancing their imagination, having something to say about fantastic or real characters; of playing with the language, developing communicative skills and of learning to use the language without being aware of it. The purpose of this action research is to make true that through stories, young learners who
are in contact with the language for the first time, learn to use it spontaneously, feeling engaged and motivated to do so as they may feel at ease with this new subject.
Literature review
Working with stories has always been a useful tool to expand learners’ imagination and encourage them to develop their knowledge of the world. In spite of this fact, the implementation of stories has not been widely regarded as a profitable resource, unlike the use of textbooks as the unique material in the class.
Particularly speaking, fairy tales may be considered as a means to satisfy the students’ necessity to “communicate something about fundamental human issues that is enduring rather than ephemeral” (Collie & Slater, 2005, p.3). Therefore, the teacher faces the challenge of taking to the classroom interesting and engaging stories so that students may have the opportunity of using the language in communicative contexts.
Fairy tales might be considered as authentic material which has not been created for the specific purpose of learning a language but which is genuine and undistorted. As Collie and Slater (2005) observed:
In reading fairy tales, students have to cope with language intended for native speakers so they gain familiarity with different linguistic uses, forms, conventions of the written mode…and a great deal of cultural information [because this] vivid imagined world can quickly give the foreign reader a feel of the beliefs, fears, joys and thought of other societies (p.4).
However, it can be argued that the vocabulary that appears in fairy tales is not the one that is used in every day contexts but it will depend on the stories chosen by the teacher. In other words, topics that are meaningful for learners and characters who they can feel identified with may be considered as good choices. What may not be denied is the fact that stories provide rich contexts in which language learning may be made more memorable and personal involvement may be fostered.
Most of teaching materials seem to concentrate on how the language operates both as a rule-based system and as a socio-functional system. Engaging learners with fairy stories may enable them to shift the focus of attention beyond mechanical aspects of the language (Collie & Slater, 2005).
Moreover, stories are frequently claimed to bring many benefits to young learner classroom (Wright 1997, cited in Cameron, 2005). The power attributed to stories may be the mythical and magical link with the students´ experience. Stories can serve as metaphors for society and a rich event between learners and teachers (Garton & Pratt, 1998, cited in Cameron, 2005). Cameron suggests being very attentive in the choice of stories not to go very far from the students’ reality.
Two of the key organizing features of fairy tales as any other kind of stories is their occurrence in a temporal sequence and the thematic structure. Prototypical features of stories are: a formulaic opening, introduction of characters, description of the setting, introduction of the problem and series of events that lead to the resolution of the problem and the closing (Propp, 1958, cited in Cameron, 2005). This characteristic of fairy tales may be a simple procedure to develop oral skills when retelling them.
Besides, the language used in fairy tales presents devices that may encourage opportunities of foreign language learning. For instance parallelism with its pattern of predictability and surprise or repetition and change, as in Little Red Riding Hood story when she tells her grandmother:”Grandmother, what big eyes you´ve got”, and she answers “All the better to see you with, my dear”.
Another issue that was pointed out by Cameron (2005) may be alliteration. It refers to the use of words that have the same initial consonant. Through this element beginners find at ease when using the language. Besides, the inclusion of strong contrast as good/bad, big/small, narrative and dialogue may be judged as a useful means to encourage an effective use of the language. Thus, not only can learners retell stories but also interact with their school mates when dramatizing or performing information or opinion gaps activities.
By the same token, Wright (1995) proposes that fairy stories are motivating as children want to find meaning so they listen or read for a purpose. He insists that stories promote speaking and writing fluency as these skills are based on a positive attitude to not understand everything, searching for meaning, predicting and guessing. In his view, stories offer a “perfect diet for the building of fluency in all four skills” (Wright, 1995, p.7).
According to Fredericks and Cox (2005), dealing with stories in the foreign language classroom is often a safe and culturally relevant method of imparting knowledge and values. The authors argue that when children listen to stories several times, they begin to understand the relationships between the symbols such as animals and heroes and dragons and the values that they stand for. Learners will know that while the story may not be true, they can still hear the truth in the story.
Furthermore, through sharing stories, they experience the joy of holding the attention of others. They conclude that stories help students be aware that “there are other ways of thinking, feeling and acting” (Fredericks & Cox, 2005, para.5). Scott, (1985, cited in Kortner, 1988), explains the benefits of stories in the language class. He notices that using stories is a technique to provide young learners with models of story patterns, ideas to express, increase knowledge of other places and beliefs, question concepts and discussion.
Admittedly, it is better to start using simple short fairy stories, with few characters, action an understandable plot and a definite climax that goes to a conclusion that students may find satisfactory. Ramey (1986, cited in Kortner, 1988), suggests that fairy tales are the easiest stories for beginners to communicate, always taking into account the students age and interests. Above all, the ultimate goal that is learning to communicate in the foreign language should be borne in mind. Thus, fairy stories may appear to foster success in using the language as it implies a way of constructing meaning.
Discussion
Hypothesis
How do fairy tales contribute to enhance the learners’ imagination and communicative competence when they start learning a foreign language?
Delimitations
This action research will be accomplished in two fourth years in the province of Buenos Aires. Both groups have similar characteristics as regards age, number of students in the class (around twenty) and knowledge as it is the first year they have English at school, which means they are true beginners except for a very low percentage of them in each group (three or four) who also attend private lessons.
Limitations
Even though the main aim of this field work is to show that students will be able to use the language more effectively and with a different attitude to it, some problems may arise. The main liability may be time constrains as working with stories may demand extra time because of the type of activities which may be connected with other subjects as Music or Art.
Another trouble may be that not all the students are accustomed to concentrate their attention to listen or read a story, as not all of them are told stories at home. In addition, the lack of authentic material as books in English in most of the libraries at schools in the province of Buenos Aires. However, this drawback can be overcome by the teachers providing them with some stories, letting them share in small groups.
Last but not least is the lack of confidence students may experience as they are not trained in using a strange tool for them as may be the foreign language to go beyond the level of identifying everyday vocabulary, manipulating simple grammar structures or recognizing familiar communicative functions of the language as it is the case of the materials developed in most of current textbooks.
Method
Participants
Two groups of 20 to 25 students of fourth year attending to Primary School, aged around nine years old will be the participants of this work. The groups belong to the same school and attend English lessons twice a week. Although the groups do not have the same teacher both teachers will plan lessons together.
Data collection and analysis
The fundamental information to be collected will be engagement in the activities through observation lists of daily oral participation and homework, comprehension of the stories through completion of different types of activities and questions, development of skills and use of the language through listening and writing activities and enjoyment of the stories by means of self assessment tasks where students will decide which stories they like most. To collect data about the learners’ oral performance they will be recorded during the first and the last retelling as a means to keep a record of their progress.
Materials
As the main point will be interaction in the foreign language and active involvement in the class in a relaxed atmosphere that may arise learners’ self confidence, a range of communicative activities will be performed in the class. Information and opinion gap activities about events in the stories may render useful for students interacting in a meaningful context such as completing grids, surveys to find out their schoolmates favorite characters or parts in the story and impersonating characters to perform short dialogues similar to the ones in the stories.
Group work may appear as a means to develop cooperative work, evaluating skills and autonomous learning. They can build up posters illustrating sequences in the story or characters, make a ranking list of their favorite characters or crafting puppets and mask which may be displayed in an exhibition or used to perform role plays. The idea of autonomy may be measured by means of assessment tasks where they can decide in groups whether they have enjoyed the story or not or about their difficulty.
Development of discourse skills may be measured through simple guided retelling, using the story in other context for example a hero in one of the fairy story living where students live, completing letters to the author or characters, ordering sequences or describing physical appearance or attitudes which will allow students evaluate good and bad features of characters in fairy tales.
Songs and games are always appealing techniques which encourage speaking, listening and the use their bodies. For instance miming while the teacher reads may be and adequate instrument for beginners to demonstrate comprehension.
Considering vocabulary, brainstorming words may appear as building meaning together or recycling the one that has been learned in the story. Classifying activities may be helpful to identify typical places, people and actions in fairy stories. Because of use of alliteration, parallelism and formulaic expressions that always appear in this kind of stories, recalling and using vocabulary may foster effective communicative competence.
Constant assessment and formal tests will be held regarding skills and use of grammar and vocabulary in both the control and the experimental group. Province of Buenos Aires curriculum design linguistic and communicative function contents for fourth year will be considered to select the stories. Meanwhile, the same contents will be dealt within the control group. However the textbook chosen by the school staff and the activities included in it will be the means to get the expected aims in the curriculum design.
Conclusion
All in all, the authors of this action research uphold the belief that there is a great range of advantages for implementing fairy stories in the English class. Learners who approach the foreign language for the first time in a relaxing environment provided by the contact with the world of fairy stories are very likely to be encouraged to use the language effectively, interact with peers and develop communicative and social skills. Above all, fairy tales promote the opportunity of viewing the world from another perspective, enhancing their imagination, enjoying and being active learners of the foreign language in the pursuit of an effective communicative competence.
References
Cameron, L. (2005). Teaching languages to young learners Cambridge University
Press Cambridge Language Teaching Library.Cambridge.UK
Collie, J., & Slater, S. (2005) Literature in the language classroom: a resource books
of ideas and activities Cambridge University Press Cambridge Handbooks for
Language Teachers Series editor Scott Thornbury Cambridge .UK
Diseño Curricular-Educación Primaria. Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de
la Provincia de Buenos Aires Retrieved November 2010 from
http/abc.gov.ar/lainstitución/sistemaeducativo/educacionprimaria/default.cfm
Fredericks, L., & and Cox, A. (2005) Storytelling in the classroom Dancing Leaves
Retrieved November 2010 from
http://www.dancingleaves.com/allison/articles/classroom/stories
Kortner, A. (1988) Storytelling: Its wide-ranging impact in the classroom. ERIC
Digests Retrieved November 2010 from
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-929/wide.htm
Lightbrown, P., & Spada, N. (2006) How languages are learned Oxford Handbooks
for Language Teachers: Oxford University Press. Oxford. UK
Wright, A. (1995) Storytelling with children Oxford University Press Resource Books
for Children Series: Ed Alan Maley. Oxford. UK
miércoles, 15 de diciembre de 2010
Abstracts’ analysis in four research articles.
Abstracts are descriptive texts which tend to transmit information in a clear, concise, neat and objective way; they are the first part that you will find in any Research Article (RA), however, they are the last part that researchers write (Pintos and Crimi, 2010). Their objective is to compress the maximum amount of information into de minimum amount of space, typically between 150 and 250 words, and in a way that could attract as much readers as possible. (Pintos and Crimi, Ibid.).
Hubbuch (1996, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p.11) defines abstracts as “brief summaries of major points made by the author in a book or article”. Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid.) agree with him in the fact that RP abstracts “consist of a single paragraph containing from about four to ten full sentences” and discussed an important issue, the idea that abstracts are more important for the readers than for the writer because, it is through its reading that the readers can choose the paper that better fits their purposes.
Swales and Feak (Ibid, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p. 11) state that there are at least two types of abstracts those which are included at the beginning of RPs and conference abstracts. The former type of abstracts consist of an informative paragraph about a text which has already been written and were thought to be read by any reader in the field while the latter are much longer and their primary audience are conference reviewers.
Swales (1990, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p. 13) and Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p.13) state that there are two other types of abstracts: informative and indicative ones and that, according to their organizational format as main concern, can be described as structured or unstructured abstracts. Structured abstracts contain bolded
or italicized headings identifying the main sections of the RP whereas unstructured ones consist of one long, unbroken paragraph not longer than 150 words (Pintos and Crimi, 2010).
This paper will provide a deep analysis of the abstracts of four RPs in the field of medicine as well as a comparison between their structure, classification and linguistic characteristics. To do it in a comprehensively way, each feature related to abstract writing will be analyzed separately.
Considering the amount of words used, it could be said that Wijeysundera, Beattie, Elliot, Austin, Hux, & Laupacis, (2010) managed to solve their abstract in less than 260 words,
Martínez, Assimes, Mines, Dell’Aniello, & Suissa, (2010) did the same in 283 words, Beckett, Peters, Astrid, Staessen, Liu, & Dumitrascu, et al. (2008) solved theirs in more than 350 words and Jorgensen, Zahl, & Gotzsche, (2010) wrote the most extensive of the four abstracts.
Although all of them seem to be rather long it is very probable that these authors should have resigned some conciseness to achieve clarity which is another important requirement in abstracts writing.All the abstracts have been written in a structured fashion, they all have
bolded headings but there are slight differences between them in relation to this point. Beckert, et al. (2008) used only four coloured headings while the other authors used between 6 and 8 bolded headings to identify the main sections in their RPs. In addition, all of them appear to follow the Introduction-Methods-Results-And- Discussion (IMRAD) formula, despite not having exactly those headings.
Concerning linguistic specifications, Swales and Feak, (Ibid, cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p13) stated that abstracts should include, use of full sentences, past tenses and impersonal passive, absence of negatives and avoidance of abbreviations and jargon. Probably the use of specific vocabulary can not be avoided in medical researches and with the exception of Martinez, et al. (2010) all the other abstracts use at least an acronym and explain it to prevent misunderstanding in those readers which are not members of the medical community.
With reference to tense usage Swales and Feak, (Ibid, cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p13) suggested that each section should be written using certain tenses, opening sentences tend to be written in present or present perfect to show what the problem is or what is the researchers’ hypotheses, sentences describing results tend to show tense variation and conclusions tend to be written in present since they describe results.
Except for Beckert, et al. (2008) whose abstract follows tightly the suggested tenses for all sections, the other abstracts, for instance, use the infinitive to state their objectives and do not respect the use of present to state their conclusions. As they are all researches from the British Medical Journal (BNJ) the lack of coincidence related to tense usage could be due to internal conventions or to the researches’ necessities.
Taking into account all the items analysed we might conclude that as the abstracts are all related to the medicine field, they share most of the features and have only minor differences related to headings and use of tenses. Furthermore we should highlight that writing an abstract is not an easy task because they should reflect in a clear and concise way the paper’s aim apart from trying to attract the readers’ attention.
References
Beckett, N. S., Peters, R., Astrid, E. F., Staessen, J.A., Liu, L., Dumitrascu, D., et al.
Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New
England Journal of Medicine 358 (18), 1887/1898. Retrieved from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5754
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Martínez, C., Assimes, T.L., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of
venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden
cardiac death or near death: A nested case-control study. BMJ, 340 (c249), 1-9.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c249
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research Articles: Abstracts
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved May 25, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693
Wijeysundera, D.N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R.F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J.E., & Laupacis,
A. (2010).
Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery:
Population based cohort study. BMJ, 340 (b5526), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526
Hubbuch (1996, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p.11) defines abstracts as “brief summaries of major points made by the author in a book or article”. Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid.) agree with him in the fact that RP abstracts “consist of a single paragraph containing from about four to ten full sentences” and discussed an important issue, the idea that abstracts are more important for the readers than for the writer because, it is through its reading that the readers can choose the paper that better fits their purposes.
Swales and Feak (Ibid, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p. 11) state that there are at least two types of abstracts those which are included at the beginning of RPs and conference abstracts. The former type of abstracts consist of an informative paragraph about a text which has already been written and were thought to be read by any reader in the field while the latter are much longer and their primary audience are conference reviewers.
Swales (1990, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p. 13) and Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p.13) state that there are two other types of abstracts: informative and indicative ones and that, according to their organizational format as main concern, can be described as structured or unstructured abstracts. Structured abstracts contain bolded
or italicized headings identifying the main sections of the RP whereas unstructured ones consist of one long, unbroken paragraph not longer than 150 words (Pintos and Crimi, 2010).
This paper will provide a deep analysis of the abstracts of four RPs in the field of medicine as well as a comparison between their structure, classification and linguistic characteristics. To do it in a comprehensively way, each feature related to abstract writing will be analyzed separately.
Considering the amount of words used, it could be said that Wijeysundera, Beattie, Elliot, Austin, Hux, & Laupacis, (2010) managed to solve their abstract in less than 260 words,
Martínez, Assimes, Mines, Dell’Aniello, & Suissa, (2010) did the same in 283 words, Beckett, Peters, Astrid, Staessen, Liu, & Dumitrascu, et al. (2008) solved theirs in more than 350 words and Jorgensen, Zahl, & Gotzsche, (2010) wrote the most extensive of the four abstracts.
Although all of them seem to be rather long it is very probable that these authors should have resigned some conciseness to achieve clarity which is another important requirement in abstracts writing.All the abstracts have been written in a structured fashion, they all have
bolded headings but there are slight differences between them in relation to this point. Beckert, et al. (2008) used only four coloured headings while the other authors used between 6 and 8 bolded headings to identify the main sections in their RPs. In addition, all of them appear to follow the Introduction-Methods-Results-And- Discussion (IMRAD) formula, despite not having exactly those headings.
Concerning linguistic specifications, Swales and Feak, (Ibid, cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p13) stated that abstracts should include, use of full sentences, past tenses and impersonal passive, absence of negatives and avoidance of abbreviations and jargon. Probably the use of specific vocabulary can not be avoided in medical researches and with the exception of Martinez, et al. (2010) all the other abstracts use at least an acronym and explain it to prevent misunderstanding in those readers which are not members of the medical community.
With reference to tense usage Swales and Feak, (Ibid, cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p13) suggested that each section should be written using certain tenses, opening sentences tend to be written in present or present perfect to show what the problem is or what is the researchers’ hypotheses, sentences describing results tend to show tense variation and conclusions tend to be written in present since they describe results.
Except for Beckert, et al. (2008) whose abstract follows tightly the suggested tenses for all sections, the other abstracts, for instance, use the infinitive to state their objectives and do not respect the use of present to state their conclusions. As they are all researches from the British Medical Journal (BNJ) the lack of coincidence related to tense usage could be due to internal conventions or to the researches’ necessities.
Taking into account all the items analysed we might conclude that as the abstracts are all related to the medicine field, they share most of the features and have only minor differences related to headings and use of tenses. Furthermore we should highlight that writing an abstract is not an easy task because they should reflect in a clear and concise way the paper’s aim apart from trying to attract the readers’ attention.
References
Beckett, N. S., Peters, R., Astrid, E. F., Staessen, J.A., Liu, L., Dumitrascu, D., et al.
Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New
England Journal of Medicine 358 (18), 1887/1898. Retrieved from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5754
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Martínez, C., Assimes, T.L., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of
venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden
cardiac death or near death: A nested case-control study. BMJ, 340 (c249), 1-9.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c249
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research Articles: Abstracts
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved May 25, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693
Wijeysundera, D.N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R.F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J.E., & Laupacis,
A. (2010).
Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery:
Population based cohort study. BMJ, 340 (b5526), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526
Articles Analysis: Introductions, linguistics characteristics
According to Sampieri, Collado & Lucio (1998), a scientific research is defined as a type of research which is systematic, controlled, empiric and critical. It is systematic and controlled because it is based on a system. It is considered empiric, because it is based on observable issues and critical because it works on a basis of permanent objective reflection (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010a, p9). As a consequence, to write a research paper is not an easy task.
The research writer should master academic writing requirements but also should know how information should be searched, organised and acknowledged to get a well balanced paper which fulfils the field’s requests.
Pintos and Crimi, (2010b) state that Research Papers (RP) and Research Articles (RA) are composed of several parts such as title, abstract, acknowledgments, introductions, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, references and appendixes and, that each of these parts should be written according to established standards. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast three important sections within a medical RP
(Jorgensen, Zahl and Gotzsche, 2010) and a RP in the field of education (Coleman,1994). The analysis will be based on: Introductions, method sections and reference lists and it will be analyzed move 3 in the first, linguistic characteristics of the second and use of American Psychological Association (APA) style in the last.
Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p. 27) assert that the process of writing introductions is a time-consuming, hard and vexatious task and that, as its purpose is to attract the prospective reader’s attention, they are structured in a general-specific manner, following the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.). In Pintos and Crimi’s (2010b) words the C.A.R.S. Model provides organizational patterns that help the writers to present their introductions. The pattern contains three “moves” or cycles which allow main ideas to go from the general to the particular and are characterized by a number of semantic and syntactic features. From the mentioned “moves”, the last one, or move 3, is in charge of occupying the niche or stating the purpose of the study.
Jorgensen et al. (2010) solved this move using present tenses and, as required, he previously managed to show the readers that something had not been considered in move 2: “As there have been advances in treatment since trials were completed ...” move 3: “ It is therefore important
to evaluate continuously the effect of public mammography screeningprogrammes to ensure
that they live up to expectations” and (Colleman, 1994, p.11) did the same through “shift the emphasis from learning facts to learning how to learn” (Champion, 1993, as cited in Coleman, Ibid., p.11) “We now have to create assignments to promote critical thinking” (Champion, Ibid., as cited in Coleman, Ibid., p.11).
Method Sections contain detailed information about the methodological approach; they explain how the research has been conducted. Thus, they include subsections such as participants, materials and procedure. The most commonly used tense is past passive, although present passive can also appear and the objective of this section is to allow researchers to replicate the scientific test (Swales, 1990, Swales and Feak, 1994, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p34). Neither (Jorgensen et al. 2010) nor Colleman, (1994) used subheadings such as participants, materials or procedure to divide the method section.The first RP has the word “method” written as a heading bolded and in capital letters,typed at the left margin instead of being centred
and the educational RP has no heading at all probably, due to the use of different ruling conventions.
Although there are other systems, American Psychological Association (A.P.A) is the most commonly used one to cite sources within the social sciences. While the educational RP seems to follow accurately it, the medical RP is almost certainly following other style’s conventions. References are not written on a separate shit of paper, they have no title, they are not written double-space and they are not written following the alphabetical order.Hence, it is highly probable that this RP had been written following Vancouver’s or British Medical Journal (BMJ) requirements because those systems are commonly used in researches belonging to the medicine field.
References
Coleman, M. W. (1994). Using a Collaborative Learning Project to Teach Information
Literacy Skills to Twelfth Grade Regular English Students. Retrieved August 27, 2008,
from ERIC database (ED371389).
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010a). Unit 1: Defining Concepts in Research
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4690
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010b). Unit 2: The Research Article: Introduction, Literature
Review and Methods Section. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010c). Unit 3: The Research Article: Results, Discussions and
Conclusions. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved May 2, 2010,
from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
The research writer should master academic writing requirements but also should know how information should be searched, organised and acknowledged to get a well balanced paper which fulfils the field’s requests.
Pintos and Crimi, (2010b) state that Research Papers (RP) and Research Articles (RA) are composed of several parts such as title, abstract, acknowledgments, introductions, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, references and appendixes and, that each of these parts should be written according to established standards. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast three important sections within a medical RP
(Jorgensen, Zahl and Gotzsche, 2010) and a RP in the field of education (Coleman,1994). The analysis will be based on: Introductions, method sections and reference lists and it will be analyzed move 3 in the first, linguistic characteristics of the second and use of American Psychological Association (APA) style in the last.
Swales and Feak (1994, as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p. 27) assert that the process of writing introductions is a time-consuming, hard and vexatious task and that, as its purpose is to attract the prospective reader’s attention, they are structured in a general-specific manner, following the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.). In Pintos and Crimi’s (2010b) words the C.A.R.S. Model provides organizational patterns that help the writers to present their introductions. The pattern contains three “moves” or cycles which allow main ideas to go from the general to the particular and are characterized by a number of semantic and syntactic features. From the mentioned “moves”, the last one, or move 3, is in charge of occupying the niche or stating the purpose of the study.
Jorgensen et al. (2010) solved this move using present tenses and, as required, he previously managed to show the readers that something had not been considered in move 2: “As there have been advances in treatment since trials were completed ...” move 3: “ It is therefore important
to evaluate continuously the effect of public mammography screeningprogrammes to ensure
that they live up to expectations” and (Colleman, 1994, p.11) did the same through “shift the emphasis from learning facts to learning how to learn” (Champion, 1993, as cited in Coleman, Ibid., p.11) “We now have to create assignments to promote critical thinking” (Champion, Ibid., as cited in Coleman, Ibid., p.11).
Method Sections contain detailed information about the methodological approach; they explain how the research has been conducted. Thus, they include subsections such as participants, materials and procedure. The most commonly used tense is past passive, although present passive can also appear and the objective of this section is to allow researchers to replicate the scientific test (Swales, 1990, Swales and Feak, 1994, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p34). Neither (Jorgensen et al. 2010) nor Colleman, (1994) used subheadings such as participants, materials or procedure to divide the method section.The first RP has the word “method” written as a heading bolded and in capital letters,typed at the left margin instead of being centred
and the educational RP has no heading at all probably, due to the use of different ruling conventions.
Although there are other systems, American Psychological Association (A.P.A) is the most commonly used one to cite sources within the social sciences. While the educational RP seems to follow accurately it, the medical RP is almost certainly following other style’s conventions. References are not written on a separate shit of paper, they have no title, they are not written double-space and they are not written following the alphabetical order.Hence, it is highly probable that this RP had been written following Vancouver’s or British Medical Journal (BMJ) requirements because those systems are commonly used in researches belonging to the medicine field.
References
Coleman, M. W. (1994). Using a Collaborative Learning Project to Teach Information
Literacy Skills to Twelfth Grade Regular English Students. Retrieved August 27, 2008,
from ERIC database (ED371389).
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010a). Unit 1: Defining Concepts in Research
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4690
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010b). Unit 2: The Research Article: Introduction, Literature
Review and Methods Section. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010c). Unit 3: The Research Article: Results, Discussions and
Conclusions. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved May 2, 2010,
from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
Thorough analysis of an introduction section
As Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994) asserted the process of writing introductions is a time consuming, hard and vexatious task (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p27). Through the introduction the readers’ attention should be attracted, or in other words, the product should be sold to the prospective readers and the problem that the article addresses should be described (Swales & Feak, 1994, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010).
Therefore introductions are structured in a general-specific manner, following the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.), which help the writers to organize their work from the general topic to the particular hypothesis. The C.A.R.S Model provide a pattern that determines upon the use of three moves to organize introductions: Establishing a research territory, establishing a niche and occupying the niche. Each of them is characterized by different kinds of statements and concise use of genres (Swales and Feak, Ibid., cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p27).
The purpose of this paper is to analyze thoroughly the main features in the introduction section of a medicine research article under the theory settled down by Swales and Feak (1994) and (cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p.27) and the academic style guideline in the American Psychological Association manual (APA 2008). To achieve the mentioned purpose each movement will be analyzed separately and semantic and syntactic features will be considered into each of them.
Regarding the first move the authors appear to have respected the required tenses since present perfect seems to indicate their intention to give credit to previous studies, i.e.: “Comprehensive systematic reviews (…) have estimated that mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by 15-16%” and at the same time highlight the relevance of a new study to update the conclusions: “Furthermore, there have been advances in treatment since the trials were completed and breast awareness has increased” (Jorgensen, Zahl, & Gotzsche, 2010).
Other features that seem to be reflected in this move are the use of impersonal language that could be used to show the authors detachment from what they are stating and thus, contribute to demonstrate their professionalism and the appearance of data corresponding to previous research which could be a signal that the literature review is “embedded in move 1” (as cited in Pintos, & Crimi, 2010, p. 30). It is almost certain that the past tense chosen to refer to previous researches is past passive.
Move 2 is indicated by a contrastive connector “However, there are three important concerns about this result” (Jorgensen et al., 2010). The use of this negative connector links the problem established, the literature review and move 3. Therefore, although it is a relative short move it is considered the most important element in the introduction because it states the author’s concern for the study and reveals the readers what is going to come in the next move (Swales & Feak, 1994, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p30).
Within this move an in-text citation appears but its pattern does not seems to follow APA guidelines (2008), the different format could be adopted by the researchers due to the use of another style manual. The use of hyphenation through out the text can be noticed too, and this is another feature which is not allowed in APA (2008) style. Taking into account grammar points the most important tense of this movement is past simple and listing connectors were used to describe the data collected up to the present study.
In move 3 the niche is occupied by a non standard pattern “We hypothesized that if the reduction (. . .)” (Jorgensen et al., 2010). This choice could be regarded to the author’s purpose. Perhaps they wanted to highlight that some kind of logical compatibility between Copenhagen and other cities be proved to consider the Olsen´s work reliable.
In conclusion I would say that although the authors have found more than one gap in previous research, and the idea of mentioning all of them does not help the readers to understand the introduction easily, they have managed to unify all of the gaps in a well thought hypothesis and so, the introductions’ aim have been fulfilled, it attracted the readers attention and addresses the problem clearly.
References
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Pintos, V., Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: Introduction, Literature
Review and Method Sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
Therefore introductions are structured in a general-specific manner, following the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.), which help the writers to organize their work from the general topic to the particular hypothesis. The C.A.R.S Model provide a pattern that determines upon the use of three moves to organize introductions: Establishing a research territory, establishing a niche and occupying the niche. Each of them is characterized by different kinds of statements and concise use of genres (Swales and Feak, Ibid., cited in Pintos & Crimi, Ibid., p27).
The purpose of this paper is to analyze thoroughly the main features in the introduction section of a medicine research article under the theory settled down by Swales and Feak (1994) and (cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p.27) and the academic style guideline in the American Psychological Association manual (APA 2008). To achieve the mentioned purpose each movement will be analyzed separately and semantic and syntactic features will be considered into each of them.
Regarding the first move the authors appear to have respected the required tenses since present perfect seems to indicate their intention to give credit to previous studies, i.e.: “Comprehensive systematic reviews (…) have estimated that mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by 15-16%” and at the same time highlight the relevance of a new study to update the conclusions: “Furthermore, there have been advances in treatment since the trials were completed and breast awareness has increased” (Jorgensen, Zahl, & Gotzsche, 2010).
Other features that seem to be reflected in this move are the use of impersonal language that could be used to show the authors detachment from what they are stating and thus, contribute to demonstrate their professionalism and the appearance of data corresponding to previous research which could be a signal that the literature review is “embedded in move 1” (as cited in Pintos, & Crimi, 2010, p. 30). It is almost certain that the past tense chosen to refer to previous researches is past passive.
Move 2 is indicated by a contrastive connector “However, there are three important concerns about this result” (Jorgensen et al., 2010). The use of this negative connector links the problem established, the literature review and move 3. Therefore, although it is a relative short move it is considered the most important element in the introduction because it states the author’s concern for the study and reveals the readers what is going to come in the next move (Swales & Feak, 1994, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p30).
Within this move an in-text citation appears but its pattern does not seems to follow APA guidelines (2008), the different format could be adopted by the researchers due to the use of another style manual. The use of hyphenation through out the text can be noticed too, and this is another feature which is not allowed in APA (2008) style. Taking into account grammar points the most important tense of this movement is past simple and listing connectors were used to describe the data collected up to the present study.
In move 3 the niche is occupied by a non standard pattern “We hypothesized that if the reduction (. . .)” (Jorgensen et al., 2010). This choice could be regarded to the author’s purpose. Perhaps they wanted to highlight that some kind of logical compatibility between Copenhagen and other cities be proved to consider the Olsen´s work reliable.
In conclusion I would say that although the authors have found more than one gap in previous research, and the idea of mentioning all of them does not help the readers to understand the introduction easily, they have managed to unify all of the gaps in a well thought hypothesis and so, the introductions’ aim have been fulfilled, it attracted the readers attention and addresses the problem clearly.
References
Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in
organised mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. BMJ, 340
(c1241), 1-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c1241
Pintos, V., Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: Introduction, Literature
Review and Method Sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Retrieved April 3, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
martes, 30 de noviembre de 2010
Acknowledging sources in academic scenarios
Grave and Kaplan (1996) allege that “academic writing is a type of writing that involves composing for knowledge transforming” (as cited in Pintos, & Crimi, 2010b, p. 7). To transform knowledge, it would be necessary to acquire a variety of skills such as knowledge of academic register, formal style, proficiency in language use and critical thinking. Critical thinking will allow us compose, analyse and develop new ideas which are essential abilities in knowledge transforming. However, as Reid (2001) states it is not only a question of understanding what to communicate, but also a matter of understanding how information should be presented and supported (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p8).
Information should be presented and supported following a pre-established set of rules. Among the mentioned rules, acknowledging sources is considered a must to avoid plagiarism, to show respect to other author’s works and to sound credible in academic scenarios therefore, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to cite sources properly (Pintos and Crimi, 2010a). This paper will analyze how Myles (2002) uses quotations, omissions, insertions, reporting verbs, in text-citations and any other relevant elements in order to enhance the credibility of her writing and give support to her own claims.
In Myles’ (2002) article, different types of in text-citations can be analyzed: Parenthetical citations, paraphrased citations, block quotations and direct quotes. All of them appear to be highly integrated to the text. For instance, short quotations seem to be blended into the text by means of the prepositions by, as, in or of. In long quotations, she achieves the same assimilation to the text using a wide variety of reporting verbs such as propose, argue, discuss, observe and point out, between others. She also takes advantage of the use of introductory phrases as it can be seen in the following example: According to the researchers “conceptualizing this transition as a social/cognitive act ...emphasizes both the problem-solving effort of a student learning to negotiate a new situation and the role the situation will play in what is learned” (p. 3).
In addition, Myles (2002) has made use of omissions and insertions. In this case Myles (2002) has combined several strategies paraphrasing, direct quotation, use of by to introduce a short quotation and omission: In fact, Bereinter and Scardamalia (1987) criticize formal schooling that encourages the more passive kind of cognition by “continually telling students what to do”, rather than encouraging them “to follow their spontaneous interests and impulses . . . and assume responsibility for what becomes of their minds” (p. 3). The following example of an insertion is included in a block quotation and preceded by an introductory phrase: According to Mclaughlin (1988), transfer errors can occur because:
[L]earners lack the necessary information in the second language or the attentional
capacity to activate the appropriate second-language routine. But such an account
says little about why certain linguistic forms transfer and others do not. (p. 7)
After all this analysis, it can be concluded that Myles (2002) has almost certainly used a vast repertoire of reporting verbs which contributed to make her article’s reading more lively. She also searched deeply into different well known authors’ works and took advantage of their words to construct new knowledge and allow the readers to hear her voice. What is more, she succeeded in using a variety of strategies for acknowledging sources and so, made her paper interesting and worth reading. Therefore, it is very probable that she has succeeded in composing an article that fulfils the academic writing requirements and as Banfi (1997) claims “[has contributed] to the advancement of knowledge in the field” (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p8).
References
Myles, J. (2002). Second language writing and research: The writing process and error
analysis in student texts. Teaching English as a Second or foreign language, 6, (2).
Queen’s University. Retrieved October 2010, from
http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej22/a1.html
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010a). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Universidad
CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved, September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010b). Unit 3: Academic writing. Universidad CAECE: Buenos
Aires, Argentina. Retrieved, September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/index.php?id=7392
Information should be presented and supported following a pre-established set of rules. Among the mentioned rules, acknowledging sources is considered a must to avoid plagiarism, to show respect to other author’s works and to sound credible in academic scenarios therefore, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to cite sources properly (Pintos and Crimi, 2010a). This paper will analyze how Myles (2002) uses quotations, omissions, insertions, reporting verbs, in text-citations and any other relevant elements in order to enhance the credibility of her writing and give support to her own claims.
In Myles’ (2002) article, different types of in text-citations can be analyzed: Parenthetical citations, paraphrased citations, block quotations and direct quotes. All of them appear to be highly integrated to the text. For instance, short quotations seem to be blended into the text by means of the prepositions by, as, in or of. In long quotations, she achieves the same assimilation to the text using a wide variety of reporting verbs such as propose, argue, discuss, observe and point out, between others. She also takes advantage of the use of introductory phrases as it can be seen in the following example: According to the researchers “conceptualizing this transition as a social/cognitive act ...emphasizes both the problem-solving effort of a student learning to negotiate a new situation and the role the situation will play in what is learned” (p. 3).
In addition, Myles (2002) has made use of omissions and insertions. In this case Myles (2002) has combined several strategies paraphrasing, direct quotation, use of by to introduce a short quotation and omission: In fact, Bereinter and Scardamalia (1987) criticize formal schooling that encourages the more passive kind of cognition by “continually telling students what to do”, rather than encouraging them “to follow their spontaneous interests and impulses . . . and assume responsibility for what becomes of their minds” (p. 3). The following example of an insertion is included in a block quotation and preceded by an introductory phrase: According to Mclaughlin (1988), transfer errors can occur because:
[L]earners lack the necessary information in the second language or the attentional
capacity to activate the appropriate second-language routine. But such an account
says little about why certain linguistic forms transfer and others do not. (p. 7)
After all this analysis, it can be concluded that Myles (2002) has almost certainly used a vast repertoire of reporting verbs which contributed to make her article’s reading more lively. She also searched deeply into different well known authors’ works and took advantage of their words to construct new knowledge and allow the readers to hear her voice. What is more, she succeeded in using a variety of strategies for acknowledging sources and so, made her paper interesting and worth reading. Therefore, it is very probable that she has succeeded in composing an article that fulfils the academic writing requirements and as Banfi (1997) claims “[has contributed] to the advancement of knowledge in the field” (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p8).
References
Myles, J. (2002). Second language writing and research: The writing process and error
analysis in student texts. Teaching English as a Second or foreign language, 6, (2).
Queen’s University. Retrieved October 2010, from
http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej22/a1.html
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010a). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Universidad
CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved, September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010b). Unit 3: Academic writing. Universidad CAECE: Buenos
Aires, Argentina. Retrieved, September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/index.php?id=7392
Critical incidents: Violence at school
In our every day teaching practice, teachers face problematic situations which should be solved on the basis of our resources. The analysis of each unexpected situation will enable us to go beyond our cherished notions and interpret the situations deeply in order to carry out effective solutions to them (Flanagan, 1954, cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010). Being able to provide immediate decision-making will increase the teacher’s self-confidence and foster the achievement of their professional growth.
During my life as a teacher I have had to face different problematic situations such as learners who did not like the subject itself or the way in which lessons were taught; those who refused to speak English or those whose behaviours made the classroom a non-friendly environment for the teaching-learning process to take place. This time I would like to share an experience that shocked me, perhaps, because it was my first contact with violence at school and I was not prepared at all to handle it.
The incident occurred while I was doing my practices at a state run primary school. The group was formed by 28 students at fifth year of Primary School, so they were between 9 and 10 year. Their level was not brilliant and their behaviour was not the best one possible but they had worked properly and produced more than I had expected through the previous observation lessons.
All seemed to be under control and my teacher and I were happy about the students attitude and their progress until, during the fourth day of my practices while I was alone
with the students because their teacher was ill and my teacher had considered that she had seen enough about my work this incident took place.
The class had gone as usual. Except for a minor disturbance caused by an interesting realia I presented, their performance had been optimum. I was really proud of the students and thought that it was a pity not having my teacher’s feedback on that day’s lesson. However, while the learners were putting their books and pencil cases into their schoolbags a fight started between two girls.
In less than a minute the girls were on the floor, caught by their hair and fighting with a violence I had never imagined while the rest of the students were around them cheering the girls. I still do not know how I managed to separate them but I did it. I also made the rest of the students occupy their benches and all had a five minute chat that allowed me to understand the girls’ attitude: For them and their families fighting to solve their problems was as or more natural than talking.
Although I may grant that I have got profit of reflection, even before knowing about the Critical Incidents Technique (CIT), I should also recognize that if I had been trained using it, perhaps, my first experience with violence would not have been so shocking. Therefore, it could be assumed that it is almost certain that introspection would help teachers to design new strategies and improve their future practices, enhancing continuous professional growth.
References
Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N. and Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los
Incidentes Críticos en la Formación y Perfeccionamiento del Profesorado de
Secundaria de Ciencias de la Naturaleza. Revista Interuniversitaria de
Formación de Profesorado, 17(1), 101-112. Universidad de Zaragoza:
Zaragoza, España. Retrieved December 2007, from
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal Narratives in Teaching
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved , September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214
During my life as a teacher I have had to face different problematic situations such as learners who did not like the subject itself or the way in which lessons were taught; those who refused to speak English or those whose behaviours made the classroom a non-friendly environment for the teaching-learning process to take place. This time I would like to share an experience that shocked me, perhaps, because it was my first contact with violence at school and I was not prepared at all to handle it.
The incident occurred while I was doing my practices at a state run primary school. The group was formed by 28 students at fifth year of Primary School, so they were between 9 and 10 year. Their level was not brilliant and their behaviour was not the best one possible but they had worked properly and produced more than I had expected through the previous observation lessons.
All seemed to be under control and my teacher and I were happy about the students attitude and their progress until, during the fourth day of my practices while I was alone
with the students because their teacher was ill and my teacher had considered that she had seen enough about my work this incident took place.
The class had gone as usual. Except for a minor disturbance caused by an interesting realia I presented, their performance had been optimum. I was really proud of the students and thought that it was a pity not having my teacher’s feedback on that day’s lesson. However, while the learners were putting their books and pencil cases into their schoolbags a fight started between two girls.
In less than a minute the girls were on the floor, caught by their hair and fighting with a violence I had never imagined while the rest of the students were around them cheering the girls. I still do not know how I managed to separate them but I did it. I also made the rest of the students occupy their benches and all had a five minute chat that allowed me to understand the girls’ attitude: For them and their families fighting to solve their problems was as or more natural than talking.
Although I may grant that I have got profit of reflection, even before knowing about the Critical Incidents Technique (CIT), I should also recognize that if I had been trained using it, perhaps, my first experience with violence would not have been so shocking. Therefore, it could be assumed that it is almost certain that introspection would help teachers to design new strategies and improve their future practices, enhancing continuous professional growth.
References
Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N. and Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los
Incidentes Críticos en la Formación y Perfeccionamiento del Profesorado de
Secundaria de Ciencias de la Naturaleza. Revista Interuniversitaria de
Formación de Profesorado, 17(1), 101-112. Universidad de Zaragoza:
Zaragoza, España. Retrieved December 2007, from
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal Narratives in Teaching
Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Retrieved , September, 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214
Is there any connection between reflection and professional growth?
Several theorists such as Gil (1991) and Torre (1997), (cited in Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín and Medina Pérez, 2003) have claimed that the only requirement for teaching is mastering the concepts of the field, however, there have been educative innovations that require more than knowledge from teachers as professionals. For instance, they should not only handle their subjects, but also, be able to observe and reflect about what they and others teach. Thus, they will make appropriate decisions.
According to Fernández González et al. (2003) the teaching-learning process at the Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) College is a collaborative process with a formative intention shared by two or more people. What is more, they state that there is co-responsibility between the teacher, who is in charge of teaching how to learn and the novel teacher who should learn how to teach. Through this process responsible and reflective teachers will be formed.
To help the novel teachers to grow as professionals, they propose the use of Critical Incident Technique (CIT) as a way of achieving reflection about what happens in class. By the use of this technique, teacher-students will analyze and decide about difficult situations, in a friendly risk environment, which will help them in immediate decision making of real class situations. In other words, they will be able to approach reality without taking risks (Fernández & Fernández, 1994, cited in Fernández González et al., 2003).
After all this analysis, it would be possible to conclude that reflection helps us to assume responsibility for our own teaching and learning. It also fosters our continuous learning process and provides useful insights to be used in our practices. As a result, reflection could be considered one of the most important steps to professional growth.
References
Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N., & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los
incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria
de ciencias de la naturaleza. Revista universitaria de Formación de Profesorado, 17-
001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved December 2007, from
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107
According to Fernández González et al. (2003) the teaching-learning process at the Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) College is a collaborative process with a formative intention shared by two or more people. What is more, they state that there is co-responsibility between the teacher, who is in charge of teaching how to learn and the novel teacher who should learn how to teach. Through this process responsible and reflective teachers will be formed.
To help the novel teachers to grow as professionals, they propose the use of Critical Incident Technique (CIT) as a way of achieving reflection about what happens in class. By the use of this technique, teacher-students will analyze and decide about difficult situations, in a friendly risk environment, which will help them in immediate decision making of real class situations. In other words, they will be able to approach reality without taking risks (Fernández & Fernández, 1994, cited in Fernández González et al., 2003).
After all this analysis, it would be possible to conclude that reflection helps us to assume responsibility for our own teaching and learning. It also fosters our continuous learning process and provides useful insights to be used in our practices. As a result, reflection could be considered one of the most important steps to professional growth.
References
Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N., & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los
incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria
de ciencias de la naturaleza. Revista universitaria de Formación de Profesorado, 17-
001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved December 2007, from
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107
Suscribirse a:
Comentarios (Atom)