Note : Full papers of the 2019 Conference can be read here.
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| Ms. Ishani Anushika Lecturer, Dept. of Languages, Saegis Campus, Nugegoda. ishani.anushika23@gmail.com |
Dr. Kasuni Akalanka Senior Lecturer, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura kasuniakalanka@gmail.com |
| Empathy as a Tool to Develop Learner Engagement in a Mixed- ability ESL Classroom: student perceptions
Background for teaching changes:Improved learner engagement in a class is the ultimate expectation of an educator with the belief that more inquisitive and motivated the learner is, the more s/he learns. However, making students engaged in a mixed ability ESL classroom can usually be a challenging task. This was no exception in the ESL class of 60 students that I was teaching in a well-known state university. In this class, the relationship among students of different proficiency levels was not satisfactory. A writing activity on self-limiting beliefs about learning English disclosed that the affective filter of the less proficient learners was high when they were learning with the advanced learners in English. On the other hand, the advanced learners wished the content of the class to be more challenging, and appeared to be bored when working with the less proficient peers. This suggested the need of turning the class to a learning community where students appreciate, acknowledge the presence of each other and learn to positively depend on one another. Above all, it is known that students should be taught to be more empathetic as empathy involves bridging the gap between the self and the other. To achieve this, I used Bourdieu’s (1986) concepts of cultural, social and linguistic capital to make the students get to know about each other well and to develop empathy. First, I used energisers in the class which reinforced rapport between the students and gave a sense of togetherness. Second, I encouraged students exchanging personal narratives of learning English in order to develop empathy among students. In this activity students wrote their stories of learning English contemplating the opportunities and obstacles they had and have at present in learning English. This was then followed by an open-class discussion about what they learnt about each other. The feedback collected later revealed that these activities had made the learners recognise how the capital learners bring into the class, results in differences in their English language proficiency. It was fascinating to watch how this led to more open-mindedness, attunement to others and nonjudgmental interactions among students in the class. In fact they started to mingle with peers despite their varied proficiency level and to prefer pair and group work over working individually. This whole experience made me realise the potential we have as teachers in making our learners’ learning experience more meaningful. |
“You hear and you forget, you see and you remember, you do and you understand” –adopted from Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)- Background for teaching changes:There has been increasing emphasis in recent years on moving away from traditional teaching towards student-centered learning (SCL). This paradigm shift has encouraged moving control from the instructor to the learner, treating the learner as a co-creator in the teaching and learning process through direct involvement, discovery of knowledge and collaboration among peers. Teachers are therefore required to take a more facilitatory role. In other terms, in a student centered classroom, there would be a high degree of student engagement; challenge, enthusiasm and joy. Students learn in their own pace due to the use of their personalised technologies in learning process. Thus SCL is recognized as one of the best ways of improving deep learning in students. However, since the undergraduates in the University are used to spoon-fed education as majority of lectures are conducted in merely traditional manner, I entertained a hypothesis that students would prefer lectures rather than SCL activities. Thus, the objective of the study was to evaluate student perceptions and preferences on selected teaching learning methods with the question “which teaching methods are preferred by students?”, posing the question to a batch of undergraduates who were taught different sub-topics of Biochemistry using selected teaching approaches.Majority of the students rated conducting merely a lecture as a non-effective way in enhancing deep learning. Engaging students in active reading and letting them present in groups was rated as a highly interesting way of learning as they were able to gather knowledge and present to their peers with enhanced self-confidence. The Jigsaw technique was preferred by majority saying the activity helped them to completely comprehend the given topic. Students were further of the perception that the SCL activities helped them to improve their presentation skills, leadership qualities and self-confidence as well as deep learning of the lesson material.Thus it is highly recommended to conduct SCL activities to facilitate students in deep learning and understanding as what really important is not what is taught, but what is learned. |