The size of a class does matter! Teaching a 50-student class is a challange for any EFL/ESL teacher. Engaging all these people into the class content is no easy task. Chao-ching Lin [1] points out the importance of "convincing students that learning should be meaningful." But how? By recreating the outside/real world into our real and virtual classes. Just imagine us teachers creating online assessments that can be graded in situ by a Website hosting service! We could "increase student engagement in the curriculum" [2] and help them with some kind of "flex time" in terms of test-taking hours or schedules.
Can we teachers keep a face-to-face contact with 50 students or more? Why not? With so many free Internet-based tools available for us, we can still create this sense of closeness with our students. We cannot go back into pre-technological times and deal with all students, face to face. But we can replicate, as much as possible, a sense of closeness with our students to guide them through their learning. Discussion forums, PBL assignments, blog posting, and online skill-building sites are great ways to get closer to our students. We deal with humans, and students deserve a fair treatment.
John Locke (1998) [3] in his book, The De-Voicing of Society states that "During a period in which feelings of isolation and loneliness are on the rise, too many of us are becoming emotionally and socially mute. Just when we need to reverse rising levels of distrust by achieving greater familiarity, we are becoming increasingly still." This social muteness in our large classes is a hazard for both students and learning. We do not want to isolate students in a big class, nor do we want them to feel lonely in their learning process: Technology may "reverse rising level of distrust" and create a more familiar, friendly environment for both students and teacher.
What do you think? Should we give our students a way to regain their voice especially when dealing with language learning? Internet is a means to bring students and teacher together.
Jonathan
[1] Chao-ching Lin (2002) Personalizing Language Learning in Large Classes at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Lin-Personalizing.html
[2] http://www.uoregon.edu/~tep/technology/blackboard/docs/testsurvey.pdf
[3] Locke, John (1998) The De-Voicing of Society: Why We Don't Talk Anymore at http://www.congregationalresources.org/ShowOne.asp?RID=8126&TC=2
Dear Jonathan,
I enjoyed reading this on Nicenet; it's good to have it here, too, in a more public forum. Putting it on the blog also lets you find it more easily yourself later and have easier access to the links.
Thanks for sharing this!
Yours,
Deborah
Deborah,
thanks for your comments. I just thought it was worth-while mentioning what this American sociologist stated back in 1998, which I think it is quite true about education today.
Thank you again!
Jonathan
Dear Jonathan,
John Locke has rightly said. It is time to bridge the gap. In large and well as in small classes, there are some students who are mute and does not open up. May be because of thier introvert nature or some phobia that they do not speak up in the classroom. I hav experienced that such students are very vocal and expressive on internet. They raise doubts/questions when chatting with teachers, they blogs and emails are meaningful. Thus technology helps in giving voice to the voiceless.
Dilip (India)
Dillip,
thanks for your contribution to my blog.
The introvertive nature of some students is indeed an issue we should try to solve by means of technology. They have to regain their voice, as Locke stated. Otherwise, they might simple get discourage and never learn.
Jonathan