Sarvesh Rai Educational Corner

  Constructivist approaches refer to an epistemological position in which knowledge is regarded as constructed. These approaches concentrate on the analysis of single processes or functions. Constructivist approaches present themselves through a remarkable spectrum in psychology. Therefore, our understanding of  constructivism  as a unifying principle is questionable.  Elliott et al  puts it that it is 'an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is  determined by the experiences of the learner’. • In elaborating constructivists' ideas Arends puts it that constructivism believes in personal construction of meaning by the learner through experience .. .and that meaning is influenced by the interaction of prior knowledge and new events.        Constructivism is an epistemology, or a theory, used to explain how people know what they know. The basic idea is that problem solvi...

  Characteristics of Structural Approach :             • 1. Language, being primarily a spoken thing, is to be presented in its spoken forms in the first instance. 2 • Mastery over the system of English language is more important than the detailed knowledge of the forms. This mastery is best acquired by repetition or drill.  3. *The teacher's most important work is to         create meaningful situations in the class. 4. * The item must be formally established by plenty of oral work before the people read in their books.            संरचनात्मक उपागम की विशेषताएं:             • 1. भाषा, मुख्य रूप से बोली जाने वाली चीज होने के कारण, पहली बार में अपने बोले गए रूपों में प्रस्तुत की जानी है।  2 • अंग्रेजी भाषा की प्रणाली पर महारत, रूपों के विस्तृत ज्ञान की तुलना में अधिक महत्वपूर्ण है।  यह महारत सबसे अच्छी तरह से दोहराव या ड्रिल द्वारा हासिल की जाती ...

  The teacher in this class is posing few questions, let 's see what she is trying to elicit from the students.  Teacher: Have you seen the Konark Temple?  Student A: Yes, I have seen it, ma m.  Teacher: How old is that temple?  Student A: The temple is one thousand years old.  2. Teacher: How old are you Garvit?  Student (Garvit): I am 12 years old.  'How old' is a structure, which is being explained and drilled by teacher through question answer technique.  Now try to answer the following questions: * Does the teacher teach only one type of structure or more than one type?  * Does the teacher give importance to the mastery.of structures or vocabulary?  * What in your opinion is more important- mastery of structures or vocabulary?  * Does teaching of structures need any knowledge of grammar of the language?  The structural approach to the teaching of English is a technique by which students are taught to master the patter...

 Since the middle of the 20th century, psychological views of teaching and learning have been dominated by behaviourist and then cognitive theory. The behaviourist view of learning emphasises the repetitive conditioning of learner responses. They believe that learning, both verbal and non verbal, takes place through the process of habit formation. Behaviourist Learning Theory is a process of forming habits; the teacher controls the learning environment and learners are empty vessels into which the teacher pours knowledge. It encourages memorization and repetition only. They try to imitate the people around them. If the imitation is proper, they are rewarded, which motivates them further for imitation, leading to reinforcement and habit formation. The behaviourists think that learners should be corrected as soon as they make mistakes in order to avoid fossilization. Learning is an automatic process which does not involve any cognitive processes in the brain. In this approach there i...

 Many of you may have heard of or read the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 or the Bihar Curriculum Framework (BCF) 2008. Can you explain what they contain?  Let's first begin explaining 'curriculum the term framework'. A curriculum framework is a policy document that specifies the nature and direction of education in a particular society. It may be designed for the national or state level. It contains the following:  • aim ass and objectives of education, * contents and methods of teaching-learning.  • evaluation principles or techniques. "Curriculum' is often mistaken for 'syllabus'. Curriculum is a more abstract category than syllabus. It is concerned with all the different aspects that make up the learning experience as a whole. The syllabus is a narrower term that refers to the specific content of teaching, which includes periodic evaluative mechanisms like the duration of a course examination. The syllabus addresses questions like what to teac...

              Have you ever wondered why so often textbooks are mistaken for a syllabus ? Perhaps this is because of the close relation between the Syllabus and the Textbook . You will agree that it is through the textbook that the syllabus acquires concrete shape to achieve the objectives defined in the syllabus . In many parts of the world , language education courses are designed following a syllabus - driven approach , that is , the syllabus determines what kind of materials will be adopted and in what ways they will be exploited for classroom teaching . In certain educational contexts , the syllabus even determines how materials should be designed in the first place .  Therefore , the materials are not seen as an alternative to the syllabus , but an instrument among others used to fulfil the goals of the syllabus . Materials , whether commercially developed or home - made , are an important element within the curriculum , and are often the mo...

       With regards to language teaching BCF 2008 follows the recommendations and suggestions of the NCF -2005. It clearly states:  The NCF-2005 calls for a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. where learners make sense of the world around them. This is to be done through 'critical pedagogy which foregrounds questions of inequality and justice and enables learners to undertake transformative action.   It further states that  The vision of SSA is to enable children to develop language from a social context and use it for thought and expression in their daily lives. Language teaching cannot he de-linked from the process of meaning-making and interpreting the implicit, where culture plays a significant role. Thus, language teaching and learning should span across the curriculum, in all subject areas and activities.   With regards to language policy, the BCF-2008 states:  The choice of language(s) used in school is of utmos...

 NCF -2005 makes it clear that home language(s) of children should be the medium of learning in schools. The NCF is very firm when it says. "If a school does not have provision of teaching in the child's home language(s) at the higher levels, primary schools education must still be covered through the home languages(s). It is imperative that we honour the child's home language(s). According to the 350A of our Constitution, ''It shall be the endeavor of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide  adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups'' NCF- 2005 also lays emphasis on the implementation of the three-language formula in its true spirit. It states: Language teaching needs to be multilingual not only in term of the number of language offered to children but also in trms of evolving strategies  that would use the multilingual classroo...

 i. consonant sound. A consonant sound is smallest unit of sound, It is the spoken form of the letters of the alphabet. In spoken English, the initial sound of words makes one word different from another. Since sounds are distinctive, it is necessary to be able to pronounce them correctly.   Activity 1: Listen to and repeat the following.  (a)      peer     dear      tear    here              Gear       Mera      rear        fear          near        cheer       jeer       year    (b)    sin    shin    sort      short               sign   shine     sun     shun        seat   she...

    Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode.       Sub-skills involved in speaking are that the speaker should be able to:  *  pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can distinguish them. *    use stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns of the language clearly enough so that people can understand what is said.  * use the correct forms of words (including changes in the tense, case, or gender). *   put words together in correct (word) order.    *     use vocabulary appropriately. *     use the register or language variety that is appropriate to the situation and the relationship to the conversation partner. *   make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, by whatever means the language uses. *   make the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas or informatio...

                      One of the objectives of language learning is to be able to speak coherently. Knowing how to read and write a language alone is not sufficient, we should be able to speak the language effectively, We should be able to express ourselves in a variety of situations. Speaking fluently involves correct pronunciation, proper stress and intonation. Paying attention to these areas helps speakers convey their message effectively. As teachers of English, it is important to be confident about one's speaking skills so that we can teach motivate learners to improve their speaking skills as well.                                                                                      If you reflect, in our daily ...