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  • Animals and Social Issues

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    YuEleana
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    social issues in class

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    social issues in class

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    8 visualizações28 páginas

    Animals and Social Issues

    Enviado por

    YuEleana
    social issues in class

    Direitos autorais:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Baixe no formato PDF ou leia online no Scribd
    Sinalizar o conteúdo como inadequado
    de 28
    Animals in the Language Classroom? ‘Teaching English and Critical Thinking in a Social Issues Class HEIDI EVANS - ‘Nearly everyone loves animals, From birth we ase surrounded by images of animals—animal mobiles dangle above infants tucked in cribs with plush J-character wallpaper adorns children’s bedrooms. Many 167 @ ember of the family, and some school class- and frog dissections, we learn ab 1s, clothe us, protect us, comfort us, and animal research figures in many ‘medical advances of modern society. Yet few people realize that more than 5,200 animal species are currently endangered (Microsoft 2005), largely due to human action. Animals area presence in our but how many of us think aboue serious isstes such as endangered animals, abandoned pets, oor medical research using animals? “The content-based Animal Issues course was developed by one teacher for an English program ata small, private university in Japan. The course eaerged fom a personal, lifelong interest in animals combined with global concerns about the interactions between animals and humans with the environment. The teaching and learning context supported the develop- iment of this course because students recycled and expanded on skills from previous and concurrent English program courses and content from non English courses. ‘The course aimed to raise students’ awareness of serious animal issues, deepen their knowledge about such issues, and promote the & casos sansons | ® Developing 2 New Court fr Adsl eames 2.Lc05-4Rancinas 188 development of critical thinking skills transfecable to other courses and their onacademic lives, The Curricular Context THE SCHOOL OF POLICY STUDIES AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM ‘The Animal Issues course was developed for the English Language Program. (ELP) at Kwansei Gakuin University, School of Policy Studies (SPS), located in Sanda, Japan, Established in 1995, the primary objective of the SPS is ‘0 equip students with skills to analyze social and environme ‘of local and global significance and design sound policy solut an interdisciplinary curriculum, three majors ate offered (ecologi turban policy, and international development policy) that are complemented with a rigorous English language requiremene and quality computer eduica- (For more information, sce Kwansei Gakuin University, School of icy Studies n.d.) ‘The ELP is a content-based English for academic purposes program, founded on progressive pedagogical and learning principles. Aimed at developing students’ academic skills and language proficiency, as well as increasing their policy studies content knowledge, English classes occupy a central, core requirement for the first two years. All entering SPS students take four skills classes each semester for four semesters. Students learn to for- ‘ulate and support opinions on current environmental, sociopolitical, and information technology topics in oral and written modes through individual and collaborative esearch, project work, and presentations. Unlike many ‘ypical language programs in Japan, the ELP is highly coordinated so that all sections of a particular cousse follow the same syllabus and use the same {in-house written materials. In this way, teachers and students work toward shared goals and objectives. Moreover, topics and skills are shared across classes and built on from scmester to semester. Such horizontal and vertical integration of skills and content allows students to maximize their study efforts duting their time in the ELP. Almost all of the 1,800 students at SPS are Japanese, with a small num- ber of foreign students from Taiwan, China, and Korea. With an average ‘Test of English asa Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 450 for entering first-year students, SPS students are generally regarded as motivated, hard working, and cager to learn English. In addition to full course loads, most students work part-time jobs and participate in campus clubs or other community groups. Many studen nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), voluntesr locally and internationally, travel to foreign countries, Overall, highly motivated ‘scudy abroad, and learn foreign languages other than Eng ‘teachers at SPS find themselves in position to work wi students who possess good English skills. “THE CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF ANIMAL ISSUES ‘Within the BLP curriculum, Animal Issues was created as a special topics ‘course, During the fourth and Ginal semester of the ELE, students enroll in two required courses (waiting and seminar) and select cwo special topics ccoutses. These content-based, integrated skills courses recycle and build on skills learned in previous and concurrent English classes, providing oppor tunities for students to further develop their academic research, discussion, ‘writing, and presentation skills while studying their chosen convent area, Special topics coutses are organized and managed differently from other ELP courses. The curriculum and materials design for skills courses (i.e. -writing or listening) are managed by the full-time assoctate lecturers of English (ALE): the ALE in charge of eutticulum design for a course creates all materials used by teachers assigned to that course. In contrast, special topics courses are created and taught (by an ALE or part-time teacher) for that teacher’ students only, affording more teacher autonomy and reflecting aa teacher’ interests and expertise. ‘Animal Issues sought to achieve two overarching goals. ‘The first goal was to provide students with opportunities to inerease their English sii and deepen their knowledge in a content atea that not only thematically connected to their SPS studies but also embraced the SPS philosophy of addressing issues from a human ecology perspective with an emphasis on policy design. ‘The second goal was for students to evaluate their own per~ Spectives on a variety of issues and identify alternatives to everyday lifestyle choices. In other words, as students learned more about society's impact on animals (and nature in general), they could become more informed consum- cexs, travelers, and citizens of the world. Both goals wete stated in the course description for the student catalog, so that students would be awate of the course expectations. “The aims of Animal Issues focused on helping students build content knowledge about serious animal issues topics and develop critical perspec- tives through independent and small-group research, project work, presenta- tions, and discussions. First, the course raised students’ awareness of animal issues, ata local and global level. Second, it linked previous knowledge and experience with new information to facilcate uptake of new vocabulary and increase content knowledge. Third, it helped students further develop oral, weicten, research, and presentation skills through in-class tasks and discussion combined with outside-of-clss homework and projects. Fourth, the cousse aimed to promote students critical thinking skills and help wo @ arp ne ag on entneenD pO BHP, ® Developing s New Coie fr Adu Learners 10024 Benah 70 ‘hem formulate their own perspectives about serious animal isues through discussion and reflection. The curriculum was designed to enhance learnet autonomy through using peer and self-assessment, providing a choice of research topics along with guidelines for planning and creating opportuni ties for reflection. ‘The aims of Animal Issues were both broad and deep, helping students increase their linguistic proficiency, hone academic sil, Increase learner independence, and cultivate cttcal thinking skills, PREDICTED CHALLENGES IN COURSE DESIGN Several challenges cropped up in developing the course, First, I did not know how much and what kind of background knowledge students had about animals from their pre-university education experiences. Second, hhow to present content infortsation in a comprehensible way would require careful planning and likely need to be sevised. Thitd, because textbooks are not used in the ELB I would need to build the course from scratch, which would prove difficult due to lack of appropriate resources. Fourth, unlike ‘cher ELP courses, students in special topies courses are not streamed by level, 20 using the same materials for mixed-ability classes was sure to be an issue. Finally, Twould need to balance very sevious issues wich lighter topics to maintain scudent interest in a course that could be depressing. Course Design DECIDING ON ToPIcs “The year before Animal Issues was developed, I rught a special topics course called English through Science (in 2000), which covered a broad range of topics including dinosaurs, weather, animal migration, lasers, whales, and stars. Each unit was based on an adapted reading followed by in-class, task~ based, cooperative learning activities. Student evaluations showed overall satisfaction with the course, but my own teaching journal revealed numer- ‘ous weaknesses. Animal Issues arose out of close consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of English through Science. The topics were not logically inked in English chrough Science; they were structured asa series of unconnected reading based discussions, which meant that students could not reeycle vocabulary and content knowledge from topic to topic. Moreover, I found it extremely difficule ro develop original, comprehensible materials for differ- cnt content areas. When I realized that students needed more prereading vocabulary support I started delivering short lectures to facilitate compre- hhension of the articles, shifting the class focus from the learners to the teacher. Despite these obstacles, the course evaluations and my own notes indicated that students enjoyed thé topics, especially dinosaurs, whales, and animal migration. After caieful reflection, T saw that the most suécessful topics, ideas, and activities could be exiracted from English through Science and expanded into an animal-themed course. Before I began the formal planning, I made a list of possible animal issues and shared my list leagues, who offered additional ideas “Ultimately, the list became too long to explore in one semester, so I identi- fied criteria for topic evaluation and selection: topics needed to be current, interesting, controversial, and researchable within Japan. Next, spoke with some of my students and Japanese colleagues to learn more about thet pre- university education experiences, with particular attention to their zoology and ecology backgrounds. [learned that although most students had some experience learning about some of these topics, most claimed that their knowledge was superficial, and others stated that they lacked experience discussing these topics from a critical perspective. Feedback from colleagues and students helped narrow the topics to endangered animals, wildlife raf- ficking, pets and sociery, zoos, whaling, and animal research, INCORPORATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ASSUMPTIONS AND PRINCIPLES @ “Three underlying assumptions about teaching and learning guided the course design. First, L approached teaching and learning from a social constructivist perspective; second, I exploited cooperative learning principles swithin a task-based learning framework; and third I aimed to promote learner independence for students of vatious learning styles throughout the course. In short, Animal Issues would be learner and learning centered. Scudents come to class with diffezene beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, expetiences, and goals. A social constructivist approach makes space for learners’ varied backgrounds because it views learning as taking place lents create their own meanings aces (Williams and Rubin 1997). In taclding serious socal issues topics, it was critical to make room for students to express, share, and evaluate their views and make sense of new informa- tion through discussions and their own independent research and reflection, ‘As much as possible, my courses include task-based, cooperative learning activities to promote meaningful communication and collegiality. Work- ing together co achieve a common goal gives students « sense of helping their peets and increases their motivation (D&rnyci 2001). Morcover, when students are engaged in an achievable task, they communicate, negotiate meaning, and strerch ther linguistic abilities. According to J. Willis (1996), in task-based learning, students not only plan what to say but also interact naturally, interrupting each other, making mistakes, and even checking what ® I | i I i é Ta taint it e @ Derelopings New Course fo Advle Lesmers 2..c0s4eareints 172 they have done. To promote a communicative, leainer-

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