Reading with different views from outside, I'm sure that it could help students develop the way to think critically, have open-minded, and be more flexible for something they have to accept.
Still I'm concering a few things,
Ss' language performane level (For the discourse which can be created from the issue.)
Fixed course book that I have to use in my classroom
Time limitation (which is only two months)
Luckily, my students are adults and they are good at expressing their ideas or opinions in their mother tongue. I often try to bring some sensitive issues in class such as gender roles, or some social problems or current issues in Korea. I think no matter what level they are, I can do oppositional readings since we have a poweful tool which is shared mother tongue.
My course book is poor. I think this is sometimes good. This makes us to think about the book very critically.
Anyway, I have to find a way to make my students not only to learn the second language and but also to have a ability to use the language in a concrete situation (in a various discourses) with a proper performance.
hey there... as always, your questions are right on the money. i've also been in a lot of situations where i HAD to use a terrible course book. as you mentioned, i've also tried to explore critical readings of the textbook and the representations within it. sometimes it works. in your situation it sounds like you have students who are critically minded already and who are willing to engage in some difficult discussions. in my experience, that sort of atmosphere is more important that high english proficiency in establishing critical practices. oh, and based on your final comment... it is my feeling (along with the feeling of a lot of SLA theorists these days) that you can separate 'learning' a language from 'using' a language. in a nutshell, that's what the author of our SLA textbook is trying to say (though admittedly she isn't very clear about it all the time). great comments as always...
ReplyDeletewoops... i just read over that. that last part should be "you CAN'T separate learning a language from using a language..." sorry about that :(
ReplyDeletealways thank you for your kind comments. :D
ReplyDeleteFor the presentation of this week,
I'm not going to prepare ppt or something on screen, I rather bring some real materials to discuss them based on the articles. Anyway, thanks again!
great idea! maybe we can even discuss lesson plans or activities that can help guide students toward critical readings of textbooks. i'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDelete