Constructing a Learning-centered Model with

Chinese Characteristics in Online English Education

Xu WeiXi’an Political Academy

Introduction

• Online education (online learning, e-education, or e-learning) is “the delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic means.” It “involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material.” (Derek Stockley, 2003)

Comparison and Contrast between Conventional In-class Courses and Online CoursesConventional In-class Courses

Online Courses

•Teacher-and-teaching-centered•Passive learning•Knowledge delivered to learners by teachers

•Learner-and-learning-centered•Active learning•Learners guided by teachers to acquire knowledge

(to be continued)

Conventional In-class Courses

Online Courses

•Teachers set the pace and schedule and control the learning environment; while learners try to follow.•Teachers are responsible for delivering contents and learners’ learning.

•Learners set the pace and schedule and control the learning environment; while teachers guide and assist them.•Learners are responsible for their own learning.

(to be continued)

Conventional In-class Courses

Online Courses

•Face-to-face interaction•Technology may be used, but it’s not the central to the role of being a learner•Multi-media may be used, but most delivery is done by spoken word.

•Lack of face-to-face interaction•Technology helps learners explore resources and construct knowledge•Multiple forms of media are used to reach a wider variety of learning styles.

The Influence of Cultural Background on Learners’ Learning Style

• Culture, as is defined by Hofstede (1991, pp. 4-5), is “ ‘patterns of thinking, feeling and acting’ underpinning ‘the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’” (Dimmock, 2000)

Power Distance (PD)

• PD refers to the distribution of power within society and its organization, and is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept the power, and usually that power is distributed unequally. (Hofstede, 1980)

In societies with large PD values

• In the home, children are educated towards obedience to parents, whose authority is rarely questioned.

• In school, teachers are respected, learning is conceived as passed on by the wisdom of the teacher, and teacher-centered methods tend to be employed.

• Many Asian societies are high PD cultures.

Individualism Versus Collectivism

• It is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups and to which there is closeness between persons in a relationship.

In individualist societies

• Individuals place their personal goals above those of their in-group, the ties between individuals are loose, and people are expected to look after themselves and their immediate families.

• Many Western countries are ranked towards the individualist end.

In collectivist societies

• People place group goals above their personal goals; they are brought up to be loyal to, and integrate into, strong cohesive groups, which often include extended families.

• Many Asian countries are ranked towards the collectivist end.

In individualist societies

• People are driven by an “I” consciousness and obligations to the self, including self-interest and self-actualization.

• In the school, emphasis is placed on permanent education and learning how to learn.

In collectivist societies• Family members are brought up with a

“we” consciousness, opinions are predetermined by the group, and strong obligations to the family emphasize harmony, respect and shame.

• At school, learning is viewed as an activity primarily for the young, and focuses on how to do things and on factual knowledge.

China: a collectivist society with large PD values

• At school, learners naturally believe that learning is passed on by the wisdom of the teacher, that teacher-centered methods should be employed, that learning should focus on how to do things and on factual knowledge, and that what learners should do is just sitting in the classroom and listening carefully to the teacher and writing down the important notes.

The Principles of Adult Learning• According to Brundage and Macheracher (1980)

• Adults who value their own experience as a resource for further learning or whose experience is valued by others are better learners.

• Adults learn best when they are involved in developing learning objectives for themselves that are congruent with their current and idealized self-concept.

• Adults have already developed organized ways of focusing on, taking in, and processing information. These are referred to as cognitive style.

The Principles of Adult Learning• The learner reacts to all experience as

he/she perceives it, not at the teacher presents it.

• Adults enter into learning activities with an organized set of descriptions and feelings about themselves that influences the learning process.

• Adults do not learn when overstimulated or when experiencing extreme stress or anxiety.

The Principles of Adult Learning

• Adults are more concerned with whether they are changing in the direction of their own idealized self-concept than whether they are meeting standards and objectives set for them by others.

• Those adults who can process information through multiple channels and have learnt how to learn are the most productive learners.

The Principles of Adult Learning

• Adults learn best when the content is personally relevant to past experience or present concerns and the learning process is relevant to life experiences.

• Adults learn best when novel information is presented through a variety of sensory modes and experiences with sufficient repetitions and variations on themes to allow distinctions in patterns to emerge.

• The learner changed from “a recipient of

knowledge” to “a constructor of

knowledge, an autonomous learner with

metacognitive skills for controlling his or

her cognitive process during learning.”

(Ip, 2003)

• Learning, “involves selecting relevant

information and interpreting it through

one’s existing knowledge.” (Ip, 2003)

• In the process of learning,

students/learners first learn the skills and

then construct their learning with

teachers’ assistance.

• To construct his own English world, the

learner himself needs to construct

knowledge with teacher’s guidance and

assistance, and needs to make full use of

the social interaction to learn, to think, to

construct and reconstruct knowledge.

Constructing a Learning-centered Model with Chinese Characteristics

• The teaching model is one where the purpose is to provide and deliver instruction through courses and programs.

• The learning model is the one that “frames learning holistically, recognizing that the chief agent in the process is the learner. Thus, students must be active discoverers and constructors of their own knowledge.” (Barr and Tagg, 1995)

• “Learning-centered assumptions suggest

that learners should have meaningful

control over what and how things are

learned, plus how the learning outcome is

measured. This concern for the learner

acquiring meaningful control of the

learning process has been called ‘student

centered’ or ‘learner centered’ but more

appropriately should be called learning-

centered learning.” (Reynolds, 2000)

A learning-centered model should have the following characteristics

• Learners construct their learning with the guidance and assistance of teachers and with their own experiences.

• Learning occurs when learners actively involve and participate in the learning process, receive feedback, transform and apply what they have learned into and to what they have experienced or will do.

• What and how learners learn depends on

what opportunities the teacher provides.

• Learning is not ‘natural’ but depends on

interactions with more expert others.

• Learners’ role is a collaborative

participant.

• Teachers’ role is to observe learners

closely, match individual and collective

curricula to learners’ needs, and create

inquiry environment.

• Teachers guide learners to participate in various work, record and analyze and assess individual learner’s progress, and provide explicit assistance to reach higher levels of competence.

• The more capable others should be responsible if learners fail to make progress, for they have not observed the learners closely, solved the learners’ difficulty, matched instruction to the learners, made ‘informed’ decisions, or helped the learners ‘get ready’.

Conclusion

• Transform from the teacher-and-teaching-centeredness to the learner-and-learning-centeredness.

• Teachers try to be guide, assistance, director and facilitator.

• Learners try to be active and responsible for their own learning.