developing learning communities language and learning style chapter eight (c) 2006 the mcgraw-hill...

Developing Learning Communities

Language and Learning Style

Chapter Eight

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

Characteristics of a Learning Community

It is organized for activity Everyone in the school participates in this

activity-oriented environment There is a sense that everyone belongs


Rationale for Learning-Community Classrooms

Need to prepare students to be citizens of a democracy. . . Through learning to negotiate differences in

the context of a common curriculum Through learning citizenship by practicing

democracy


Pedagogies: Old and New

Old methods with new names: Dialogue (Plato) Discovery learning (Abelard) Critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy,

collaborative learning (Comenius)

What is new:That these should exist at the same time and be used by both children and adults


Roles: Old and New

Traditional roles of students and adults are expanded: Teacher as “teller” expanded to teacher as

guide, coach, cheerleader Other adults assume teaching and learning

roles Students may be “teachers” as well as

learners


Place of Content Knowledge: Old and New

Disciplinary knowledge serves a dual role: Sometimes it is learned as an end in itself Sometimes it serves as a means to another

end (e.g., problem solving or discovering a new way to see and understand the world)


Assessment: Old and New

There is still a use for paper-and-pencil testing, standardized or teacher-written

General use for such tests is diagnostic Alternative forms of assessment also play a

part: Peer evaluation Portfolios Group tests Self-evaluation


Perspectives on Language Acquisition

Language is what makes us human, and is the primary means for socializing us into our families and social groups, and through them, acquiring a cultural identity.


The Family Is the First Institution

Introduces us to language

Structures the child’s environment

Gives labels to roles, such as Mommy, teacher, and priest, extending roles into the wider community

Language objectifies, interprets, and justifies reality for the child

Language brings the meanings and values of the wider community onto the small state of the immediate family


Institutional Aspects of Language in the Family

Language has several characteristics in common with other social institutions: It is external It is objective It has the power of moral authority It is historical


Perspectives on Language Variation

All language sounds have symbolic meaning

Within any language, however, the meaning of elements may differ widely: Vocabulary Pronunciation Syntax (grammatical structure) Semantics (the meaning of words)


Verbal Communication

Accents: differ from standard language only in pronunciation

Dialects: differ from standard language in pronunciation, word usage, and syntax

Black English (Ebonics) Rural, or mountain, English Standard English


Black English (Ebonics, African American Language [AAL])

Spoken primarily (though not exclusively) by urban African Americans

Derived in part from the languages of West Africa

The ability to code switch (move back and forth from Ebonics to standard English) is often a matter of social class


Rural (or Mountain) English

Spoken primarily in Appalachia

Derived from the language of early English settlers in the area

May be the “purest” English spoken in the United States

Has been preserved, in part, because of isolation of mountain people


Standard English

Is also a dialect of English, although it is the dialect usually deemed most “correct”

It is the language of education, commerce, and the arts

It may vary from community to community, and from country to country


Bidialectalism: the ability to speak two (or more) dialects and to switch easily between or among them

Sign Language: a form of nonverbal language of signs spoken by the deaf

Used instead of a spoken languageAmerican Sign Language (ASL) is considered an “official” language


Nonverbal Communication

Used by both hearing and hearing-impaired individuals

Accounts for 50 to 90 percent of the messages we send and receive

It has several functions: Conveys messages Can augment verbal communication Can contradict verbal communication Can replace verbal communication


Three aspects of nonverbal communication:

Proxemics: sometimes called “social space”; refers to the “normal” distance considered appropriate between two people speaking

Kinesics: body language (e.g., gestures, facial expressions, eye contact)

Paralanguage: vocalizations that are not words (e.g., sighs, laughter, crying)


Culture, Language, and Learning Style

These three are inextricably intertwined Language shapes and is shaped by culture Culture shapes and is shaped by language Learning style originates and accounts for

variations in patterns of learning, and is shaped by both language and culture


Components of Learning Style

Field Dependence: individual perceives globally or holistically; orientation is social; is good at observation

Field Independence: individual perceives discrete parts; is good at abstract thought; tends to be individualistic; prefers working alone


Additional Components of Learning Style

Preferred sensory mode for learning (e.g., sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, movement)

Response to immediate environment Emotionality Social preferences Cognitive-psychological orientation


Multiple Intelligences

The idea, based on brain research and proposed by Howard Gardner:

Human beings not only have preferred learning styles but also preferred ways of expressing

intellectual ability and thus, of thinking.


Seven kinds of intelligence:

Visual/SpatialVerbal/LinguisticLogical/MathematicalBodily/KinestheticMusical/RhythmicInterpersonalIntrapersonal


Origins of Learning Style

Still a matter of conjecture Appear to be a combination of:

Biological factorsPsychological factorsSociocultural factors


Relation of Language to Culture

Language determines vocabulary, which sets the “right” meaning of words and of cultural ideas

Language plays a critical role in the maintenance of subgroups within a larger culture

Language reflects the thought processes of a culture


Relation of Learning Style to Culture

Learning style is developed in the context of what we attend to (perception) and how we attend to it—both culturally shaped adaptations to the physical and social environment

Thus, particular learning styles are often associated with particular cultural groups


The Significance of Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles

The importance of these qualities for teachers lies in their ability to identify preferred modes of learning and to adapt instruction so that all students get to practice learning in multiple ways

No one recommends that students learn only in their preferred mode or that teachers teach in more than one mode


Cultural Groups May Differ in Communication Styles

Formal vs. Informal Communication Emotional vs. Subdued Communication Direct vs. Indirect Communication Objective vs. Subjective Communication Responses to Guilt and Accusations


Ethical Issues

Students who speak a dialect of English, or whose first language is not English, are likely to be stigmatized

Debates about language in the schools are likely to be as much about issues of cultural domination as they are about language itself

The assessment of students with limited English proficiency must be done with care

Without diverse languages, diverse cultures may also disappear

con’t.


The increasing prevalence of English in worldwide modes of communication—especially television and the Internet—may mean that many languages are disappearing

Some balance needs to be achieved between protecting “small” languages and encouraging international exchange

The negative American attitude toward learning more than one language may get in the way of our own international understanding


Something to Think About

“When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the ‘human essence,’ the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man and that are inseparable from any critical phase of human existence, personal or social.”

—Noam Chomsky


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