Learning by Doing [PDF]

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“We keep moving forward opening new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” (Walt Disney) LEARNING BY DOING Phd IONUȚ POMIAN Faculty of Letter, „BABEȘ-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY”, Cluj-Napoca, Romania SUMMARY Learning by doing is one of the most controversial issues of teaching of any foreign language since it is not a standard method of teaching. One of the most important aspects which determined me to write this paper is the fact that I tried to prove that English language can be taught in a different manner, which is, using the communicative approach as complementing the traditional one. This paper stated that it is necessary for English learners to study English language in a more communicative way. Moreover, it has been suggested how English language should be taught and the new methods that have to be followed. Teaching English language through the Learning by doing approach is very importantbecause the English language can be very ambiguous and complex.



Key-words: learning, learners, students, teachers, teaching, English, approach, methods 1. A theoretical approach to Learning by doing There is really only one way to learn how to do something and that is to do it. If you want to learn to throw a football, drive a car, build a mousetrap, design a building, cook a stir-fry or be a management consultant, you must do it. Throughout history, youth have been apprenticed to masters in order to learn a trade. We understand that learning a skill means eventually trying your hand at the skill. When there is no real harm in simply trying we allow novices to "give it a shot." Parents usually teach children this way. They do not give a series of lectures to their children to prepare them to walk, talk, climb, run, play a game or learn how to behave. They just let their children do these things. We hand a child a ball to teach him to throw. If he throws poorly, he simply tries again. Parents tolerate sitting in the passenger seat while their teenager tries out the driver's seat for the first time. When it comes to school, however, instead of allowing students to learn by doing, we create courses of instruction that tell students about the theory of the task without concentrating on the doing of the task. It is not easy to see how to apply apprenticeship to mass education. So in its place, we lecture. There are better alternatives of teaching people of all ages new things and these are all based on the Learning by doing approach. Learning by doing has been a mantrap for educators through the ages. It was recited in the 1



Homeric epics and spoken in the Shakespearean plays, read in Montaigne's essays and enjoyed in Twain's stories. The story of learning is always about doing. The story of learning is a tale of bridging the gap between theory and practice, the cadence to which educators march. We have a couple of stories to relate which we think illustrate our interpretation of learning by doing. Thus, we learn by doing after we have reflected on what we have done. Learning by doing is the way most learners ultimately learn anything and everything. If knowledge is POWER, then we gain that knowledge by doing. We encourage students to have a strong identity of their own and one they can maintain and keep after leaving school. This may be the case for many teachers and actually has certain advantages. By having students use the free communication, we teach them responsibility, take liability away from school and avoid situations of censorship by the school of a particular student. The Internet provides a natural place for us to put theory into practice and our students are learning about literacy - reading, writing, inquiry, decision making and more - everyday, by doing. Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. This definition emphasizes several critical aspects of the learning process as viewed from the experiential perspective. Firstly, it is the emphasis on the process of adaptation and learning as opposed to content or outcomes. Secondly, is that knowledge is a transformation process, being continuously created and recreated, not an independent entity to be acquired or transmitted. Thirdly, learning transforms experience in both its objective and subjective forms. Finally, to understand learning, we must understand the nature of knowledge and vice versa. In other words, the most common assumption about such learning is that its result is singular and a given and wholly a matter of having the information successfully transferred. However, most people associate the word learning with their schooling during which content is transferred from the teacher, book, lesson, to the learner. This has caused learning to be directly associated with an 'authoritative' teacher, the study of 'subject material' and the student's subject-to-a-test ability to demonstrate that the content was transferred successfully. Learning by doing is essentially about getting involved in an activity and, through the process of doing this activity, learning about things like:  how that activity works,  how you find (or feel about) the activity,  what the activity makes you think about, and  what doing this activity enables you to do. Furthermore, Learning by doing is something that the learner should ideally reflect on during and after the activity to get most out of it - but it can also be an extremely natural way of learning (it is sometimes referred to as "incidental learning"), which can be undertaken - consciously or 2



unconsciously - by anyone at any time. 2. Making film and Learning by doing Some people learn by reading about things. Others learn by doing things. Education by reading and education by doing things are two different ways to learn anything. The choice depends on person’s character, subject and conditions of studying. One of the most important advantages of education by reading is the possibility to study inaccessible things. Reading also helps us to save our time and efforts. But learning by doing leads us to learning by thinking. In other words, both approaches to learning are important. Movies are efficient teaching media for teacher to catch students’ attention. Through the image impact and sound effect, students can encounter a brief life or a meaningful story. Therefore, students can review their past experiences and reconstruct their new interpretations of life. Movie is also an entertainment. Since seeing movies is a common fashion of entertainment in our daily life, introducing this into classroom settings cannot only make teaching different from regular lectures, but also make learning more amiable for students as their pastimes. Therefore, applying films to pedagogy means not only playing movies in class, but it also implies that teachers should guide students to conceive the significant issues in the films, from which students should achieve inspiration and stimulation. Teaching via films gives students the opportunities to learn to confront multi-cultures. It even allows them to reexamine the value of life through life experiences and cultural practices. Summing up, the main advantages and disadvantages of Learning by doing using film making can be: THE ADVANTAGES  Ss learn to be part of a team  Ss focus on the script  Ss produce a coherent target text  Ss do occasional target-language syntax error  Ss are in control of their learning THE DISADVANTAGES  Ss must learn the subject  Ss work with time constraints  Ss work with a camera  Ss have to satisfy their teachers at the end the end  Ss work too much for repetitions In recent years the concept of Learning by doing has been widened to include consideration of cultural differences between native and non-native English teachers and the purposes of the English lectures. It is very important to teach the pedagogical Learning by doing which attempts to provide the students with the ability of understanding and producing correct sentences according to the mechanisms described. I have chosen making film because it represents a 3



category that middle and upper school students have great difficulty in mastering. It is therefore useful to develop new approaches to the relationship that exists between teachers and students by taking into consideration both learners’ needs and technical aids. Since teaching of English language in general and particularly grammar is a very difficult task, the use of visuals methods is very important for teachers. Short films, wall pictures, drawings on the blackboard, picture flash cards and wall cards seem to be a great help for teachers and an interactive and communicative way for students to understand the grammar structures that are presented by their teachers. To conclude, the present paper has also tried to point out that English language can be taught by using different methods and that the traditional ones can be combined with the communicative approach. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Harmer Jeremy. –‘’The Practice of English Language Teaching’’, London and New York: Longman, 2000. 2. Lee W.R. –‘’Language Teaching Games and Contests’’, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964. 3. Willis Jane. –‘’A Framework for Task-Based Learning’’, London and New York: Longman, 2005. REZUMAT Lucrarea de faţă prezintă câteva dintre strategiile motivaţionale, întâlnite de-a lungul studiului în detaliu a metodelor şi a tehnicilor moderne de predare a limbii engleze, în urma căruia am descoperit că predarea limbii engleze folosind metoda Learning by doing duce la o mai bună comunicare în limba engleză între elevi și profesori. De asemenea, lucrarea evidenţiază unele avantaje și dezavantaje întâlnite în realizarea unui film cu elevii prin metoda Learning by doing.



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