Case Study 2

Plan For and Support Student Learning Through Appropriate Approaches and Environments

Contextual Background

As my previous case study, the context is Pre-sessional English classes, which mostly consist of East Asian students.

Evaluation

The lazy stereotype is that Asian students, due to their cultural and educational background, are less capable of criticality; this is contested (i.e., Rear, 2017), and I would go further and state that the great majority of students, of whatever background, need guidance in developing their critical thinking and independent thought. This case study explores some of the issues, and a pathway to practice.

Towards a Definition

Critical thinking, according to Alexander, Argent and Spencer (2018, p. 260-1), encompasses a range of activities, is viewed as being important by lecturers, but those same lecturers are quite vague in defining what they wish for. After some discussion, the authors conclude that critical thinking can be described in a tripartite manner:

taking a stance – [students] expressing their own considered, supported position

evaluating – assessing what is, for example, positive or negative according to clear criteria

making connections – looking at things in new and different ways and applying knowledge

(p. 265)

So the challenge is to create an environment in which students can develop the strategies necessary.

Moving Forwards

Citing Vygotsky, Hyland (2006, p. 91) states the importance of collaboration, in which students learn more effectively working with their peers than they would independently, and scaffolding, in which students work with ‘knowledgeable others’ in order to gain a greater understanding.

An oft-used structure is Describe – Analyse – Evaluate. Students generally don’t have problems describing, and it is a vital skill; but in a critical text it should be kept short so as to allow more space (word count!) for the latter two stages. A formative task pre-sessional students undertake is an exhibition review, in which they need to provide some background and description, and some critique. A necessary component is a judgement of how good or bad an exhibition is, and this is the evaluation, but this needs to build on an examination of the subject, and this is the analysis.

In order to scaffold, or model, examples can be helpful. I wrote a review of an exhibition I had attended in the Spring of 2021, Van Gogh Alive. Although I thought it was a good experience, on this occasion I opted to be more negative, and shared with them my annotated review. In order to focus on the three stages, I presented the slide shown in Figure 1. In doing so I believe I have gone some way to providing Vygotsky’s scaffolding, but I am failing to exploit his collaboration.

Students collaborating for long periods may be inefficient use of limited time. Randall, cited by Sakshi (2018, p. 167) believes learning in small groups benefits the development of lower-level thinking, but not higher-level, critical thought; a primary reason being time. Other shortfalls mentioned by Sakshi include vague objectives being set for group work, and that some learners will inevitably carry the weaker or the lazy ones (p. 166). Some of the recommendations given (p. 167) as to how to circumvent or minimise these problems are:

• identifying clear objectives in task instructions;
• creating rubrics and helping students apply them during the learning process;
• helping students to regularly reflect on their progress.

I am pleased to have made this realisation, but now I must seek to make this work. The first step is forming and communicating crystal clear objectives for second-language students. Wish me luck!

549 words

References

Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer, J. (2018) EAP Essentials: A teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Second Edition. Reading: Garnet Publishing.

Hyland, K. (2006) English for academic purposes: an advanced resource book. Abingdon: Routledge.

Rear, D. (2017), ‘Reframing the Debate on Asian Students and Critical Thinking: Implications for Western Universities’, Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 18-33. https://doi.org/10.20355/C5P35F (Accessed 4 March 2024).

Sakshi, I. (2018) ‘Collaborative and cooperative learning: an overview’, International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, vol. 5, issue 4, pp. 165-168. http://www.ijrar.org/papers/IJRAR1904930.pdf (Accessed 6 March 2024).