Student understanding- the true feedback for teachers
Assessing student understanding does not equate the typical way of students replying that they understand because, sometimes, it was just their response that teacher elicits (though it was good that we can gain student attention) and we will never know what was going on in their minds.
As our mentors apply the WPPP method in their classes, we could generally see the class flow to be nearly identical. Our mentors usually assess student understanding through their homework and in class at the production stage. This stage contains the Creating stage in Bloom`s Taxonomy where students have to apply their acquired knowledge and to incorporate into something new thus the word "Production". Most of the time, the activities were controlled and we were able to immediately acquire how much do the students understand.
Most of the time, the students were generally able to pick the language fairly well as our mentors, of course have their lessons planned through so they generally went very well. However, the true feedback will be a major concern during tests. A number of students struggled to pass the speaking test due to:
As our mentors apply the WPPP method in their classes, we could generally see the class flow to be nearly identical. Our mentors usually assess student understanding through their homework and in class at the production stage. This stage contains the Creating stage in Bloom`s Taxonomy where students have to apply their acquired knowledge and to incorporate into something new thus the word "Production". Most of the time, the activities were controlled and we were able to immediately acquire how much do the students understand.
Most of the time, the students were generally able to pick the language fairly well as our mentors, of course have their lessons planned through so they generally went very well. However, the true feedback will be a major concern during tests. A number of students struggled to pass the speaking test due to:
- They were so used to our mentors probing them
- Memorizing does not help with speaking ability
- Nervousness
- Learning English using Katakana
This was the major challenge for our mentors as some students just could not get out of the impression that they could get away through the usage of memorization and the usage of Katakana. Though there were really good students who excelled their speaking and writing test; most of the students I have encountered were unable to get out of the habit of thinking through Katakana.
As far as I noticed, the students here (and in Osaka and probably around Japan) only memorize because- their main purpose to study is to pass the entrance exams and they do not find the meaning in learning most of the time. Mr. Aron and I had discussed that the students here were only at the Remembering stage in Bloom`s Taxonomy, and it, unfortunately was and still is a commonly practiced method of learning in Asian countries, just like in Malaysia, I did not actually absorb much until I transferred to an international school to understand the purpose of studying these subjects. When I studied in Osaka, everything was just meant for memorization, alongside the fact that most of the English words here have been translated to Japanglish where the Japanese would incorporate English words into the Japanese context, for instance television, it would be テレビ or terebi in Japanese. Because of this being widely used I find it terebil- I mean terrible.
Simply based on Bloom`s Taxonomy, we can tell that sticking to a particular stage and never move beyond that may not be beneficial to learners as this indicate that the learners learn nothing and they do not understand the concept of learning this topic. In addition, I also noticed that Cognitivism is the enemy to a language class (speaking), because simply, you may know the words and the structure of a sentence, when speaking, and you do not have the correct pronunciation or the confidence to speak, then I guess that there is no use and meaning to learning how to speak in the first place. Students here only memorize and most of the time, their knowledge from Eikaiwa classes end up in their short-term memory.
However, our mentors in general were able to put things through as the majority of the students did pass their speaking test. They made a lot of effort to ensure that their classes were interesting. Mr. Long for example, used skits, most of the time laughter could be heard as Mr. long's Japanese can sometimes be funny and weird at the same time, and this reaction is the one that teachers want, it shows that the students are engaged, meaning that they are listening and paying attention to his skits. And from that, he would start asking his students what was the skit all about and from that the students were able to get a rough idea on what they were going to learn and before Mr. long set the off to practice and into the Production stage, he would do modelling. Just like what Mr. Thomas said before, reduce the Teacher Talk Time and get to the main point and the target language so that the students know and understanding what they were expected to do. And usually from that the Production was set and there were only a few who didn't understand.
When I was teaching Hokkien to the students, they were to be able to know which animals and what do you call them in Hokkien. To test their understanding, I applied charades, not only each and every student had to go up, they also had to try and remember which animal was which in Hokkien, despite the fact that I did not use the Production stage as the final assessment for the students but I was able to know that the students made sure that they understand and were trying.
Aside from that, Mr. Long also mentioned that it is better to ensure students understand before reaching the production stage and surprisingly it was a foolproof method. When it came to new vocabulary, Mr. Long would say it slowly with the students repeating and he would repeat the same vocab for a couple of times just like the Machine Gun warm up. That way the students were able to establish the connection once they was given time to answer the Machine Gun questions. At the end to the answering exercise, he would have the students stand up and answer, and he would do it in every lesson and this sets a routine for the students and it was repetitive enough that the students were able to completely understand and even answer these questions outside of the classroom.
However, our mentors in general were able to put things through as the majority of the students did pass their speaking test. They made a lot of effort to ensure that their classes were interesting. Mr. Long for example, used skits, most of the time laughter could be heard as Mr. long's Japanese can sometimes be funny and weird at the same time, and this reaction is the one that teachers want, it shows that the students are engaged, meaning that they are listening and paying attention to his skits. And from that, he would start asking his students what was the skit all about and from that the students were able to get a rough idea on what they were going to learn and before Mr. long set the off to practice and into the Production stage, he would do modelling. Just like what Mr. Thomas said before, reduce the Teacher Talk Time and get to the main point and the target language so that the students know and understanding what they were expected to do. And usually from that the Production was set and there were only a few who didn't understand.
When I was teaching Hokkien to the students, they were to be able to know which animals and what do you call them in Hokkien. To test their understanding, I applied charades, not only each and every student had to go up, they also had to try and remember which animal was which in Hokkien, despite the fact that I did not use the Production stage as the final assessment for the students but I was able to know that the students made sure that they understand and were trying.
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| Animals in Hokkien |
Aside from that, Mr. Long also mentioned that it is better to ensure students understand before reaching the production stage and surprisingly it was a foolproof method. When it came to new vocabulary, Mr. Long would say it slowly with the students repeating and he would repeat the same vocab for a couple of times just like the Machine Gun warm up. That way the students were able to establish the connection once they was given time to answer the Machine Gun questions. At the end to the answering exercise, he would have the students stand up and answer, and he would do it in every lesson and this sets a routine for the students and it was repetitive enough that the students were able to completely understand and even answer these questions outside of the classroom.
Personal Thoughts
Unfortunately, the mindset of having Nichidai student to be able to learn things that could be "alive" rather than endless and mindless memorization is still a dream yet to be realized. Our mentors for now could only work and change this type of learning method as slowly as possible. From my observations, students here believed that memorization could help them pass any exams. It was very unfortunate considering that the students here actually have a very good sense of humor, they were very smart, it was just that the education system and society have dim them down as they immediately switched from their creativity mode into their usual lemming-mode. Most of the time, our mentors use assessment for learning and of course assessment of learning for the benefit of the students. Mr. Long noted that we can conduct a class in Nichidai; it was just that if you left them on their own device, they would probably wait until someone else rein them in; in other words, there was no active learning involve no matter how creative the lessons were, you have to rein or "control" them before they know what to learn.
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