Monday, February 27, 2012
schema reading
Schema Theory to Reading Comprehension
Gopal Prasad Bashyal
Instructor, Educational Training Centre, Tansen, Palpa, Nepal
Lecturer, Tansen Multiple Campus, Tansen, Palpa, Nepal
Chair, NELTA, Palpa Branch
Abstract
The workshop on “Schema theory of reading comprehension” is based on Piaget’s cognitive learning theory. Piaget first used the term ‘schema’ in 1926 and R. C. Anderson expanded and developed schema learning theory. The workshop has three parts: i) linking cognitive learning theory and schema theory of reading comprehension, ii) demonstration of a reading lesson, and iii) simulation on the reading tasks designed according to schema theory.
Beginning with the ends
i. Orientation on schema theory of learning;
ii. Demonstration of a reading lesson based on schema theory; and
iii. Simulation on the reading tasks done so far in the demonstration.
Hopefully, the participants will be encouraged to design their reading lessons according to the systematically set tasks based on schema theory of learning.
Mode of presentation:
i. Schemata will be developed through some warm up and discussions.
ii. Model demonstration will be a workshop; different tasks will be done individually, in pairs or in small groups.
iii. Consolidation of the learning will be the connection of tasks with the stages of reading as schema theory of reading comprehension. This will be slide presentation accompanied with discussion.
Schema theory of learning:
This learning theory has some principles.
It is important to teach general knowledge and generic concepts. A large proportion of learner difficulties can be traced to insufficient general knowledge, especially in cross-cultural situations.
Teachers must help learners build schemata and make connections between ideas. Discussion, songs, role play, illustrations, visual aids, and explanations of how a piece of knowledge applies are some of the techniques used to strengthen connections.
Since prior knowledge is essential for the comprehension of new information, teachers either need to
help students build the prerequisite knowledge, or
remind them of what they already know before introducing new material.
Schemata grow and change as new information is acquired.
Learners feel internal conflict if they are trying to assimilate schemata which contradict their previous suppositions. Teachers need to understand and be sympathetic to this tension.
Deep-seated schemata are hard to change. An individual will often prefer to live with inconsistencies rather than to change a deeply-held value or belief.
Demonstration of teaching a reading lesson (schema reading)
Activity 1. Ask the following questions.
i. Have you ever seen a ghost? If yes, when? Where?
ii. Have you heard of them? When? Where?
iii. What do you think of the features of ghost?
Activity 2. Teach vocabulary: ghost, gatehouse, sinister, Church, manor, frightening
Find the techniques to teach these words.
Activity 3. Read the text and give a title. Share the title with the partner; choose one or
new one.
Activity 4. Read the text and complete he table.
S. No.
Which ghost?
He killed . . .
You can see him in . . .
1.
Previous owner
2.
Visitors
3.
The corridor
Activity 5. Read the text again and answer the following questions.
Why don’t the servants want to stay in the house?
How did the previous owner die?
How does the priest ghost behave with the guests?
Why is the story of the young man most frightening?
Activity 6. Read and summarise the story.
Activity 7. Read and underline the pronouns.
Activity 8. Write a similar story you have heard.
Activity 9. Reflect back on the stages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text: Sanford Orcas Manor
Next to the Church in the village of Sanford Orcas, there’s an old gatehouse. If you go through the gate, you arrive at the sinister manor house, which is famous for its large number of ghosts.
The present owner of the manor says that it is difficult the servants because the ghosts frighten them. Many people have seen the ghost of the previous owner. He was a farmer who committed suicide by hanging himself from the gatehouse and he often appears in the garden wearing old working clothes.
Another ghost is the eighteenth century priest who used to kill visitors while they were asleep in their beds. He still frightens guests in the middle of the night by standing over their beds holding a knife.
The ghost of the servant sometimes walks along the dark corridors of the house. He murdered his master at Sanford Orcas, but nobody knows why.
But perhaps the most frightening story is of a young man who grew up in the house and then became a seller. While he was at sea he killed a boy and then went mad. When he returned to Sanford Orcas, they locked him in a room at the back of the house. He never left the room again and died there several years later. At some nights, when the moon is full, you can hear him screaming and hanging on the door of the room.
Linking tasks with the schema theory of reading
While writing, a writer first makes ideas and puts them in words to express them but in reading the process is reverse or reading starts with words then come up with ideas. The purpose of teaching reading is to help the students to comprehend the text. The above demonstration has the following stages which help the students to draw the concrete image of the story and shift to the mental exercises for understanding and creating similar story.
A. Scene setting:- Instead of immediate discussion on the words in the text, some idea on the outside real world referred to by the passage orients the learners to the theme of the passage. So the teacher starts a brief discussion by eliciting ideas from students on the topic. For the passage above the teacher asks and discusses on the general questions about ghosts (Activity 1). This is a pre- reading stage in which the topic s introduced indirectly.
B. Presenting new vocabulary:- Decide which vocabulary items are difficult for your students. Consider the words which are key to understand the passage. Follow the techniques of teaching vocabulary.
C. Extensive reading:- At scene setting and vocabulary teaching students get some ideas about the passage. Now they actually read the passage. Since they are reading the text for the first time, do not threat them with difficult questions. Give them very simple tasks like skimming or scanning so that they are interested in reading the text. The teacher doesn't explain the text. The tasks may be suggest a title or complete chart or match or simple questions that asks for the names of places or characters or dates etc. Two or more questions are asked at this stage.
D. Intensive reading:- Now the students have general understanding of the text and now they need t understand it in more detail. At this stage students are given a series of tasks e. g. multiple choices, true/ false, short answer questions, vocabulary exercises, language exercises etc. In the demonstrating lesson students are asked to answer some questions and summaries the passage as intensive reading exercises.
E. Text related activity:- Some follow up activity will be useful to consolidate the reading tasks. The students have to use their productive skill to answer the open ended questions. For example the students are asked to write similar ghost story they have heard.
Thus we find that without teacher's explanation the students are engaged in a number of exercises so that they read the text again and again. They find the answer themselves. It seems interesting to the students because the tasks are graded simple or common to difficult or specific. The students first figure out the general information and then gradually enter into abstract mental exercises. Thus it is proved that if a teacher devises the tasks properly and follows the orderly presentation reading will be more effective. &
Gopal Prasad Bashyal
Instructor, Educational Training Centre, Tansen, Palpa, Nepal
Lecturer, Tansen Multiple Campus, Tansen, Palpa, Nepal
Chair, NELTA, Palpa Branch
Abstract
The workshop on “Schema theory of reading comprehension” is based on Piaget’s cognitive learning theory. Piaget first used the term ‘schema’ in 1926 and R. C. Anderson expanded and developed schema learning theory. The workshop has three parts: i) linking cognitive learning theory and schema theory of reading comprehension, ii) demonstration of a reading lesson, and iii) simulation on the reading tasks designed according to schema theory.
Beginning with the ends
i. Orientation on schema theory of learning;
ii. Demonstration of a reading lesson based on schema theory; and
iii. Simulation on the reading tasks done so far in the demonstration.
Hopefully, the participants will be encouraged to design their reading lessons according to the systematically set tasks based on schema theory of learning.
Mode of presentation:
i. Schemata will be developed through some warm up and discussions.
ii. Model demonstration will be a workshop; different tasks will be done individually, in pairs or in small groups.
iii. Consolidation of the learning will be the connection of tasks with the stages of reading as schema theory of reading comprehension. This will be slide presentation accompanied with discussion.
Schema theory of learning:
This learning theory has some principles.
It is important to teach general knowledge and generic concepts. A large proportion of learner difficulties can be traced to insufficient general knowledge, especially in cross-cultural situations.
Teachers must help learners build schemata and make connections between ideas. Discussion, songs, role play, illustrations, visual aids, and explanations of how a piece of knowledge applies are some of the techniques used to strengthen connections.
Since prior knowledge is essential for the comprehension of new information, teachers either need to
help students build the prerequisite knowledge, or
remind them of what they already know before introducing new material.
Schemata grow and change as new information is acquired.
Learners feel internal conflict if they are trying to assimilate schemata which contradict their previous suppositions. Teachers need to understand and be sympathetic to this tension.
Deep-seated schemata are hard to change. An individual will often prefer to live with inconsistencies rather than to change a deeply-held value or belief.
Demonstration of teaching a reading lesson (schema reading)
Activity 1. Ask the following questions.
i. Have you ever seen a ghost? If yes, when? Where?
ii. Have you heard of them? When? Where?
iii. What do you think of the features of ghost?
Activity 2. Teach vocabulary: ghost, gatehouse, sinister, Church, manor, frightening
Find the techniques to teach these words.
Activity 3. Read the text and give a title. Share the title with the partner; choose one or
new one.
Activity 4. Read the text and complete he table.
S. No.
Which ghost?
He killed . . .
You can see him in . . .
1.
Previous owner
2.
Visitors
3.
The corridor
Activity 5. Read the text again and answer the following questions.
Why don’t the servants want to stay in the house?
How did the previous owner die?
How does the priest ghost behave with the guests?
Why is the story of the young man most frightening?
Activity 6. Read and summarise the story.
Activity 7. Read and underline the pronouns.
Activity 8. Write a similar story you have heard.
Activity 9. Reflect back on the stages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text: Sanford Orcas Manor
Next to the Church in the village of Sanford Orcas, there’s an old gatehouse. If you go through the gate, you arrive at the sinister manor house, which is famous for its large number of ghosts.
The present owner of the manor says that it is difficult the servants because the ghosts frighten them. Many people have seen the ghost of the previous owner. He was a farmer who committed suicide by hanging himself from the gatehouse and he often appears in the garden wearing old working clothes.
Another ghost is the eighteenth century priest who used to kill visitors while they were asleep in their beds. He still frightens guests in the middle of the night by standing over their beds holding a knife.
The ghost of the servant sometimes walks along the dark corridors of the house. He murdered his master at Sanford Orcas, but nobody knows why.
But perhaps the most frightening story is of a young man who grew up in the house and then became a seller. While he was at sea he killed a boy and then went mad. When he returned to Sanford Orcas, they locked him in a room at the back of the house. He never left the room again and died there several years later. At some nights, when the moon is full, you can hear him screaming and hanging on the door of the room.
Linking tasks with the schema theory of reading
While writing, a writer first makes ideas and puts them in words to express them but in reading the process is reverse or reading starts with words then come up with ideas. The purpose of teaching reading is to help the students to comprehend the text. The above demonstration has the following stages which help the students to draw the concrete image of the story and shift to the mental exercises for understanding and creating similar story.
A. Scene setting:- Instead of immediate discussion on the words in the text, some idea on the outside real world referred to by the passage orients the learners to the theme of the passage. So the teacher starts a brief discussion by eliciting ideas from students on the topic. For the passage above the teacher asks and discusses on the general questions about ghosts (Activity 1). This is a pre- reading stage in which the topic s introduced indirectly.
B. Presenting new vocabulary:- Decide which vocabulary items are difficult for your students. Consider the words which are key to understand the passage. Follow the techniques of teaching vocabulary.
C. Extensive reading:- At scene setting and vocabulary teaching students get some ideas about the passage. Now they actually read the passage. Since they are reading the text for the first time, do not threat them with difficult questions. Give them very simple tasks like skimming or scanning so that they are interested in reading the text. The teacher doesn't explain the text. The tasks may be suggest a title or complete chart or match or simple questions that asks for the names of places or characters or dates etc. Two or more questions are asked at this stage.
D. Intensive reading:- Now the students have general understanding of the text and now they need t understand it in more detail. At this stage students are given a series of tasks e. g. multiple choices, true/ false, short answer questions, vocabulary exercises, language exercises etc. In the demonstrating lesson students are asked to answer some questions and summaries the passage as intensive reading exercises.
E. Text related activity:- Some follow up activity will be useful to consolidate the reading tasks. The students have to use their productive skill to answer the open ended questions. For example the students are asked to write similar ghost story they have heard.
Thus we find that without teacher's explanation the students are engaged in a number of exercises so that they read the text again and again. They find the answer themselves. It seems interesting to the students because the tasks are graded simple or common to difficult or specific. The students first figure out the general information and then gradually enter into abstract mental exercises. Thus it is proved that if a teacher devises the tasks properly and follows the orderly presentation reading will be more effective. &
Sunday, February 26, 2012
three kinds of teachers
Three kinds of teachers
@ Gopal Prasad Bashyal
ETC, Palpa
Abstract
Teacher leads all teaching learning activities. She decides to take appropriate strategies and conducts accordingly. Based on her pedagogical knowledge and beliefs, she maintains her performance as an explainer or an involver or an enabler.
Key words: the explainer, the involver, the enabler.
Teacher A: The explainer: Many teachers know their subject matter very well, but have limited knowledge of teaching methodology. This kind of teacher relies mainly on 'explaining' or 'lecturing as a way of conveying information to the students. Done with style or enthusiasm or wit or imagination this teacher's lessons can be very entertaining, interesting and informative. The students are listening, perhaps occasionally answering questions and perhaps making notes but are mostly not being personally involved or challenged. The learners often get practice by doing individual exercises after one phase of the lecture has finished.
Teacher B: The involver: This teacher also knows the subject matter that is being dealt with. (in our case this essentially the English language and how it works.) However, she is also familiar with teaching methodology; she is able to use appropriate teaching and organizational procedures and techniques to help her students learn about the subject matter. Teacher explanations may be one of these techniques, but in her case it is only one option among many that she has at her disposal. This teacher is trying to involve the students actively and puts a great deal of efforts into finding appropriate and interesting activities that will do this, while still retaining clear control over the classroom and what happens in it.
Teacher c: The enabler: Essentially teaching is about working with other human beings. This teacher knows about the subject matter and about methodology, but also has an awareness of how individuals and groups are thinking and feeling within her class. She actively responds to this in her planning and working methods and in building effective working relationships and a good classroom atmosphere. Her own personality and attitude are an active encouragement to learning.
This kind of teacher is confident enough to share control with the learners, or to hand it over entirely them. Decisions made in her classroom may often be shared or negotiated. In many cases she takes her lead from the students; seeing herself as someone whose job is to create the conditions that enable the students to learn for themselves. Sometimes this will involve her in less traditional teaching she may become a guide, counsellor or a resource of information when needed sometimes when the class is working well under its own steam when a lot of autonomous learning is going on she may be hardly visible. & email: gopalbashyal@gmail.com
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