The Omission of Different Material in Classroom
Have you imagined a school without books? Schools and books have been related items in regards of teaching for a long time; however, some methods of teaching differ from this idea. The use of books in a
classroom has been a common tool for teaching; nonetheless, books have done changeless. The same books for different minds. Supporting the idea of stop using books might sound unusual, but it has its positive aspects. Omitting books in a classroom affect several characteristics of teaching. Following those believes lead teachers to a point were schools should stop using books as the basis for teaching by planning classes with other materials, implementing activities under the omission of books, and by omitting all material in a classroom.
Planning classes is a part of teaching in which book are included, but how, can be possible to plan without books? Actually exists method that is against this traditional. This method called “Dogme” states that ELT seems to be drowning in an embarrassment of resources. In addition, over dependency of manufactured materials run counter to the often-expressed desire of both teacher and learner to create more opportunities for real language use” in the classroom (Thornbury, 2005). Therefore, teachers need to base their planning on other aspects such as concerns and necessities Noticing that the way of planning a class using the dogme method varies from other traditional methods, consequently the implementation of more meaningful procedures to accomplish the learning process changes too.
Activities play a role in a classroom since all the learning acquired lies back on them, nevertheless activities in a classroom, where dogme method is applied, have a drastic change. Thornbury’s (2013) article explains the following: “the activities are not prescribed, but would need to be consistent with goals such as becoming resourceful and self-directed language users, by providing the optimal conditions for discourse creation, contextually appropriate, and mutually agreed. They are likely to share features with the practices of task-based instruction or whole-language learning”. So, the use of material goes against the method, in exception of material created by the students. This structure of activities differ from traditional ones, the core of those activities seems to be sharing information and real experiences, focus on speaking activities and consider grammar as an emerging element that is developed through the time. On the other hand, there are
some arguments that state the use of books such as literature in activities enhance certain abilities in the student, for instance, the ability to represent the plurality of meanings that a word can assume based on teachers and students cultural background (Carroli, 2008). However, the use of books such as literature have some flaws for example, that literature books can contain a lack of real application of everyday language for ELT classes. Teaching only using authentic material created by the teacher and students can result not only complicated but also more meaningful, but how classes could be if is forbidden all material. The omission of all material in a class is not a new idea. This way of teaching dates of the 5ht century BC, when material was something hard to possess. The method used for this type of classes is the Socratic method which states that the classroom experience is a shared dialogue between teacher and students in which both are responsible for pushing the dialogue forward through questioning (Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching, 2003). The fact that the students are using more their own knowledge and creating their conclusions instead of basing their answers in a predetermined answer or solution written on a book. Therefore, students are acquiring information in a more conscious way because they get to a conclusion through a dialogue instead of a predetermined answer. The common modern way of teaching have developed an unnecessary habit of using books for most of the procedures applied in a classroom. Following a specific way of teaching in aspects such as planning classes, activities and presenting a class creates in students a feeling that school is something monotonous. TGiving a change to the aspects above in a classroom can produce different results on students. Remember that experimenting with teaching methods have helped to discover more about how humans learn.
References
Carroli, P. (2008). Enhancing the role of text in learning. New York: Continuum. Retrieved from:https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=CRKZuBWqLa0Cpg=PT123dq=The+role+of+books+in+language+education&hl=essa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnsv7e2cbPAhWFNqwKHeQuAjQQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
The Socratic Method: What it is and how to use it in the classroom. (2003) Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching Retrieved from: http://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/Newsletter/socratic_method.pdf
Thornbury, S.(2000). A Dogma for EFL. IATEFL Issues. Retrieved from: http://nebula.wsimg.co/fa3dc70521483b645f4b932209f9db17?AccessKeyId=186A535D1BA4FC995A73&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Thornbury, S.(2013). Dogme: Hype, evolution, or intelligent design? The Language Teacher. Retrieved from: http://nebula.wsimg.com/1314c2b2a10b6b7eb1b3065ff3faf353?AccessKeyId=186A535D1BA4FC995A73&disposition=0&alloworigin=1