Syllabus Critique

ETEC 512

Claude DSouza

4167007

Section 64B
Introduction

This syllabus was used recently for a Korean High School ESL Writing

Class, and will likely be used again the following year. In the first term, the

students focused mostly on writing a TOEFL essay and for the first term final

assignment, students wrote a TOEFL essay over two classes. The second

term original plan covers 13 weeks, and it is intended for 12 classes with

approximately 30 students per class; each class received the same 50

minute lesson once a week.

Original Syllabus Critique

The Participation Expectations section highlights the behaviourist

elements of the course. According to Standridge (2002), educational

methods derived from behaviourist theory includes contracts, consequences,

and reinforcement/punishment. The syllabus, which is included in each

students workbook, resembles a contract that serves as a written reminder

of the expected behaviour that students must demonstrate in the classroom.

Furthermore, as students at this prestigious academic institution are

motivated to compete and receive the highest possible grade in the course,

point deductions for classroom misbehaviour serve as positive punishment.

Based on observations during the first term, the list of expectations was

created by the teacher to encourage student on-task behaviour. Students

who are on-task are more likely to attend to directions and instructions that

may increase their ability to comply and learn in class (Hautau, Skinner,
Pfaffman, Foster, & Clark, 2008). The limitation of this participation system

is that there are no opportunities for positive reinforcement, and if students

are indeed motivated by their grade, then they need to have opportunities to

make up for any negative participation points assigned by the teacher.

Many of the writing activities in the syllabus reflect the learning notions

outlined in information processing theory. The information regarding TOEFL

essay writing is presented via echoic (teacher lecture) and iconic (notes on

blackboard, Powerpoint, and in students workbooks) sensory registers,

which according to Orey (2002) are the best channels for processing

information. Cognitive writing strategies include note-taking, and repetition

through the second in-class TOEFL essay writing assignment, which also

enables students to demonstrate their procedural knowledge of how to write

an English essay using personal opinions and examples based on episodic

memories. Students usually used socioaffective strategies when they

communicate with their peers during practice activities designed to reinforce

their understanding of the learned material, and when they share their

descriptive paragraphs in class. The main concern with this syllabus, when

viewed through the lens of information processing theory, is the lack of

higher levels of elaboration that Lutz and Huitt (2003) identify in Bloom et al.s

Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain. Although students demonstrate

comprehension in the practice activities, application in the essay and news

assignments, and analysis in the descriptive paragraph assignment (by

including a legend to classify their literary terms), they rarely engage in

activities that require meta-cognitive strategies of synthesis and evaluation.

Situated Learning theory is not well-represented in this syllabus. Although

the news writing, resume, and cover letter lessons provide opportunities for the

students to engage in activities that resemble authentic activities, there are no

opportunities for the students to experience writing in a Korean context that

they are more familiar and comfortable with. Also, while it is clear that the

Korean students analyze countless English news stories in their reading class,

they do not have much experience looking at resumes and cover letters, so they

may need more guidance when identifying features. None of the writing

assignments are collaborative tasks; most activities in groups consist of

feedback after the assignment is completed, but working in groups is

discouraged during the assigned writing tasks. Brown, Collins, and Duguid

(1989) emphasized the importance of group learning for its features of

collective problem solving, displaying multiple roles, addressing ineffective

strategies and misconceptions, and building cooperative work skills.

Therefore, students need more opportunities for group interaction while

completing some of the required assignments. Modeling and scaffolding by

the teacher also needs to happen in order for the students to observe how

these writing tasks are carried out in an authentic activity. The need for

modeling connects situated learning with behaviourist theory, as it too

asserts that students can acquire desired writing strategies through

observational learning (Standridge).

 Finally, Von Glasersfeld (2008) emphasized not only learning factual

information, but also being able to apply it in the appropriate learning

contexts, rather than just memorizing and repeating the information when

called upon. The lessons in this syllabus are intended not only to impart

students with knowledge of terms such as a thesis, nutgraph, and

personification, but also to have them demonstrate their understanding of

these terms through application in a TOEFL essay, a news story, and a

descriptive paragraph. Furthermore, the TOEFL essay writing activity is the

final stage of the essay writing process, as students demonstrate their

knowledge that has been constructively built upon one writing step at a time

(ie: brainstorm/outline, introduction and conclusion, body, etc.). A drawback

in the application of constructive principles in the syllabus is that a teacher

cannot provide individualized learning programs for students, due to the

large number of students in all of the classes, the limited time spent with

them each week, and the short duration of each term.

Proposed Changes to Original Syllabus

Based on the criticism expressed in the previous section, the following

changes have been made to the syllabus. First, the revised syllabus now

also mentions positive participation points awarded to students who

demonstrate active participation in the class (ie: asking great questions,

volunteering to read aloud, offering constructive feedback of peers work,

etc.). One great opportunity for students to earn these positive points would
be during the journal writing periods, when they can voluntarily share their

written responses and/or offer constructive oral feedback to their peers.

Second, to address the need for more internal awareness of ones own

learning, students will self-evaluate their TOEFL essay before it gets marked

by me, identify learned descriptive terms through the use of a legend for

their descriptive paragraph, and have access to marking criteria sheets for

their news assignment. This will enable them to think about the criteria

more carefully during the assignments, and if there are major discrepancies

between their assessment (when submitted) and mine, we can have a one-

on-one discussion. Next, I will model and scaffold when explaining how to

write effective news stories, cover letters, and resumes before having

students complete the activities. Finally, in order to create a more situated

learning experience, I will provide written samples from English newspapers

in Korea, and English cover letters and resumes produced for study abroad

positions or university internships, and have my students analyze these good

or bad examples of writing in groups. Students will also work in teams to

create a mini-newspaper; they must include 3-4 news stories based on

assignment scenarios provided by the teacher, but they can also include

other feature articles, obituaries, comics, etc. This will allow students the

opportunity to not only engage in group learning, but also to synthesize as

they each produce their own articles and integrate/combine the information

into the final product, a mini-newspaper. A group self-evaluation will be

included in the assessment to ensure individual accountability.

 Although students cannot work at the individualized learning levels

encouraged by constructivists, I will post all information covered in handouts

and Powerpoint slides on the school website at the end of each week, so

students will have opportunities to review important concepts that must

understand in order to progress. The formative assessment through self-

evaluation sheets and feedback from peers (or the teacher) will also enable

students to monitor their own learning progression.

Conclusion

Based on the affordances of the English writing class schedule and

course expectations, this new syllabus best enables students to successfully

achieve the second term learning goals. It also reflects key learning methods

emphasized in the theories of behaviorism, information processing, situated

learning, and constructivism.

References:

Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the
culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42.

Hautau, B. L., Skinner, C. H., Pfaffman, J. Foster, S., & Clark, J. C. (2008).
Extending the external validity of the color wheel procedures:
Increasing on-task behavior in an urban kindergarten classroom.
Journal of Evidence-Based Practices for Schools, 9, 3-17.
Lutz, S., & Huitt, W. (2003). Information processing and memory: Theory and
applications. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA:
Valdosta State University.

Orey, M. (2002). Information Processing. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging

perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.

Standridge, M.. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives

on learning, teaching, and technology.

Von Glasersfeld, E. (2008). Learning as a Constructive Activity. AntiMatters,

2(3), 33-49.