SKVB 4033 TEACHING OF LITERATURE IN ENGLISH Semester 1 2011/2012

ASSIGNMENT 2 CRITICAL ESSAY

LECTURER: DR. RAIHANAH MOHD MYDIN

NAME MATRIC NO

: DWEE CHIEW YEN : A123197

Developing Active Learner Participation among Young Adults in the Literature Classroom This essay seeks to answer the question: how can learner participation be developed in a Malaysian literature classroom? The writer will begin by explaining the key variables in the title to define the context of this paper, followed by the philosophy behind active learner participation and the strategies teachers may employ to develop active learner participation in the literature classroom. Active learner participation is closely associated with the concept of active learning which encompasses numerous learning strategies aimed at encouraging active student engagement in learning (Scheyvens, Griffin, Jocoy, Liu, & Bradford, 2010). According to Bonwell and Eison (1991), active learning should not only include the act of participating in the activity alone, rather it should also be able to stimulate the learners thoughts and reflection of the learning activities. Social theorist Karl Mannheim (1952) associates young adulthood with the ability to inquire and reflect on life and experiences. Considering the context of this essay, the writer decided to define young adults as learners aged between 1217 years old. Last but not least, as the Malaysian school system does not have literature classrooms per se, the term literature classroom shall hereby refer to English language classrooms which incorporate the teaching of the literature component. With the variables defined, this essay shall specifically discuss how active learner participation can be developed among young adults studying the literature component in Malaysian secondary schools. As the focus shifts from teacher-centred classrooms to learner-centred classrooms, teaching is no longer seen as a one-way process where teachers are known simply as givers of knowledge and students as the receivers of knowledge. The key to successful learning nowadays depends largely on the ability of the teacher to actively engage students in the learning process through active learning. According to Hanson & Moser (2003), active learning is able to increase student interest and motivation and to build students critical thinking, problem solving and social skills. Rooted in constructivism, active learning emphasizes on the activity of the learner in the process of learning (Payne, 2009). Constructivism, a philosophy as well as psychology of education developed primarily by Dewey, Piaget and Vygotsky, claims that the active construction of new knowledge is based on a learners prior knowledge (Koohang, Riley, Smith & Schreurs, 2009). In other words,

learning takes place when interaction occurs between learners internal knowledge structures and their experiences. While constructivism is undeniably learner-centred, teachers are ultimately the ones who play a crucial role in facilitating learners to make sense of their learning. Inundated with time constraints and lack of proper training, the teaching of the literature component in Malaysian secondary schools has been a constant challenge for English teachers (Abdullah, Zakaria, Ismail, Wan Mansor & Abdul Aziz, 2007). Introduced in the year 2000 for the English language secondary curriculum, the literature component aims to fulfil one of the three areas of language use highlighted in the Malaysian English language curriculum specifications that is language for aesthetic purposes (KBSM Form 4 curriculum specifications, 2003). Enabling learners to appreciate literary texts and express themselves creatively is by no means an easy task, especially so when literature is often perceived as a boring and difficult subject. Moreover, the lack of language proficiency among many Malaysian secondary school students often hinders their ability to engage with the text. With these issues in mind, the writer proposes three strategies that may assist teachers in developing active learner participation in the literature classroom. Scaffolding instruction, developed from Vygotskys theory of cognition, is a strategy teachers may employ to engage learners in the literature classroom. Scaffolding instruction is defined by Vygotsky as the role of teachers and others in supporting the learners development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level (Raymond, 2000). Learners cannot be expected to take part actively in classroom activities unless they are provided with sufficient guidance and input. That is where the role of scaffolding comes in. Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) cite examples of scaffolds as activities which provide guidance, motivation, definition and simplification of tasks to make it more achievable for the learner. Prereading activities, for example, are scaffolds teachers can utilise before discussing a literature text with students. Teachers can assist learners in their understanding by getting them to make predictions based on the title of a short story, familiarise learners with key vocabulary found in a text or by showing them a movie adaptation of a short story. Whenever possible, teachers should also organise students into groups of four or five during classroom activities so that they might benefit from the scaffolding process in terms of peer support. Teacher may assign roles to better students so that they may assist the weaker ones during brainstorming sessions or project work discussion. With proper planning and execution,

scaffolding instruction would be able to compensate for learners lack of language proficiency, tap into their background knowledge and arouse interest in the subject matter. Apart from scaffolding instruction, teachers may draw ideas from the reader response approach to develop active learner participation. Studies suggest that the reader-response approach can be used as a pedagogical tool to make students active learners (Tomasek, 2009; Mishra, 2010; Al-Masri & Sharaideh, 2011). The use of this approach encourages learners to interpret literature based on their own experience, opinions and feelings (Van, 2009). Teachers can best use this approach to activate learners schemata and personalise their learning experience by allowing them to express themselves through communicative activities. Communicative activities are not only capable of bringing a literature text to life, but are also effective for engaging learners with different learning styles such as kinesthetic learners. In addition to essay and journal writing which require a more intellectual and structured response, teachers should try to make literature learning fun and meaningful by encouraging learners to respond emotionally and creatively through activities such as sketches, role play and drama. Van (2009) observes that when learners are allowed to interpret and react to literary works based on their background knowledge and personal experience, they will be empowered to voice out personal opinions, cooperate in pairs or groups to debate on a topic and perform with confidence. However, teachers using the reader-response approach should always be mindful of possible complications which might arise from learners lack of language proficiency, literary competence and background knowledge. While they should be open to a variety of responses, teachers must intervene and provide guidance whenever necessary to ensure that learners responses are relevant to the theme and context of the literary text (Mishra, 2010). Furthermore, as activities such as drama take time to develop, teachers may find it useful to create a step-by-step checklist for students so that they can keep track of their own progress after each lesson. With the plethora of online resources and a growing community of IT-savvy young adults, teachers may consider incorporating web 2.0 tools as part of the literature classroom to facilitate learner participation, especially among the less vocal students. In fact, McBrien, Jones and Cheng (2009) found that learners who do not usually take part in classroom discussions in a traditional classroom setting may benefit greatly as they more likely to express their views online. So what are web 2.0 tools? Web 2.0 tools allow users to perform collaborative activities online to share their opinions, thoughts and experiences (Scott, 2008).

Anderson (2007) identified blogs, wikis, podcasts and social bookmarking among other web 2.0 applications as potential tools for teaching and learning. Blogs and social networking sites are some of the more interactive platforms teachers can exploit to encourage learners to communicate, collaborate or share their thoughts on literary texts even after school hours. Literature blogs created by Malaysian teachers such as My Lit Project consist of interactive features which allow students to post questions, leave comments and even try out additional exercises to reinforce their understanding of the text. Digital notes, attractive pictures and videos included in literature blogs further allow learners to learn and explore at their own pace. The interactivity and user-friendliness of blogs are features capable of arousing learner interest and hence engage learners. On the other hand, recent studies (Mills, 2011; Ziegler, 2007) have reported that social networking tools such as Facebook have the capacity to encourage learner motivation and participation. Teachers, for instance, can post a movie clip related to a short story in a Facebook group for learners to discuss before the actual class. Besides leaving comments, teachers can also encourage learners to contribute to the discussion thread creatively by using visual images, Youtube videos or online articles. To ensure optimum learner participation online, scaffolding is necessary. Be it blogs or social networking sites, teachers play the role of a facilitator by moderating the discussion and by prompting students to present their opinions via supportive feedback. It is also essential for teachers to provide clear guidelines, examples and rules before getting learners to participate online so that learners have a clear idea of how and what to do. By extending learner participation using web 2.0 tools, teachers can also make use of what learners have discussed online as material for classroom debates and other interactive activities. In conclusion, this essay has discussed how it is possible for teachers to develop active learner participation through the use of scaffolding instruction, communicative activities based on the reader-response approach and web 2.0 tools in the literature classroom. Farrell (2009) sums up the importance of developing active learner participation best in these words When students make a contribution to the collective activity they are a part of, they are empowered to learn. Thus it is hoped that the suggestions proposed in this essay will not only assist teachers in developing active learners in the literature classroom, but also learners who will be empowered to develop a lifelong love and appreciation for literature.

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