Teaching and Translation
FALSE CHOICES ABOUT TEACHING If you are looking for a cutting edge diagnosis of contemporary debates over teaching, we recommend John Dewey’s Child and Curriculum (written in 1902!). Talk of teaching today reveals a pronounced case of the dichotomous thinking that troubled Dewey: on the one side, there is the principled refusal to teach in the name of the creativity and initiative of students; on the other side, there is the teacher who is monologically trying to impose a body of knowledge on passive students. We see this sort of argument in one way, in Paulo Freire; in another way, in Jacques Ranciere. Like Dewey, we argue that there is a third way that avoids the false choice between imposing a teacher’s point of view or granting privilege to the student’s point of view. It is not the third way of dialogue, or at least not dialogue the way it is sometimes presented: each learning from the other, or a Socratic leading of the student to the teacher’s intended conclusions. Rather, we find the ideas of translation and third space to be potentially productive here.
Breaking out of the grips of dichotomous discourse in teacher post-observation debrief conversations
Abstract Educational discourse is dominated by problematic dichotomies, for example, between teacher- and learner-centred pedagogies, and between teacher control and pupil autonomy. Such dichotomies impede attempts to understand and address complex educational problems, and thwart productive discussion among practitioners and the public. This article examines how teachers in one Israeli school addressed dichotomous discourse around classroom management in video-based post-observation debrief conversations. Three ways of coping with dichotomies are conceptualized: either/or, synthesis and both/and. Factors contributing to the emergence of non-dichotomous discourse are discussed, including ambivalent leadership, the use of video representations, flattened hierarchies, and a focus on issues and dilemmas.
Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice
ABSTRACT Within the framework of viewing communicative competence as a prerequisite to linguistic competence, rather than vice versa, this paper considers the following: (1) the nature of communicative competence; (2) the implications of communicative competence for second language teaching; and (3) ways in which the teacher can begin to make a foreign language program more meaningful. Communicative competeuce is defined as what native speakers know which enables them to interact effectively with each other. Implications for the language teacher include: (T) the need for tests which measure the ability to use language; (2) the irrelevancy of sequencing surface features; (3) the need for emphasis on non-lizguistic aspects of communication; and (4) the need to re-examiLe attitudes toward students and language teaching. Practical suggestins for implementing communicative competence in the classroom include the use of spontaneous role-playing, discussions, games, radio, and the telephone. (AM)