MFL & INCLUSION | ||
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LEARNING & TEACHING | |||||||
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In my experience, no-one works harder than foreign language teachers to enthuse their students; for many, every lesson is a bravura performance. So why aren't the students learning better? What's stopping them? Well, of course, there are many things working against success in languages, particularly, it seems, in UK. Most of the barriers that spring to mind have their origins outside the classroom and there is little that the teacher can do about them, at least in the short term, and perhaps not at all. Things like student characteristics (e.g. physical or learning difficulties); environment (e.g. poverty, neglect, emotional or behavioural difficulties, family or peer relationships); ethos (e.g. that doesn't value foreign language skills); system (e.g. unsympathetic timetabling and subject option arrangements)... The list seems endless. Fortunately for the teacher, according to Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education (in Scotland, at least) most of the barriers to learning encountered by students have their origins not outside the classroom but in the curriculum and in the way learning is managed. (See Effective Provision for Special Educational Needs HMI 1994). Managing learning, then, involves matching the curriculum to the needs of the students - often referred to as differentiation. But do we know what those needs are? If we don't, then we can't begin to devise differentiated strategies to suit the students in the class. My experience suggests that the place to begin is by finding out why, despite our best efforts, some students just don't seem to 'get it'. The first paper below looks at some of the classroom practices which create problems for students. The second paper looks at some of the strategies that might arise from observing these difficulties.
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| Why aren't they learning? (pdf) | |||
| Common barriers to learning (pdf) | |||
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If you found these PDFs useful you might like to know that the first one has been further developed and now forms the basis for Unit 1 of the Maximising Potential programme on the Modern Foreign Languages Environment website where it is accompanied by an introductory PowerPoint presentation and a follow-up task. Go to: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/maximisingpotential/unit1/index.asp | ||
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INVESTIGATING BARRIERS See Workshop 4 | ||
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EXTERNAL LINKS | ||
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21.3.09 Read John Bald's blog for his views on getting rid of copying: | ||
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24.4.09 Inclusive teaching: Barriers to learning | ||
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This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. | ||
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Page last updated: 24.4.09 | ||||
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