LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Media for curricular transactions – Discussions, Seminars, Debates-BEd Notes

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes

Unit 4 – Creating language for classroom communication

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. Media for curricular transactions – Discussions, Seminars, Debates

Group Discussion

Group Discussion is a modern method of assessing students personality. It is both a technique and an art and a comprehensive tool to judge the worthiness of the student and his appropriateness for the job. The term suggests a discussion among a group of persons. The group will have 8 & 12 members who will express their views freely, frankly in a friendly manner, on a topic of current issue. Within a time limit of 20 to 30 minutes, the abilities of the members of the group is measured.

Benefits of Group discussion

• Stimulation of thinking in a new way.

• Expansion of knowledge

• Understanding of your strength and weakness.

• Your true personality is revealed and qualities of leadership take shape

• provides chance to Expose

• Language skills

• Academic knowledge

• Leadership skills

• people handling skills

• Team work

• General knowledge.

Do’s in group discussion

• Appropriate to the issue.

• Make original points & support them by substantial reasoning.

• Listen to the other participants actively & carefully.

• Whatever you say must be with a logical flow, & validate it with an example as far as possible.

• Make only accurate statements.

• Modulate the volume, pitch and tone.

• Be considerate to the feelings of the others.

• Try to get your turn.

• Be an active and dynamic participant by listening.

• Talk with confidence and self-assurance.

Don’ts during group discussion

• Being shy /nervous / keeping isolated from G.D

• Interrupting another participant before his arguments are over

• Speak in favour ; example:Establish your position and stand by it stubbornly

• Changed opinions

• Don’t make fun of any participant even if his arguments are funny.

• Don’t engage yourself in sub-group conversation.

• Don’t repeat and use irrelevant materials.

• Addressing yourself to the examiner.

• Worrying about making some grammatical mistakes, for your interest the matter you put across are important.

Important points in group discussion

• Be assertive: An assertive person is direct, honest, careful about not hurting others ‘self-respect’.

• A patient listener: listening to another person is one way of showing appreciation.

• Use Right language : Words can make friends & right words at the right time make the best results.

• Be analytical and fact-oriented

• Accept criticism

  • If any member of the group criticizes or disapproves a point, it is unwise to get upset or react sharply.

  • In case the criticism is flimsy, the same can be pointed out politely.

  • Maximize participation ; one must try to contribute fully, vigorously & steadily throughout the discussion.

  • Show leadership ability: A group discussion also evaluates your leadership qualities.

Occasions for formal oral Communication – Interview

An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee.

How to prepare for interviews(for interviewee)

• Find details about the interview

• Get good directions

• Research the organization

• Prepare your interview materials

• Dress in a manner that suits the job

• Pay attention to details in your appearance

• Have plenty of time to get to the interview

Your answers

• Listen carefully, seek clarification

• Illustrate answers with real examples and evidence

• Be positive – constructive criticism

• Keep answers specific

• Take time to respond

• Be alert to interviewer’s body language

• Speak clearly, smile and show enthusiasm

• Know what you want to say, and find the opportunity

 

 Seminar

A seminar is an instructional technique which involves generating a situation for a group to have guided interaction among themselves on a theme which is generally presented to the group by one or more members. Seminar is a technique of higher learning which involves paper reading on a theme and followed by the group discussion to clarify the complex aspects of the theme.

Objectives

Objectives are mainly divided into two types:-

• Cognitive objectives

• Affective objectives

Cognitive objectives

• To develops the higher cognitive abilities that is analysis , synthesis and evaluation.

• To develop the ability of responding that is valuing, organizing etc.

• To develop the ability of keen observation, experience, feeling and to present them effectively.

• To develop the ability to seek clarification and defend the ideas of other effectively.

Affective objectives

• To develop the feeling to tolerate the opposite ideas of other.

• To develop the feeling of cooperation.

• To develop the emotional stability among the participants of seminar.

• To acquire a good manner of putting questions and to answer the questions of other effectives.

Roles in seminar technique

In organizing a seminar the following roles are performed:-

• Organizer

• President or chairman

• Participant

• Observers

Organizer

Responsibility of an organizer is to

• Plan and prepare the whole program of the seminar.

• To decide the theme.

• Assign the parts of theme to different person.

• He decides that who will be the speaker.

President or chairman

• Direct the whole program and keeps the discussion on the theme of seminar

Speaker

• They prepare the topic thoroughly and Xerox copies of papers are prepared and distributed among the participants before the commencement of the topic so the participants should also prepare themselves for the topic.

• The speaker should be ready to answer the questions.

Participant

• Participants should be well acquainted with theme.

• They should appreciate the performance of the speaker.

• They should be able to put questions and seek clarification

• There are 25 -30 participants in seminar.

Observers

• Some guest and observers are also invited to observe the activity.

PROCEDURE OF SEMINAR

• Organizer select the theme and organize the seminar

• Chairman conducts the activities of seminar and directs the seminar on theme.

• Speaker speaks about the theme.

• Group discussion

• Participants seek clarification and put questions.

• Observers observe the activity of seminar.

Types of seminar

• Mini seminar:-A seminar organized to discuss a topic in class is known as mini seminar.

• Main seminar:-such seminars are organized in departmental level or institutional level.

• National seminar:-it is organized by an association at national level.

• International seminar:-such seminars are organized by UNESCO and other international organizations.

ADVANTAGES OF SEMINAR

• Stimulation of thinking.

• Tolerance of other views develops.

• Cooperation with others develops.

• Openness of ideas occurs.

• Represents the norms of behaviours.

• It has great instructional values.

• Natural way of learning

LIMITATION OF SEMINAR

• Seminar cannot be organized on all the content of subject matter.

• Technique cannot be used in all levels of education

Seminar is a method of teaching mostly used for higher education. It is an instructional technique which involves paper reading on a theme. It includes the group discussion to clarify the complex aspect of theme. The students’ learn to develop the ability of keen observation of experience and feelings of tolerance to the opposite ideas of others.

Debate

Debate is a formal discussion in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.

Classroom debate

Academic Debate Teaches:

• Critical Thinking

• Organization Skills

• Effective Communication

When debating, teams explore arguments for and against a specific proposition

• Debating allows several different qualities to emerge, including

• collecting and organizing ideas,

• evaluating ideas,

• seeing logical connections between ideas,

• adapting to new situations quickly and efficiently, and

• speaking persuasively.

The audience

As the audience is acting as a judge in the debate, the debaters should remember a few rules:

• The debater should not deliver too many facts in a short time.

• The debater should present the information to the audience as a completed work, not short facts glued together.

• The language used in a debate must be intelligible, free of jargon and clichés.

• The speech must be clear, well-organized, and informative

Avoid clichés and Jargons

Clichés are expressions that are so common and overused that they fail to impart any real impact on your sentence.

E.g. Example: easier said than done, hard as a rock, better late than never and healthy as a horse.

Jargon is the specialized, often technical, language that is used by people in a particular field, profession, or social group.

Attitude of Speakers

• Debate is controversial and controversy often becomes heated.

• Debaters should display courtesy and show respect for opponents and for the worth of ideas at all times.

• It is not realistic to take a "right or wrong" attitude toward debate.

• Speakers should never forget that a good debate is an honest attempt to provide the audience with two different answers to the question asked in the proposition.

Procedure

• Students will be divided into two groups, each with 12 students.

• Each group will divide itself into two teams (6 members each): one team will support the proposition (the affirmative team). The other team will oppose the proposition (the negative team).

• First, a member of the affirmative team will speak for 2 minutes after which s/he will be cross-examined by three members of the negative team (one question each)(8m).

• Next, a member of the negative team will also speak for 2 minutes and will also be cross-examined by three members of the opponent team (one question each)(8m).

• A rebuttal will then take place, first by a member of the affirmative team talking for 2 minutes and them by a member of the negative teach also talking for 2 minutes (4m).

• The audience will then have 5 minutes to ask questions to both teams (5m).

• Following that, a different member of each team will have 2 minutes to make a closing statement, first a member from the affirmative group, then a member from the negative group (4m).

• The audience will then vote to determine which team won the debate (1m).

• The TOTAL TIME for the entire debate should be between 30 to 35 minutes as a few extra minutes will be spent for the transition between speakers

• 
  

Voting for the winner

Consider…

• How well did the speakers communicate their ideas?

• How much information did the speakers know about their topic?

• Were the team members polite?

• Did the second speaker on each team build on what the first team member had said?

Score sheet

	SPEAKER 1	SPEAKER 2	SPEAKER 3	CROSS-EXAMINER 1	CROSS-EXAMINER 2	CROSS-EXAMINER 3
CLARITY
PRESENTATION
INFORMATION
ORGANIZATION
PERSUASION
COMMENTS						TOTAL _______

Advantages of classroom Debate

• Allow students to look at both sides of an issue

• Improve students' communication and expression skills in a public setting

• Enhance techniques of searching information

• Improve skills for gathering, evaluating and synthesizing data from various sources in order to develop arguments

• Foster appreciation of opposing viewpoints

• Enhance debating/arguing techniques against opposing opinions

• Allow more interactive exchange among students and teachers

Disadvantages of Debate

• Students may not be familiar with debates as an assessment method

• Debates are time-consuming (e.g. time for research and preparation, time for presentation of each group)

• Students who do not like public speaking would be less motivated in participating

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM- Language of Instruction -Aural & Aural Skills in English language-BEd Notes

EDU 03 LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes

Unit 4 – Creating language for classroom communication

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. Language of Instruction

2. Aural & Aural Skills in English language

Language of Instruction

In classroom learning and teaching, a large proportion of time is spent in talking and listening.

Aural & oral Skills in English language

Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language.

Oral communication is the process of expressing information or ideas by word of mouth. Oral communication is the process of verbally transmitting information and ideas from one individual or group to another. Oral communication can be either Formal or Informal.

Examples

Informal oral communication

• Face-to-face conversations

• Telephone conversations

• Discussions that take place at meetings

Formal types of oral communication

• Presentations at business meetings

• Classroom lectures

• Commencement speech given at a graduation ceremony

With advances in technology, new forms of oral communication continue to develop. Video Phones and Video Conferences combine audio and video so that workers in distant locations can both see and speak with each other. Other modern forms of oral communication include Podcasts (audio clips that you can access on the Internet) and Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP), which allows callers to communicate over the Internet and avoid telephone charges. Skype is an example of VoIP.

Listening is the conscious processing of the auditory stimuli that have been perceived through hearing. Listening differs from obeying.

Listening is not the same as Hearing

Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that: it requires focus.  Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body.  In other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.

Active listening involves listening with all senses.  As well as giving full attention to the speaker, it is important that the ‘active listener’ is also ‘seen’ to be listening - otherwise the speaker may conclude that what they are talking about is uninteresting to the listener. Interest can be conveyed to the speaker by using both verbal and non-verbal messages such as maintaining eye contact, nodding your head and smiling, agreeing by saying ‘Yes’ or simply ‘Mmm hmm’ to encourage them to continue.  By providing this 'feedback' the person speaking will usually feel more at ease and therefore communicate more easily, openly and honestly.

Signs of Active Listening

Non-Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening

People who are listening are more likely to display at least some of these signs.  However these signs may not be appropriate in all situations and across all cultures.

Non verbal Signs of Active Listening

• Smile

• Eye contact

• Posture

• Mirroring

• Distraction

Smile

• Small smiles can be used to show that the listener is paying attention to what is being said or as a way of agreeing or being happy about the messages being received. 

• Combined with nods of the head, smiles can be powerful in affirming that messages are being listened to and understood.

Eye Contact

• It is normal and usually encouraging for the listener to look at the speaker.

• Eye contact can however be intimidating, especially for more shy speakers – gauge how much eye contact is appropriate for any given situation. 

• Combine eye contact with smiles and other non-verbal messages to encourage the speaker.

Posture

• Posture can tell a lot about the sender and receiver in interpersonal interactions. 

• The attentive listener tends to lean slightly forward or sideways whilst sitting.  

• Other signs of active listening may include a slight slant of the head or resting the head on one hand.

Mirroring

• Automatic reflection/mirroring of any facial expressions used by the speaker can be a sign of attentive listening. 

• These reflective expressions can help to show sympathy and empathy in more emotional situations. 

• Attempting to consciously mimic facial expressions (i.e. not automatic reflection of expressions) can be a sign of inattention.

Distraction

• The active listener will not be distracted and therefore will refrain from fidgeting, looking at a clock or watch, doodling, playing with their hair or picking their fingernails.

Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening

• Positive Reinforcement

• Remembering

• Questioning

• Reflection

• Clarification

• Summarisation

Positive Reinforcement

• Although a strong signal of attentiveness, caution should be used when using positive verbal reinforcement.

• Although some positive words of encouragement may be beneficial to the speaker the listener should use them sparingly so as not to distract from what is being said or place unnecessary emphasis on parts of the message.

• Casual and frequent use of words and phrases, such as: ‘very good’, ‘yes’ or ‘indeed’ can become irritating to the speaker.   It is usually better to elaborate and explain why you are agreeing with a certain point.

Remembering

• The human mind is notoriously bad at remembering details, especially for any length of time. 

• However, remembering a few key points, or even the name of the speaker, can help to reinforce that the messages sent have been received and understood – i.e. listening has been successful.

• Remembering details, ideas and concepts from previous conversations proves that attention was kept and is likely to encourage the speaker to continue. 

• During longer exchanges it may be appropriate to make very brief notes to act as a memory jog when questioning or clarifying later.

Questioning

• The listener can demonstrate that they have been paying attention by asking relevant questions and/or making statements that build or help to clarify what the speaker has said. 

• By asking relevant questions the listener also helps to reinforce that they have an interest in what the speaker has been saying.

Reflection

• Reflecting is closely repeating or paraphrasing what the speaker has said in order to show comprehension. 

• Reflection is a powerful skill that can reinforce the message of the speaker and demonstrate understanding.

Clarification

• Clarifying involves asking questions of the speaker to ensure that the correct message has been received. 

• Clarification usually involves the use of open questions which enables the speaker to expand on certain points as necessary.

Summarisation

• Repeating a summary of what has been said back to the speaker is a technique used by the listener to repeat what has been said in their own words. 

• Summarising involves taking the main points of the received message and reiterating them in a logical and clear way, giving the speaker chance to correct if necessary.

Oral language

Oral language refers to the act of speaking and listening. The main components for the oral language skill set include:

• Word knowledge - vocabulary,

• Sentence structure – grammar,

• Language understanding – semantic and comprehension ability, and

• Structured thinking – elaborate, organise and sequence thoughts.

Salient Features of Speaking

• Commanding yet friendly voice

• Perfect clarity of language, thoughts and ideas.

• Listener Friendly

• Comprising of anecdotes, wit and humour

• Avoiding Monotony

• Creating a bond between speaker and listener

Guidelines for speaking

• Speed (about 125 words per minute)

• Clarity

• Punctuation

• Pronunciation

• Familiarity

• Fluency

• Expressions

   

  Prepared by

  Sabarish P

  (MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 
   
  Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

   

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Language for communication in co-curricular practices in schools-BEd Notes

 

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes

Unit 2 – Understanding language across the curriculum

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. Language for communication in co-curricular practices in schools

   • Varieties of co curricular activities

1. Language for communication in co-curricular practices in schools

There is variety of ways where the language for communication is effectively used during co curricular activities. During co curricular practices learners can make use of social interaction as a source of language input to acquire the language in an informal setting.

Varieties of co curricular activities

There are thirteen main kinds of co- curricular activities

1. Academic development activities

   1. Surveys

   2. Quizzes

   3. Projects

   4. Preparation of charts, models etc

   5. School magazines, essay writing, story writing etc.

   6. Subject clubs e.g. social science clubs, geographical clubs

2. Aesthetic development activities

   1. Music

   2. Dramatic

   3. Exhibition

   4. Decoration

   5. Fancy dress

   6. Flower festival

   7. Painting, Drawing

3. Cultural development activities

   1. Social service

   2. Student’s council

   3. Youth parliament

   4. First aid

4. Emotional development activities

   1. Camps

   2. Speeches

   3. Educational tours

   4. Celebration of national and international day

5. Leisure utilization activities

   1. Photography

   2. Album making

   3. Coin collecting

   4. Stamp collecting

   5. Educational tours

6. Literacy development activities

   1. Debates

   2. Magazines

   3. Recitation

   4. Book reading

   5. Essay writing

   6. Story writing

   7. Library work

7. Moral development activities

   1. Drama

   2. Social service

   3. Morning assembly

   4. Celebration of birthdays of great men

8. Physical development activities

   1. NCC

   2. Yogic

   3. Athletics

   4. Wrestling

   5. Swimming, Cycling

   6. Indoor and outdoor games

9. Productive activities

   1. Clay work

   2. Toy making

   3. Soap making

   4. Book binding

   5. Leather work

   6. Cardboard work

   7. Kitchen gardening

   8. Manufacture of teaching aids

10. Social development activities

    1. Scouting

    2. Girl guiding

    3. Junior red cross

    4. School cleanliness

    5. Community service

    6. National service scheme

11. Scientific development activities

    1. Field trips

    2. Science quiz

    3. Science fairs

    4. Science clubs

    5. Science models

12. Spiritual development activities

    1. Yoga

    2. Meditation

    3. Visit to churches, mosques, temples, gurudwaras etc.,

13. Multipurpose activities and projects

    1. Tree plantation

    2. Adult education

    3. Prize distribution

    4. Scouting and girl guiding

    5. Undertaking various projects

Language learning through co curricular practise makes use of various sources of language input for language enhancement in informal setting. For example, language learners during co curricular activities can have exposure to social interaction in English in informal setting which has the potential to boost language learning. Language communication also uses various sources of language input through different audiovisual mass media technologies. In the same line, the present study aimed at filling the gap in the experimental work on finding an authentic source of language input that can best contribute to developing speaking proficiency in a class room context which lacks the social context similar to that of the co curricular activities. The effect of exposure to audiovisual mass media, and social interaction in language communication improves language proficiency to a great extent. 

 

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

 

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Need for supporting resources at the affective and cognitive levels for teacher and learner-BEd Notes

 

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes

Unit 2 – Understanding language across the curriculum

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. Need for supporting resources at the affective and cognitive levels for teacher and learner.

   • Use of additional language materials 

    

   1. Need for supporting resources at the affective and cognitive levels for teacher and learner

   The learner interacts with the material to be learned by manipulating it mentally (as in making mental images or relating new information to previously acquired concepts or skills) or physically (as in grouping items to be learned in meaningful categories or taking notes on or making summaries of important information to be remembered). The learner either interacts with another person in order to assist learning, as in cooperation or asking questions for clarification, or uses some kind of affective control to assist learning.

    
   

   Use of additional language materials

   A print-rich environment

   A variety of pre-literacy activities can be undertaken in a print-rich environment; the classroom must display signs, charts, and notices that organise its work, even as a middle-class home does (thus giving its child an edge over the first-generation learner), for recognition “iconically”, as semiotic signs. Movies that would be interesting to children, extracts from newspapers which contain social issues and interactive CDs could be used for language learning.

   This will be of help in deciding the mode of study of each learner and once the mode of study is identified, learning becomes enjoyable.

   Primary level - simple discourses such as conversation, rhymes and story need to be focused.

   At the Upper Primary level, comparatively higher discourses like story, poem, conversation, proverb, notice, letter, poster, report and diary could be included.

   At secondary discourse forms like one act play, autobiography, travelogue, screenplay and biography could be attempted, apart from the ones envisioned in the upper primary level. At the secondary level the learner has to be given opportunities to realise the possibilities of these discourses in the visual and print media. At this stage higher order discourses like novel, essay, screenplay, script and seminar could be included along with the discourses that are included.

   
   

   Prepared by

   Sabarish P

   (MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 
    
   Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM- Dialect – Deficit Theory – Discontinuity Theory- BEd Notes

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes

Unit 2 – Understanding language across the curriculum

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. Dialect - Deficit theory - Discontinuity Theory

   • Dialect

   • Deficit theory

   • Discontinuity Theory

   • Implications

 Dialect – Deficit Theory – Discontinuity Theory

 

Dialect

Dialect is the local language, the language used by the people of a specific area, class, district or any other group of people. The term dialect involves the spelling, sounds, grammar and pronunciation used by a particular group of people and it distinguishes them from other people around them. Dialect is a very powerful and common way of characterization, which elaborates the geographic and social background of any character.

Deficit theory

The deficit theory emerged in 1960 as an attempt to explain why disadvantaged students tend to experience high rates of failure in school. This theory suggests that children from lower socio economic homes are verbally deprived due to economic disadvantage. Because they lack verbal stimulation in their homes, they enter school without the linguistic resources needed for success.

The deficit theory further suggests that children from the lower socioeconomic classes "cannot speak complete sentences, do not know the names of common objects, cannot form concepts or convey logical thoughts". Thus deficit theory claims that children from disadvantaged populations are intellectually disadvantaged as a result of inferior linguistic development. Research in the early 70s essentially refuted the deficit theory by demonstrating that the children from lower class cultures are highly competent language users when they are permitted to talk in their own vernacular in situations where they can maintain some degree of control.

In other words 'what we say' and 'how we say' is largely determined the context of situation in which interaction takes place between the topics being discussed in light of personal relationship of participants.

Discontinuity Theory

There is no consensus on the ultimate origin or age of human language. Continuity-based theories stress that language is so complex that it must have evolved from earlier pre-linguistic systems among pre-humans. Discontinuity-based theories stress that language is a unique human trait that appeared fairly suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man.

Some theories are based on the idea that language is so complex that one cannot imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have evolved from earlier pre-linguistic systems among our pre-human ancestors. These theories can be called continuity -based theories.

The opposite viewpoint is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared to anything found among non-humans and that it must therefore have appeared fairly suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man. These theories can be defined as discontinuity-based.
When chimpanzees are raised in a human environment for years, they still do not acquire human linguistic skills. However, deaf children with limited linguistic input can still create a complex language on their own, clearly not from something they heard, but rather something that is within them, something that they were born with and already understand how to do.

Discontinuity theory depicts language as too complicated to have ever come from mere animals, expressing that language is unique to humans and far more complex than other forms of communication on earth. Noam Chomsky defends this position and suggests the concept of a “language organ” .

Chomsky suggests that language could be due to a sporadic mutation in our species.

'Sporadic' –scattered or isolated

'Mutation' - the changing of the structure of a gene,

Language is unique among the communication systems of the biosphere, and that to claim continuity between, say, bee language and human language is to claim ‘evolutionary development from breathing to walking’ as pointedly remarked by Chomsky. Language is a task and species-specific module in the human mind, a language organ. Sociological theories often separate human biological nature from human social nature. The culturists argue that basically human beings are unconstrained learning machines who create a culture from which all relevant properties of the human mind (including language) derive. Neither Chomsky nor the culturalists have developed a detailed account of language origins. Chomsky has suggested a mutation or plain accident, whereas culturalists have sometimes hinted a 'leap; from the natural order to the social order must have taken place.

Implications of above theories

The method of learning one follows has a crucial role in one’s learning. It also helps one to acquire ideas in a natural way. It is a set of competencies that enable an individual to approach knowledge or objects, to collect information and to analyze them.

Competencies like:

• Intervening in group activities

• Participating in activities

• Establishing relationship with others

• Solving problems,

influence one’s method of learning.

A recognition of the method of learning will help the teachers to choose the responsibilities to be allotted in the process of learning. It will also help the teachers to select the tools that can be used. Teachers should be aware that students have different methods of learning and that the experience of learning should be suited to the individual's unique method.

 

Prepared by

Sabarish P

(MSc Physics, MEd, NET) 

 

Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com