Effective Face-to-face Tutorials of Online
English Learning Lie In Interaction of Higher Levels of Cognitive Domain and Affective
Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Ding Jiali Foreign
Languages Department of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, PR.China
Keywords: online
English learning; face-to-face tutorials; Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational
objectives; higher levels of Cognitive Domain; Affective Domain
Introduction
Online English
learning as an outcome of the rapid development of Internet has got a wider and
wider market in China. However, problems of varieties have also occurred along
its way. People never stop thinking of better strategies either in designing
online course wares or tutorials to help smooth the learning process. My
experience as a tutor is that interaction of higher levels of cognitive domain
and affective domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy plays an important role in
face-to-face tutorials of online English learning.
In 1956 Benjamin Bloom headed a group of
psychologists at the University of Chicago who developed a classification of
levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. The research group
identified three domains of educational activities. The three domains are
cognitive, affective, and psychomotor which are interrelated and overlapping.
“Cognitive is for mental skills, affective is for growth in feelings or
emotional areas, while psychomotor is for manual or physical skills” (Donald
Clark 1999). Bloom wanted to change the then American educational system, in
which people were focusing on cramming knowledge at the expense of neglecting
to cultivate the students’ creativity. Therefore, Bloom's Levels of Critical
Thinking and matching verbs were created. These "thinking" categories
were among the first efforts to define the word "learning" and began
to develop the first educational goals for “creative thinking and problem
solving.”
(http://www.sacs.k12.in.us/buddy/dridgeb/schweigert/BBiog.htm)
His taxonomy was the outcome of his research on the educational psychological
experiments and has become a very popular guideline in educational practice
ever since its appearance. Bloom and his research group divided cognitive
domain into six hierarchical levels-knowledge, comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis and evaluation, among which knowledge and comprehension are
low levels, and knowledge is the lowest. The then American educational system
was focusing on knowledge the lowest level too much, which Bloom and his
research group believed as the reason why students were restricted their
imagination and creativity. The six hierarchical levels of cognitive domain
division has been practiced in teaching approaches and training ever since.
Thus the students get a creative training while acquiring knowledge. Affective
Domain includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as
feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.
People once pointed
out that ‘Bloom’s cognitive domain is adaptable to online teaching, however
little can be accomplished by teaching affective domain in online learning”. (Gerald
Newton,1999). It is because many online learning courses do not have
face-to-face tutorials. It is also because of the truth that people have tended
to emphasize cognitive development. (Tom Allen 1993). However, “If the teaching
purpose is to change attitudes/behavior, then the instruction should be
structured to progress through the levels of the Affective Domain” (Tom Allen
1993). With the interpretation of the views accounted above, integration of
Cognitive Domain and Affective Domain is a faceable and effective way to change
attitudes and transmit information and knowledge at the same time, as was
explained above, the three Domains are interrelated and overlapping. (In this
very article, however, Psychomotor Domain is not included mainly because the
features of online English learning cover mostly cognitive and affective ones).
English Learning, as all languages learning, particularly needs communicative
teaching settings due to the communicative and interactive nature. However
online English learning like other distant courses with the sometimes-isolating
nature being well documented and can affect learners in a negative way. So online
English learning and teaching has huge challenge for both the teachers and
students, if not guided properly, students may retreat and the dropout rate can
be high, statistics revealed that the drop out rate ranged from 35 to 50 in the
past three years but with 50% perticularly in online English learning process.
(statistics dropout rate of Jiangnan University in 2002). One fact is that
online English course designers are aware of the specific problems related to
online English learning, therefore they design course wares following the six
levels of Cognitive Domain and the Affective Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy to a
large degree. (see the online English learning materials and Success
Orientation designed by Guyeguo and tutorials designed by Caowen) This theoretical
approach to learning encourages learners to function at higher levels of
cognition by encouraging independent and interdependent learning with
affirmative self-confidence and esprit de corps. Face-to-face tutorials are an
intricate part of such a structure- “ The typical educational model for online
learning already relies heavily on the online tutor and group collaboration.” (Clive
Shepherd 2000) Face-to-face tutorials
in the online English learning process should play a more important role as the
sole face-to-face setting in the learning and teaching process. The tutors act
as a bridge between the learners and the online administrators and teachers by
helping the learners to develop affirmative attitudes toward the independent
learning style and encourage the learners to collaborate with peers so that
they will complete their curricula constructively. As the students have access
to the first class online course wares designed by the experts, the online
English learning face-to-face tutorials, instead of focusing on cognitive
domain with its lowest level, they should focus mainly on the higher levels of
cognitive domain and Affective Domain so that knowledge as a source of
cognition, will eventually function in a leveled sense. Through the training,
the learners’ confidence is sparked, the learners are able to adapt to the new
study style not only in the superficial sense, but also in the inner essential
sense. With gaining self-discovery, autonomy, independence and interdependence
of teamwork online and in tutorials, the online English learning can be an
ideal one as the desire of completing the goals is activated. While importance
being placed on Affective Domain at the same time, in turn, it functions on the
higher levels of Cognitive Domain in the students’ online English learning
process. Hence the interaction of cognitive and affective training will ensure
the students to complete the courses and realize their goals in a holistic
sense.
Online
English Learning Features
In the process of
online English learning, there are a few unique factors as follows:
High requirements of
independence; autonomy; self-access
Pitfalls:
Psychologically loneliness from isolation; most of time of impersonal learning
atmosphere
Advantages: flexibility in arranging for
study time; first class course wares available and other forms with efficiency
and best audio video effects of high-tech online; freedom from influence of
epidemic diseases (SARS for example)
Like other distant
courses, online English learning requires a high degree of independence and
autonomy of the learners in their learning process. It focuses on self-access.
Students should be able to arrange for their time carefully and ensure
sufficient time for the tasks and activities the courses require, in other
words, they have to squeeze their time to study from the limited free time of
their busy daily work schedule. The learners who are ready to face the
challenge of time shortage and overcome it can only achieve the goal of a
degree they dream. Compared with other courses like science, language learning
requires even more face-to-face contact due to the communicative and
interactive nature of the subject. Whereas online English majors have little
chance to be with their teachers and peers, their learning process is
relatively isolated and even sort of lonely, yes, it is isolated study and can
be lonely. When you sit in front of an impersonal pc and learn a language all
by yourself, even if with multi media, it is impersonal nature. So the second
challenge an online English learner faces is loneliness, and only the one who
can endure loneliness can achieve his dream. However, online English learning
has its own advantages. The learner has more flexibility in arranging for his
or her study sessions. Online learning allows him or her to study at irregular
time within certain sporadic periods of study sessions to finish the task
before the deadline. They have more options when to study as most possible. A
unique advantage is that the online course wares are always available presented
perfectly in audio and video form, with as much classroom-setting features as
possible. On the other hand, isolation is not always a weak point as far as
study is concerned. Loneliness is also necessary if you want to study something.
You need definitely a period of time in which you keep yourself from
distractions while you study. Besides, study with physically alone nature like
online English learning is a good shelter from epidemic diseases like sars.
During the outbreak of sars in some places in China, my online students got
almost no influence with their study. We even joked in our tutorial some time
later, that online English learning has the unique advantage which campus study
can never have-they never actually stopped their study.
Given the nature of
the factors coming with online English leaning, face-to-face tutorials should
function as to transfer the features into the most positive and beneficial ones
for the students. Therefore the first step to start is to get to know the students
well.
Students source and their
perplexities
Who are they and why
do they choose online English learning? What are their perplexities?
Online English
learning students are mostly adults with working experiences in different
fields. Some are clerks in joint ventures, some are primary school teachers,
while others may be business people or managers of various companies (online
students enrolment records in Jiangnan University Centre1999-2003). They choose
online English learning because they find their English not enough in their
career, but their jobs and other features of an adult do not allow them to go
to university as full time students. They have to get their further education
as a part time student. Nowadays popularity of the pc makes the unique form of
distant learning an ideal one. Nevertheless, as was introduced above, about
over 50 years ago, Americans started to practice the six hierarchical levels of
Cognitive Domain in their teaching and learning process in a more affirmative
way, however the lowest level practice in teaching is still rooted in Chinese
education ideology where the exchange of information has become the paramount
function of teaching and learning, while creativity and other higher level
cognitive functions seem to be all but ignored. Students find themselves in a
habit of passive learning. As a result, the students of online learning do not
realize their independent role in study though they assume they do. They feel
blank minded without being taught by the teachers in person, more often than
not, the students fail to follow the process of the learning schedule even if
with the perfect guidelines of course wares. Thus many students give up soon
without even trying to struggle into the half way and the dropout rate was continuously
high, which is a noticeable phenomenon (again the analysis is based on the
dropout rate of Jiangnan University Centerin the past three years).
Three Characteristic Stages of
the Students’ Learning Attitudes:
I noticed even if they
get the Success Orientation with the textbooks and are supposed to study as the
rules and guidance in the book, some students still feel puzzled as what to do
with those books, they still reckon that a teacher should “Teach” them English
rather than they mainly learn from the pc screen from the remote classes by
themselves. This puzzlement comes out because their habitual learning style of
being dependent more on teachers still dominates their study motivation.
Passive study habit is still rooted in their mind. Average students of online
English learning have varieties of problems in their study. A common problem is
that they thought they are independent learners but they do not fully prepare
psychologically for the solitude study. As I pointed out the three features of
online above, I concluded that a face-to-face tutor’s role is much more than a
teacher who teaches students anything but rather a guide to assist the students to the peak from an unknown
path at the foot of the mountain. The students just see the peak in the mist up
there, but they have no idea how to reach to the top most efficiently. The
guide’s task is to help find a path, which leads to the peak with as less
thorns-difficulties as possible. The students’ attitudes towards online study
can be divided into three stages to compare with a mountain climbing: Full of
Expectation Stage, in other words, it is at the foot of mountain feeling.
Before they start the study process, they have not yet actually experienced the
toughness of the process but seem to see the splendid peak over head, what they
do not see are the difficulties along the way to reach that goal. The students
are full of expectations and dreams of big goals. The second stage is the
Frustrated Stage, which usually happens at the end of the first semester, at
this stage the dropout rate is the highest. Those who are inflexible with
different study styles and cannot adapt to the online study formula can give up
in frustration and be dropped out. It is also the toughest part
psychologically. The third stage is the settlement and achievement stage, it is
usually after the first year, the students who endure the solitude and overcome
the negative attitude now form an affirmative attitude to complete the study
process, though they will still have problems in their study, their
determination is firm. They won’t give up.
Tutor’s Role and Journey
Starting From the Foot of the Mountain:
In order to raise
curricular completion rate and reduce the dropout rate in online English
learning, the Headquarters of Beiwai Online English Learning not only designed
the course wares perfectly suitable to the distant learners with as considering
much of the six hierarchical levels of Cognitive Domain and Affective Domain
of “human touch” features as possible
but also set up the face-to-face tutorials as an intricate part of the
structure. Therefore a tutor him or herself should in the first place to have a
full awareness of his or her new role. The role of a teacher alters when he or
she has different students and different forms of teaching. In a traditional
classroom, you organize the class in accordance with the scheduled tasks and
supervise the students with their study in an immediate manner. Both the
students and you are used to each other. Study processes go in a face-to-face
session more regularly. “In a synchronous teaching method, the teacher plays a
key role. Obviously, without his or her lecturing or chatting from the other
side, the teaching and learning process wouldn't take place properly (Kruse)”. While in remote study like online English
learning, asynchronous and independent and self-paced study format are its
features. Jobs holders as they are, the students have different backgrounds of
life and different attitudes towards study. The personal differences among the
online students are much bigger than the full time students on campus. It is
certainly not acceptable of a tutor to appear in the tutorial emotionlessly and
read the textbook to the students during the 4-hour tutorial. With the analysis of
the three stages above, the tutor’s task at the very beginning is to help the
students to land on the reality and help them realize the nature of the online
English learning-it is neither a goal you can not reach nor an easy thing to
complete. Both the students and the tutors need full psychological preparation
before the study process starts. “Effective student and faculty preparation
for the Web-based teaching and learning environment can make a significant
impact on student success in their studies, thus increasing retention and
curriculum completion”. (Maggie McVay Lynch 2001). A
questionnaire is advisable in the first tutorial.
Why do you choose to
learn English courses on-line?
Do you think a good
grasp of English will help you develop yourself better than now in your work?
How tough do you
anticipate it can be for you to accomplish the online English learning process?
Have you read Success
Orientation thoroughly?
Do you think that your
tutor should help you with your English learning in every specific detail or do
you realize that your study is mainly your own thing? Why?
Are you ready to work
hard independently and autonomously and even sometimes lonely in order to reach
your goal?
How are you going to
arrange for your limited time to keep up with the study process?
What do you expect
from your tutorials and your tutor?
What benefits to your
study do you think you can get from communicating with your online peers?
How are you going to follow esprit de corps
in your online learning?
The students are
expected to answer the questions honestly and completely, if they cannot answer
some of the questions on the list (especially the last two), which is possible,
they can find the answers later on along the study process. But the questions
are necessary to be raised to them as to help them be aware of their own task,
and position. They are also obligated to go back to the questionnaire from time
to time after they start their study and to check how they are really
experiencing with their answers to the questionnaire. In addition to the
questionnaire, the introduction activity of the first tutorial also functions
as a bridge of the new learners to their later teamwork in a friendly
atmosphere with new principles presented by the tutor. The principles include
English only in tutorials, participation in the activities of the tutorials,
feedback on the materials, problems outlet in the later tutorials and the
collective efforts to solve the problems.
Make the tutorial a kingdom of the
mingled entity of academic output and Input and outlet of negative attitudes
and source of new confidence:
The first
characteristic stage of the students soon disappears when they get involved in
the real online English leaning. Frustration comes immediately as anticipated,
but should not be as desperate as crashed from the air with tutorials on the
first stage helping students have some softer landing on the realistic ground
to a certain degree. The difference is with the softer landing, the students
are better psychologically prepared and more realistic. It is always
understandable that the students have their problems in their study process and
emotion. The designing of the tutorial is to be revolved around the
psychological sense to create affirmative attitudes in addition to solving
comprehensive problems by encouraging them to use all the levels of
application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. In its academic sense, the
importance should not be laid on cramming knowledge by reading the textbooks to
the students, which is nothing creative but rather falling into the old trap.
In the tutorial, the students are expected to participate fully in the
individual presentation of what they have learnt and pair work, and group discussion
and team project in the sense of hierarchical levels of cognition. Tutorials in
its academic sense should function as both output and input class, where the
students output what they have learnt from online courses and input what other
students share with them or the tutor’s further analysis to an important
article or whatever related to the course itself. Affectively, in order to make
up for the weakness without human touch of online English learning, tutorials are
to be designed into more ideal meetings where the students share their inner
feelings along the study process. The students are to be encouraged to swap
their learning taste in a friendly atmosphere and there and then they feel
relaxed to outlet any negative feelings. When students start to complain about
their inefficient work, ask if there is anyone who confronts the same problems.
There must be some echoes. It is supposed to get al l the negative feelings and
setbacks from the isolated study broken out in the intentional designed pipe
and get cleared off in the tutorial. The tutor must be sympathetic rather than
authoritative, but appropriate echo from the tutor sounds consoling, thus they
feel less lonely. The tutor is to fight with the students against the
overwhelming feelings such as solitude, wince and frustration, which may drive
away the students. The tutor is expected to spark the student’s confidence and
help transfer from the first stage to the second stage. By encouraging the
students to face the challenge and activate their intrapersonal intelligence at
the largest degree. As the tutors help the students to build up the positive
attitude to online learning, the unique advantages of this study style is
expected to put forward to the students. Behavioural scientists found that students’
potential is developed the best with affirmative implicit. The prospect of the
advantages of online English learning illustrated to the students will help
them to develop strategies of self-discovery in the learning process, which is
the key step for the students to form autonomy and independence in their study
process. Specifically Online English Learning assures the students to access
the audio video materials with standard voice, they just need move the mouse
and dot the curser, the first class learning materials appear on the screen
with perfect voice and image. The learners are totally in the artificial
environment of target language. It is standard and levelled English from the
beginning. Usually the gap of target language learning between the learning
stage and the application stage is big due to the non-target language
environment. But the students’ working experience shortens the distance between
the learning stage and the using stage of the target language, as most students
of online English learning choose the courses because they are in the
environment of using the language in the realistic world, and the purpose and
intention of learning English is oriented. This is another advantage in their
study process. Learning which is applicable immediately in the practice is the
most beneficial and thus can be the source of dynamic as the intrapersonal
motivation to complete the courses and realize their goals. . The tutorial is
to be designed with all the possibilities of difficulties of the students may
occur in anticipation, therefore, the tutor steers the direction for the
learners. The students are encouraged to present tips to overcome the
problems-all is expected to use the target language. Through the opening and
democratic tutorials, the students find that they themselves can even solve
their problems to a large extent-either their learning problem itself or their
affective perplexities. Thus in guiding the students’ affective domain during
the second stage, the tutor should emphasize the positive aspects so that the
positive and affirmative affective domain dominates the students’ study
process. .
The following are the
training tables adapted from Bloom’s original taxonomy of Cognitive Domain and
Affective Domain.
Table 1 Cognitive Domain Training Model Adapted In Face-to-face Online English Learning Tutorials
|
Knowledge: Recall of
data-feedback of the materials learnt Training Activities: Students presentation in tutorials |
Examples: Recites a story from
the textbook. Quotes facts in the learning material from memory to a peer.
Knows the theme. Key Words: define, recall, recognize, remember, who, what, where, when. |
|
Comprehension:
Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of
instructions and problems. State a problem in one's own words. Training Activities: Pair Work and presentation. |
Examples: Retells and rewrites
the principles of learning materials. Explain in one’s own words the steps for performing a complex task-from understanding
a term or an idiom to a whole discourse. Key words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends, generalizes, gives examples, infers, interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates- put in your own words, explain the main idea. |
|
Application: Applies what was
learned in the classroom into novel situations in the workplace. Training Activities: Group work |
Examples: Uses the target
language with peers online or in tutorials and workplace with native-speaker
colleagues. Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a
learning project. Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses |
|
Analysis: Separates concepts into
component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood.
Distinguishes between facts and inferences. Training Activities: Reading Skills used in news and other reading materials |
Examples:
identify the motives, reasons, and/or causes for a specific occurrence (Q:
Why did President Bush start a war against Iraq?), Consider and analyze available information to reach a conclusion, inference, or generalization based on this information (Q: After studying the French, American, and Russian revolutions, what can you conclude about the causes of a revolution?) Keywords: identify motives/causes, draw conclusions, determine evidence, support, analyze, why. identifies, illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates. |
|
Synthesis: Builds a structure
or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with
emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure. Training Activities: Project work, self-study, personal goal-setting, group work |
Examples:
Writes a report of online English Learning strategies,. Designs a strategy
for a specific task: gaining speaking or listening comprehension or reading
comprehension or writing ability in the target language. Integrates training
from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and process to improve the
outcome. produce original communications(Write a letter to the editor on a
social issue of concern to you.); make predictions(What is the next probable development in online English learning equipments?); solve problems(How can we stop abusing natural resources? ) Keywords: categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, modifies, organizes, plans, rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes, revises, rewrites, summarizes, tells, writes. |
|
Evaluation: Make judgments
about the value of ideas or materials as native speakers.. Training activities: Reflective learning activities, guided visualizations. |
Examples: Forms opinions on
learning materials. Selects the most effective solution in gaining the target
language. Explains and justifies a new approach. Keywords:
appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends,
describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains, interprets, justifies,
relates, summarizes, supports |
|
Receiving phenomena: Awareness,
willingness to hear, selected attention. Training Activities: Introduction with new disciplines and principles in a friendly atmosphere with respect |
Examples: Listen to others with
respect. Listen for and remember the name of newly introduced people. Keywords: asks, chooses, describes, follows, gives, holds, identifies, locates, names, points to, selects, sits, erects, replies, uses. |
|
Responding to phenomena: Active
participation on the part of the learners. Attends and reacts to a
particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes may emphasize compliance in
responding, willingness to respond, or satisfaction in responding
(motivation). Training Activities: Team work Group discussion |
Examples: Participates in
class discussions. Gives a presentation. Questions new ideas, concepts,
models, etc. in order to fully understand them. Know the safety rules and
practices them. Keywords: answers, assists, aids, complies, conforms, discusses, greets, helps, labels, performs, practices, presents, reads, recites, reports, selects, tells, writes |
|
Valuing: The worth or value a
person attaches to a particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This
ranges from simple acceptance to the more complex state of
commitment. Valuing is based on the internalization of a set of
specified values, while clues to these values are expressed in the learner’s overt behavior and are often identifiable. Training
Activities: Cooperative teamwork in tutorials. Peer learning. |
Examples: Demonstrates
belief in the democratic process. Is sensitive towards individual and
cultural differences (value diversity). Shows the ability to solve
problems. Proposes a plan to social improvement and follows through with
commitment. Informs management on matters that one feels strongly about. Keywords: completes, demonstrates, differentiates, explains, follows, forms, initiates, invites, joins, justifies, proposes, reads, reports, selects, shares, studies, works. |
|
Organization: Organizes values
into priorities by contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between
them, and creating an unique value system. The emphasis is on
comparing, relating, and synthesizing values. Training Activities: Teamwork in tutorials and online esprit de corps |
Examples: Recognizes the
need for balance between freedom and responsible behavior. Accepts
responsibility for one’s behavior. Explains the role of
systematic planning in solving problems. Accepts professional ethical
standards. Creates a life plan in harmony with abilities, interests, and
beliefs. Prioritizes time effectively to meet the needs of the organization,
family, and self. Keywords: adheres, alters, arranges, combines, compares, completes, defends, explains, formulates, generalizes, identifies, integrates, modifies, orders, organizes, prepares, relates, synthesizes. |
|
Internalizing values
(characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. The
behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and most importantly,
characteristic of the learner. Instructional objectives are concerned
with the student's general patterns of adjustment (personal, social,
emotional). Training Activities: Independence, Autonomy,
Self-access, Self reliance; Cooperation; Esprit de corps |
Examples: Shows
self-reliance when working independently. Cooperates in group
activities (displays teamwork). Uses an objective approach in problem
solving. Displays a professional commitment to ethical practice
on a daily basis. Revises judgments and changes behavior in light of new
evidence. Values people for what they are, not how they look. Keywords: acts, discriminates, displays, influences, listens, modifies, performs, practices, proposes, qualifies, questions, revises, serves, solves, verifies. |
The tables are adapted
from Donald Clark’s 1999 and the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy by Tom Allen.
The two tables adapted
from Bloom’s Taxonomy above show the training of hierarchical levels of
Cognitive Domain and Affective Domain in a interrelated and overlapping way in
online English learning tutorial training. It is not supposed to train each
domain in a separate way mechanically either. The two domains should be
integrated. In concrete situations, questions and activities can be flexible
and vary, in other words, it should not be followed as a doctrine but rather as
a guideline thoughts. One point should
be made clear in case misunderstanding occur. “Within each Domain, the
categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first one
must be mastered before the next one can take place.” (see Donald Clark again
in 1999) For instance, knowledge of
Cognitive Domain, as I mentioned before, is the lowest level and should not be
attached too much importance in tutorials, which does not mean that we should
neglect the lowest level. Knowledge is always very important and it is the
foundation of cognition, but it is certainly not a holistic training approach
to be placed all the importance on it. Let’s look back the days when people of
my age used to learn and even nowadays people in some places are still learning
a material in school with the non-creative formula: Materials----crammed to
students----repeated to the teachers----again materials----crammed to
students----repeated to the teachers. Now we realize that it was not a
scientific creative training approach in learning process. Through the enclosed
training of sticking to the lowest level, students are never able to apply what
they have learnt from class to the reality, which explains the failure why a
large number of students score highly but find themselves dumb when they have
to use their knowledge in the realistic world.
Understanding should
lie in the fact that learners must first access to the foundation-knowledge,
without the first step, we have no chance to develop the second step, so the
first step is always to input knowledge (as was pointed out above, the first
class course wares are always handy online designed by experts) and through
more scientific training, learners grasp the knowledge (comprehend), and with
higher levels of training, they can apply, analyse, synthesize and evaluate in
the realistic life with what they have learnt. While the features of online
English learning students who are jobs holders from varieties of fields ensure
the training approach an immediate effect they experience in their study and
workplace. Affective Domain should not be trained separately from Cognitive
Domain, which is because we want our learners to develop affirmative and
habitual healthy attitudes in their study process and a healthy peer
relationship.
The result from the
interactive training can be illustrated as follows:
Online Learning
Materials-------with affirmative healthy attitudes, creatively input to the
students (through active learning: autonomy, independence, self-access,
)----------creatively output and input the materials in tutorials and share
with their peers online(interdependent learning and esprit de corps involved),
put what learnt in use in reality to
test it ------achievements.
With considering the
students as autonomous and cooperative learners to train, the dropout rate was
reduced to 5-10% in Jiangnan University in 2003. Students’ feedback shows they
have formed affirmative attitudes toward online English learning in the
essential sense and will complete their courses by all means. More positively,
the students have been enjoying sharing what they learn with their peers, they
comment that sharing their learning experience with their peers online or in
tutorials are most beneficial then enclosed learning. This newly acquired
teamwork or interdependent attitude even influences their career positively.
They also have been enjoying applying what they have learnt to the reality and
achieving sense occurs. Online English learning has become a thought-provoking
study style. In turn, the students develop an infinite motivation from their
intrapersonal advancements awareness and esprit de corps. The study process
goes in an ideal cycle. Once again, the interaction of training on Cognitive
Domain (mainly focusing on higher levels) and Affective Domain of Bloom’s
Taxonomy has proved that holistic development of the learners ideally achieved
in both cognitive and affective sense.
Reference:
Clark D., (1999 ) Learning Domains or Bloom's
Taxonomy http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Gerald Newton January 28, 1999 “Introduction to Developing Online Electrical
Course Ware”
Clive Shepherd 2000-Adding the Human Touch to
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