Idea Building in L2 Composition

As an ESL instructor from China, I often see my students struggle with vocabulary and grammar when they are working on their writing assignments or tasks. Many times students suffer from want of words, so much that they have little efforts to spare on more important stuff relating to ideas, including the collection and organization of ideas. What they asked the most were questions like "what is the exact English word for xxx?", or "where should I put the words in a sentence?" It seems like their only problem is lack of vocabulary or proper grammar.

Well, if it were true, I probably have one of the easiest jobs in the world. It was not difficult to answer the questions about words and sentence structures, because as a teacher, I surely have sufficient  knowledge about vocabulary and  grammar.

But the point is, it wasn't true. In fact, the more I answered the questions, the less likely my students would become qualified writers. Because then they would develop a misconception about writing, that the process of writing is similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle. The picture was already there. What you need to do is to find out the right pieces and put them in the right place.

But writing is noting like jigsaw puzzle. In most cases, when you start to write, you have no idea what the picture will turn out to be. You might have some vague clues, but it might end up into something completely different than you have expected.  This is applicable even if you write with a prompt, like the writing my students often do in language proficiency tests such as IELTS and TOEFL.

Writing starts from authentic ideas, but ideas don't come from nowhere. Therefore, if I were asked what skills and competencies I want my students to develop when learning writing, my answer would be "idea building". I would hope that they know how to do their research and become familiar with existing ideas, and the way they are expressed. On that basis, I would also hope that my students could generate their own ideas and build up on one another's ideas in a proper manner. It's like creating a universe in one's mind, where all the ideas find their places, and connect and interact with one another. 

Are there any educational technologies that can help achieve it? The answer is probably yes. Knowledge Forum could have already created a prototype, but I will need further research to clarify my thoughts. 

Why Toronto students don’t have uniform textbooks

 

A friend of mine asked me, “Why Toronto students don’t have uniform textbooks?”

The question gave me a lot of thoughts. It is true that teachers will send students home with duotangs, and sometimes ziplocked picture books for kindergarten students to read at home. But I have never seen textbooks.

I asked S, who is a teacher at TDSB and my colleague in Knowledge Building (KB) design group.

S told me that teachers often use big publishers such as Nelson or Pearson as teaching materials, but this is not obligatory. On one hand, uniform textbooks make teaching rigid, as it would require all teachers and students to not only move toward the same goal, but also follow the specified trajectory. It ignores the diversity in teaching and curbs children's creativity. With the existence of standardized tests, teachers are already dancing with heavy shackles. They don’t need any more restrictions.

From the point of view of KB, one of its 12 principles is "Constructive use of Authoritative Sources". Textbooks are a kind of authoritative source, which is very helpful for students to understand and master the basic knowledge. We should not deny the use and importance of textbooks. But if we over-emphasize the role of textbooks and the correctness of textbook content, students will become passive recipients of information. Consequently, the purpose of learning is simplified to mastering known facts and developing technical skills. Over time, students will lose their ability to think critically and create new knowledge.