Barriers to learning and development are a major disturbance to students academic progress. Mostly, lecturers assume that students fail because of lack of interest in their studies or because they don't want to be part of the learning process. Identifying the real challenge causing a delay in how the students learns is important. I have noticed that sometimes invisible physical conditions of students can impact their learning negatively. For instance, I have a short sighted student in my class and he had challenges following our classroom discussion. We were working on computers and he had trouble seeing letters and words on the computer monitor. I couldn't diagnose that he was struggling until after class when he approched me and siad, "Sir I have a problem." It was that phrase that made me wonder, "what is it now?" fortunately, he explained the situation and thereafter, I had to set up his work station and explain things to him on one one session with h
I think that peer teaching is a very valuable asset, especially in this class. When we put a CALL perspective on it, I think that peer review becomes even more valuable since one of the main goals of CALL is to communicate with each other using various modes.
ReplyDeleteI think that since we've all taken the TESL method courses, we should be accountable to better quality feedback to our fellow classmates with regards to peer teaching. This will not only allow our peers to get better reviews, but also increase our personal growth in areas where perhaps we are not as strong.
One of the issues in teaching CALL is how do you disseminate your CALL knowledge to the student? I think peer teaching is an excellent way to do this. Not only is it more practicable for the instructor, but it also allows for interaction and communication among students. It has the potential to boost students' confidence to know that they are among peers who are able to help them without judging them.
ReplyDeleteI think a larger question is is there a systematic way of using peer teaching when teaching a new CALL technology to the class?
I agree with you that peer teaching is very helpful, especially for our TESL program. Our internatioal students can learn about the teaching and learning systems in United State from our American classmates. It is also good to know different teaching methods around the world, and I got many benefit from my classmates because they had many years' teaching experience or they are teaching right now.
ReplyDeleteA thought that occurred to me is that expectation of peer teaching and peer learning has to be built into the course. Otherwise, some students (perhaps those educated in the traditional vein) may consider that the teacher is slacking off and the students are doing the teacher's work.
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