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English Language Teaching and Learning Ecosystem in Schools.
Penned by
Prof A Vijaya Kumar
Chief Mentor
SpellBee International
An undefined paradigm shift is taking place in the world of education today due to the great shake of Covid-19 and therefore the connection between teaching and learning has undergone many changes, albeit not necessarily innovative or creative.
The need for understanding this aspect at the micro level requires macro thinking which should connect all the stakeholders concerned which includes school, teachers, students, parents, community, educators, planners, governments etc.
With this perspective, the complex dynamics of applied teaching and learning technologies of English language concerns increasingly with the teachers’ behaviours, their personal styles how they control the students and nurture them in this novel education ecosystem.
SpellBee International, by virtue of having interacted with thousands of teachers and lakhs of students, has qualitatively analysed our ecosystems which has led us to the identification of internal and external factors underpinning teachers’ teaching leadership and their meso, exo and macro system of their applied knowledge of teaching English to students.
The ecosystem which SpellBee recommends explores the variables by more interpretation of systematic intervention of teachers’ teaching styles.
When we talk about ecosystem it considers and studies organisms and their relationship within their environment. It is now considered, in our part of educational world, humans are a part of of a greater natural order or even a great living system.
This leads us to Thus we can start with dealing seven factors:
1. The relationship between teacher and the student and the environment that can provide the opportunity for making or breaking the teachers learner connectivity.
2. The ecosystem is mainly contextual in nature and can be an additional question surrounding and defining the environment.
3. This consists of pattern and system indicating the situations or affairs which are fixed and may not change over time or place.
4. This includes different elements or parts of the environment and how they combinedly effect each other.
5. Everything connected to the ecosystem has the potential to be valuable or value producing.
6. Enjoying the diversity and the existence of different individuals viz. students, teachers, parents, community and other stakeholders.
7. Activities of individual members.
Primarily the current educational environment demands a very serious proposition from the teachers in terms of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors on what is happening at the psychological level that makes a teacher to behave like controlling parent, nurturing parent, adapting parent or natural parent.
Variety is one of the most important things we should care about because students care about it. We can connect many things with English language.
One of the most important things the teachers should realise is the differentiation between teaching the language and teaching about the language.
The following ideas will be useful:
1. Can create an engagement programme separately for the parents apart from the students.
2. Creating spontaneity from the individual participants.
3. Involving management of the school to be part of the ecosystem.
4. Establishing client counsellor relationship.
5. Intervene with suitable music and flashcards during session.
6. Helping parents to create interdependent knowledge management systems within their family.
7. Helping students to connect to their immediate environment viz. television, newspaper, story books, domestic chores, parental assistance, inter and intrapersonal relationship with other significant others.
8. Showing student that there is an educational world beyond school.
9. Integrating mother tongue and English language in their daily language practices.
10. Providing opportunities for role plays.
The teaching community is facing today a serious existential crisis because of the disconnection of the different stakeholders who still expect teachers to play their essential role in disseminating the knowledge.
The educational parameters that are being necessitated by everyone requires the teachers’ individual social
responsibility to adopt to the technology of the future.
1. Video courses
2. Webinars
3. In-person training
4. Micro learning
5. VR and AR
6. AI based learning
7. Intelligent assistant like Google Assistant/Siri
8. Raising values through creating quality content
9. Embrace today’s in-trends like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
10. Digital monitoring and assessment
Conclusion
Today’s learners are innovative and introspective. The psychology of learning particularly the language skills acquisition has undergone multiple mutation.
Both the teachers and service providers should collaborate in tandem to achieve a progressive understanding of making the learners to comprehend the importance of language learning for their life and career.
This requires the highest level of connectivity of all the stakeholders who exist in the ecosystem.
Perhaps the current socioeconomic, political, industrial crisis that is threatening at the global level will give a great micro opportunity to the schools to help survive all the beneficiaries and the benefactors of English language learning system.
