The Integrative Model of the 21st. Century Teaching &
Learning of English
Norhayu
Binti Norany
Institute
of Teacher Education,
Sultan
Abdul Halim Campus,
Sungai
Petani, Kedah.
Abstract
This paper showcases the
application of the Integrative Model (IM) in implementing the 21st.
Century Teaching and Learning of English that was demonstrated to 56 primary
school teachers from 25 schools in a two-day workshop. This paper also
highlights the concerns of these teachers in implementing the 21st.
Century Teaching and Learning of English in their contexts. The data was
collected from focused-group interviews and based on written outcomes generated
during group discussions and presentations of three main tasks conducted during
the workshop. The findings indicated that despite the constraints faced by
these teachers, they still implement 21st. Century Teaching and
Learning English in their classrooms. However, the main obstacles in
continuously implementing this are examination pressure and lack of
technological equipment. In many schools, the strength of the Internet
connection leaves much to be desired. Hence, strategies to overcome these
hurdles are also discussed in regards to the application of the IM.
1.0
Introduction
Rapid technological advancement of
the 21st. century has its great impact on how knowledge is imparted
in the classroom. Teachers nowadays have to equip themselves with the relevant
technological knowledge and expertise in conducting lessons in the 21st
century classroom. Teachers need to learn, unlearn and relearn to meet the
needs of today’s digital learners (Franklin, Gladys & David, 2015). A model is crucial as a
guide for teachers to effectively implement 21st century teaching
and learning in the different contexts they are in. This paper discusses about
the use of Integrative Model in implementing the 21st century
teaching and learning of English.
1.1
The Aim of the Study
This study aims to assess the
knowledge of the 21st. century teaching and learning (T & L) of
the teachers involved; to investigate the implementation issues faced by these
teachers; and to gauge the effectiveness of the workshop based on their
understanding about the application of the Integrative Model in the 21st.
century teaching and learning.
1.2 Research
Questions
1.
What
do the teachers know about 21st. century teaching and learning?
2.
How
do the teachers implement 21st century teaching and learning in
their classroom?
Sub-question:
What are the constraints faced by them?
3.
Do
the teachers know and understand the principles of the Integrative Model? Are
they able to apply it in their teaching?
1.3 Relevant
Concepts
1.3.1
The Fundamental
Principles of the 21st. Century Teaching and Learning
The 4Cs are the fundamental
principles of the 21st. century T & L. It stands for
Communication, Critical thinking, Creativity and Collaboration.
·
Communication
is the ability to communicate clearly for examples, among others are by
articulating thoughts and ideas effectively and listening actively to decipher
meaning.
·
Critical
thinking involves the ability to reason effectively; to make informed decision
and judgement based on evidence; and solve problem in both conventional and
innovative ways.
·
Creativity
means the ability to think creatively using a wide range of idea creation
techniques such as brainstorming. It also involves the ability to work
creatively with others and act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful
contribution in the field in which the innovation will occur.
·
Collaboration
is the ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams; to
exercise flexibility and willingness in making necessary compromises in
accomplishing a common goal; and assume shared responsibility for collaborative
work.
National
Education Association (n.d.)
To
conduct 21st. century lesson, a teacher need to incorporate these
four elements in their teaching.
1.3.2
The Characteristics of the 21st. Century Classroom
Table 1 below shows the
characteristics of the 21st. Century classroom:
Table 1:
Characteristics of the 21st. Century Classroom
No
|
Characteristic
|
Description
|
1
|
Student-Centred
and not teacher-centred
|
Teachers act as
facilitators, coaching students on doing authentic projects
|
2
|
Learning by
doing and not just covering content
|
Teachers design
projects to address essential academic standards.
Students’
performance on projects demonstrates proficiency or deficiency with respect
to standards.
Intervention is
done for students not meeting the standards.
|
3
|
Using
information instead of memorizing information
|
Students use
information to develop authentic projects where mastery of the information is
demonstrated in the way is used in the project.
|
4
|
Facilitator
instead of lecturer
|
The teacher
provides projects that involve students doing research and assimilating
knowledge themselves.
Teachers act as
coaches and provide support as needed by students. They take on the role of
project manager.
|
5
|
Flexible
grouping configuration based on individual students needs
|
Teachers group
students based on needs.
Instruction seldom
is to the whole group where all students receive the same instruction. One
size fits all.
Instruction occurs with individuals, pairs
or small groups as needed.
|
6
|
Multiple
instructional and learning modalities to include all students
|
Multiple
instructional and learning modalities to include all students instead of
single instructional and learning modality.
|
7
|
Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTs) instead of just memorization and recall
|
Teachers assign
projects to the class that entails HOTs (synthesis, analysis, application and
evaluation.
|
8
|
Interdisciplinary
vs. Single Discipline
|
Projects and
assignments are done collaboratively between two or more subjects.
|
9
|
Collaboration
|
Teachers allow
students to work collaboratively on projects and network with others in the
class as well as experts outside of school.
|
10
|
Performance-based
Assessment
|
Projects and
other products as assessment tools to determine student achievement and
needs.
|
11
|
Multiple sources
of information including technology
|
Teachers use the
textbook as just another source that is used in conjunction with other
sources.
|
12
|
Technology is
fully integrated into the classroom
|
Teachers have
students regularly use technology to find information, network/communicate
with each other and experts in producing and presenting their projects and
assignments.
|
Adapted
from http://woulibrary.wou.edu.my/weko/eed502/Characteristics_of_a_21st_Century_Classroom.pdf
1.3.2
The Integrative Model
The Integrative model (IM) provides a structure that
helps teachers guide students in a process of describing, comparing,
categorizing, analyzing, examining relationships, and making generalizations
about lesson content i.e. focuses on building skills for processing information
resources. It also guides teachers to scaffold student learning through a
series of four different phases during which students analyze the content-based
materials presented in text and other formats. This model entails students to
organize their ideas visually using graphic organizers to categorize information
and see relationships (Kilbane & Milman, 2014).
IM consists of four phases and each phase purposefully
focuses students in different cognitive processes that results in the drawing of
meaningful conclusions about information explored (Kilbane & Milman, 2014).
This is illustrated in Figure 1.1 below:
Figure 1.1
The Integrative Model (IM)
1.4 Methodology
This
is a qualitative study on the application of the Integrative Model (IM) in implementing
the 21st. Century Teaching and Learning of English that was
demonstrated to 56 primary school teachers from 25 schools in a two-day
workshop.
The data
was collected from focused-group interviews and based on written outcomes
generated during group discussions and presentations of three main tasks
conducted during the workshop.
The
first task requires the teachers to share what they know about 21st
Century T & L and the kind of exposure they have received on the matter. They were also asked about the implementation
issues such as the constraints they faced and the support they got to ease
implementation issues. The second task entails them to share how they
incorporate the fundamental principles of the 21st. Century T &
L in their lessons. The first and the second tasks answer research questions 1
and 2.
The third
task involved demonstration of how these teachers applied the Integrative Model
(IM) in implementing the 21st Century T & L. This addresses the third
research question.
1.5
Findings and Discussions
Research Question 1: What do the
teachers know about 21st. century teaching and learning?
Participants of the
first group stated that 21st Century T & L involves student-centred
teaching, self-learning and the use of technology. They also mentioned about
teachers being facilitators.
Participants
in another group stated that “21st. century T & L involves
transformation of teacher-centred to student-centred teaching. They also
mentioned the 4Cs as the fundamental principles of the 21st. century
learning. The teachers said “The new generation nowadays are very much
interested in the new technology, so it is easier to transfer the info to
them.” They listed few examples of 21st. century classroom
activities such as gallery walk, hot seat, round table, I-Think maps,
Think-Pair-Share, 3 Stray-1 Stay, role play and team project. They also
mentioned about the hands on minds on activities.
The
teachers responses covered five out of 12 characteristics of the 21st
Century Classroom as presented in Table 1 namely, student-centred; learning by
doing; teachers as facilitators; collaboration and the integration of
technology into the classroom.
Research Question 2: How do the teachers
implement 21st century teaching and learning in their classroom?
The
participants in one group shared that they implement 21st century T
& L in their respective schools by utilising the limited available
resources. Other than that, the classroom arrangement is made conducive for 21st.
century T & L. The teachers also integrate ICT in their teaching. Apart
from that, they also mentioned that they carried activities such as Gallery
Walk and the use of I-Think Map in their teaching. The teachers also adopt
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
approaches in their teaching since these approaches promote student-centred
learning. Frog VLE and smart boards are utilised in SJKC schools and a few selected
SK schools.
To examine
how these teachers implement 21st century teaching and learning in
their classroom, they were asked the following questions that are related to
the 4Cs of the 21st. century T & L:
1.
How can pupils be encouraged to give oral presentations?
(Communication)
2.
How can you encourage the pupils in your class to be
better communicators? (Communication)
3.
How can you encourage students to be better critical
thinkers and problem solvers? (Critical Thinking)
4.
How can you incorporate more creativity and innovation
into your lesson plans? (Creativity)
5.
How can you create a learning environment that
emphasizes collaboration skills? (Collaboration)
The answers to the
questions are as follow:
Communication
The participants stated giving rewards and compliments
and doing role-plays as ways to encourage the pupils to present orally. The
participants of the first group opine that for the pupils to become better
communicators, first the teacher needs to be friendly. This way the teacher can
be easily approached and the pupils will have the courage to speak in English.
The teachers also need to be good role models in using correct form of English. Apart from that, doing
interactive activity can make the pupils to become better communicators.
Participants of the other group prefer the pupils to speak full English in the
classroom or else they have to pay fine. Another idea given is by having a
speaker corner in the classroom. Students should be given more opportunity to
talk and the teachers should not focus too much on grammar.
Critical
Thinking
When asked about how they are going to encourage
students to be better critical thinkers and problem solvers, the participants
shared a few strategies. First is by giving the pupils tasks to complete for
example riddles or problems to solve. Another way is by asking a lot of HOTs
question and lastly by using the i-Think maps.
Creativity
The
participants of the first group stated doing cross-cultural activity and
incorporate cross-curricular elements as ways to promote creativity and
innovation such as Arts and Music. Participants from another group based on
their own experience, suggested for the teachers to do online games, carry out
activities related to 21st. century learning and use Language Arts
activities such as creating their own poems or songs and answering using the
Chrome Book provided as ways to incorporate more creativity
and innovation into the lesson.
Collaboration
The participants of the
first group suggested group work activity and competition to create
a learning environment that emphasizes collaboration skills. The other group
suggested doing task-based
activities, more group discussions and sharing of ideas.
Based
on the teachers’ responses, it is evident that the 4Cs of the 21st
Century T & L are embedded in their teaching and learning of English.
Another characteristics of 21st century classroom mentioned here
apart from the ones listed earlier are HOTs and interdisciplinary that is
teaching English by connecting it with information and skills from other
subjects.
Sub-question: What are the
constraints faced by them?
The
participants of one group listed the
constraints they face in implementing the 21st century T & L.
The first constraint is teacher’s attitude as a barrier to change. Some
teachers are already in their comfort zone and they are not willing to learn
new methods of teaching. Some refused to attend courses.
The
other constraints mentioned are the big number of pupils in each class; schools
that are located in the rural areas with limited facilities; examination
pressure that hinders the implementation of student-centred learning and the 21st
century T & L; the demand for teachers to prepare a lot of teaching
materials; and lastly, the insufficient number of English teachers. Getting
non-optionist teachers to teach English has already posed a challenge. To
expect them to change the way they always teach is another challenge.
Participants
from another group added the limited access of the Internet as another major
constraint in their schools. Time constraint is another issue – 35 minutes per
period. Another constraint is limited ICT knowledge among teachers and among
pupils. Other than that, the pupils’ are dependent on the teachers and they are
unable to participate in the pupils-centred activities.
To overcome these constraints, firstly,
the teachers need to learn, unlearn and relearn the new teaching methods and
the software available as to enhance their 21st. century classroom
teaching. Secondly, formative assessment should fully replace summative
assessment as to address the issue of exam pressure and exam-oriented
education. Thirdly, the teachers need to design a highly engaging and interesting
lessons as to get the pupils to participate actively in the lessons. Finally,
more fund allocation is needed to address the issue of lack of technological
infrastructure in schools as to support the implementation of 21st.
century teaching and learning in the classrooms.
In
short, there are six main constraints these teachers faced in implementing the
21st Century T & L namely, the teachers’ resistance to change,
the pupils’ ability, the big class size, the technological infrastructure,
examination pressure and time constraint.
Research Question 3: Do the
teachers know and understand the principles of the Integrative Model? Are they
able to apply it in their teaching?
The participants of the
workshop were asked to demonstrate the application of the Integrative Model in
their 21st. Century classroom T & L. After receiving inputs on
this in the workshop, the teachers from both groups were able to demonstrate
their knowledge and understanding of the principles of the IM by integrating it
in their 21st. century T & L activities based on the four phases
in IM as illustrated in Figure 1.1. For instance, making prediction, playing sentence
scramble and playing Kim’s game. However, these teachers need to wisely improvise
the lessons when they are facing with the technological infrastructure issue
and other constraints in their contexts.
1.6
Conclusion
The primary school teachers involved in
this study possess adequate knowledge on the 21st. century teaching
and learning as evident in the teachers’ sharing of the implementation of the
21st century T & L in their classrooms and in the responses
given to the researcher’s questions as well as the demonstrations of the IM
application. It is also evident that the teachers’ implement 21st.
century T & L in their classroom as best as they could despite the
constraints they are facing. This is
evident by the sharing of their practices in the sessions that indicated the
fulfilment of seven out of the twelve characteristics of the 21st.
century classroom as listed in Table 1. The characteristics of the 21st.
century classroom that emerged are student-centred; learning by doing; teachers
as facilitators; collaboration; the integration of technology into the
classroom; HOTs elements and interdisciplinary.
These teachers need more support in terms
of professional development and technological infrastructure in their schools
in order to implement the 21st century teaching and learning
successfully.
References
1. Franklin,
T.J., Gladys, W. & David, H.P. (2015) Embracing the
future: empowering the 21st century educator. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 176. p. 1089 – 1096
2. Kilbane, C.R. &
Milman, N.B. (2014) Teaching Models: Designing Instruction for 21st.
Century Learners. Pearson:
3. National Education Association
(n.d.) Preparing 21st. Century
Students for a Global Society: An Educator Guide to the “Four Cs” .http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf
retrieved on 14/7/2018
4. http://woulibrary.wou.edu.my/weko/eed502/Characteristics_of_a_21st_Century_Classroom.pdf
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