Ly has a well-developed teaching philosophy. She believes that effective learning requires students to participate actively in classroom activities. She also thinks that students should be autonomous and independent learners while the teacher should be a facilitator to support learning. She further elaborated her role, and that of her students, in the teaching and learning process: “I had to work very hard at home to design classroom activities and then work as a facilitator during lectures. I believe that my students learn a lot because they learn by themselves” (TTL, post L5). Ly’s perception and experience were that using a student-centred approach requires the teacher to work harder, but students received more benefits in their learning.
Ly values learning by ‘doing’ and identified four areas of focus that she employed to promote her students’ learning: making the unit meaningful to students’ lives; using problem-solving learning and case studies to stimulate students’ thinking; creating authentic learning experiences; and using assessment to promote students’ learning. In her class, Ly created many opportunities for her students to be actively involved in a variety of classroom activities. She used interactive teaching strategies such as questioning, role play, group discussions and case study as she believed that “these strategies can promote [my] students’ thinking and inspire them to learn” (TTL, prior L1).
Ly believes that assessment has a great influence on student learning because “how assessment is used, will determine how students learn” (TTL, post L5). For this reason, she critiqued the use of a written test in EU’s assessment policy for elective subjects. According to Ly, a written test would encourage students to employ a surface approach in their learning. Furthermore, she believes that assessment has an important and long-term impact on students’ futures, as their employment opportunities are
usually based on their grades. As in other Asian countries influenced by a Confucian teaching culture, Vietnamese teaching and learning processes have centred on examinations (Luong, 2015). Historically, results of exams were used to certify and rank student learning and later for selection of government officials. Ly understood the importance of grades for her students and indicated that assessment needs to be done carefully and accurately.
Ly valued the co-construction of knowledge in her classroom as an effective pedagogical practice. Ly was identified as an expert, who elicited students’ experiences to inform her teaching and to guide the participation of her students. When she observed the cognitive difficulties her students were facing, she engaged other participants in the class to solve problems. Ly also participated and contributed to the co-construction of knowledge.
Ly shared her own knowledge and experiences as well as examples with her students to help them progress further in their understanding. For example, after drawing a brief theoretical picture of a lesson, she started to tell a story related to theoretical knowledge or reflecting communication experiences from her own or her friends’ experiences. In the third observed class, Ly talked about one of her teachers at university whom she admired and from whom she had learnt a lot. This lecturer always had a positive view about his students. Ly’s story effectively illustrated the necessity of adopting a positive view in communication processes. Students who were asked after this class agreed that they gained profound messages from her example for their future profession and lives. Further, Ly used her stories and experiences to engage students in her lectures. For example, she described a situation when she worked as a school psychologist with a student who was addicted to playing online games. This student did not respond to her comments and then said hurtfully: “my playing of games is not related to you. You do not have to care about me and my family”. Ly asked: “What would you do if you were the consultant in this situation”? Her students got involved actively in thinking and contributing to possible solutions for this case.
Students evaluated this sharing as an effective teaching strategy to support their learning. They described Ly’s stories as “diverse, interesting and real”, which made understanding the knowledge of the unit easier. Moreover, they learnt how Ly used primary communication principles in her career and own life. Ly’s experiences appeared to help the students apply the communication principles to their own practice.
Students recognised that they behaved differently before and after the lesson, and one student claimed: “The communication skills that Ly used in her stories provided me with a model to behave well in my life” (Thai, FG, post L5). The way that Ly presented both her stories of success and failure brought genuine feelings which created trust in students (Ba, Lam, Lan, Anh, FG, post L3, 5).
Ly not only shared her experiences, but also encouraged her students to share their own experiences and stories. These experiences were used to build knowledge related to the lecture content. Ly sometimes put students in the position of an expert to teach other students. For example, in the first observed class, when two students finished role play, Ly asked them to share their feelings and strategies when adopting the roles of the characters of an angry father and a principal. Ly believes “when other students observed the performance, they only knew something outside. They did not know how the character felt inside” (TTL, post L1). For that reason, their sharing would help other students understand more clearly characters’ psychological characteristics and how they controlled their emotions in that situation. In doing this, Ly helped students to move gradually to greater participation in the learning community.
Ly usually encouraged peer learning, particularly in the revision that Ly organised in the last teaching session. Students were required to apply the theory of the unit to solve unknown communication situations in a limited time. In particular, each student group took part in a competition of solving communication situations with two other groups. One group gave a prepared communication situation to the other group, which had one minute to discuss their possible response, and then performed this in front of the class. The group which gave the situation also shared their response. This was a more challenging learning task from the usual lessons. Ly contended that her students could learn more since they had opportunities to interact with peers not only in their own group, but also in other groups.
Ly not only acted as an expert to guide her students, but also constructed knowledge with her students in the position of co-participant. The following snapshot illustrates how she participated in the negotiation of meaning in the third observed teaching session: the skill of adjustment of communication processes.
SNAPSHOT
CO-CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN LY AND STUDENTS
(The third observed teaching session - The Vietnamese version is in Appendix H)
Ly entered and said: We had a long holiday, five days. Let’s share our emotions and activities that we spent on our long holiday. What was your holiday like?
Students said very excitedly: Very fun.
Ly: That is good, she smiled and asked: Tell us what you did in your holiday?
Students: Doing volunteer work; doing part time job; visiting our hometowns; travelling; sleeping; meeting up with friends from high school, staying at home.
Ly: Do you think all of the activities that you did in your holiday were meaningful?
Students: Yes.
Ly: How about Trang who stayed in her room during the holiday? Could you share with us more about your holiday?
Trang: I just stayed in my room and did nothing. I was sad because my boyfriend went abroad to study. Although he called me to tell that he arrived safely, his image and questions such as “What was he doing? Was he thinking of me” were always in my mind.
Ly: Do you think this sharing was meaningful to you?
Trang: Yes, I feel more relaxed. If I kept it inside, I feel even sadder.
Ly: Thanks Trang for a genuine sharing. We knew that she had a sad holiday. What about me? Do you know what I did in my holiday? Ask me questions so that I can share with you about my holiday.
Students: Where did you go?
Ly: Visited my hometown (looked towards windows)
Students: What did you do?
Ly: Cooking
Students: Who did you cook for?
Ly: My family
Students: What food did you cook?
Ly: I cooked food that I like
Students: What food do you like most?
Ly: Every food
At this time, students seemed to become disappointed with the teacher’s responses. Although being encouraged by the teacher: “Please ask me more”, few students
continued the conversation. Only two students asked questions in an uncomfortable way.
Students: How was your holiday?
Ly: Very fun
Students: Do you like holidays?
Ly: Everyone likes holidays
Ly thanked her students for their participation in her role play, then asked
Ly: What was the difference between your sharing and my sharing? Some students volunteered to talk:
Anh: While we were so open and genuine, it seemed that you did not want to share with us, therefore we did not want to ask you anymore.
Thao: Your responses seemed to stop our questions. Thai: I felt you did not want to continue our conversation.
Ly: What did you feel when communicating with me in the previous situation?
Students: We did not want to talk with you. We felt disappointed with you and wanted to stop our conversation.
Ly: Did you achieve your communication purpose in the previous situation?
Students: No
Ly: You realised that you had made a good attempt at a communication process but the communication subject did not want to share and communicate with you. How can you adjust yourself as well as the communication subject to achieve the communication purposes? To achieve this, we need to learn the fourth communication skill: the skill of adjustment of the communication process.
The above snapshot illustrates that Ly and her students interacted together to co- construct knowledge in a lesson. They shared experiences about their long holiday in a conversation which was later used to connect with knowledge of the new lesson. Ly deliberately played a character in the conversation. As her students were unaware, they got involved naturally in the conversation. Negative reactions to their teacher were real when Ly pretended to be unwilling to share experiences about her holiday. Clearly, Ly was willing to take a risk with her identity to bring authenticity. Ly’s involvement was valued by students in the focus groups. They all felt surprised, interested and active when they and the teacher interacted together to build knowledge.
Ly’s teaching experiences, expertise and belief in the social situation of learning have directed her teaching practices in the Communication Skills unit and the ways she uses
assessment as a tool to enhance student learning. Ly is an important participant in this study as her well-developed philosophy and teaching practices provide one example of how assessment for learning is implemented in a large elective class in EU.
5.3 COMMUNICATION SKILLS CLASS