Page 155 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind
P. 155

attention has been paid to how new educational practices can be incorporated into the complexity of the existing teaching practice (Janssen et al., 2015; Kennedy, 2016b). As a result, important aspects of reforms can be lost during their implementation (Fullan, 2007; Spillane, Reiser & Reimer, 2002). Because of perceived practical obstacles, teachers often fail to adopt reforms or alter them to such an extent that their essence is lost (Janssen et al., 2013). The results in chapter 3, however, showed that in this study nearly all teachers (12 out of 13) integrated all three design principles of the new adaptive approach into their teaching practice, found the approach significantly more desirable than their regular teaching practice and considered the adaptive approach no more difficult to implement than their regular teaching practice. These findings are unusual because teachers generally find it difficult to tailor lessons to their students’ learning needs in speaking skills (Corda, Koenraad & Visser, 2012; Hoffman & Duffy, 2016). This was achieved by basing the SpeakTeach method on the Bridging Model (Janssen et al., 2013; Janssen et al., 2015), a methodology developed to make education reforms practicable by using the principle of modularity (Holland, 2012; Janssen et al., 2015: 139). In this modular approach a reform is described as far as possible in terms of existing segments, or building blocks, of regular teaching practice.
The principle of modularity of the Bridging Model has already been successfully applied in previous research to make innovations practical: for a practical approach for open-inquiry labs (Janssen, Westbroek & Doyle, 2014a); for the concept-context approach (Dam, Janssen, Van Driel, 2013); for guided discovery learning (Janssen, Westbroek, Doyle, Van Driel, 2014b); and for whole-task-first teaching (Janssen, Hulshof & Van Veen, 2016). This study added a supplementary element: self-evaluation. This element was added on two levels: on the level of the students and on the level of the teachers. This is explained in more detail below and related to relevant research areas.
Regarding the self-evaluation by the students, the results in chapter 3 showed that the addition of the building block of self-evaluation by the students contributed to the practicality for teachers. In addition, the self-evaluations gave teachers deeper insight into the learning processes of all of their students which helped them to tailor feedback. This opportunity was created by students working independently and actively during the self-evaluation procedure giving teachers time to offer adaptive feedback and support. Moreover, since the approach took existing learning activities from regular teaching and incorporated them into a coherent body of learning activities around a speaking goal thereby increasing alignment in the lessons,
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