A hiatus this past week from uni study in order to refine and complete a workshop I will be facilitating in September. Back to the books now!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Gender issues
I found the 3 articles by Martino, Jetnikoff & King; and Gilbert to be fascinating reading. The dynamics of speaking and listening in classroom discourse is something that as teachers we do not reflect upon as often as we should, and an important element of classroom dynamic and student achievement. As Gilbert concluded in her article " As teachers we need to learn to listen critically both to the talk - and to the silence - in our classrooms" to ensure that students are not being marginalised based on gender, race or sexuality. We need to examine 'what speaking positions we make available in the classrooms: at who is given authority to speak and how; at who is silenced and how' as well as look at the informal talk situations of language classrooms - who does the work - and who gets the credit - for successful group discussions? who have the skills - and who have yet to learn them - in informal speech contexts?.
Martino reflects on challenging masculinities and homphobia in the English classroom, and how boys bring with them to class particular social and cultural values and attitudes that inform how they relate to one another (p.155). He believes that we need to develop strategies to allow students to respond to particular texts and to encourage them to think about what we take for granted as 'normal' and 'natural'. What does it mean to be a 'proper' boy or to behave in 'appropriately' masculine ways? Boys need to reflect on issues of strength and power in their own lives as a way to interrogate dominant masculinity and its effects and one way is by appealing to their sense of justice (McLean 1995). What are the 'negative consequences of masculine power at the hands of adult men and older boys' (McLean 1995, 23). Martino argues that "addressing issues of homophobia in schools must be situated within a social justice framework in which any form of violence is treated as unacceptable" (160). There is a need to address the issue of assumptions about gay students which are informed by fear and ignorance. Martino also notes that issues of class also need to be addressed e.g. the stereotype of 'rich' as well as the role that sexuality plays such as the denigration of the feminine in defining 'acceptable' masculinities. Martino gives an example of how one text can be used to look at the above issues. His references provide for further reading on this subject.
Jetnikoff & King look at 'intersecting images of gender, race and culture in pop media' in a commentary on a developed unit designed around the concept of visual and critical literacy. Students analyse the power relationships and images in video clips/film/magazines, producing their own recreation of these forms of 'text' and also reflect in journal writing about gendered, cultural and racial power relationships in the media.
I found the final article by Gilbert on 'gender, talk and silence' to be the most fascinating as it deals with how the ways students take up particular forms of masculinity or femininity will affect the way they will participate in classroom interaction and the way in which they will perform speech genres in the classroom context. (185) Gilbert reflects on gendered perceptions of differences between women and men as speakers, and how this is impacted in the classroom by teachers and students. As teachers we need to observe the patterns of 'talk' that occurs, and be attuned to differences with and between the groups who talk. What is the situational context in which the discussion occurred? What was going on? What was the purpose of the interaction? Who was involved? In what relationship are the participants e.g. consider predominantly social relationships of power, of social distance, of gender, of race. How do these societal influences affect how the participants might speak to each other? Does the gender of the speakers sometimes override situational and generic expectations as a demonstration of broader societal male power? (p.188) . Are we perpetuating inequalities of access to talk and to speaking positions, and differential treatment of female and male students in the classroom? which sees girls speaking less than boys, given less attention than boys? Who has the 'speaking rights' in the classroom - are teachers allowing boys to break the convention rules of the genre and the speech situation. Gilbert comments on their research which has focused on the "patterns of gendered performances boys established within these classrooms, and the way in which these patterns appeared to affect the classroom context, enabling and disabling the performance of others" (p189) and how the "way in which boys are positioned as masculine subjects within their classroom - and the opportunities they have to play out dominant and more macho forms of masculine behaviour - influences their participation in classroom talk situations" compared to other boys - less obviously positioned as 'masculine' subjects - who were quieter within the classroom, and nervous and embarrassed about standing up in front of the whole class to present work orally. She continues to state that "Gendered perceptions of speech and speaking have established expectations within classrooms - for girls, for boys, and for teachers - and impact upon the way we speak, what we might speak about, and even whether we will speak at all". (190). Gilbert also notes how the control of speaking space within the classroom is not the only issue. Girls also face difficulties when boys 'engaged in crude and humiliating language practices designed to position the girls as sexual subjects objectified and controlled by men". To confront these unequal relationships of power, students need to be given 'access to knowledge about how language practices can be sexist or unfair to girls and women; how language practices are used to construct and regulated particular ways of being and behaving as 'men' and as 'women'. It may also mean giving students access to knowledge about how language may be used to 'do' things to people - to harass them, humiliate them, and silence them. And it may also mean giving students access to knowledge about how speakers are often positioned within discursive networks of power that may make it hard for them to speak at all, or may make it hard for them to tell their stories in ways they would choose" (191)
Martino reflects on challenging masculinities and homphobia in the English classroom, and how boys bring with them to class particular social and cultural values and attitudes that inform how they relate to one another (p.155). He believes that we need to develop strategies to allow students to respond to particular texts and to encourage them to think about what we take for granted as 'normal' and 'natural'. What does it mean to be a 'proper' boy or to behave in 'appropriately' masculine ways? Boys need to reflect on issues of strength and power in their own lives as a way to interrogate dominant masculinity and its effects and one way is by appealing to their sense of justice (McLean 1995). What are the 'negative consequences of masculine power at the hands of adult men and older boys' (McLean 1995, 23). Martino argues that "addressing issues of homophobia in schools must be situated within a social justice framework in which any form of violence is treated as unacceptable" (160). There is a need to address the issue of assumptions about gay students which are informed by fear and ignorance. Martino also notes that issues of class also need to be addressed e.g. the stereotype of 'rich' as well as the role that sexuality plays such as the denigration of the feminine in defining 'acceptable' masculinities. Martino gives an example of how one text can be used to look at the above issues. His references provide for further reading on this subject.
Jetnikoff & King look at 'intersecting images of gender, race and culture in pop media' in a commentary on a developed unit designed around the concept of visual and critical literacy. Students analyse the power relationships and images in video clips/film/magazines, producing their own recreation of these forms of 'text' and also reflect in journal writing about gendered, cultural and racial power relationships in the media.
I found the final article by Gilbert on 'gender, talk and silence' to be the most fascinating as it deals with how the ways students take up particular forms of masculinity or femininity will affect the way they will participate in classroom interaction and the way in which they will perform speech genres in the classroom context. (185) Gilbert reflects on gendered perceptions of differences between women and men as speakers, and how this is impacted in the classroom by teachers and students. As teachers we need to observe the patterns of 'talk' that occurs, and be attuned to differences with and between the groups who talk. What is the situational context in which the discussion occurred? What was going on? What was the purpose of the interaction? Who was involved? In what relationship are the participants e.g. consider predominantly social relationships of power, of social distance, of gender, of race. How do these societal influences affect how the participants might speak to each other? Does the gender of the speakers sometimes override situational and generic expectations as a demonstration of broader societal male power? (p.188) . Are we perpetuating inequalities of access to talk and to speaking positions, and differential treatment of female and male students in the classroom? which sees girls speaking less than boys, given less attention than boys? Who has the 'speaking rights' in the classroom - are teachers allowing boys to break the convention rules of the genre and the speech situation. Gilbert comments on their research which has focused on the "patterns of gendered performances boys established within these classrooms, and the way in which these patterns appeared to affect the classroom context, enabling and disabling the performance of others" (p189) and how the "way in which boys are positioned as masculine subjects within their classroom - and the opportunities they have to play out dominant and more macho forms of masculine behaviour - influences their participation in classroom talk situations" compared to other boys - less obviously positioned as 'masculine' subjects - who were quieter within the classroom, and nervous and embarrassed about standing up in front of the whole class to present work orally. She continues to state that "Gendered perceptions of speech and speaking have established expectations within classrooms - for girls, for boys, and for teachers - and impact upon the way we speak, what we might speak about, and even whether we will speak at all". (190). Gilbert also notes how the control of speaking space within the classroom is not the only issue. Girls also face difficulties when boys 'engaged in crude and humiliating language practices designed to position the girls as sexual subjects objectified and controlled by men". To confront these unequal relationships of power, students need to be given 'access to knowledge about how language practices can be sexist or unfair to girls and women; how language practices are used to construct and regulated particular ways of being and behaving as 'men' and as 'women'. It may also mean giving students access to knowledge about how language may be used to 'do' things to people - to harass them, humiliate them, and silence them. And it may also mean giving students access to knowledge about how speakers are often positioned within discursive networks of power that may make it hard for them to speak at all, or may make it hard for them to tell their stories in ways they would choose" (191)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Documentary text ('Frontier' as text: P. Hughes)
1. Features and conventions that govern production of a documentary text and ways that these position the viewer to make meaning from the text:
seek to produce understandings of the world - are about ideas
seek to inform, persuade, bring about social changes, to educate
referential relationship between sounds and images of documentary world and the socio-historical world
produce an interpretation of the external world - may involve a personal exploration of the issues
make assertions about the world beyond the text e.g. 'these things did happen'
construct an argument from these assertions about the world - interplay of argument and evidence
"A documentary is a representation, a social and culturally based construction which uses strategies such as selection and juxtaposition of images, sounds and words" (p.36)
2. The ways that documentaries function as discursive practices:
3. The importance of the context of production and the context of reception and the ways this can produce various readings of the material; how references to other texts (intertextuality) affect our reading of this text:
Documentaries are:
4. Ways that form (structure) and content function to position the viewer:
"Narrative structure reflects choices made. These choices reflect historiographical and ideological assumption, such as the centrality of individuals as subjects of history. There is also an assumption...that history is dicontinuous, not a seamless chain of cause and effect" ( p37-38)
analyse starting point of particular narratives - "The point at which a narrative thread begins is significant, as is any resolution" (p38)
seek to produce understandings of the world - are about ideas
seek to inform, persuade, bring about social changes, to educate
referential relationship between sounds and images of documentary world and the socio-historical world
produce an interpretation of the external world - may involve a personal exploration of the issues
make assertions about the world beyond the text e.g. 'these things did happen'
construct an argument from these assertions about the world - interplay of argument and evidence
"A documentary is a representation, a social and culturally based construction which uses strategies such as selection and juxtaposition of images, sounds and words" (p.36)
2. The ways that documentaries function as discursive practices:
Richard Kilborn and John Izod:
the documentary has to speak to its audience in a way that can be understood
more than chronicling or a record of actuality - also an act of transformation - 'documentary discourse' - 'As a text, a documentary transforms events, people and places in the historical world' - 'story' into 'discourse' - "...the process of transformation involves a series of choices, each of which has implications: semiotic, cultural, political, ideologcial etc. That is, the process of transformation is central to the process of interpretation, which in turn is central to the process of making a documentary."
3. The importance of the context of production and the context of reception and the ways this can produce various readings of the material; how references to other texts (intertextuality) affect our reading of this text:
Documentaries are:
- representations that are socially and culturally based constructions which uses strategies such as selction and juxtaposition of images, sounds and words
- read in particular ways by audiences who come to them with particular sets of expectations
- need to be seen in a number of contexts - the historiographic background - when it was produced? Who produced it?
- The ways in which audience understand documentary texts will be "at least partly determined by what they know of, and think about, the historiographical, political [and public broadcasting] contexts in which the texts are produced and consumed." (p.37)
- we read the text in the context of related texts or documentaries on similar issues or other non-documentary texts, public debates; can we compare with these, consider what references/sources are used, left out
4. Ways that form (structure) and content function to position the viewer:
"Narrative structure reflects choices made. These choices reflect historiographical and ideological assumption, such as the centrality of individuals as subjects of history. There is also an assumption...that history is dicontinuous, not a seamless chain of cause and effect" ( p37-38)
analyse starting point of particular narratives - "The point at which a narrative thread begins is significant, as is any resolution" (p38)
What period does it cover? What geographic region? Who are the major figures? What themes are developed? What is being claimed here?
Structure:
may include historical records such as letters, official documents, paintings, drawings, lithographs, photos, ethnographic film, fiction film; and frequently - footage shot specially for the documentary, narrator's voice over - often from a 'Voice of God' perspective - appears to be all knowing; statements from eye witnesses or participants in the events - may be used instead of a voice over - offering number of perspectives on events rather than single perspective, sound effects, music; may use actors performing exerpts from written historical documents (douc-drama) - to some extent "disrupt the realism of the text, as they are composed and performed in a formal tableau style, with the actors speaking direct to camera".
Structuring Discourses or Themes - provide coherence - consider how themes are raised and developed; what incidents, events, indivuals used to exemplify themes
Elements of Unity and Coherence - visual elements, visual motifs, imagery & meatphors, Voice of God narration (links sequences and historical epochs), music
As Argument - what are the arguments of the text; How are these made evident? How does use of music, voice and performance determine how we read the credibility of the witnesses?
Point of View - all films and tv programmes incorporate some point of view, put from a particular perspective, a position of knowledge. Consider What is the point of view? How is it established? (eg subjective point of view shots, direct forms of speech 'I', relationship of visuals to voice over, Who gets to speak? Who controls the discourses of the text? What is the position of knowledge/truth?
Realism - a mode of film and tv production, seeks to foreground story rather than discourse - there is an assumption that content is more important than form; the images seek to verify the claims being made, if only metonymically or metaphorically; a linear structure & a rejection of overtly personal point of view (POV)
Representation - how events, people, geography represented - implicitly or explicitly
Reading intertextually
Sequence analysis - consider the opening sequence and how it establishes the next phase of the narrative & argument, how it introduces the key themes, the key players, the location, the visual & aural elements, tone and POV
Metaphor - visual metaphors which serve function of making abstract ideas concrete, creating moments for reflection in the flow of the narrative and the argument, adding to a sense of visual coherence. Need to consider recurrence of any metaphors, pattern to the use of visual metaphors, images used, when they are used, what do they seem to represent? Do they assist the argument and how? Do they assist in creating emotional responses in the audience? Do metaphors seem to run counter to the explicit argument?
Narrative/structure - what are the main narrative sequences? Consider how the narrative progresses from one sequence to the next? what is the main point being made in each sequence? Where does the narrative begin? How is it established? Does it end with some form of conclusion or turning point? What is implied about historical development by the narrative structure? What is the narrative based upon eg. a particular incident, an individual etc
Representations of... How are the people represented in the text, in the images? what is the purpose of each representation? How do the images position us as readers...do they exhibit a particular POV, a particular social or cultural perspective from which the world is assumed to make sense? What assumptions are taken for granted in the representations?
Audience positioning- background research - What devices (e.g. articles in newspapers, magazines, trailers, summaries on the web site, video covers, CD cover, academic articles etc) are used to seek to position the audience in relation to the material in the programme? How do they construct particular ways of understanding the text? How do they draw attention to particular themes or responses?
Reception of the documentary by audience - significant factors include spectator's prior views and interests, their emotional and intellectual engagement with the documentary and with other texts that may influence their responses. There is often very little evidence upon which to base nay claims about how individual documentaries are received by audiences unless websites developed to provdie online chat/response by people to the programme/documentary. ....Note the titles of each chat session. How do these set the agenda for discussion? Do they cover the main issues in your view?
Performance issues - where sequences are performed by actors in the witness sequences - are they credible? How do you make this judgement?
Debate - is there any debate in the press on the issue of the documentary?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Quotes I like...
"One of the greatest things you have in life is that no one has the authority to tell you what you want to be. You are the one who'll decide what you want to be. Respect yourself and respect the integrity of others as well. The greatest thing you have is your self-image, a positive opinion of yourself. You must never let anyone take it from you."
- Jaime Escalante
Educator
Marginalisation in the classroom
Beverley Pennell's comments (in our workbook) resounded with me. In this module she talks about the risk of marginalisation of students within the cultural structures of the school...within our classrooms. How control and exclusion has been exerted within the classroom because students may be considered to speak 'incorrectly' - and how this hales back to class differences.
Pennel comments that:
"To see from another person's viewpoint is, I consider, a feat of imagination. To see, to tolerate and respect, the ideas, values, beliefs and practices of another culture is probably the greatest feat of imagination, requiring generosity of spirit, a genuine open heartedness". To not merely be tolerant - meaning 'we' are the representative norm, and others do not conform to the 'norm' but to respect - to acknowledge the validity and value of those different to ourselves.
Teaching has always been about modeling to our students. Teachers need to think critically about their own cultural patterns - what and how are we judging and excluding in the classroom with our students? Are we aware of our own pedagogical discourses that we employ in our classrooms every day. Are we valuing the differences (the linguistic, cultural and knowledge) of those in our classroom? Are we giving all our students 'access to the knowledge and skills which will give them access to the dominant culture, if they should choose it....without making students feel uncomfortable about their own backgrounds, without making students feel marginalised and inadequate'? (19) Are our own histories and locations and institutional contexts (Comber, 125) influencing how we teach and what we expect of our students?
Teachers need to critically reflect upon their teaching practices as much as our students need to reflect on their learning.
The articles by Barbara Comber (Literacy, poverty and schooling: working against deficit equations) and G. Shopen (Challenging the achievement gap: teaching English in Indigenous schools) reinforce how marginalistion can occur when we do not take into account the cultural traditions in which our students have developed their social and cultural identities. Shopen comments how much of the literature of English texts are part of English cultural traditions that students only access while at school. "The school discourse rarely includes reference to the children's own languages, knowledges and experiences. Indigenous cultural accounts of the world as seen as irrelevant to the process of schooling which has been conceived within a British-Australian cultural, social and economic tradition." Although Shopen speaks in relation to Indigenous students, this is most certainly the case also for students whose cultural background and mother language is other than English. The reality is that students are differentiated in multiple ways...as does 'Australian society have complex realities, so does schooling' (Shopen, 135).
As teachers, we need to know the 'complex realities of our children's family and community lives'. As Comber remarks:
"Teachers need to know their school communities - the material circumstances of their lives, their funds of knowledge, service and support networks and their cultural, language and literate practices. With this knowledge, teachers can make sensible requests of parents and use their valuable resources to build a responsive pedagogy..." (128)
At the same time, teachers also need to be aware of engaging in deficit ideologies ('expect very little' syndrome Badger et al 1993; 'pedagogy of poverty' Haberman 1991) where they simplify what is offered and demanded of students.
How and what we assess depends often on what different societies make important (Comber, 123). Student success and failure is linked to what we assess.
Both authors comment on the understanding of literacy as a social practice, situated in context, and not a set of isolated autonomous skills. Unfortunately often assessment such as testing (and national testing such as NAPLAN) are based on the latter understanding, and does not take into account the multiple differences of our students.
Pennel comments that:
"To see from another person's viewpoint is, I consider, a feat of imagination. To see, to tolerate and respect, the ideas, values, beliefs and practices of another culture is probably the greatest feat of imagination, requiring generosity of spirit, a genuine open heartedness". To not merely be tolerant - meaning 'we' are the representative norm, and others do not conform to the 'norm' but to respect - to acknowledge the validity and value of those different to ourselves.
Teaching has always been about modeling to our students. Teachers need to think critically about their own cultural patterns - what and how are we judging and excluding in the classroom with our students? Are we aware of our own pedagogical discourses that we employ in our classrooms every day. Are we valuing the differences (the linguistic, cultural and knowledge) of those in our classroom? Are we giving all our students 'access to the knowledge and skills which will give them access to the dominant culture, if they should choose it....without making students feel uncomfortable about their own backgrounds, without making students feel marginalised and inadequate'? (19) Are our own histories and locations and institutional contexts (Comber, 125) influencing how we teach and what we expect of our students?
Teachers need to critically reflect upon their teaching practices as much as our students need to reflect on their learning.
The articles by Barbara Comber (Literacy, poverty and schooling: working against deficit equations) and G. Shopen (Challenging the achievement gap: teaching English in Indigenous schools) reinforce how marginalistion can occur when we do not take into account the cultural traditions in which our students have developed their social and cultural identities. Shopen comments how much of the literature of English texts are part of English cultural traditions that students only access while at school. "The school discourse rarely includes reference to the children's own languages, knowledges and experiences. Indigenous cultural accounts of the world as seen as irrelevant to the process of schooling which has been conceived within a British-Australian cultural, social and economic tradition." Although Shopen speaks in relation to Indigenous students, this is most certainly the case also for students whose cultural background and mother language is other than English. The reality is that students are differentiated in multiple ways...as does 'Australian society have complex realities, so does schooling' (Shopen, 135).
As teachers, we need to know the 'complex realities of our children's family and community lives'. As Comber remarks:
"Teachers need to know their school communities - the material circumstances of their lives, their funds of knowledge, service and support networks and their cultural, language and literate practices. With this knowledge, teachers can make sensible requests of parents and use their valuable resources to build a responsive pedagogy..." (128)
At the same time, teachers also need to be aware of engaging in deficit ideologies ('expect very little' syndrome Badger et al 1993; 'pedagogy of poverty' Haberman 1991) where they simplify what is offered and demanded of students.
How and what we assess depends often on what different societies make important (Comber, 123). Student success and failure is linked to what we assess.
Both authors comment on the understanding of literacy as a social practice, situated in context, and not a set of isolated autonomous skills. Unfortunately often assessment such as testing (and national testing such as NAPLAN) are based on the latter understanding, and does not take into account the multiple differences of our students.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Meeting the social and cultural needs of learners
My initial opinion of this general description for the Literature - English Curriculum in the senior years, sees a narrowing focus with students 'analysing' and responding to the 'historical genres and literary traditions of Australian literature and world literature and contemporary texts'. There is not the central focus on 'creating' nor on multiple/ multimodal 'texts' (although these are evident in other sections of the English curriculum). I would imagine that this 'narrowing' of the curriculum is to prepare students for university, as it notes in the last sentence: "With this in mind, specialised literature courses in the senior secondary years will connect more directly with literary studies at the university level for those students aiming to pursue such studies". The general description is exactly that - general! It could have been a description that I would have been part of the curriculum in the 1970's.
However, I assume that as the curriculum is a 'spiral curriculum' that within the above description, senior students will show their critical understandings about:
the social, historical and cultural contexts of texts
a text's formal, creative and aesthetic qualities
ways in which argument and viewpoint are presented and supported through a text
how a text's features reflect the perspectives from which it can be interpreted
how different perspectives are associated with different uses of language
(Descriptor 5.3.1)
The document does note that in the senior years students will be given a 'range of choice of more specialised courses to meet students' needs and interests". The curriculum does allow students to 'produce a growing range of creative expository, persuasive and other texts under various circumstances with a variety of stimuli' in order to 'demonstrate an ability to create written, spoken and multimodal texts'. But does it meet the social and cultural needs of all of our students....I don't know.
Based on the readings from this course depicting how the curriculum is being taught, including the video scenarios, I believe that teachers are certainly endeavouring to address the social and cultural needs of learners in the Senior Years.
However, I assume that as the curriculum is a 'spiral curriculum' that within the above description, senior students will show their critical understandings about:
the social, historical and cultural contexts of texts
a text's formal, creative and aesthetic qualities
ways in which argument and viewpoint are presented and supported through a text
how a text's features reflect the perspectives from which it can be interpreted
how different perspectives are associated with different uses of language
(Descriptor 5.3.1)
The document does note that in the senior years students will be given a 'range of choice of more specialised courses to meet students' needs and interests". The curriculum does allow students to 'produce a growing range of creative expository, persuasive and other texts under various circumstances with a variety of stimuli' in order to 'demonstrate an ability to create written, spoken and multimodal texts'. But does it meet the social and cultural needs of all of our students....I don't know.
Based on the readings from this course depicting how the curriculum is being taught, including the video scenarios, I believe that teachers are certainly endeavouring to address the social and cultural needs of learners in the Senior Years.
Stage 5 Course Performance Descriptors - Literacy test paper 2006
My immediate reactions to this document is that you can see those conceptualisations of English pedagogy that are valued such as sociocultural and critical literacy. Students understanding of audience, purpose and content is central to the paper. It also shows the movement toward covering multiple literacies such as media, film and multimedia along with the traditional elements of story and poetry.
As both a teacher and student, there are implications to what needs to be taught/studied in the curriculum. Currency is significant. You need to be aware of current media studies e.g. Terry Denton, and how to read transcripts as opposed to listening and viewing; of filmic structure, multimedia such as games/gaming - how to read procedural text, the language conventions of reading visual multimedia text; personal response in relation to short stories, and analyzing poetry. Students must be prepared to understand and use the conventions of multiple forms of 'texts'.
As both a teacher and student, there are implications to what needs to be taught/studied in the curriculum. Currency is significant. You need to be aware of current media studies e.g. Terry Denton, and how to read transcripts as opposed to listening and viewing; of filmic structure, multimedia such as games/gaming - how to read procedural text, the language conventions of reading visual multimedia text; personal response in relation to short stories, and analyzing poetry. Students must be prepared to understand and use the conventions of multiple forms of 'texts'.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Modality
Note in our workbook: Joan Tough identified children's use of marked modality as significant in academic success. She argued the use of such modals as 'might', 'may be' 'perhaps' give children access to thinking in alternative possibilities.
Although I haven't read Tough's work, my initial reaction to this finding is to highly agree to it. One, it allows children/students to feel comfortable to express their thoughts and opinions without having to worry about 'getting it right'. Secondly, it allows for greater critical reflection and thinking by the students. The use of these modals encourages students to think 'outside the square'. Both of these would contribute to academic success in developing our students critical thinking, listening and speaking.
Although I haven't read Tough's work, my initial reaction to this finding is to highly agree to it. One, it allows children/students to feel comfortable to express their thoughts and opinions without having to worry about 'getting it right'. Secondly, it allows for greater critical reflection and thinking by the students. The use of these modals encourages students to think 'outside the square'. Both of these would contribute to academic success in developing our students critical thinking, listening and speaking.
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