Culture Clash

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Culture Clash

• Mary Muldowney
• Science Faculty Office

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Youre destroying Western civilisation!
Youre destroying students souls!
Hegels Dialectic as applied to
educational philosophy
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The constructivist classroom

• Learning is a search for meaning so the learning
  process must focus on primary concepts, not
  isolated facts.
• Teachers must understand the mental models that
  students use to perceive the world and the
  assumptions they make to support those models.
• The purpose of learning is for an individual to
  construct his or her own meaning.
• Assessment must be part of the learning process,
  ensuring it provides students with information on
  the quality of their learning.

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Teaching English as a foreign language

• Students learn a language through using it to
  communicate.
• Authentic and meaningful communication should be
  the goal of classroom activities.
• Fluency is an important dimension of
  communication.
• Communication involves the integration of
  different language skills.
• Learning is a process of creative construction
  and involves trial and error.
•  

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Classroom roles

• Teacher as facilitator and classroom colleague
• Student as collaborator and classroom colleague

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P.B.L. ? T.E.F.L.

• Problem based learning goals
• Structuring knowledge for use in working contexts
• Developing effective reasoning processes
• Developing self-directed learning skills
• Increasing motivation for learning
• Developing group/team working skills

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English for Scientists

• Course objectives
• Communication
• Comprehension
• Problem solving

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The difficulties

• Admissions criteria
• Different educational systems
• Lack of information on both
• sides
• Cultural differences gender!
• Individualism
• Assessment requirements
• Timetabling

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The consequences

• Pressure on students
• Pressure on staff lecturers, teaching
  assistants, demonstrators
• Student confidence undermined
• Poor examination performance
• Institutional reputation damaged

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Solutions so far

• Course redesigned
• Likely problem areas identified and confronted
  early in course
• Explanation of methodology and its relation to
  course requirements
• Assessment procedures agreed
• Open to discussion

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Assessment

• Academic standards
• preparation for exams
• Encourage student reflection
• Survey results stop, start, continue
• Teacher reflection

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Institutional benefits

• In the 2004-2005 academic year 140 million euro
  was paid in fees by international students in
  Ireland
• More than 105 million of this sum was paid to the
  university sector
• In 2006-2007, it is anticipated that this figure
  will rise to 128 million.

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