When methods shed the content: a case study in Czech language teaching
Submitted by:
Stanislav Štěpáník
Abstract:
In the teaching community and in the media discourse in the Czech Republic, for various reasons we can observe the need for change in Czech language teaching. The alteration of teaching methods is often seen as the possible solution, especially the use of the so-called non-traditional methods (e.g. Mikulíková, 2010). This implies a different methodological approach to the existing, i.e. traditional, teaching content through various individual learning tasks or learning situations whose basic characteristics are elements of fun, playfulness, cooperation, variability, etc. However, most importantly, so far there has been no research into the impact of these practices on the quality of pupils' learning.
The aim of our study was therefore to analyse the functionality and effectiveness of the selected so called non-traditional method in conveying a certain section of the Czech language curriculum.
We used the mixed methodological approach. As the basic research design we chose a case study, the case being the selected so-called non-traditional method, namely a mandala focusing on the issue of syntactic spelling, specifically punctuation.
The main research method was an experimental intervention (Tymms, 2021) in three 8th grade classes in three different elementary schools. The researcher worked with the pupils from the position of the teacher to ensure that the teaching situation was adequate.
We used a quasi-experimental design with the following steps:
1. pre-test (analysis of the pre-intervention quality of the pupils' punctuation skills),
2. intervention: application of the so-called non-traditional method (the punctuation problem is conceived as colouring a mandala and aims to develop the pupils' punctuation skills),
3. post-test (analysis of the post-intervention quality of pupils' punctuation skills).
The results indicate that the selected so called non-traditional method emphasizes fun and extrinsic motivation, but the connection of the method to the teaching content and the teaching aim is not sufficiently reflected (Janík et al., 2013, 2019; Štěpáník, 2022). The extent of the pupils' improvement in learning outcomes is questionable. Moreover, the method does not sufficiently reflect the target group – the language content (punctuation issues) is age-appropriate, but the form of its implementation is not.
References
Janík, T. (2013). Kvalita (ve) vzdělávání: obsahově zaměřený přístup ke zkoumání a zlepšování výuky. Masarykova univerzita.
Janík, T., Slavík, J., Najvar, P., & Janíková, M. (2019). Shedding the content: semantics of teaching burdened by didactic formalisms. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 51(2), 185–201.
Mikulíková, M (2010). Hry s českým jazykem. In Čeština – jazyk slovanský 4. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, 2010. https://konference.osu.cz/cestina/5_konference-sekce-1.html
Štěpáník, S. (2022). The danger of shedding the content in grammar teaching: an example in Czech. Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Languages & Literature, 15(4), 1–17.
Tymms, P. (2021). Interventions: Experiments. In: R. Coe, M. Waring, L. V. Hedges, & L. D. Ashley (Eds.), Research Methods & Methodologies in Education (p. 179–185). SAGE.