constructivism & CALL

main characteristics

focus: social construction of knowledge and meaning

knowledge: - does not exist outside of person but is

constructed based on how a learner interacts

and experiences the environment/ world

- learners build personal understanding by

integrating new information with past

learning: a constant ongoing process, learners interpret

incoming information based on personality,

beliefs, culture and experience

research: Piaget, Bruner: cognitive constructivism

Vygotsky: social constructivism

shift in pedagogy

Emergence of constructivism coincided with the shift in

pedagogy away from teacher-centered transmission models to

knowledge-centered approaches that focus on cognitive and

social processes in learning.

• Instruction in constructivism includes presentations of real-

world problems in authentic contexts that require.

collaboration, not prescriptive presentation strategies or

accurate knowledge representation

principles of constructivism in FLL

action-orientedness

cooperative learning

creative forms of classroom work

learning by projects

LBT - learning by teaching

learner-centredness

individualisation of learning

autonomy of learner

process-related awareness

learning awareness

language awareness

intercultural awareness

holistic language experience 

content-orientedness

authentic and complex learning environment

cognitive constructivism 

focuses on how individuals create sophisticated mental representations and problem- solving abilities by using tools, information researches and input from other individuals

• emphasis the individual in the

group, believing that cognition

occurs in the head of the

individual and that learners

make intellectual sense of the

materials on their own

main characteristics of cognitive constructivism

Active learning/ Enquiry-led / Problem based / Goal-based / Constructivist-based design

Focus on the processes by which learners build

their own mental structures when interacting

with an environment.

• Task-oriented, favours hands-on, self-directed

activities oriented towards design and discovery.

• Characterized by developmental stages (Piaget).

• A learner’s development is seen in terms of a

series of steps of increasing learning capability

(Bruner).

e-learning design principles in cognitive constructivism

Prepare a strategic screen layout

• Highlight main elements

• Relate difficulty level to learner’s cognitive level: provide links to

easier and more advanced resources

• Use of comparative advance organizers and conceptual models

• Pre-instructional questions (to activate prior knowledge)

• Create interactive environments for construction of

understanding

• Relate to real-life (apply, analyse, synthesize) in order to develop

metacognition and reflection.

e-learning applications

Useful for structured learning environments, such as

simulated worlds; construction of conceptual structures

through engagement in self-directed tasks.

• The concept of toolkits and other support systems that guide

and inform users through a process of activities could be used

to good effect to embed and enable constructivist principles.

• Access to resources and expertise offers the potential to

develop more engaging and student-centred, active and

authentic learning environments.

example of e-learning application: toolkit

An example of e-learning that aimed to encourage reflection

on experience, engagement with others and the construction

of practitioner knowledge is the emergence of online toolkits

(Dyke & Conole et al 2007, 90).

• Online toolkit: software designed to perform a specific

function, especially to solve a problem.

social constructivism main characteristics

dialogic approach

argumentation

Emphasis on interpersonal relationships

involving imitation and modelling

• Language as a tool for learning and the joint

construction of knowledge; as a

communicative or cultural tool, used for

sharing and jointly developing knowledge and

as a psychological tool for organising our

individual thoughts, for reasoning, planning

and reviewing

social constructivism

focuses on interaction with

people and co-construction of

knowledge, and sees learning

as increasing the student’s

ability to participate with

others in meaningful activities

• emphasizes the socially and

culturally situated context of

cognition, in which knowledge

is constructed in shared

endeavours

Piaget vs. Vygotsky

P: the learner must reach a specific level of development before they can learn in that mode

V: the learner has the potential to learn at any particular time

Vygotsky’s ZPD

Vygotsky’s theory focuses on the gap between what the

learner can do now and what is just beyond their reach unless

a ‘more knowledgeable other’ is nearby to assist them to

reach the new level of knowledge, skill or understanding.

• This gap is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD)

What I can do: e.g. write

a coherent paragraph

ZPD - What I can do with help: Potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (e.g. write a complete text)

learner and teacher roles 

The learner

Bridging the gap, or ‘taking the next step’, is very much a learner-

centred process in which learners have to monitor and regulate

their own learning activity.

The teacher

The teacher is a fellow learner (the more knowledgeable other)

who functions as a facilitator who may guide learners through

progressively more challenging learning activities.

scaffolding

The concept of scaffolding: based on the climbing or steps

development of learning

• Learning: a staircase to be climbed by learners

• From a learner perspective, the learning activities are framed

in a scaffold of progressive steps of achievement.

e.g. An online tutorial may be structured in some form of

hierarchy from specific examples of a learning goal

progressively leading the learner to an abstract

understanding of the concepts involved.

scaffolding from a teacher’s perspective 

It implies the design of learning experiences which are

tailored to learners’ current capabilities and which provide

stepping stones to the next level of progress.

• Learners construct their own learning with sufficient

resources and language activities progress smoothly to the

desired level of achievement, skill development or

understanding.

general scaffolding strategies

Help students develop a plan for dealing with a new task

• Demonstrate the proper performance of a task in a way that

students can easily imitate

• Divide a complex task into several smaller simpler tasks

• Give specific guidelines for accomplishing the task

• Provide a calculator, computer software or other technology that

makes some aspects of the task easier

• Keep students’ attention focused on the relevant aspects of the task

• Ask questions that get students thinking about the task in productive

ways

• Remind students of what their goals are in performing the task (e.g.,

what a problem’s solution should look like)

e-learning contexts

In e-Learning contexts, learners may be offered problem-solving

or strategic reasoning tasks (both of which often arise in a game

format), which place them at the centre of the learning activity

with assistance in the ZPD either from software prompts or a

(more knowledgeable) tutor or peer

combining constructivist e-learning approaches in ELT

“Recently there has been a trend towards a synthesis of the

two, with advocates believing that knowledge is constructed

individually but mediated socially”

• “Although quite different, the two schools of thought

complement each other well in an online environment,

especially if we take care to humanize and personalize

automated activities as much as possible within current

technological limitations”

(Cognitive constructivism) expose learners to sophisticated automated activities, engaging them in autonomous, predominantly cognitive and metacognitive processes to achieve high levels of fluency and accuracy

(Social constructivism)

… involve learners, with the help of networked systems, in collaborative, process-oriented real-life activities fostering psycho-social processes

what is CALL?

• CALL represents a side of e-learning where computer technology is

used in the context of language learning.

• Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is widely used to refer to

the area of technology and second language teaching and learning

• Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) may be defined as the

study of applications of the computer in language teaching and

learning

behaviouristic call

view of language: structural ( formal structural system)

English teaching paradigm: grammar-translation / audio-lingual

principal use of computers: drill and practice

main objective: accuracy

communicative CALL

view of language: cognitive (mentally constructed system through interaction)

English teaching: communicative language teaching

principal use of computers: communicative activities (to practice language use)

main objective: fluency

integrative call

view of language: sociocognitive ( developed in social interaction through discourse communities)

English teaching: content -bases ESP/EAP

principal use of computers: authentic discourse (to perform real-life tasks)

main objective: agency