Teaching Principles
EBSTEM’s most important teaching principle is customizing instruction to the needs of its students. Before any instruction begins, we carefully evaluate exactly what it is the students need, and lessons are designed around that. A few examples would be the following:
In all cases, the first step in EBSTEM’s process is to evaluate exactly what the students need and to focus on that. Only after needs have been accurately assessed would instruction begin.
With the above in mind, it is not possible to list here a complete list of all teaching methods, but a few examples are provided. Again, remember that exact training will be determined once the exact needs have been analyzed.
Business and STEM Oral Communications (Speaking and Listening)
The basic philosophy, whether in teaching Business or STEM, relies on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). CLT is a well-known EFL/ESL teaching method that attempts to get students to speak and interact with others as much as possible, thus developing fluency and confidence in their abilities. Mistakes are corrected on some occasions, but linguistic accuracy is not the primary goal. Accuracy comes with practice over time, as well as a limited amount of drill for particularly troublesome and subtle areas, such as preposition usage.
More specifically, the notion of Content Based Instruction (CBI) by Brinton, Snow, & Wesche is widely used. CBI focuses on allowing the students to interact with each other, using content that is actually relevant to their learning needs. Instead of interacting primarily with the teacher and following his or her lead, CBI emulates real world peer-to-peer interactions as much as possible. Students are engaged and active participants who are actually doing things with each other rather than passive listeners.
EBSTEM also teaches methods that reduce cognitive load, such as using formulaic expressions and lexical chunks whenever possible. This provides the dual advantage of making the student sound more native-like, while also reducing the mental processing that must be done during a conversation.
STEM Comprehensive Teaching Methods
The following four fundamental principles were highlighted by Mark in his MA Graduate Project Thesis, which can be downloaded here. These form the core teaching methods that are utilized in EBSTEM.
Each point above is explained in more detail below.
Lexicon (Vocabulary) Teaching: What are the most effective means to utilize in teaching the STEM lexicon and register to adult NNES learners? The answer to this question is based both in theory as well as in the results of the original research conducted in the research paper. The main findings are:
Minimize Lectures: A second key, universal theme is that traditional lecture should be supplanted by some alternative form that aspires to more active learning principles. The alternatives range from generic possibilities such as role-play/simulation to more specifically defined methods such as PXnL to even more specific instantiations such as POGIL. In all cases, however, these methods refer back to the principle that Fink (2013) emphasizes throughout his textbook: Learners will respond to active techniques (such as any of those just listed) far more favorably than to traditional, passive techniques such as content-heavy lectures. Critical thinking, learner autonomy, problem-solving techniques and similar concepts are all enhanced when students are afforded opportunities to participate actively in their education as opposed to listening passively.
The notion of supplanting lecture with active learning almost sounds like an axiom, a principle so basic that it is not necessary to state it. In other words, how could any individual claim that a passive technique such as lecture is superior to active learning? Part of the answer lies in understanding that educators, like all people, often resort to what they know best and are most comfortable with. Teachers who attended schools utilizing traditional lecture education, and who were successful in it as students, may well feel it is a safe and comfortable approach as educators. Thus, lecture often continues to thrive not as a conscious choice over active learning alternatives, but rather as the default. The fundamental point here is straightforward: To get instructors to notice, question, and change habits that otherwise might go unaltered. The collaborative nature of classroom learnings in a large part seeks to dispel and eliminate the dogmatic approach to lecture. Enabling educators to see and investigate alternatives is key.
Learner Collaboration: The third critical theme is the need to encourage learner collaboration; this is undoubtedly the broadest of the four points, and in many regards it encompasses the others. In terms of instructional methods, STEM education best practices require a consistent focus on the importance of collaboration, specifically highlighting:
As with active learning, these goals can be achieved in many different manners, ranging from PXnL approaches as a generic-based term for any sort of problem-rooted learning technique, to more specific tools such as POGIL, or through matters such as role-play or simulation. While the exact nature of the method used may vary, the key commonality all of these methods address is one very basic, universal concept: A need for learners to work together rather than in isolation. Collaboration, and the ability to work together with others, is perhaps the most universal element highlighted in all of the previous studies. To underline that these methods are not only cognitive matters but social learnings as well, it is instructive to note the comments of Minderhout and Loertscher (2008), who observe the following of the POGIL classroom: “In terms of affective development, students learn to manage their frustration with learning and practice being patient with others” (p. 73).
Beyond the specific collaborative strategies just listed as possible tools, there are additional, related pedagogical principles that many authors extend to adults in collaborative situations. Scaffolding, ZPD support, social development, constructivism, and other Vygotskian principles are all of value here both in terms of classroom practices theory as well as in terms of work environment. All of these matters, again, reinforce the overarching point of promoting learner collaboration and helping learners to work together rather than in isolation.
As with the previous discussion on the need to replace lecture with active learning alternatives, one may ask the same question of learner collaboration: Does this, too, not seem to be an axiom that virtually any educator would accept as true and beneficial? The answer in this case requires more than just the notion of acknowledgment. In this case, once an educator agrees that learner collaboration is a solid and necessary andragogical principle, the obvious question is “How do I promote it?” This is a viable question, in that these techniques are not intrinsically part of most academic institutions, and instructors who wholeheartedly wish to implement these strategies may not know how to do so. This matter is a legitimate issue, and it is very much a challenge in that the role of the facilitator in active learning is substantially different than in a traditional lecture environment. Beyond simply imparting knowledge, the instructor in an active learning environment may need to function as a coach and operate in the affective domain as well as in the cognitive domain.
Authentic Materials: The final widely repeated theme concerns the use of authentic materials. This concept can be seen in many different teaching methods, as a part of PXnL, or in conjunction with role-play/simulation, or even in spoken ELL situations. As one example, role-playing and simulation allow not only practice in using English, but they also encourage students to reference real-world, authentic materials, and more importantly to think in real-world terms rather than in abstract theory. The key to these concepts in terms of teaching adult learners is that any sort of simulation or role-play needs to be serious and emulate real world situations closely and accurately. The basic principles of adult learning and andragogy indicate that adult learners need to understand why they are learning, and they need to feel that learning has immediate applicability. A role play, simulation, or other learning matter must be taught as a serious matter, one that emulates world reality, one that is of practical significance, and one that utilizes real-world (authentic) materials lest it come across as some sort of a game. Also, authentic materials should not be thought of purely as written texts, but authentic verbal and spoken materials should be used as warranted, along the observation of Parkinson (2012).