Page 65 - Beyond Methods

Maximizing learning opportunities 53
30 T:
No . . . let’s say you have a grandmother who is very sick and can’t get out of bed, can’t take care of herself and all she wants to do is die . . . and she asks you to let her die . . . that’s what euthanasia is . . . if the doctor lets the patient die . . . OK?
(Data source: Kumaravadivelu, 1992)
Even after a fairly satisfactory answer was given by a student (turn 12), the teacher turned to other students (turn 17) to make sure that everybody had understood the concept of euthanasia. It is only after a lengthy dialogue that she gave her own explanation (turn 30). The episode presents a situation where the teacher created not only an opportunity for students to learn a new concept but also conditions for learners to interact with her and with other students.
Contrast that with what the teacher of an advanced level Com- munication Skills class did in the following brief exchange. The class was discussing an essay on rural development in developing coun- tries. The students were asked to read the essay at home and come prepared for a discussion on rural development projects in their countries. Most of the students from the Middle East and Southeast Asia reported problems in rural development in their countries. The teacher then turned to a student from Turkey:
Episode 3.2
S5, what about Turkey? Do people in rural areas have elec- tricity and running water?
Yah...mostofthem...uh...thisproblemhasbeensolved five . . . we did . . . past five or seven years.
OK.
(Data source: Kumaravadivelu, 1992)
Here was a student who said that the problems of rural electrifica- tion and water supply were solved five or seven years ago. A logical step here for the teacher would be to create more learning opportu- nities for other students by asking the Turkish student to give more
1 T: 2 S5: 3 T: