In Chapter 3, Wong states that several second language researchers are moving away form "acquisition" for learning a language and to the metaphor of "participation," that learning a new language is not simply internally acquiring it but rather learning through social interactions. This dialogic problem posing calls on teachers to not simply transmit knowledge to the students through various teacher-led lectures and discussions. Instead, the students learn collaboratively by working through problems. Essentially, as I look at these main ideas of this chapter, I find that I can easily make connections to other works I am reading this semester, backing up some points in the teaching of ESL students that I am already thinking about. I cannot help but write about some of those said connections here in the hopes of fleshing out some ideas even more...
Problem-posing through the dialogic approach sounds very similiar to content-based instruction, of which I am reading about in Snow and Brinton's The Content-Based Classroom. In that CBI approach, ESL students do not simply learn a language; instead, they are exposed to language while also learning the content of their various content-area classes. The ESL classroom is not some place for students to go to be told the main ideas of their Biology homework; rather, it is a place where the students work together and the teacher gives them strategies to help them learn to read those texts themselves. These strategies could easily include problem-posing, giving students a question to work on and consider in groups then come back to the class to discuss their answers.
Vygotsky and his ideas are given much space in this chapter, and the central idea in regards to what I am working on seems to be that language is affected by social contexts, that language and culture are not mutually exclusive things. Whether I am reading about teaching writing or teaching reading, the idea of culture permeates through. Connecting the material to the personal interests or background of one's students is so important, as both CBI and the Dialogic approach espouse. If one want to improve the reading fluency of an ESL student, letting that student read a book that connects to his culture and his interests will probably get the job done much better than having them read passages prepared by a test-prep service. Wong gives some advice to students teachers that goes along with those lines of thinking: Tap into the prior knowledge of your students. This seems simple enough, but many teachers are forced to put this by the wayside if simply "teaching for the test."
As I consider the dialogic approach and the content-based instruction, I endlessly consider just how to transfer these methods to the content-area, mainstream classroom--because many ESL students can be found their nowadays. These classrooms are often dominated by teacher-led discussions fueled by euphemisms, etc. How can the teacher effectively implement these student-centered approaches in order to better work on reading and writing with his or her students? The core of this question appears to be culture, what the students already know. If you give them content that interests them and content that they know a little bit about already, the chances of success appear to be far greater.
Your last paragraph is what intrigued me. I have found that the days when my students lack motivation or seem uninterested in my content, I relate it back to Spanish culture and BOOM, I have them hooked again. Sometimes it's music, the dancing, a tradition or simple geography - but it brings them back into learning. However, contextual factors always must be evaluated for each class -- because the same activity can work beautifully in one class and the other can be a failure, true?! :)
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