Learning in context

Malik is a tradesman who works predominately with timber flooring. He is in regular contact
with his clients and builders and often has to describe his quality of work to his clients. Malik
has explained that he is often frustrated when communicating with his customers as he
cannot adequately describe the work he has done. In order for the learning to be relevant and
applicable to his context I have endeavoured to choose scenarios, images and words that are
relevant to his work environment. Ive also asked Malik to send me images of his flooring
work, this will be used in the lesson to build vocabulary and incorporate adjectives in his
description of an environment that he is very familiar with. Overall the learning experiences
designed by the teacher must be strategically planned to give the student control and
ownership in a meaningful context (Lantoff & Thorne, 2006). Furthermore, connecting
language to a life context is a key factor in successful bilingual education (Hadi-Tabassum,
2005). Each L2 learner reacts with their environment and processes the language around
them based on the prior knowledge and preconceived cultural contexts that they carry with
them. Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, and Christian (2006) define this as a crosslinguistic reservoir of abilities. This reservoir engages a students previous knowledge to
propel them into the L2 development.

Learning Style

Classroom logistics

Malik is an independent learner, he is a

The lesson will be conducted entirely online

mathematical thinker and is highly motivated.

through skype and conducted as a one to one

This is linked to Gardners Theory of Multiple

lesson. The lesson will be recorded with

Intelligence (Gardner, 1997). His theory

permission of the learner and sent to Malik for

focuses on the differentiation of instructions

later review and revision.

and teaching activities. Stanford (2003, p.81)

explains that practitioners of MI understand
that learners do not fit a single prototype
therefore by adapting and focusing on
individual learning styles students are able to
process and remember new and difficult
information (Dunn and Dunn, 1992, p.2).

Instructional strategies
Reviewing: The lesson will begin with a conversational review of Maliks pre-existing
knowledge and vocabulary. This will then lend itself to a description activity based on images
of familiar and unfamiliar places. This section of the lesson is about reviewing background
knowledge and pre teaching new vocabulary words. According to Nation and Coady+ (1988,
p.100) the pre teaching of vocabulary has an added effect on increasing the saliency of
words in reading, writing and comprehension.
Scaffolding: The teaching will scaffold the use of newly learnt adjectives and adverbial
phrases in descriptive phrases and conversation. This scaffolding process is fundamental,
according to Donato (1994 p. 41) scaffolded learning can be categorised by six features:
1. Recruiting interest in the task
2. Simplifying the task
3. Maintaining pursuit of the goal
4. Marking critical features
5. Controlling frustration
6. Demonstrating an idealised version of the desired outcome
Application: The lesson will then transition into the application process in which the learner is
given the opportunity to apply their new knowledge in context. The application will be
conducted through a collaborative learning approach by linking with Vygotskys (1978, pg.57)
theory of cognitive development. This collaborative learning approach ensures that the
student is still being presented with key learning objectives in a way that engages them
interpsychologically as they learn through interaction with others (in this scenario the teacher)
and also intrapsychologically as they internally process the content. The learning experiences
designed by the teacher must be strategically planned to give students control and ownership
of their learning as they apply new knowledge to practical contexts (Lantoff & Thorne, 2006).