No one can deny the fact that modern age can be characterized by a great number of changes in almost all spheres of human activity. Being highly affected by the influence of society, teaching should also be changed. New methods and remedies should be used in teaching and learning activities in order to increase the level of their efficiency. Considering this, it is possible to analyse the sphere of andragogy and teaching Arabic to get the idea of changes happening in these fields.
While implementing a notion of construction-based pedagogies Daniel Schneider and Synteta Paraskevi (2005) distinguish between three different levels at which they can be applied. They are small pedagogical scenarios, long-term projects and the general study environment (Schneider & Paraskevi 2005).
One of these strategies, for instance the small pedagogical scenario, can obviously be used while teaching Arabic language. Schneider & Paraskevi (2005, p.4) suggest breaking the problem that occurs during the course, “into several parts so that the students are challenged to master as many tasks as they are ready to handle”. A teacher in such a case plays a role of a manger whose task is to facilitate and help students if needed. It is obvious, that such kind of approach can lead to a great improvement of a level of knowledge and a tempo of an understanding of a new material. Each task could be divided into several stages, and accomplishment of each phase will lead to the better understanding of the material and the increase of the level of satisfaction of students.
For teaching Arabic, the definite pedagogical scenario proposed by the authors of the article may be applied. On the initial stage, a teacher introduces a theme and gives students clues concerning an objective of a lesson. Students work independently using various Web resources and marking websites and ideas that they find to be interesting. Then students try to classify the material into groups and subgroups related to the given theme. Having elaborated their own ideas, students share the material with each other and the results of their work are discussed in public.
The most successful ideas are given special attention. The role of a teacher in such a situation not to interfere, but to facilitate the studying process and to arouse students interest to the subject. This pedagogical scenario is based on the cognitive learning approach and may be successfully applied in practice.
With this in mind, it is possible to say, that the ideas represented in this article can be used in the work of a teacher with the intention to make it more efficient.
Reference List
Schneider, D & Paraskevi, S 2005, Conception and implementation of rich pedagogical scenarios through collaborative portal sites. Web.