Steve

Having seen one of your video blogs describing your view of an earlier
discussion on critical thinking, it's not surprising that you might elicit
an appalled response.

As Glenda has suggested and I would agree ­ it feels very much that you are
basing your responses solely on your own views as language learner and
teacher.  While your experience is certainly important, it is one slice of a
larger continuum of learning and teaching practices.  I would strongly argue
that learners' purposes for learning a language will have a great impact on
how they learn and should/must inform how they are taught.

When I learned French in high school, I could read Balzac.  When I went to
France, I couldn't rent an apartment. I had to learn more and differently.
Two sorts of learning, one learner.

Why is it that you seem to think that those of us teaching ESOL (as opposed
to EFL) are so appalling?

A better question for all of us may have to do with how we work together on
program/local levels across our differences as educators and how we are
informed by the needs and strengths of the learners with whom we work?

Janet


> When I tell people outside this listserve that English and literacy teachers

see their role as one of teaching critical thinking, higher level thinking and
effecting social change, most listeners are appalled. I am not saying that their
view is correct, but here I hear very few voices here to challenge the
prevailing ideology, which suggests to me that there is not very much critical
thinking taking place. Is no one here just interested in improving the learners'
language skills?



-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.blogs.com <http://www.thelinguist.blogs.com>
www.lingq.com <http://www.lingq.com>
604-922-8514


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