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6 Helen Parkhurst and the Dalton Plan DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „EFL between tradition and innovation: focus on COOL – cooperative open learning“ Verfasserin Angelika Friedl angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, 2012 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 190 344 299 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: UF Englisch, UF Psychologie und Philosophie Betreuerin/Betreuer: Univ.-Prof.in Dr.in Christiane Dalton-Puffer Abstract This diploma thesis deals with new teaching methods in contrast to traditional ways of teaching with special attention paid to foreign language teaching. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the new teaching concept - called COOL - cooperative open learning, and its implementation at Austrian schools. The first part explains different aspects of traditional teaching with focus on lecture- style teaching. The second part deals with two ways of foreign language teaching and learning, namely, learner autonomy and task-based language learning. Follow- ing that the reader is introduced to the American educationalist Helen Parkhurst and her Dalton plan. COOL is said to go back to the Dalton plan. Both methods follow the same educational principles but differ in the way they are implemented in daily school life. Afterwards case studies of three different vocational schools in Austria where COOL is implemented are presented. In order to deliver empirical data about the status quo of these methods questionnaires were handed out, which were filled in by COOL teachers and students. The results of these surveys presented subse- quently do not indicate a clear recommendation neither for the implementation of COOL nor its rejection. As a conclusion one can say that COOL is an enriching new teaching method especially with regard to foreign language teaching when combined with traditional methods and ways – as it is the case at Austrian schools. 2 Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Gegenüberstellung von pro- gressiven Unterrichtsmethoden und traditionellen Formen der Unterrichtsgestal- tung, wobei ich spezielle Aufmerksamkeit auf den Fremdsprachenunterricht richte. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit ist die Vorstellung einer neuen Unterrichtsform - ge- nannt COOL - eine Abkürzung für kooperatives, offenes Lernen, Weiters eine Er- läuterung zu dessen Praxis an österreichischen Schulen und dessen praktische An- wendung im Englischunterricht. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit verschiedenen Aspekten des traditi- onellen Unterrichts, besonderes Augenmerk wird dabei auch auf den traditionellen Frontalunterricht gelegt. Im zweiten Teil werden zwei neue Methoden im Gebiet des Fremdsprachenunterrichts, genannt „learner autonomy“ und „task-based langu- age learning“ erörtert. Im darauffolgenden Kapitel wird eine wichtige Vorreiterin im Bereich der alternativen Lehrmethoden vorgestellt, nämlich die Amerikanerin Helen Parkhurst und der von ihr entwickelten „Dalton plan“, auf dessen Grundprin- zip COOL basiert. Beide beschriebenen Methoden, Dalton plan als auch COOL, folgen denselben edukativen Prinzipien, allerdings unterscheiden sie sich in der Art und Weise ihrer Anwendung im Schulalltag. Danach werden Fallstudien über drei berufsbildende Schulen in Österreich präsen- tiert, an denen COOL praktiziert wird. Um empirische Daten über den Status Quo dieser praktizierten Unterrichtsmethode zu erlangen, wurden Fragebögen für Lehre- rInnen und SchülerInnen, die COOL anwenden, erstellt. Die Auswertung dieser Umfragen liefert keine eindeutigen Ergebnisse im Hinblick auf die Empfehlung zur Einführung von COOL als alternative Unterrichtsmethode, noch zu dessen Ableh- nung. Schlussfolgernd kann man sagen, dass COOL eine sehr bereichernde, neue Form des Unterrichts darstellt, speziell im Hinblick auf den Fremdsprachenunter- richt, wenn sie - wie im österreichischen Schulwesen – mit traditionelleren Formen der Unterrichtgestaltung kombiniert wird. 3 Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 8 2 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 10 2.1 Theory research ............................................................................................ 11 2.2 Case studies .................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Questionnaire ............................................................................................... 13 3 TRADITIONAL WAYS OF TEACHING............................................................ 15 3.1 Lecture-style teaching’s advantages and disadvantages .............................. 16 3.1.1 Teacher’s arguments .................................................................................... 19 3.2 Traditional English language teaching......................................................... 20 4 LEARNER AUTONOMY .................................................................................... 23 5 TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING ......................................................... 28 5.1 Defining the term “task” .............................................................................. 28 5.2 Task-based approach and its advantages ..................................................... 30 5.3 Task-based language framework ................................................................. 31 6 HELEN PARKHURST AND THE DALTON PLAN .......................................... 33 6.1 Helen Parkhurst ............................................................................................ 33 6.2 The Dalton plan............................................................................................ 35 6.3 Implementation of the Dalton plan at school ............................................... 40 7 COOPERATIVE OPEN LEARNING .................................................................. 45 7.1 Reasons for the innovation........................................................................... 45 7.2 Aims of COOL ............................................................................................. 46 7.3 Relevance of soft skills ................................................................................ 47 7.4 Features of “COOL” .................................................................................... 50 8 CASE STUDIES ................................................................................................... 59 8.1 HAK Steyr ................................................................................................... 60 8.2 HAK Stegersbach......................................................................................... 65 8.3 HAK Donaustadt .......................................................................................... 71 8.4 Example assignments ................................................................................... 74 8.5 Challenges and visions for the future ........................................................... 90 9 Questionnaire study ..................................................................................... 92 9.1 Overall results of student questionnaire ....................................................... 93 9.2 Analysis of teachers’ overall results .......................................................... 109 10 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 123 11 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 125 12 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................... 130 4 12.1 COOL – Questionnaires ............................................................................ 130 12.2 Example assignments ................................................................................ 136 5 Table of figures Figure 1: Certification „COOL-networking partner“ .......................................................... 68 Figure 2: Certificate ............................................................................................................. 69 Figure 3: COOL assignment HAK Steyr ............................................................................. 75 Figure 4: COOL assignment HAK Steyr ............................................................................. 78 Figure 5: COOL assignment HAK Stegersbach .................................................................. 80 Figure 6: COOL assignment HAK Stegersbach .................................................................. 81 Figure 7: “Liebelsche Torte“ 2D ......................................................................................... 83 Figure 8: “Liebelsche Torte“ 1D ......................................................................................... 84 Figure 9: L&L assignment HAK Steyr ............................................................................... 88 Figure 10: Diagram 1 ........................................................................................................... 93 Figure 11: Class results ....................................................................................................... 94 Figure 12: Diagram 2 ........................................................................................................... 99 Figure 13: Diagram 3 ........................................................................................................
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