2.1 Forms of teaching
In the various components of this work it has been repeatedly mentioned that the point of departure for an accountable didactic pedagogics is the original experience of educating. The idea is that an explication of the didactic ground-forms requires the investigator to take his point of departure in the original experience of educating. In other words, to be able to recognize and describe the didactic ground-forms, it is necessary to take the original experience of educating as one’s point of departure.
The original experience, as such, i.e., as a factor in the life world, is not exclusively related to educating. It is much more varied. There is no predominant tendency or manifestation in the original relationship of a person to reality; there are different ways in which he, as participant, becomes involved with reality. Each of these ways is differentiated and recognizable in terms of a unique order and relationship. Variants of the original experience are thus forms of the ways a person’s involvement with reality occurs. All of these variants have contents in common (that are essentially particular) as well as the form in which these contents are cast. These forms are actual, because they are the modes by which the experiencing takes its course. The forms of each variant or tendency of the original experiencing are unique. They expose the universally human and become visible in a person’s lifestyle. They include activities such as praying, waging war, conducting trade, leisure activities, etc. [13, 55 p.]
In this same sense, educating also involves form. It is important to note that the forms of the original experience of educating do not differ essentially in various historical epochs or in different cultures. Wherever there are people, they educate their learner and the form of this original experience is more or less universal. In the original experience of educating the didactic form gives a functional structure to particular aims (that always are particular) so that the effect of the contents can be realized.
From the above it is clear that the contents of the original experience are actualized through their forms. Thus the forms of the experience are just as original as the experience itself. This also means that the original experience of educating has the same character as any other primary involvement of persons with reality. Thus, to conduct trade is not more primary or original than educating the young. However, because the school is a derived or second-order structure in a person’s life world, here the didactician’s task is to re-establish the original experience of educating in a formal structure.
Teaching in the school must at least aim at those objectives made possible by the contents chosen for that purpose that will eventually realize a desired life and world view. The didactician cannot account for the form in which the contents are going to be presented if he cannot also account for the forms in the original experience of educating. He must ferret out and describe these forms where educating takes place in the life world. Thus, his accounting for these original forms of educating is the basis of his accountability of the ground-forms of his teaching practice, i.e., of didactic ground-forms.
Naming these didactic ground-forms is the result of a theory about the practice occurring in the original experience of educating insofar as educating is realized in teaching. At the same time it is an evaluation of the possibilities of implementing these ground forms in the second order, derived, school situation.
The training of artisans is another kind of situation. Even though it is not a pedagogic situation, it is a didactic one and, therefore, the didactic ground-forms are equally valid there. Once again, it must be emphasized that a theoretical view of didactic form takes the original experience of educating as its point of departure. The point of departure is not one or another perspective on the original experience of educating such as the learning activity even though it is true that the forms of teaching are strongly directed to the forms of learning. That is, the forms of teaching are strongly directed to the ways the learning activity manifests itself in the educative event. But learning refers to the aim of educative teaching and not to its origin. The original experience unquestionably shows that “letting a learner learn” is the way an adult, in educating, proceeds to realize particular aims. It is justifiable to say that the didactic ground-forms are the forms of actualizing “letting a learner learn” [17, 16 p.].
In conjunction with the categorical structure of the didactic, the didactic categories have certain consequences for any consideration of didactic form. Didactic categories have individual and collective validity in describing didactic ground-forms. Didactic categories must arise from the experience itself and not merely to clarify their meaning but also to describe their original manifestation in the practical educative situation. However, it must be born in mind that categories, as such, do not establish a practice; in fact, they make the description of the form of the practice possible. A final consequence is that the categorical structure of didactics serves to establish a criteria basis for evaluating the form in accordance with its appearance in the original experience of educating.
2.2 Didactic forms and forms of living
In the discussion of contents as learning contents it was indicated that they must meet the criteria of being true to life and to education. The necessary consequence of these criteria is that learning contents must be contents of living (life contents). To anticipate the matter of didactic ground forms, it is said that just as learning contents are life contents, didactic forms are forms of living. However, these didactic forms are not just any forms of living but rather those specific forms that refer to the didactic activity. In other words, they are human forms of living capable of supporting the learning activities of a learner in the teaching situation.
Apart from the nature of reality or contents, a second aspect is of equal importance. a teacher must make the contents available to a learner by means of certain forms so that he can effectively unlock them. Naturally, in the school situation this reality is the learning contents or learning material.
The primary aim of formal teaching in the school is to usher a learner into this complex life world by presenting specific contents in particular lessons to him. These contents are presented in terms of particular forms that a teacher gives to his presentation that will allow a learner to become most effectively involved with them. To succeed at this a teacher must take at least two aspects thoroughly into account in his planning.
Because the teaching forms must reflect a learner’s spontaneous expressions of study, he must be thoroughly acquainted with the learner’s ways of study [17, 29 p.].
The question now is whether the harmony between form and content of the didactic presentation or design does not constitute a ground form of the didactic activity. If indeed there are didactic ground forms, they must make provision for realizing the spontaneous fundamental categories of learning.
This question indicates that there are two types of ground forms that an adult can use in his teaching. The first are ground forms that harmonize with the spontaneous learning and teaching found in everyday life, i.e., in informal educative situations between parents and learner. The second are teaching forms or ground-forms that are consciously created with the aim of directing a learner’s study intentionality in formal teaching situations. This means that a teacher can implement ground forms to direct a learner’s spontaneous learning and the spontaneous teaching that one finds in the life world. On the other hand, this also means that a teacher can create or build up teaching forms out of the spontaneous help the parent gives their learner in ordinary educative situations. These forms can be used effectively in formal teaching situations.
Consequently, designing a didactic event can take the spontaneous learning activity of a learner or the spontaneous support of the adult as its point of departure. These points of departure offer important insights into the concept “ground form”. If one broadly describes the major spontaneous learning activities of a learner as observing, playing, speaking, imitating, fantasizing, working, and repeating then the spontaneous adult support coinciding with these activities can broadly be described as pointing out, showing a learner how to play and playing with him, prompting, demonstrating, narrating, giving assignments, and repeating. If one classifies these seven forms of giving support in the spontaneous teaching situation, they can actually be divided into four major categories.
Because repeating is present in each one of these forms, we can ignore it as a distinct form for the time being. In this way we arrive at four didactic ground-forms: play, conversation, example, and assignment. [17, 30 p.].
Play. When an adult plays its nature usually is the opposite of his serious activities. In this respect a learner’s play differs radically from the adult’s because for him play itself is a serious matter. For a learner, there is nothing more serious than his playing.
In this light, a learner’s playing activities cannot be understood in terms of labor or work. In his playing he is continually imitating or simulating the adult world. A learner plays at waging war, conducting trade, building artifacts, playing “mother and father”, etc. His aim is not actually to wage war or to conduct trade. One must be careful to describe a learner’s playing only as the basis from which adult work evolves. In essence, one must be careful not to try to understand a learner’s playing in terms of the adult life world. As far as a learner is concerned, his play is life fulfilling in itself. In this context this means that a learner views labor, insofar as it appears in his world, as play. Where an adult always sees a specific aim in his playing, for a learner his playing itself is the aim. In this sense, one can say that a learner exists as a totality in his playing activities.
The intensity of a person’s involvement in reality is clearly seen in the nature of a learner’s playing activities. They are always related to some aspect of reality. As a matter of fact, play is one of the forms of a learner’s existence as being in the world. Just as a person exists, as such, in terms of his work, so a learner exists in the world in terms of his playing activities. By playing, a learner creates a real world for himself. If one examines these activities in their original appearance, then they are the realization of his existence in reality. By playing, a learner becomes involved in reality and, therefore, he learns to know those aspects that appear in his playing. For the learner, play is a safe activity. Therefore, he can venture into aspects of reality an adult considers extremely serious like waging war.
Didactically speaking, a learner’s playing means he is given the opportunity to focus on certain aspect of reality, to consider those aspects to be important, to learn to master them, and to orient himself in space, to experience reality, etc.
In this respect, play is a particular ground form of a person’s relationship to reality. It is a ground form that exists among other forms of human activity; it has its own identity and cannot be derived from or reduced to any other ground form.
As a form of existence, play is especially important to a didactician because it offers the possibility of designing a didactic situation in which the learning activity can be realized and the spontaneous studying of a learner can be effectively directed. In this regard, the relationship between playing and learning is of special significance to the didactician.
From an analysis of play, as a didactic form, various didacticians have indicated that learning in a play situation is aimed at the following: physical competences, intellectual competences (applying knowledge), whole areas of knowledge, dispositions and attitudes. The links between playing and learning that can be inferred from this are mainly the following: optic-acoustic oriented learning (i.e., visual-sensory and hearing-sensory learning), method-directed learning (i.e., tactile-sensory and manual dexterity) and creative learning.
A teacher must also realize that play can lose its meaning as a ground form if the didactic situation becomes too mechanical. The danger of mechanizing play is imminent unless one remembers that playing is to take place within a specific space, with previously selected learners in a specific group relationship, and in terms of specific contents or material. The character of achievement, so important in the didactic situation, becomes a part of the didactic situation of play. A learner’s playing is going to be evaluated by the teachers. If the level of achievement does not meet his demands the situation must be repeated to enable a learner to reach the desired level.
The following are always present when play is realized in a didactic situation: achieving, constituting, creating, differentiating, organizing, demarcating, controlling, actively developing the event, people and things relating, orienting, taking standpoints, deciding, etc. In fact, these are the factors that often bring play into motion. These didactic factors are essentially norms.
From the above, the didactic value of play is briefly summarized as follows:
- play creates a bridge between the life worlds of a learner and the adult because of the role and rule games in which a learner participates;
- it also creates a bridge to the adult’s attitude toward work because a learner continually ventures into functional and constructive games;
- play also creates a bridge to creative activities and achievements that are evident in all free and bounded forms of play.
In a play situation a learner discovers ways of exploring reality. This also offers opportunities for expressing physical and intellectual achievements in situations that are positive and formative. These situations also offer opportunities in which cultural techniques (e.g., reading, writing and arithmetic) are placed within his grasp.
Conversation. Conversation is primarily and fundamentally peculiar to a human being’s lifestyle in that it is a way in which he establishes a relationship with reality. This form of living has its origin in the fact that a human being is the only being who possesses language. By means of language it is possible for a person to talk about reality and, in this sense, the didactic category of objectivity in the learning and teaching situation is of vital importance. A person casts his observations, experiences and feelings (including criticisms and judgments) in language. By means of language, as a disclosing medium and even as a signifying function, a person can give meaning to his existence. In this context, the spoken word is a bridge between inner experiences of reality and the external, explainable phenomena in the surrounding world. Language enables him to transpose surrounding reality in such a way that it becomes a spiritual possession.
Human intentionality is clearly evidenced in language. In this sense, language is the form in which one’s conscious striving to achieve (achieving consciousness), i.e., one’s learning, manifests itself. Language makes it possible to know, understand and order a situation before one acts or attempts to answer the appeal coming from the situation [18, 13, 15 p.] This explains why a learner’s mastery of language enables him to view the surrounding reality from a distance or objectively. Mastering language enables him to address reality communicatively and, as such, the appeal of language is the basis of his thinking, i.e., of his conceptual world. This mastery increases his knowledge in the sense that he can give order to things, repeat activities, recognize and use objects and activities, plan an activity for the future, organize various aspects into a whole, etc. By means of language, a learner can create reality for himself, even if it is an abstract reality. Mastering language provides a basis for him to become independently involved in reality.
At this stage it is clear that language is of paramount importance during the course of learning. In this respect, the most important aspects of language are: language is essentially informative; it always discloses something of the contents and their importance in the life world. For this reason, language also is orienting; it indicates both direction and fixed points in reality. Language bridges distances in the life world and also makes knowledge possible by means of experiencing and observing; absent reality is made present because a person can discuss it. Reality can be put in perspective by language so that it can be interpreted within established experiences, observations, knowledge, etc. In this sense, language can free one from the bonds and boundaries of the immediate and present reality or enable one to objectify it.
Language gives order to objects, happenings, expectations, anticipations, characteristics, etc. Order enables one to command reality. It is directed at coordinating aspects of reality that are the same and differentiating between aspects that differ from each other. Thus, the ordering quality of language becomes clear. By means of language, judgments are made, evaluations are done, motives are explained, etc.
It is important for a didactician to understand that conversation is the form in which language, as the vehicle of one’s conscious striving for achievement, is cast. Because it is of utmost importance to realize the forms (forms of living) in which achieving consciousness can be realized in the lesson situation, it is justifiable to examine conversation as a form of living and, therefore, a teaching form.
When an adult implements conversation to unlock an aspect of reality, the realization of a “fruitful moment” is of considerable importance. A “fruitful moment” occurs when an adult manages to create a conversation of such quality that a learner is eager to become involved in the reality under discussion. This entails effort in the sense that a learner is enjoined to make an effort because the adult makes an effort.
Discussion, as a form of teaching, is a problematic matter for an adult because it is not easy to use and it requires well developed competence in its use in creating a spontaneous learning situation.
The conclusion arrived at in discussions (conversations) between adults and between adults and learner is that there is a resonance between the participants in the discussion.
As soon as one partner’s attitudes, preconceptions, opinions, etc. are not tolerated, the discussion ceases to exist. Discussion essentially is a matter of differences of opinion.
Conversation, as a teaching form, has the following variations: in the first instance, there is the generally unbounded, open or free conversation that occurs spontaneously between parents and learner. This kind of conversation does not have a definite aim but is carried on spontaneously during the parent’ and learner’s association with each other. Contents are incidental because the conversation is about things that crop up incidentally and that do not necessarily fall within the scope of the adult’s educative aims.
In contrast, a second form of conversation is highly structured, more bound, clearly directed and restricted. It is consciously planned and initiated by an adult. It is an integral part of an adult’s purposive intervention with a learner. This kind of conversation is, therefore, preeminently an educative or a teaching conversation.
Conversation is an ordinary human form of living it also is an art that can be mastered by practice and concentration. Because conversation, as a form of living, is continually involved in the practice of teaching, as a teaching form, it makes special demands of a foreign language teacher: it requires those competences necessary to use conversation effectively this is apart from his narrative ability or his ability to dramatize a situation. The ways in which conversation, as a didactic ground form, are realized by means of specific methods in the classroom is explained later in this component.
Example (exemplar). Didactic activity always is involved with unlocking reality for a learner. However, reality is too extensive and its contents are too finely differentiated for him merely to acquire a proper grasp of it. In addition, the totality of the surrounding reality no longer is manageable for an adult simply because the scope of both the sciences and techniques developed are so vast that they require increasing specialization. What is true for an adult in this regard certainly is even more so for a learner; the world and reality surrounding him cannot merely be presented to him. To overcome this problem, an adult selects parts or aspects of reality that, in his judgment, offer a valid and representative structure of the surrounding reality. In this way, the example is an indispensable aspect of a person’s grasp of what surrounds him and that can happen to him. In this regard, the example has a specific aim: it serves as the beginning and first ground for a person to be in a position more closely to determine the essence of a particular matter. An example selected in terms of specific criteria must be a primary or first view of what belongs, in principle and in general, to the matter or theme. Irrespective of the fact that example is the beginning ground for presenting a theme or phenomenon, the principles of the particular matter also must appear clearly in the example [11, 57 p.].
The original experience of educating shows that an example is used to give a course to an educative situation. In the spontaneous, original educative situation the use of an example makes a discussion possible about a particular matter because it makes a large number of facts available for analyses, analogies and syntheses. It is here, however, where an adult unlocks an example for a learner in terms of demonstrations and illustrations. Irrespective of this and other possible methods, the principle of the example stands. In the formal didactic situation the example is valid to the extent that a very large portion of classroom teaching is done by means of it as a ground form.
If one eliminates the principle of the example from educating and especially from teaching, as such, collapses. In this respect, the example is one of the ways a human being understands and interprets the reality surrounding him and, therefore, also the way he makes reality available to someone who still has to discover it. In this respect, the example qualifies as a ground form for didactic acts and a didactician has to master the essence and function of this ground form. Further, it is necessary for a didactician to thoroughly know the example as a didactic ground form; otherwise the concept of exemplary teaching will be wanting.
The general aspects of a matter are disclosed in the example. For this reason, an example has an introductory function in the life world. Thus, the function of an example is to make understanding and insight regarding the general possible. Therefore, the first criterion for an example is that it be able to make a universal matter visible.
Often, the example also serves as a model for the objective laws of science. This kind of example especially is observable in physics and subjects such as architecture and music where a model serves to make a particular or abstract aspect of the subject visible and in this way understandable to a learner.
A globe (of the earth), models of atoms and even construction models are variations of this kind of example. Examples also can be implemented to serve as criteria (norms) in terms of which a learner then can gauge his own achievement. Any standardized test used as a norm for a teacher, as well as an examinee is an example of this kind. Finally, the example also can be implemented as exercises in order to practice competences, methods, etc. as one finds in vocationally directed teaching. An example of this kind is when a model office or a filing cabinet is used in business teaching.
The aim of an adult in implementing an example in a teaching situation is summarized as follows: in the first place, he wants to present abstract reality by means of an example so this reality can be made visible or perceivable to a learner. This case involves concretizing abstract reality and, in this way, delimiting particular concepts so a learner can acquire an intellectual grasp of them. In the second place, an adult uses examples to limit the scope of the matter and make small explications available to a learner that then will have a generally valid meaning. In this way it is possible to bring abstract reality into a classroom situation that, in other ways, would not be possible and, in this way, to offer a learner the opportunity for more experience.
Assignment (Giving instructions). Just as was done with the previous didactic ground forms, once again a didactican must turn to the spontaneous human life world to examine “assignment” as a didactic ground form. From a penetration of the spontaneous life world it is seen that the relationship between person and reality is expressed in the activities that he carries out. A human being does not accept reality as it is; he is continually involved in changing it into a life world for himself. Changing the world into a world for himself is seen clearly in the fact that a person is involved in working with reality. When a person acts in reality he always is involved in reality; this also means he is occupied with educative- and teaching-interventions. This working involvement of a person with reality can only be understood properly if one examines the anthropological grounds of work or labor. However, “assignments” cannot be equated with the concept labor or work, and yet one cannot clearly understand the sense and meaning of assignments the adult gives in educating a learner if one does not take the activities that culminate in labor into account.
An adult primarily controls and commands in his activities of labor. Because the concept “labor” actually refers to a person’s daily working activities, a large variety of human activities fall within it such as food processing, industrial production, and medical services. They are all aspects of the human being’s daily working activities. When examining labor (working) as a form of living, it is important to note that a person is not only concerned about the results or fruits of his labor: a human being often labors because of the tasks associated with it [14, 22, 25].
The essential difference between play and labor in constituting a unique life world and the play is directed to a lighter facet of being human while labor essentially is a serious matter directed at a conscious mastery of reality. It is for this reason that labor makes possible a clear judgment of how a human being is involved in reality. In this regard, it also is important to note that labor essentially is a personal matter; work is always performed by a person irrespective of whether he does so in a group or individually.
When a person is engaged in labor his involvement is anchored in the past but also finds its justification in the future. The future dimension of labor becomes clear if one understands that the appeal to work is an inevitable part of a person’s involvement in reality. The aim of labor, the labor itself, and its results are intertwined and are experienced and considered by a person to be a whole. In this sense, labor has a beginning, a course of activities and an end; an individual experiences his laboring in these phases.
A relationship of labor to reality is not one sided in the sense that it merely evolves from reality to an aim of labor but it also is rooted in the human being as the center of a matter of fact reality itself. Consequently, he creates opportunities and situations, but also implements to enable him to labor effectively. Both the situation and implement are meaningless if a person is not involved in the situation as a worker. To labor means to command reality and to employ knowledge and insight resulting from work activities in order to further disclose reality and to establish him in the world. This is of exceptional importance for teaching because labor has a formative value that a teacher cannot ignore in teaching.
The way in which the learning activity of a learner is intertwined with work and the assignment (appeal to duty) arising from it are of great importance to a teacher. Even though learning and working are not identical didactic concepts, a learner studies while working.
To understand the difference between learning and working, consider that learning is not always work but it often is aimed at work. Learning, as such, deals with learning to know or be aware of something while working, as such, involves bringing something about, making something present, i.e., producing something. However, if a learner studies when working, these differences are more closely intertwined. Both learning and working include effort, fatigue and achievement. Because of this intertwining, every work activity can also include a learning activity without the work effort necessarily being directed to or aimed at learning.
As far as assignments are concerned, they assume that previously learned knowledge will be applied so the solutions to new problems can be found and new knowledge can be mastered.
In this context, work and assignments are ways of placing a learner in concrete situations for him to have the opportunity to learn about practical aspects of the life world; they are not necessarily aimed at his future vocation. As far as work or assignments are concerned, in this context they are a means to an end, namely to give a learner the opportunity to learn practical aspects of the life world in concrete situations.
They also provide him with the opportunity to construct a knowledge structure out of the practical concrete data that the life world offers a learner daily. This knowledge structure is essentially abstract and even theoretical but it contributes to elevating a learner’s insight into his own situations. Consequently, concrete and practical situations provide a learner with greater mobility in life situations and that an adult can give a learner certain assignments with the aim of realizing certain educative and teaching aims [14, 38, 44 p.].
2.3 The relationship between didactic ground-forms and teaching methods
In discussing the didactic ground forms it was repeatedly indicated that they are essentials of the human life world. The didactic ground-forms stem from a person’s involvement in reality and are seen in the original experience of educating. They bypass particular school practices and views on methods. It is important to stress that the didactic ground-forms lead further back than a school situation, and also that school practice, as such, cannot make ground forms available for teaching because the teaching situation in school is a second order or derived structure. For this reason, there is a return to the life world to disclose the ground forms in it so that the second order school situation derived from it can be understood better. The task of describing the didactic ground-forms is not primarily to improve practice, as such, but to better understand the practice of teaching in the school [14, 57 p.].
The didactic ground forms in the original life world of persons are not necessarily a matter of unlocking or disclosing reality. One uses these forms to try to realize the aims that go with them. Even so, the didactic ground forms are important to a didactician because they also provide the basis for understanding the ways that are or can be followed for teaching in school. It is for this reason that the ground-forms refer directly to the question of methods (ways) and in this way they build a bridge between the didactic categories and how teaching can make new aspects of life reality accessible to a learner. In the original experience of educating, an adult uses particular forms of living to bring a learner to reality.
A summary of the above introductory remarks about didactic ground-forms and methodology indicates that the ground forms have to do with the ways of actualizing teaching in order to attain the aims contained in them in a meaningful and true to life manner. Because this involves the realization of the didactic, the question of method or way is directly raised.
The question is whether each one of the ground forms individually gives rise to introducing and using certain teaching methods and whether the ground forms, as a whole, ground or underlie methodology.
In order to answer this question it is wise to examine the original facts. Then the methods and ground forms are classified alongside each other and, in light of a teacher’s knowledge of these two structures, he reaches a particular conclusion. Because the spontaneous activity of teaching derives its form from the four ground forms of play, conversation, example and assignment, they provide a possible ground plan for a general methodology that can be used in school to attain didactic aims. In their origin, the didactic ground-forms are forms of living and thus offer a framework for the methods used in the classroom so that these methods will not be foreign to a learner’s experiences [15, 22 p.].
The ground forms, as they appear in a person’s life world, are closely related to the ways he is involved in reality. This means that they also represent ways of being involved in reality that necessarily have pedagogical or even teaching significance. Play, conversation, example and assignment are, therefore, not necessarily or obviously concerned with teaching but they can become matters of teaching if an adult initiates an educative activity with the direct aim of unlocking reality for a learner. This means that when ground forms are actualized, contents are always involved. It is important to mention at this stage that in addition to the relationship between the ground forms and teaching methodology, there are other factors that can influence the form of a lesson such as the way the learning contents are ordered (organized), the readiness of the learner, his situation, etc. However, they cannot principally influence the relationship between the ground forms and teaching methods and therefore, they are put aside for the moment. What is important is that the nature of the contents gives a certain preference to a specific ground form and also can motivate using one or another method (or combination).
If one attempts to organize didactic ground forms with certain teaching methods, the following classification can provisionally clarify the relationship between ground forms and methods:
- play: free-activity, drilling or practicing, experimenting, questioning and answering, demonstrating;
- conversation: questioning and answering, narrating, demonstrating, free-activity;
- example: experimenting, handbook (textbook), demonstrating, questioning and answering, drilling or practicing;
- assignment: handbook (textbook), drilling or practicing, experimenting, narrating, questioning and answering, demonstrating [15, 31 p.].
It is obvious that a certain method (such as narrating or free activity) does not refer only to a specific ground form. In the practice of teaching it is obvious that any ground form can be the basis of any teaching method or combination of methods in a specific situation where contents are exposed. Choosing a ground form and a certain teaching method largely depends on the nature of the contents, the readiness of a learner, the learning aims that a teacher hopes to achieve in a specific lesson, the time available, etc. This relationship will become clearer if the most important and certainly the most conspicuous teaching methods are explained briefly.
Narrating. The method of narrating is certainly the most common in all teaching; it is in general use from pre-primary teaching through the tertiary level. It is often described as a “monologue” to emphasize that a teacher initiates the activity and that a learner is supposed to listen. The narrative method also is described as word painting; describing, explaining, verbally illustrating and detailing that, perhaps, better state the possibilities of this method.
In practical teaching situations, the method of narrating easily moves to group activities. Group activities include dramatizing, fantasy playing, participating in competitive games, etc. and are used depending on the direction in which a teacher wants the situation to move or develop. Regarding the function of this method, it is clear that its origin is in the conversational ground form because language is so central to it. When a teacher uses this method, he speaks to learner. In this sense, the so-called monologue can become a discussion. It is also true that narrating is not limited to conversation as a ground form because giving assignments makes equal use of conversation. On the other hand, dramatization, as a method of teaching, is also not limited to this ground form because it is easy for a teacher to change the ground form; for example, by changing dramatization from discussion to play. This is often the case in teaching poetry, music and sports. It also is possible for narration to change to another form in the same lesson.
When the theme of teaching, for example, is the narrative itself (as in a novel, a short story or a ballad), it is clear that the example, as a ground form, will serve a teacher’s purpose effectively.
Questioning and answering. In the early history of teaching, and certainly from the earliest of times, the method of questioning and answering has played an important role. The reason is teachers have always been involved in helping learner unravel and solve problems, in fostering clear and logical thinking and in guiding them to formulate their ideas accurately. Although the question and answer method is prevalent in all teaching, it is not always recognized that it makes particular demands of a teacher. However, it is one of the most common teaching methods because it is so central to a normal dialogue between people.
In practice, this method is widely applied. Even in modern didactics one encounters the question and answer method in computerized teaching, in learning and class discussions, in controlled discussions, etc. all of which are variations of the ground form of conversation.
Because of its varied possibilities, this method also is suitable for use from the primary to the most advanced classes. Because of its suppleness and wide possibilities of application, this method is indispensable to teaching.
However, questioning and answering is not only limited to conversation as a ground form. In computer assisted teaching, this method can easily become a variation of assignment. Depending on the nature of the contents, an example can be effectively introduced by means of the method of questioning and answering. In the practice of pre-primary teaching, this method very often is implemented with the ground form of play.
The textbook. The textbook, reference book or any other form of the written word is continually introduced in a functional relationship as a method during the course of a teaching situation. Previously, it was thought that a textbook must be inserted between a teacher and a learner as a teaching aid to realize particular teaching aims. Today, the functional meaning of this method is emphasized and is used to foster independent text study and analysis by a learner. Therefore, the library, whatever its composition or scope, plays an important role in teaching when the textbook method is used.
If one closely examines the practice of teaching and the way the textbook functions in it, it is clear that assignment, as a ground form, is the basis for using this method. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that in exemplary teaching, especially in the natural sciences, the written text plays an important and meaningful role as a teaching method. Practice shows that the example, as a ground form, and the assignment often flow into each other. It is especially in the second phase of the exemplary method (where learner and teachers work through an example together) that the textbook fulfills a particularly important function.
To read from a textbook to the class does not mean that the textbook is introduced and used as a teaching method. The textbook method is aimed at most effectively introducing the written word as a means of realizing authentic learning by a learner. By way of summary, the textbook method functions particularly well with the ground forms of assignment and example and that it really doesn’t contribute to teaching cast in the ground forms of play and conversation.
Free activity. The most conspicuous use of free activity as a method is in pre-primary and junior-primary teaching. At this level, free activity flows so naturally out of spontaneous play, as a didactic ground form, that one can hardly overlook its importance.
The aims generally striven for in free activity can vary from free, creative expression, physical, and especially motor forming to providing entertainment for a learner. Because free activity has many creative possibilities, it is a very popular method for teaching subjects such as arts and crafts, modeling lessons, music, rhythmic movements, singing, etc. It is obvious that it offers both a teacher and a learner the opportunity for spontaneous activity and free initiative.
Free activity is often realized by discussion in more advanced classes. In this context one thinks of free discussion where the aim is to provide a learner with the opportunity to use language freely; this is especially important in second language teaching. Because free activity can easily disturb classroom order, it makes particular demands on a teacher’s initiative and competence. To effectively use free activity in a lesson, the teaching aims must always be clearly stated beforehand. In the higher classes where teaching is more formally structured and where teaching is based on assignment and example, free activity has a less important place [9, 15, 18 p.].
Demonstrating. The basis of any demonstration is that it offers a learner the opportunity to observe how someone else has planned and completed a certain task or project. As a method, it is as old as being human and it is observable in the original experience of teaching. In modern times, especially on the basis of Pestalozzi’s theory of direct observation, demonstrating has gained an important place in the methods for teaching all school subjects.
In addition, the developments of natural sciences and related technologies that are reflected in the school curriculum have made this method indispensable in many teaching situations. Demonstrating, as a teaching method, has a uniquely important functional possibility for play, conversation, example and assignment. Consequently, it is not possible to determine which one of these ground forms underlies it. In practice, it is clear that demonstrating can be recognized in each one of the ground-forms. In music teaching and sport training, demonstrating, imitating and repeating are generally common; in these cases, the ground form is play.
In other situations, a teacher literally shows a learner a procedure and asks him to do the same thing in order to teach him certain competences by carrying out certain assignments. Demonstrating is also especially relevant where competences in any practical aspect of teaching is the aim, e.g., in teaching art, in using a microscope in a natural science class, in a geomorphology lesson in geography, etc. It is quite clear that using examples in these situations is equally important. As a method, it cannot be coupled with one particular ground-form; even its origin cannot be found in a particular ground form. The fact is, the ground forms jointly constitute the ways of actualizing this method in a didactic situation and thus each of the ground-forms possesses in itself the possibility of demonstrating. The crux of the matter is that in every case of demonstrating, a teacher must possess the necessary competences, continually assess its effectiveness and continually practice all of the competences associated with it [9, 32, 34 p.].
Experimenting. Aristotle maintained that all scientific proof is provided only by means of the inductive method. His reasoning led to the establishment and prominence of the experiment as a method. Apart from this formidable support, the idea of experimenting has gained even more support because of the conviction that it has exceptional validity if a learner is given the opportunity to experience reality directly in a learning situation. If one includes the principle of discovery, the interest in and application of experimenting as a method in modern didactics are quite understandable.
As far as the origin of experimenting is concerned in relation to the didactic ground forms, it is possible to relate it directly to the example. In fact, experimenting mainly involves the discovery of reality by means of a specific example in order eventually to arrive at a generally valid pronouncement concerning the phenomenon or object. For this reason, experimenting is especially prominent in such subjects as physics, biology and geography.
Apart from the example as the basis for experimenting, it also can be identified in certain expressions of play and assignment. Good examples of this are in teaching art and music (play as ground form) and agricultural education (assignment as ground form). If technical apparatus is introduced from conversation as a ground form in language teaching, it is quite possible to speak of the experimental method even in this kind of subject. One hesitates to indicate directly conversation as a ground form because implementing a technical apparatus refers much more to the exemplary approach than to conversational teaching, as such.
Drill work (practice, exercise). The mere fact that a learner understands certain contents is no guarantee that his insight will be lasting. For this reason, a teacher uses the drill or practice method in an attempt to guarantee that a learner’s grasp of facts and competences become a part of him, enabling him to apply insights and competences in the further course of the didactic situation as well as in other similar circumstances or problem situations. Ordinary classroom teaching shows that the drill method can be the outcome of all four didactic ground forms. In the preprimary and junior primary school drill or practice often takes the form of games (play). With older learner the example and assignment are more prominent. Most contemporary mathematics and science syllabi make use of the example but sufficient drill work and exercises are provided for a specific theme to ensure the effective transfer of insights to related or succeeding themes. An experienced a teacher knows that drill work and exercise very often manifest themselves in particular assignments that, in this respect, are a familiar aspect of a didactic situation. Here one can think of memorizing the times tables and practicing algorithms. The usefulness of drill work in the ground-forms of play, example, and especially assignment are even clear when the drill activities of an adult are viewed.
It is important to note that the ground forms, as such, are not determined by the possible forms of ordering learning contents but that the ground forms do offer the way for possible variations in organizing contents. One thinks here of the chronological, symbiotic and progressive ordering of contents. The implication is that the ground forms are not a curtailment of a teacher’s initiative. Each ground form provides room for all of the forms of ordering learning contents, separately and also together. The forms of ordering contents are always a matter of didactic reasoning for the sake of reconstituting reality in formal situations. This means that ordering learning contents, as such, does not have a primary structure, but is meaningful in so far as it exposes contents in the second order structure of the school [9, 44, 46 p.].
Thus, the principles of ordering learning material cannot have a primary influence on the theory of the ground forms, while the ground forms, as the basis of a general methodology, create room for particular forms of ordering.
2.4 Principles of ordering (organizing, arranging) learning contents
A teacher’s first aim, therefore, is to integrate his own knowledge of the contents, his teaching competences, his experiences and his knowledge of a learner before him in order to design the most effective ways that the particular contents can be meaningfully unlocked for each learner. In penetrating the contents, a teacher searches for centers of gravity within the contents, key concepts and even points of view that clearly indicate where possible points of access to the contents are, as well as where particular bottlenecks can arise for a learner. In this penetration of the contents a teacher is directed to allowing their essences to appear. Then, he can take up in a problem all of these specific essences in light a learner’s foreknowledge of them. In this way a teacher can ensure that a learner receives the full benefit of his preparation and planning.
These are the primary responsibilities concerning contents that a teacher must be able to account for. However, he must also take into consideration a learner for whom the lesson is intended. His main aim is to clearly identify the most dependable and effective means of helping a learner grasp the contents. Hence, he also orders the contents in such a way that a learner can follow the line of thought that is carried through the design of the lesson. If the contents are not ordered in terms of a learner’s possibilities, he easily wanders from the correct course for solving the problem. If the learners examine and discover the essences of the contents with a teacher, an ordering of them is of great importance for providing a clearly defined course for a learner’s learning activities to follow. This is a fundamental pedagogic condition for a learner to experience security regarding the contents [10, 12, 15 p.].
At this stage two aspects are identified that will influence a teacher’s ordering contents. On the one hand, the learner’s readiness to understand and accept the contents is of exceptional importance; on the other hand, the nature and structure of the subject from which the teaching theme is drawn will equally influence the ordering. Each subject has its own inherent order that a teacher must take into account when preparing his lesson. This is a matter of particular importance in insuring that a learner will fully understand and grasp the meaning of the contents.
In terms of these aims, a teacher must establish whether the learners are capable of following an abstract discourse or explanation. Further, he must establish whether they can proceed from the known to the unknown by means of a steep spiral, as it were, or whether they are only capable of following him along a smooth, level horizontal line of reasoning. These factors are of equal importance with respect to ordering the contents. It is in light of these questions that a teacher schematizes the contents and seeks the most appropriate and effective didactic ground forms as well as the effective methods for introducing the contents in a lesson
Chronological ordering. As its name indicates, this principle of ordering teaching contents is concerned with organizing them in terms of time. Various subjects or parts of subjects have a historical nature. This means that they reflect the course of history and that they essentially have a time orienting function and meaning. Many human activities, traditions, aspects of lifestyle, the economy, etc. are developed in time. The succession of these aspects represents the culmination of human history, for instance Greek and Roman civilization, the Renaissance, Gothic architectural style, the emergence of the natural sciences, and the first voyages into space. There also are sequences within the different occurrences that are, e.g., political, economic and social. The Middle Ages occurred before the Renaissance, the Portuguese Empire before the British Empire, steam locomotives before electric trains, etc. It is only logical that ordering these contents in teaching is according to the time they occurred.
Understanding one period is often a precondition for understanding the next. For example, it is very difficult to understand the Reformation if one does not understand the situation of the Church during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
When a teacher orders learning contents according to the course of history, he is using the chronological principle of ordering. The value of the narrative teaching method is quite obvious in this form of ordering. a teacher who is a gripping storyteller can vitalize the contents for a learner whether the theme is the history of Richard the Lion Heart or the history of atomic theory.
Symbiotic ordering. The concept “symbiotic” literally means to live together. Therefore, subjects with a symbiotic nature have their origin in life, as such (e.g., biology), but also includes subjects that have their origin in human society (e.g., economics). Symbiotic ordering, therefore, is inherent in those subjects that directly reflect the relationship between person and world, which means the relationship between persons and their surroundings (nature, persons and fellow-persons, person and God). The point of departure in symbiotic ordering is reality itself: the fountain, the manufacture of clothing or the cultivation of agricultural products. Where the contents are ordered symbiotically, a foreign language teacher’s aim is to bring a learner into direct contact with reality as far as this is possible. The idea is that a learner must understand his existence in the surrounding world. Symbiotic ordering is not only confined to a single lesson or series of lessons; it is equally valid in designing a curriculum. In this case, the curriculum is not designed in terms of a number of school subjects but in terms of the nature of the contents as they appear in concrete reality.
Because the ordering occurs on the basis of what is actual for a learner, i.e., within the framework of reality as life reality, the concept of the “principle of actualization” also is applicable to this ordering. The idea behind this particular ordering possibly can be clearly expressed with the example of a teacher dealing with the theme of “types of leaves”. One possibility is to deal with this theme in class with prints and drawings or to take a learner out of the classroom, refer them to various trees and give each learner the opportunity to pluck a leaf off that he then studies later in greater detail. By its nature, the symbiotic principle refers to the second possibility. [10, 20, 34 p.].
Linear ordering. a teacher often treats the contents analytically by strictly reducing them to their essences in order, for example, to explain causality by means of a number of sequential facts. In this manner, one fact leads to the next as a result or a cause. The facts pertaining to cause and effect are dealt with consecutively of linearly. One fact is not more or less important than another, they are all on the same level of importance in order to explain the phenomenon.
Linear ordering of learning contents is arranging them in a consecutive, related sequence of facts, from the first to the last, by means of which a certain structure, experiment or military battle, e.g., forms a complete whole. It is only logical that the integration of consecutive facts into a meaningful whole is an important final phase in teaching for both foreign language teachers and learner because both must create a synthesis out of the analysis.
The linear form of ordering is clearly correlated with example as ground-form. An example serves as the point of departure to isolate or generalize the specific characteristics of an object or phenomenon. We see this clearly in botany.
In other school subjects, the experiment and related teaching methods are equally dependent on linear ordering. Here the aim is to systematize the sequence of facts clearly and unambiguously.
The crux of this approach is that the features, characteristics, preconditions, etc. that describe a particular matter in its essences eventually are united or integrated into a totality-image. What is said here regarding the correlation between the linear form of ordering and example as a ground form also holds for play as a ground-form, and in particular with experimenting that, as a method, is rooted in play. Where there is experimenting, a teacher and learner are going to work analytically. The same can also be said about the didactic ground-forms of assignment and conversation where contents also are naturally broken up and then can be integrated into a totality-image. The deduction is that the linear way of ordering does not necessarily imply only one of the didactic ground-forms for unlocking the contents [10, 50, 55 p.].
Divergent ordering. In addition to the symbiotic, chronological and linear forms of ordering, the divergent form also is differentiated. Divergent ordering means that a teacher gives a systematic account of a topic by taking his point of departure from a certain center that then is expanded from all sides to include various areas of knowledge that are related to the theme, as such. By ordering a theme in this way, it then is possible to arrive at other themes that can be integrated with it.
This ordering is especially important in project teaching where contents usually are constructed around a specific theme. An example is a project such as “providing water for a city”. Apart from such aspects as sources of water, geo-morphology, water requirements for the economy, water pollution, technical problems in providing water, water purification, etc., and the theme expands to include other themes such as the industrial development of the city, preparing personnel for the industries, the question of housing, the provision of other services, etc.
Divergent ordering makes it possible to move naturally from one theme to another, provided they are contextually related. As a form of ordering learning contents, its main aim is to remove the boundaries between the contents. Perhaps the point of departure for this particular ordering is the notion that a learner, as a totality, is capable of experiencing the surrounding cultural and material world as a whole. In this respect, the principle of integration, included in divergent ordering, tries to maintain the unity of reality.
Spiral ordering. The final form of ordering considered is spiral ordering.
This ordering is used especially when a teacher aims at working concentrically, i.e., when he leads a learner from a general and uniform understanding of a theme to a more complex level. Thus, his point of departure is the simplest aspect of a theme or problem in terms of which he then leads a learner to a mastery of its more involved and complex structures.
As noted above, spiral ordering and the concentric principle of teaching are closely related. Concentric teaching takes into account that a learner is not capable of fully understanding all of the aspects of a theme at a certain age. Hence, the idea is to expose a learner repeatedly to certain aspects of, for example, history or mathematics, in accordance with his level of readiness. In this way a teacher tries to insure that the degree of complexity of the contents is spread over a number of years as a learner becomes affectively and intellectually ready to deal with greater complexities.
In practice, spiral ordering normally culminates in grouping learner according to age and this is the basis of the learning readiness of a learner in a particular group or grade. To repeat an example that is used from time to time in this text, the spiral ordering of the theme “climatology” could be the following: because the climatological factors of location and geomorphology have such an elementary relationship in equatorial climatic regions, a teacher will deal with this topic first. In terms of the relationship between these factors, he will then consecutively deal with the savannah region, the warm deserts, the warm east coast regions and eventually the Mediterranean region. The reason is obviously that the interplay of factors producing, e.g., the winter rainfall region is much more complex than that of those producing the equatorial climatic region.
2.5 Methodological principles
The inductive and deductive methods are dealt with in the didactic literature. Because the inductive and deductive methods have fundamental significance in a lesson situation, it is more accurate to speak of them as methodological principles or approaches. In normal teaching there is often an interchange in using the principles of induction or deduction in the same lesson. Therefore, it is quite correct to speak of an inductive-deductive or deductive-inductive approach in the same lesson.
The inductive principle. Socrates’ question-method is probably the origin of the inductive approach. Although he made use of other methodological principles, the method he primarily used was inductive in nature.
Comenius later revived this idea by initiating the ordering of contents according to the principle “from the known to the unknown” because the inductive method proceeds from the parts to the whole. The concept “synthesis” is closely related to the inductive approach. As a methodological principle it understandably has many possibilities for teaching.
The best known of these possibilities are those in which the results of an occurrence are examined to establish their causes. In this case, the point of departure is the known or directly present or concretely observed; from here one proceeds to the unknown or abstract. Because the procedure is to move from the known to the unknown, it also is called the principle of discovery. The advantages of this approach are self-evident. Because inductive teaching follows a step by step approach, it is a safe method of discovery for a learner. If also offers an opportunity to clearly understand different points of view and this in turn makes it possible to apply new knowledge and insight accurately.
Furthermore, this principle makes certain demands of a learner, especially regarding his observation and judgment. In this sense the idea of induction rests on the responsibility of a learner in the ordinary class-room situation. Discovery that is so conspicuous in learning is effectively reflected in the discovery so basic to the inductive approach. Certain subjects such as elementary science, grammar and even arithmetic, can be understood effectively by means of the inductive approach. This is an important approach, especially for younger learner, because the exploration is carried or directed by a learner’s spontaneous-affective attunement or approach to the surrounding reality. A learner’s practical-active form of living is clearly reflected in the quality of generalization that is so characteristic of the inductive approach.
There are, however, certain disadvantages to this approach. In the first place, it has a slow tempo. It is also obvious that this approach relies on a learner’s observation and his ability to follow a teacher’s analysis. A learner must also be capable of placing the identified essence in a synthesis in the sense that he must eventually understand the generalization. The inductive principle also relies on a teacher’s exceptional competence during his preparation as well as his handling of the contents in the class. This is especially true as far as the eventual integration of the new contents with a learner’s prior knowledge is concerned.
The deductive principle. Aristotle was probably the first major exponent of the deductive approach. Long after induction had been accepted as a principle in scientific thinking, deduction was still evident in teaching. As with the inductive, various concepts are also associated with the deductive principle. Deduction is actually based on a syllogism; i.e., a statement is made, a comparison is made and a conclusion is reached.
The analysis associated with this approach is very important because its point of departure is a general rule or a whole. The analysis is then directed at identifying the particulars or parts before assembling them in a synthesis. In contrast to the inductive approach, the deductive approach has its origin in a generalization (rule or law) in terms of which the particulars are systematized in order to prove the validity of the generalization.
The most important advantage of the deductive principle for teaching is that it makes an accelerated teaching tempo possible. A learner does not discover the answer; it is given to him and his task is to prove the validity of the answer by analysis. Consequently, the deductive approach is considered to be more effective for more advanced learner.
Disadvantages of the deductive approach include the following: as far as a learner is concerned, it is generally a more rigid approach than the inductive. The generalization and analysis that must be made are not necessarily part of a learner’s horizon of knowledge or a part of his previous experiences. If a learner does not clearly understand the general law or rule that is taken as the point of departure for learning, this can easily give rise to memorization, learning without insight or even faulty conclusions. It is also noteworthy that the character of discovery, so prominent in the inductive approach, is entirely absent in the deductive principle.
Because the inductive and deductive principles function in particular ways in unlocking the contents, a teacher must carefully consider the use of these methodological principles in designing each lesson. Since the nature of the learning contents, the readiness of the learner, the teaching conditions, the available teaching and learning aids, the time available, etc. are all factors that influence teaching, a teacher’s choice of one of the two or a combination of the two methodological principles is of particular importance. The correctness of his choice will depend on his didactic insights.
The discussion of the forms of teaching presented in this component emanate from the forms of living of persons in the life world that have didactic meaning in the original experience of educating. The ground-forms distinguished (play, conversation, example and assignment) are forms of teaching or forms in which teaching can be realized because parents use them to direct their learner’s spontaneous going out to reality. It is important for a teacher to take note of this so that at least he can explain the form of his practice and, in addition, can account for his practice because teaching in a second order situation (school) does not necessarily or generally proceed spontaneously. Hence, a teacher must take responsibility for consciously and purposefully creating a didactic situation as well as for its good course and results.
Aside from the didactic ground forms, the teaching methods used also color the form of the lesson. It is indicated that any ground form in terms of any general method or combination of methods can serve as the foundation of a particular lesson situation. Because contents always arise directly in a didactic situation, the way the contents are ordered was also investigated and it was concluded that the choice of a particular ordering is the result of a teacher’ reflection on the unique nature of the subject and the readiness of a learner for whom the teaching is intended.
In addition, it was indicated that the ordering influences the form of a lesson in such a way that the course of unlocking the contents proceeds differently with different orderings of the contents. Apart from ordering the contents, the point of departure in presenting the contents, as such, is important in the sense of the point from which a teacher presents them. In other words, the principle or approach regarding this is investigated because the approach taken also gives a particular course and form to a lesson. Consequently, the inductive and deductive principles or approaches were discussed successively.