Group items tagged

Table 1. SLA Competencies / Skills and Learner Activities

Moore and Kearsly (2005) have identified this concept as “transactional distance.”

Modeling -- involves an expert's carrying out a task so that student can observe and build a conceptual model of the processes that are required to accomplish the task. For example, a teacher might model the reading process by reading aloud in one voice, while verbalizing her thought processes (summarize what she just read, what she thinks might happen next) in another voice. Coaching - consists of observing students while they carry out a task and offering hints, feedback, modeling, reminders, etc. Articulation - includes any method of getting students to articulate their knowledge, reasoning, or problem-solving processes. Reflection - enables students to compare their own problem-solving processes with those of an expert or another student. Exploration - involves pushing students into a mode of problem solving on their own. Forcing them to do exploration is critical, if they are to learn how to frame questions or problems that are interesting and that they can solve (Collins, Brown, Newman, 1989, 481-482).