American Progressive Educational Practices
and Their Application in Foreign Language Accusation –

A Historical Prospective

Dawn Yonally, Ph.D.

Global Institute of Management and Economics

Dongbei University of Finance and Economics

Dalian, China

Education in the United States is a mosaic that has evolved over two hundred years. These advancements have occurred through research, international connections, historical developments and political changes. This journey has forever changed the face of American education.

John Dewey (1859 - 1952) is considered the father of American educational philosophy. He is well known for stating, school is a reflection of society, values are relative to social situation of a country and democracy would be wide-spread accepted by rational people. He believed in active participation by learners. In addition, they should be exposed to many different subjects at school, so they can make informed decisions concerning what they are interested pursuing in the future.

Historical documents have had a profound effect on educational development. The American Declaration of Independence states that “all men (people) are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” – rights such as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In addition, the U.S. Constitution reports that the purpose of government is to secure rights and broadens the purposes of government to include forming “a more perfect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

How does effect education? It gives value and direction. They help direct the schools’ roles in student-teacher relations. Students are to participate in governance of the school. Student-teacher-parent-district are to form a strong bond and support each other. Parents are to be involved in district review committees. There are rules guiding student participation and behavior on school campuses. District-state-federal policies and issues are divided to provide separate levels of support and responsibilities. District-teacher negotiations are held to be right of local control for districts. This division of responsibilities reflects commitment of local control, personalization and involvement. These partnerships have a direct effect on innovation, educational excellence and student-centered education.

What is the role of curriculum theory and where does it come from? First, it comes from the social situation - historical and cultural issues which are formed by and are forming a people or nation (Ornstein, 1989; Bloom, 1987). Secondly, is the current political situation (Apple, 1988). This includes the constitution of the nation or state, the Department of Education, and the policy makers in the legislature (Timar and Kirp, 1988). Thirdly, the experience of, and experiments concerning, the learners and the learning process of which there are three: a. psychology of learning, b. all experimental data and c. teacher-student experience (Shulman, 1987). The philosophy of education focuses on the values about the nature of humanity, the purpose of life and on personal relations which form the core issues of any particular philosophy (Bell and Schniedewind, 1987).

What aspects of life does curriculum theory spring? There are four areas of life: political, social, economic and religious (Schubert, 1985; Waks, 1988). The four values of American education are a combination of sociological descriptions (Wildavsky, Rokeach). The first is freedom: corporate, economic, personal and religious. The second is the nuclear family as the foundation of society. The third is the value of the individual, within the group; therefore, equality of opportunity between individuals. Lastly, personal and social justices (Gutmann, 1990) are important values in curriculum theory.

So, what does that look like in the classroom? One model is the ADDIE Model. It is a systematic instructional design model with five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation.

In the analysis phase the designer identifies the learning situation, the goals and objectives. The audience’s needs, existing knowledge and any other relevant characteristics must all be considered. The learning environment aspects include the constraints, delivery options and timeline for the project. Each situation is different and must be taken into account. For example, the age of the learner, what is to be learned, the available resources such as the building, educators, teaching supplies and setting must be considered.

The design phase is a systematic process of specifying learning objectives. They consist of detailed storyboards and prototypes. They are very descriptive. Graphic design is an important element to help explain the learning objectives. User-interface is of prime importance and the content is determined by the educator to best help the learner achieved the state objectives. The design phase is the actual creation and production storyboards and prototypes to depict the objectives. Content and the learning materials are based on the design phase.

During the development phase instructional designers and developers create and assemble the content. Programmers develop and/or integrate technologies, and debug if e-learning is involved. The feedback is reviewed and needed changes are completed.

Implementation is when the plan is put into action. Procedures for training the learner and teacher are developed. Materials are delivered or distributed to the student groups and the effectiveness of the training materials is evaluated.

Evaluation is divided into two parts: the formative evaluation - each stage of the process and the summative evaluation consists of tests designed for criterion-related referenced items and providing opportunities for feedback from the users. Revisions are made as needed at this stage.

Two people who had major influences in American education are Jean Piaget (1896-1980) and Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896 – 1934). Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and educator, whose major contribution was to learning theories based on different stages in the development of children's intelligence. Vygotsky (Russian: Лев Семёнович Вы’готский or Выго’тский, born Лев Симхович Выгодский - Simkhovich Vygodsky) was a Russian psychologist, the founder of an original holistic theory of human cultural and biosocial development commonly referred to as cultural-historical psychology.

Piaget’s theory addressed cognitive development and stated children construct their knowledge. He was the first one to attempt to explain development. His theory is now considered reasonably accurate overview of how children of different ages think. The body of work he generated over his lifetime had a major influence on the way people viewed children’s social and emotional development, education and influenced future research.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective is concerned with the social origins of early cognitive competencies. He concluded many discoveries active learners make occur in collaborative dialogue with a tutor. This has been referred to as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZDP). This explains the difference between what a learner can do independently and what can be done with guidance.

The Zone of Proximal Development has tools for intellectual adaptation. Vygotsky believes children are born with elementary mental functions - attention and memory. Culture transforms these into higher mental functions and culture specific tools allow the use of the basic functions. These functions are adaptive to different cultures. Children learn to use the language and writing tools of their culture and this can affect development.

Vygotsky also addressed the social origins of early cognitive competencies. Many discoveries active learners make occur in collaborative dialogue with a tutor. There are difference between what a learner can do independently and what can be done with guidance.

The term of scaffolding is another major contribution of Vygotsky’s work. Scaffolding is the tailoring of support to a learner near the limit of capability. Scaffolding occurs when the educator guides the learner threw progressively more complicated stages, building for previous knowledge.

But what are the implications for education? Students must be active, not passive when learning. Educators must assess what is known to estimate capabilities of the learner. Guided participation structured by teachers, who would gradually turn over more of activity to students, is an integral part. Through cooperative learning exercises students help educate each other. It is extremely effective as students guide each other from the unknown to the known.

Constructism is a learning theory that was built on theories of Piaget and Vygotsky which is based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. During constructism learners construct their own understanding, develop knowledge of the world, through experiencing and reflecting on those experiences.

Constructivist view of learning utilizes different teaching practices. It encourages students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem-solving), to create more knowledge and to reflect on and talk about what they are doing. Students understand changes through experiments and real-world problem-solving. Teacher makes sure he/she understands the students' preexisting conceptions and guides the activity to address them and then build on them. Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding and through questioning themselves. Students in the constructivist classroom ideally become expert learners, and have ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn how to learn.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) in school is based on Vygotsky’s research. Students explore a topic; produce a written or oral presentation. Presentation media may include photos, video and audio. Written presentation may be a standard hard copy written paper.

Assessment of PBL uses rubrics. They communicate expectations of quality and content. The development of a rubric is crucial. Students should help develop assessment criteria and learn to self-assess. Students learn to assess other students’ work using multiple methods of assessment. It is authentic assessment. (See example below)

Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum in a recent book, That Used to be US” What Went Wrong with America - and How it Can Come Back, have updated some of these aspects. Thomas Friedman is best known for his runaway hit, The World is Flat, which explored how people and nations can be successful and are connected. In one chapter Friedman and Mandelbaum addressed education and wrote about work of Tony Wagner, who is the Innovative Education Fellow at the Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. He authored The Global Achievement Gap, Learning to Innovate and Innovating to Learn. He believes all students must be proficient is in critical thinking, effective oral and written communication and collaboration. He refers to these as the three Cs. “It is about asking the right questions – rather than about memorizing the right answers.” These accurately reflect the works of Piaget and Vygotsky.

Education in the United States has been allowed to draw from many sources – research, historical, political and international. The bringing together of these will yield the brightest future for all involved. The success or survival of a culture may depend on it.

References

1. Apple, Michael. (1979). Ideology and Curriculum. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

2. Apple, Michael. (1988). "School Crisis and Curriculum Accords," Educational Theory, 38:2.

3. Bell, Lee and Schniedewind, Nancy. (1987). "Reflective minds/intentional hearts," Journal of Education, 169:2, 55-77.

4. Bloom, Alan. (1987). The Closing of the American Mind. NY: Simon and Schuster.

5. Dick, W., & Carey, L. (1996). The Systematic Design of Instruction (4th Ed.). New York: Haper Collins College Publishers.

6. Gutmann, Amy. (1990). "Democratic education in difficult times," Teachers College Record, 92:1.

7. Leshin, C. B., Pollock, J., & Reigeluth, C. M. (1992). Instructional Design Strategies and Tactics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Education Technology Publications.

8. Ornstein, Allan. (1989). "Private and Public Schools Comparisons," Education and Urban Society, 21:2, 192-206.

9. Rokeach, Milton. (1973). The nature of human values. NY: Macmillan.

10. Schubert, W. (1985). "The foundational character of curriculum inquiry," Educational Considerations, 12:1, 4-7.

11. Shulmann, L. S. (1987). "Knowledge and teaching," Harvard Educational Review, 57:1, 1-22.

12. Timar, Thomas and Kirp, David. (1988). Managing Educational Excellence. NY: Falmer.

13. Wildavsky, Aaron. (March, 1987). "Choosing preferences by constructing institutions: A cultural theory," APSR 81:1, 3-21.

14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMeVx17lKbc&feature=youtu.be