Andragogy?
When we at NTI started to take the assessment, not any of us had a clue what "Andragogy" was or meant. The Instructors commented that they must be really stupid not to know. I told them that terminology is relative. A PHD in Psychology would probably not have a clue what a "wrist pin" is. But, the Technical Instructor and the PHD can educate themselves to gain the knowledge of both terms. This is the same with our students. We will need to learn different ways to introduce new terms and concepts so the student can gain the knowledge to apply in real life.
These large words are often times expected to be education dependent, by that I mean it is as was stated before, depending on your field of expertise. There is one thing I noticed of late, say the last 25 years or so, our children are learning fewer and fewer words, most of the words they know have only 4 letters, and used to not be used on TV. We have excused ourselves from teaching kids anything real, no vocabulary for basic speech and understanding. I know there are some that aren't going to learn that well, but we're not even trying any more. I have students that don't know what adjacent is. I have to simplify it to two words, one of which is limited to only 4 letters, the other one has only two. "Next to" for adjacent. Why don't our kids know that stuff? It is my opinion that we have allowed ourselves and our kids to become mentally lazy, not exercising the mind makes it weak and unable to learn. I am excited about learning new things, and new words, and many of the people I teach are interested in learning new things, but we've also allowed ourselves to limit what we will learn by how hard it is or appears. Why shy away from it, open a dictionary and learn. We have to motivate our students to want to learn new things, and show how beneficial it is to know some of the things that they think are too hard to learn.
Hi Phillip! I share and applaud your comments. I think, at least in the career education industry, there is a gradual shift toward teaching to the different learning styles, improving student oral and written communication skills, and using more realistic assessments to measure student learning.
Given that though, it is imperative that we maintain our expectations of our students and, as you referenced, motivate them to want to learn more.
I know of many teachers, including myself, that have integrated vocabulary activities, business communication exercises and critical skills development into their instruction, regardless of the subject matter of the course.
Thanks for your input!
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
At times I will find myself using indusrty lingo help the students understand the definition of the term.
Yes, thanks Ben, lingo that is pertinent to the subject or trade can help students with their understanding of a definition or procedure, plus it also helps prepare them for their workplace.
Jay
ED106
I find that students also "beat themselves up" when another student understands a term that he/she doesn't. I always stress to my class that they are not lacking intelligence, what they are lacking is experience. I never want my class to feel that even I am “smarter” than they are, I simply have gained years of experience. We as instructors can, through the mixture of lab and class time, help them gain that experience and guide them on how to continue to build on that knowledge as their career progresses.
reading all kinds of books helps open up the a persons vocab
Even with a good vocab. Industry lingo's can be confusing. I try and remember that these students have never heard this stuff before.
Do you suggest reading for them? Most of our students are here to learn a vocation, and most have a good idea of what area they want to work in. I give my students suggestions for reading in their area of individual inerests.
I'm with you on that. I tell my students wording is everything. Before you ask for a part from a salesman at the counter understand what it is you're asking for. Not for just a part
It can be tough to motive generation Y to read for fun especially gearheads for some reason. Assigning chapter reading of my subject has never gone over well, however if I suggest reasearching some technical aspect from a CAR magazine they can dig up ten magazines and dig for hours to find the answer. Even if the subject is a liitle far from my course, the reading of any technical information relating to the automobile is valuable.
I have students that don't know what adjacent is. I have to simplify it to two words, one of which is limited to only 4 letters, the other one has only two. "Next to" for adjacent. Why don't our kids know that stuff? It is my opinion that we have allowed ourselves and our kids to become mentally lazy, not exercising the mind makes it weak and unable to learn. I am excited about learning new things, and new words, and many of the people.
I agree... there are many things in elementary school that we learned and that are not taught anymore. Writing and speaking and learning skills have been relegated as students are encouraged to multitask and be creative and express themselves without the constraints of grammar and mechanics. I find that to be true in the high schools I taught at, at the colleges I taught at, and with the freelance writers I work with at my publishing job, also. Nobody knows how to spell, how to use language consistently and correctly, or how to organize information; nobody knows how or when to use lower frequency vocabulary, or why not to use text-speak in professional or academic writing. But the pendulum of elementary learning processes and pedagogy swings every few years, so maybe soon we will find students coming through our classes with a different skills set in the coming years.
Hi Philip and all,
I teach high school as well as online college courses, so I see a fair number of young students and students with limited education. In a set of courses I have taught online, there were discussion questions that were aimed at students and their comfort with a authors. Many students will say that they do not read. It seems to me that this is one of the major contributing factors to a lack of vocabulary and writing skills. As for andragogy (or the teaching of adults--don't be impressed; I looked it up) jargon can be useful, but it is often used as a means by which to justify supercilious behavior.
I would fall back on the idea that you cannot learn vocabulary in isolation, so if your colleagues use andragogy in their discourse, then get to know it. Otherwise, it is probably unimportant. This is not to suggest that new information is unimportant if those you know do not use it. My concern is that students, especially older students may not have the flexibility to acquire new values (ones that include a quest for knowledge).
Assuming that learning as a value is worthwhile, how can we instill it, promote it, and teach it in effective ways?
I sometimes break up a chapter and assign sections to two or three people at a time. I talk to them about looking for what they think is important and to try and paraphrase in one to three minutes or two or three sentences depending on the length of the article. This gives me an idea of how they are comprehending the book as well as how they are looking for info. Also helps them start to learn how to read a textbook again. I ask them to see what info other teachers are using from reading assisnments. I ask them to look for patterns in the teachers'lessons.
I teach writing and have found a good exercise to show students that what counts is often just a certain way of saying something, not the idea itself, that they need to learn. I call it Translating from Regular Language to Business Prose. I take a typical article (written in "business" prose) and copy a sentence; then I write my "translation" expressing the same thought using "regular" language. I make up a worksheet with a few examples they have to "translate" from regular to business and vice versa, then have volunteers put their versions on the board. It also helps them visualize how many different ways there are to say essentially the same thing.
Do you ever have students who then get obnoxious because you are making them use what they perceive as overly convoluted terminology?
Why use a small word when a diminutive one will suffice?
I find that assigning various readings or portions of chapters to students during class and having them summarize what they have read helps me to determine if they are understanding the material. But more importantly, their summaries sometimes help other students to understand the material, as well.
I like the philosophy of helping students differentiate between intelligence and experience. Vocabulary is one of those learning skills that some are quicker to pick up than others. Some people require experience with the concept around that word to really learn the word while others are able to learn the word through reading definitions.
Student vocabulary and writing is one of those learning skills that needs to be nurtured and taught, not just attained through osmosis.
Kristin Hayes
