“Of course we all know Genki English works great because we see it every time on the kids’ faces” (2009 online) Richard Graham, founder of GenkiEnglish, presenting the ‘evidence’ that his method “really, really works”
“both kids and teachers told us it really works” Video extolling the virtues of Mindfulness training in classrooms.
Teachers using BrainGym continue to this day, despite all the evidence against it, continue to insist that it works.
“In the final analysis, like any other methodology, [neuro-linguistic programming]NLP will work or not for an individual teacher because it is right for them and not because it is scientifically proven or not.” (Harris 2002:37)
I cannot really say that these doubts have completely disappeared but I can say that ,little by little, I BELIEVE that the magic of NLP can actually come true. I am really conscious that the changes I am experiencing with myself and with my students in class…How do I know is it working? Because I can see it in my students´faces, gestures and attitudes (Esteve online)
Carl Sagan’s baloney detection kit, is a good place for teachers to start. In this case, the following principle might be useful:
wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts
But what does “work” mean here anyway? If you want to test something then it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of what it is you want to test. Does “work” mean “make the students happy” or “allow me to skive off the lesson” or “make me, the teacher, feel good about myself” or “increases the chances the group of students will become more proficient”? If you don’t know what “works” means then it’s meaningless to say that something works.
no one is impervious to this kind of thinking, which is why we do need evidence that our practices work, or at least, the ability to weed-out those which really do not. Fifty years ago teachers were making their students listen and repeat and declaring that “it really works!” and 20 years ago communicative language teaching came and that “really worked” too and now Dogme “really works!” If all these methods work, why do we keep changing them?
part 2 is here
for more about GenkiEnglish read this.
NB: If you want to read a blog which basically says everything I do, except funnier and before me, then check out this one.
references
Graham. R, (2009) Academic Research: Genki English really, really works. In Genki English. Retrieved May 7 2012, from http://genkienglish.net/teaching/academic-research-genki-english-really-really-works
Another great article. I always approach these claims with a grain of salt, but I've made some bad picks in my day too.
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Thanks for the comment! Haven't we all?
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Excellent post. I firmly believe that we, as teachers, must always be examining what we are doing. I also believe that it is misguided to ever believe there will ever be \”one method\” that \”works\”. Great job raising the question and pushing us to never be complacent!John Pfordresher
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Thanks John!I agree that we may never find a \”perfect method\” Especially as teaching contexts can vary so much. But we can certainly prune away those which can be shown to do do little or no good.
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I'm all for evidence based teaching. But Instead of beating down methodologies that apparently lack evidence, what are we doing to find or evidence methodologies that do work?
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excellent questions, – do you have any ideas? could we test them?
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