Do student teachers see what learners see? – Avoiding instructional dissonance when designing worksheets

Abstract

Background:The judicious use of worksheets ought to contribute to the establishment of literacy, with a special significance for multilingual classrooms where neither teachers nor learners are mother tongue speakers of the instructional language. Disparity between the pedagogical intention of the worksheet and learners' interpretation of the message often creates instructional dissonance. Aim and setting:The aim of this nested study was to establish the quality, and (mis)use of worksheets as implemented by student teachers during their work-integrated learning stint in selected urban South African primary schools.Design and methodology: Using a self-designed grid, a qualitative document analysis underpinned by visual ethnography was conducted on 45 worksheets. These texts were prepared by the student teachers for literacy, numeracy and life skills lessons offered to 6-to 9-year-olds. Criteria used for the simple analysis included appropriateness for the age group, visual complexity, accuracy of language use, cultural compatibility, layout, clarity of instructions and alignment with expected learning outcomes.Findings: Findings suggested the hasty conceptualisation and creation, or inappropriate choice of worksheets used as learning support material. Apart from linguistic barriers because of poorly formulated tasks, the worksheets were generally culturally insensitive, and contained grammatical inaccuracies compounded by technical and design shortcomings. These lacunae defeated the pedagogical purpose of most worksheets and generated instructional dissonance. Conclusion and implications for teacher education:The careful crafting and implementation of worksheets coupled with sound content knowledge of language and literacy principles would alleviate learner bafflement and enhance the learning opportunity. We take the position that well-designed worksheets should serve a focused purpose and link directly to literacy and learning of the instructional language.

Texts used in the English language arts classroom of an American Islamic school

“…Another important finding related to what texts are available in literacy teaching and learning in this study was the teacher-made worksheets that focus on literary text, informational text, and vocabulary learning. Worksheets are considered texts because they resemble both texts and tasks that are used in the classroom (Evans & Cleghorn, 2022). Most of the teacher worksheets were used as supplementary materials to the main reading texts.…”

Voices and Identity Positionality in EFL Teaching and Learning Policy in an Islamic Bilingual Boarding School in Indonesia

“…Learners of second languages (L2) must master the coordination of many semiotic Dian Octavianah / Voices and Identity Positionality in EFL Teaching and Learning Policy in an Islamic Bilingual Boarding School in Indonesia resources to be deemed proficient communicators. The interesting phenomena of student participation in the multi-layered processes and practices of the language in educational policy are presented in bilingual schools (Evans & Cleghorn, 2022;Hornberger, 2018;Ticheloven et al, 2021). With their emphasis on local policy implementation, language planning and policy (LPP), and academics are increasingly concentrating on how potential future policies could respond to these local needs (Marhaeni et al, 2018;Ozturk, 2017).…”

Implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Teaching English for Guiding

“…The teachers in CLIL learning tend to choose learning content by including the required language elements. Thus the students can convey the ideas correctly (Ellison & Santos, 2017;Evans & Cleghorn, 2022;Mahmud, 2020).…”