Practical Curriculum Inquiry: Students' Voices of their EFL Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

This mixed-methods study borrowed Schwabian notions of practical curriculum inquiry (1969, 1971, 1973, 1983)

Democratizing the Online Materials-Based Classroom: What Can Student Writers’ Voices Offer?

“…students’ momentary dismissal of the online resources as killing their creativity) or idiosyncratic factors, such as their time investment, proficiency, and learning styles (Cook-Sather, 2009; Leki and Carson, 1994). The ultimate chain of successful teaching based on students’ voices in the writing classroom may be related to the teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, stances, and agentive efforts at play (Hongboontri and Noipinit, 2014; Ng, 2018).…”

“…While these findings provide important insight into writing instruction, and implicate the importance of incorporating online affordances, one important gap still needs to be addressed – that is, like other modes of knowledge input, using online materials may result in a bumpy trajectory for student learning (Rodgers, 2006). In order to achieve optimal instruction, it is thus important to attend to students’ voices in the process of materials implementation (Hongboontri and Noipinit, 2014). However, what is often exemplified in EFL writing classrooms is student feedback collected from interviews or surveys, which does not meet the definition of students’ voices according to Eslami (2010).…”

“…Teachers, meanwhile, must actively respond to students' voices instead of merely listening to them (Cook-Sather, 2009). Teachers could act upon students' voices in their follow-up teaching, which could further motivate students' classroom participation as consultants and knowledge constructionists (Hongboontri and Noipinit, 2014). Teachers do not need to incorporate everything from students' voices, but they should adopt what effectively helps students' learning (Rodgers, 2006).…”

“…However, research on the use of online materials in the writing classroom has primarily focused on the way teachers design and implement their curricula in line with their pedagogical knowledge (Zhang, 2018). Little attention is given to students' voices in online resource-based writing classrooms (Bradley and Vigmo, 2016), although useful information may be collected from these environments to better prepare students for writing development (Hongboontri and Noipinit, 2014). In response to this research gap, this study explores how students' voices interact with a teacher's use of online materials in a college writing classroom.…”

The Undergraduate Spanish Major Curriculum: Faculty, Alumni, and Student Perceptions

“…Unfortunately, decisions to maintain or revise programs of study are not consistently informed by data from program graduates and current students. Thanks to increasing attention in higher education literature to the importance of students’ voices, a number of studies have cited the discrepancy between the values and perceptions of different stakeholders both across academic disciplines (see Abidin, ; Bovill, Cook‐Sather, & Felten, ; Brooman, Darwent, & Pimor, ; Cook‐Sather, , ) and specific to the teaching and learning of world languages (see Boschetto‐Sandoval, Deneire, & Sandoval, ; Hongboontri, ; Liu, Chang, Yang, & Sun, ; Rifkin, ; Worth, ).…”