Hi Everyone,
I am just finishing up my second course using TBL and have had some
disappointing feedback. I teach medical English (in Japan), so
basically it's an English as a Foreign language class concentrating on
medical terminology. The negative feedback came mainly (I think) from
students who hate English as a subject. They basically have English
foisted on them from junior high through high school as a means to the
end of passing university examinations. Many of them don't want
anything more to do with English after entering university, so would
prefer to be left alone to sleep through lectures. I got some pretty
strongly worded comments in the student feedback to the effect of "how
dare you expect us to use English in class in our teams?!" They are
calling for the class to be an elective rather than compulsory, which
is something I agree with,but don't have any control over.
So, my question is, do any of you teach students using TBL in
compulsory courses where a large number of students would rather be
taking any other subject but yours? I honestly think it has
nothing to do with TBL and everything to do with their feelings about
English--but what is a conscientious teacher to do? I think
that TBL is great for the course --100 students who would be sleeping
if they weren't in teams. But even the enthusiastic students are making
comments like "you should divide teams into students who want to use
English and those who don't"-- which would basically nullify one of the
important principles of TBL.
On a brighter note, my boss has decided to use TBL in a course next
Fall--so there is hope for the spread of this excellent teaching
strategy here at Kyushu University.
(heavy sigh)
Christine
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Christine Kuramoto, Assistant Professor: Medical English
Kyushu University, Department of Medical Education
Faculty of Medical Sciences
3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582 Japan
Phone: (+81)92-642-6186 Fax: (+81)92-642-6188
E-mail: [log in to unmask]