Academic literature on the topic 'Postmethod Pedagogy'

Postmethod pedagogy and critical pedagogy have influential roles in education and language teaching. A number of practitioners may claim to instruct based on the tenets of postmethod pedagogy, however, they may not be entirely aware of the oppositional intention and dynamicity of this model. This article aims at revisiting the tenets and constructing elements of critical pedagogy and Freire’s point of view vis-a-vis postmethod pedagogy and Kumaravadivelu’s developed model to enlighten the open-mindedness and dynamic perceptions of these interwoven approaches. Furthermore, some criticisms towards critical pedagogy and postmethod pedagogy are brought into consideration for better understanding of the relevance and the weaknesses. It is hoped that by bringing these two notions, teachers especially those who wish to use postmethod pedagogy in their setting become more aware of the intellectual priorities of critical pedagogy and postmethod pedagogy such as moving from banking model of education, absence of bias and deviation from predetermined and fixed frameworks in the classrooms.

Postmethod pedagogy is the development in pedagogical practices after 1990s and is open to further developments as "a pedagogy in progress" (Kumaravadivelu, 2001). Implication of postmethod pedagogy underpinned by deconstruction has the potentials to make pedagogy more effective for which the postmethod teacher needs to play the role of a deconstructionist teacher. So in this paper I have reviewed the works on postmethod pedagogy and deconstruction and explored how they are interrelated and how they can be exploited as deconstructive pedagogy to make pedagogy more effective in context. As a result, it is concluded that when a postmethod teacher practices pedagogy as a deconstructionist teacher, any challenges emerging in the practice of pedagogy can be addressed as deconstructive pedagogy destabilizes the pedagogical practices and looks for possibilities of multiple meanings in context.

This current study is aimed to investigate EFL teachers perception on postmethod pedagogy proposed by Kumaravadivelu. To achieve the aim, the research method used here is a qualitative case study with nine doctoral students from various universities in Indonesia. The data collection tools are a questionnaire and structured interview. The result revealed that most of the EFL lecturers have already implemented postmethod pedagogy perspective divided into four parts: teaching interaction, teaching strategy, teaching objective, and teaching content although they were not aware yet about the concept. It was indicated that they theorized what they do and did what they theorize. For further researchers, postmethod pedagogy should be investigated in real condition of teaching and learning process and the effect of this pedagogy on students learning achievement so that it will be clearly found whether or not this pedagogy perspective is appropriate to be implemented in higher education in Indonesian context.
 Keywords: postmethod pedagogy, postmethod pedagogy framework, EFL teachers

In educational world, the language teaching pendulum is swinging away from methods to postmethod pedagogy although its actual emergence in some contexts is under doubt. The present study aims at pursuing whether Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers conform their teaching approach to postmethod principles and whether there exists a relationship between teachers' willingness and conformity to post-method pedagogy and their academic success perceived by their students. To this end, an exploratory study was undertaken with a sample size of 102 EFL teachers from a number of private institutes in Iran. The Postmethod |Pedagogy Questionnaire (PPQ) was employed to evaluate the teachers' level of willingness and conformity to the principles of postmethod pedagogy. In addition, the measures of the teachers' professional success were obtained via Characteristics of Successful Iranian EFL Teacher Questionnaire (CSIETQ) which was filled out by the participant-teachers' students. The analysis of one-sample T-test indicated that Iranian EFL teachers do not show significantly high level of willingness and conformity to the principles of postmethod pedagogy. In this regard, educational level does not play any significant influence on the teachers' conformity to postmethod principles, determined by the results of one sample T-test having been run on BA and MA teachers' postmethod conformity. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient demonstrated that there is a significant and positive relationship between conformity to postmethod pedagogy principles and professional success. The results offer implications and suggestions for pedagogical consideration within Iranian EFL context.

After a widespread dissatisfaction with the prescriptive nature of language teaching methods and approaches, the notion of postmethod emerged with an aim to providing possible solutions to the problems that both language teachers and learners face while using methods. But the transition from a long established method-based pedagogy to an emerging postmethod pedagogy could not altogether meet the expectations rather gave birth to new confusions and challenges. Therefore, this article describes the concept of method briefly and then outlines the shift from method to postmethod. This paper brings new insights into method- postmethod dichotomy particularly by discussing the areas where the relationship between them becomes dialectical on some occasions. It also addresses the limitations of postmethod by identifying the factors where postmethod pedagogy gets entangled in a newer type of method though it emerged with the promise to come out of the stranglehold of method. Finally, it shows how postmethod redefines the traditional roles of teachers where they not only act as practitioners but also as theorizers, evaluators, observers, facilitators, innovators, and planners.

Discussion on the use of method and postmethod in teaching English has become a debatable issue in Nepal. Many methods emerged as reaction to others claiming each of them as the best one but questions of their practicality and utility led to the development of postmethod pedagogy. This pedagogy empowers teachers' autonomy in the classroom and encourages them to design the best alternative way from the choices on the basis of their experience, knowledge and the context. However, the inclination to method is also on the rise. Supports claim that no practice will be method free. In this context, this study attempts to explore the teachers' perception on postmethod pedagogy in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classes of Nepal. In order to achieve the designated objective, the descriptive phenomenological research design was used and 12 teachers who are teaching English at different schools in Pokhara were purposively selected. The data revealed that teachers have a positive and hopeful experience towards postmethod pedagogy and want to open quality changes in English language teaching, developing context and culture sensitive pedagogy.

Student Teachers’ beliefs and their teaching behaviors are interactive and closely related. Student teachers’ any adoption of teaching methods in micro-teaching or teaching practicum is largely hidden behind their beliefs. In this paper, starting with the origin and changes of methods in language teaching method era, the author explains certain terms such as method and postmethod, sorts out the theoretical base of this study which contains postmethod condition and postmethod pedagogy and proposes the idea that postmethod is the heritance, transcendence and development of method. Finally, the author discusses the ways to help student teachers construct their own proper teaching beliefs about method.

One of the current but unknown topics for new English teachers’ generation is the Postmethod condition. Its correct use causes a great impact on the teaching and learning process,for this reason it has been considered as the starting point of a new era in respect to pedagogy specifically for some eastern countries. This is not a research article, but it is more oriented to reflect upon Kumaravadivelu’s ideasand the current situation of the Postmethod Condition in Colombia, as well as, to invite ELT teachers to become part of a “new pedagogical era”. It concludes that Postmethod is a good option to rethink about our Language Teaching practice in order to contribute to a real and authentic pedagogicalepoch.

O objetivo desta tese é investigar de que maneira(s) a didatização de materiais para o ensino do italiano língua estrangeira (LE) pode levar em conta as singularidades dos discentes e, sobretudo, os estilos e as estratégias de aprendizagem deles. Consideramos que a didatização de materiais com base nessas especificidades dos alunos consista em uma proposta de trabalho didático-pedagógico que, por se pautar na pedagogia pós-método, postula a autoria do docente e a coparticipação ativa dos estudantes no processo de seleção e/ou de produção de materiais. No que concerne à fundamentação teórica, baseamo-nos em duas teorias cognitivistas: a Cognição Situada, proposta por John Brown, Allan Collins e Paul Duguid (1989), e a Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa, elaborada por David Ausubel (1968). Baseamo-nos, também, em postulados de Paulo Freire, que, como se sabe, é o principal representante brasileiro da Teoria Sócio-histórico-cultural. A utilização de duas correntes teóricas diversas na mesma pesquisa, embora possa parecer incoerente à primeira vista, não o é, pois, segundo King e Mackey (2016), no âmbito da didática das línguas, é possível unir teorias distintas para que as pesquisas dessa área possam se beneficiar da análise de múltiplas perspectivas epistemológicas. Outro referencial teórico que embasa esta tese é a pedagogia pós-método, proposta por Kumaravadivelu (2006), a qual ressalta a importância das particularidades de cada contexto de ensino-aprendizagem e destaca a autoria do professor de línguas, que é visto como um profissional capaz de elaborar suas próprias teorias e de praticar o que ele mesmo teoriza. No tocante à fundamentação metodológica, apresentamos um estudo de caso realizado no primeiro semestre de 2015 com uma de nossas turmas: um grupo de dez alunos iniciantes no estudo da língua italiana. Para fazer esse estudo de caso, realizado no Italiano no Campus, curso de extensão universitária da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo, procuramos conhecer as especificidades dos aprendizes e selecionar/elaborar materiais que atendessem, sempre que possível, os interesses e as necessidades deles, bem como os seus estilos e estratégias de aprendizagem. Para tratar dos materiais, relatamos como se deu a didatização desses instrumentos de ensino-aprendizagem da LE, descrevendo o processo de escolha/preparação deles, a sua utilização em sala de aula e a sua avaliação, que foi realizada tanto por nós quanto pelos discentes. A análise dos dados coletados parece indicar que a didatização de materiais para o ensino do italiano LE com base nas singularidades dos alunos permitiu-nos ser autores de nossos próprios materiais e contar com a participação ativa dos aprendizes no processo de seleção/produção desses instrumentos de ensino-aprendizagem da LE. Todavia, a análise também parece indicar que, apesar de termos didatizado materiais com o escopo de atender, em larga medida, as particularidades dos estudantes, não conseguimos atendê-las sempre.<br>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate in what way(s) the didactization of materials for teaching Italian as a foreign language (FL) can take into account the learners individualities and, most importantly, their learning styles and strategies. We consider that the didactization of materials based on these particularities consists of didactic-pedagogical work grounded on the postmethod pedagogy and it postulates not only the teachers authorship but also the students active co-participation in the process of selection and/or production of materials. Regarding the theoretical approach, we based our investigation on two cognitive theories: Situated Cognition, proposed by John Brown, Allan Collins and Paul Duguid (1989), and Theory of Meaningful Learning, constructed by David Ausubel (1968). In addition, we also focused on Paulo Freires postulates, the main Brazilian exponent of Social-historical-cultural Theory. The use of two distinct theoretical frameworks in the same research, even though it may seem to be inconsistent at first sight, in fact, it is not. According to King and Mackey (2016), within the framework of teaching languages, it is possible to join distinctive theories in order that the studies on this area may benefit from multiple epistemological perspectives. The other theoretical background that supports this thesis is the postmethod pedagogy, proposed by Kumaravadivelu (2006), which emphasizes the importance of the particularities in each teaching and learning context and points out the language teachers authorship, who is seen as a professional able to elaborate his/her own theories and practices what he/she theorizes. With reference to the methodological approach, we carried on a case study that took place during the first semester of 2015 with a group of ten beginners in the study of Italian language at Italian on Campus, a university extension course offered by the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo. We sought to know learners particularities and to select and elaborate materials to meet, whenever possible, their interests and needs as well as their learning styles and strategies. In order to treat teaching materials, we reported how the didactization of these foreign language teaching and learning tools took place, by describing their selection and production, their use in the classroom and their evaluation, which was performed by both the teacher and the students. The analysis of the data collected indicates that the didactization of materials for teaching Italian as a FL based on learners individualities enabled us to become authors of our own teaching materials and to rely on the learners active participation in the process of selection/production of these FL teaching and learning tools. However, the analysis also suggests that, although we have chosen and prepared teaching materials in order to meet, in a large extent, the students particularities, it was not always possible to meet them.

This research explores postmethod pedagogy (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p. 165) with two Mozambican secondary school teachers who expressed an interest in carrying out an exploratory research project in their context of practice. The research was undertaken to investigate how teachers, who had attended an International House Language Lab (IHLL) teacher education programme in 2008, were theorizing from their practice with the aim of developing a context-sensitive pedagogy. The research is a qualitative study consisting of two case studies. Each case is based on the practices of a teacher attempting to implement an exploratory research project. The exploratory projects included the following activities: the teacher teaching a lesson with a colleague observing; the teacher and observer meeting both before and after the observed lesson to discuss and analyse the lesson; and finally, the teacher inviting a group of students to discuss their perceptions of selected episodes in the lesson. The teachers used the exploratory research projects to explore their classroom practice in order to learn more about their teaching. Of particular relevance to this study is literature on practitioner research and teachers as reflective practitioners. In analysing the data, I demonstrate that although the exploratory research projects provided a frame of reference and point of departure for postmethod pedagogy, the teachers’ ability to ‘develop a systematic, coherent, and relevant personal theory of practice’ (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p. 40) was limited by: the context, the surface level application of macrostrategies, and a lack of foregrounding of the critical in the postmethod macrostrategies. The study concludes with a critical reflection on the value of postmethod pedagogy for teacher education programmes offered at IHLL, as well as for the teachers’ contexts of practice. I offer some ‘fuzzy generalizations’ (Bassey, 1999) about the place of postmethod principles in teacher development courses for language teachers from a range of classroom and community contexts.

This thesis analyses some ways in which Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy can make a valuable contribution to the current re-evaluation of the concept of method within postmethod pedagogy. First, the emergence and development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is traced in order to reveal the ways in which theorists’ and practitioners’ understandings of language, the learner, and language learning have influenced practice in three developmental phases of CLT. The analysis then integrates the concepts of Sprachspiel (language-game), Lebensform (forms of life), and Regelfolgen (rule following) from Wittgenstein's Philosophische Untersuchungen into the theoretical assumptions implicit in CLT to produce a model which fosters reflection upon the concepts of language, the learner and language learning in light of the postmethod pedagogic parameters of particularity, practicality, and possibility. This consideration and integration of Wittgensteins's perspective not only promotes a deeper understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of CLT, but also seeks to initiate a re-conceptualization of CLT as a postmethod pedagogy by reflecting upon historical understandings of language, language learners, and language learning and by redefining these core concepts. The analysis culminates in the creation of a table that outlines the concepts of language, language learners, and language learning within a postmethod conceptualization of CLT using combined insights from CLT, postmethod pedagogy, and Wittgenstein’s concepts of Sprachspiel, Lebensform, and Regelfolgen.