ABSTRACT
On the verge of the COVID-19 pandemic, language teachers have shifted their pedagogy aligned to the new normal. Expectations are set and realities are situated in teaching second language writing. In this study, Teacher Cognition Research by Borg (1997-2015) identified the expectations and the realities in teaching academic writing in the new normal. Qualitative case study design was used to do an in-depth and investigative exploration regarding the relevance of teacher cognition to pedagogical practices in today’s new normal of select Senior High School Writing Teachers in the Division of Biñan City. After the inductive analysis (Hatch, 2002), the themes emerged were used to create the Cognition-based Model for L2 Writing Instruction in the New Normal. The model displays holistic, collaborative, socio-emotional, and ICT-integrated teaching writing strategies and techniques that will bridge students to improve their writing competence and attitude. As suggested in the model, the new normal writing instruction indicates learning tasks that are characterized as engaging, objective, and critical, so students will apply their writing competence and attitude to personal and professional purposes and situations.
Keywords: Teacher Cognition, Second Language Writing Instruction, Teaching Expectations and Realities, New Normal Teaching, Cognition-based model for L2 Writing Instruction
INTRODUCTION
A total paradigm shift is evident in today’s teaching. With the COVID (Corona Virus Disease) – 19 pandemic, new normal in teaching will be prevailing as for our lives, work, and interactions with other people have now changed.
To set things straight, the dilemma here lies on how the ballgame of teaching and learning in the Philippines will be situated in the new normal. It has to be within the realities of every teachers and learners – the extent of their capacity to cope with these vast changes happening in the academe and not in the context of ‘expectations’ dictated by the ideal pedagogical constructs.
Stephen Hawking is an English Cosmologist and Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist who coined that his expectations were reduced to zero when he was 21. It is indeed that in life, human beings always expect of things on how they would want to or on how these would turn into. Anticipations are evident, at all rate. Yet, realities and uncertainties strike in which result to disappointment and worst, enthusiasm to go further in life.
That instance is tantamount to teaching. Teachers tend to set the bar high at the beginning of the class. Though as class days pass by, it becomes a major disappointment for students cannot be able to meet the standards established by the teacher. With that, it is essential that a teacher should set the realities in his or her classroom so he or she can be able to provide different sets of approaches and strategies appropriate to the learners situating the new normal.
In Senior High School, Teaching Writing has paved its way across subject areas. Every student must be committed into writing, academic writing in particular. For instance, in Reading and Writing Skills (RWS) Subject, a core subject, outputs on a writing a position paper, book review and article critique, research reports, literature review, and project proposals are expected to be accomplished. Also, in English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) subject, an applied subject, highly-specialized and critical reaction paper, position paper, concept paper, and technical reports are written relevant to the strand and track a student belongs. Generally, for a student to pass these particular writing subjects, it is a must for him or her to produce write ups that lie within the realities of academic and formal context.
Though teaching aids and materials are given, such as curriculum guide, textbooks or learner’s material, and teacher’s guide, it is challenging for a Writing teacher on how he or she can pull off a good and meaningful writing lesson to Senior High School students. There are an array of factors why teaching writing becomes challenging, or at some extent, troublesome for Senior High School teachers.
In the locale, where the researcher is an Academic writing teacher, 20 out of 51 students in his class got final ratings that were ranging from 77 – 75 in their EAPP (English For Academic and Professional Purposes) subject. It had only manifested that majority of the students found it difficult to express themselves in the context of Academic Writing for the teacher-mentor had imparted only the basics of Academic Writing and not the comprehensive discussions regarding the specific procedure/process/structure to follow in a particular form of Academic writing – a reaction paper for instance.
This paper attempted to integrate Teacher Cognition Research (Borg, 1997-2015) in identifying the realities in teaching Academic Writing subjects in Senior High School in the new normal. Particularly, an inquiry on how teachers know, think, and believe and the connections of these mental constructs to what teachers demonstrate in the second language teaching classroom will be exemplified. Hence, suitable and relevant design focusing on teaching writing strategies and techniques can be implemented in the class.
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