ISSN 1656-8788

September-October 2007

A Reflection on The Learning Process: The Neglected Phenomenon in Science and Mathematics Education Reform in the Philippines
Emelita C. Selda I would like to commend Dr. Allan B.I. Bernardo (2007) for his remarkable description of learning processes and its factors on his study entitled The Learning Process: The neglected Phenomenon in Science and Mathematics Education Reform in the Philippines. It is indeed a wonderful acclaim of certain researches that he cited and it makes me wonder if I am still doing the right thing in imparting knowledge to my students. He made a profound description of the learning processes in our country and its effects and implications that made me nod my head in agreement for I can clearly see it in my students. Learning process was known and defined in a wrong context. He made me understood how to take learning process as a process in certain steps. I agreed with most of his ideas and wanted to add some of my insights, which are as follows. A Learning-Process Mathematics Achievement Framework of Science and

Physics topics to be taught), which they thought to be the best way for the students to understand the said subjects. The lawmakers made a revision which considered only the obvious variables but not the variables in general. They viewed the learning process according to the factors underlying in the process. As noted by Dr. Bernardo the learner has already been a focus of reform efforts; particular attention has been paid to cognitive, affective, and socio-demographic characteristics of achievers and non-achievers in mathematics and science. Notably absent [in the above listing] is the learning process. He commented that the processes and factors of teaching a certain subject should not just define learning process. Learning process works not by considering the issue in the student, the teacher, the environment and the techniques individually but to view them as one affecting each other. Many attempts failed to correlate them and that cause a wrong impression on learning process. With this concern, Dr. Bernardo proposed a framework for understanding achievement levels in mathematics and science. According to him, these factors interact in shaping the character of the learning environment, the learning tasks, and the learning processes that actually take place. All the factors listed earlier teacher factors, student, curriculum, textbooks, classroom, and the environment, among others all these shape the learning process. We should first understand how these factors influence each other, how are they related, how can they be connected and how they can be treated as one, before we can come up with an effective curriculum and teaching strategies. The Subject and Object of Science and Mathematics Learning My friend told me that during her first year of teaching, it was a day before the opening of classes, her principal asked them to cover all the topics in their textbook during the school year. She said that every quarter, her principal evaluates the textbooks and asked them if they covered what was supposed to be taught on the quarter. This gave me an idea that the said school is after the quantity of the subject matter but less in the quality and how the students take it. I arrived at this conclusion because, according to her they conducted an achievement test during the end of the year and the students showed a poor result. Topics of the said subject matter to be taught, I believe, must focus on the useful concepts for the students in preparation for their higher level of studying. We cannot force the students to learn it at once. I myself proved that comprehension on certain subject undergoes a process. There are some concepts I remembered that was taught to me during my high school days that I can clearly describe and explain only today. There are also several skills that I just learned during my time as a teacher but not as a student. This may be due to the way things were taught before. Most of the ideas and concepts are spoon-fed and therefore comprehension is neglected. Because science is a very broad subject, schools wanted to compress it in just a year, and that neglected comprehension. I have experiences during my first year of teaching that

Since my college days, I have heard over and over that our countrys representative to Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) made it to the second rank but from the bottom (at least were not the last). They therefore conclude that our country has a very low achievement in Mathematics and Science. What made us to achieve poorly in mathematics and science was said to be due to our inadequate strategy in teaching that is brought to us by our curriculum. So, the lawmakers made the RBEC (which I believe to be still inadequate because of what they did to the arrangement of

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students asked me questions such as anong kinalaman nyan sa buhay namin Mam? (How is it related to our life?), Pakakainin ba kami nyan? (Will it feed us?) These questions arise because they could not see its functions in their way of living due to lack of comprehension. Compressing all topics in science and mathematics gives them the concept of the topic but not utilizing it effectively because they could not relate it to real life situations. Effective Learning Process: What We Now Know In this part, Dr. Bernardo emphasizes the ideas that the students have in their minds and the usefulness of the constructivism approach in teaching. I agree when he said that persons of all ages have prior knowledge on certain ideas. This knowledge is not arranged in the way it needs to be. That is why, I think, he made a clear point of saying that rearranging this prior knowledge is needed and this can be done through the constructivists approach in teaching. With this approach we can teach the topic in class with different kinds of learners. We can avoid segregation of self-regulated learners (which I think is also known as teachers pet), to those that are not. As a teacher, I believe that self-regulated learners are heavens sent for teachers. They ease up the work of teachers. But I also believe that their kind are only few in the class (to exaggerate the idea, I think they are close to extinction). Somehow, traditional ways of teaching do not appeal to them. That is why, activities that enable them to socialize is helpful so that neither the self-regulated nor those that are not will never be left behind. One of Dr. Bernardos ideas that caught my attention was when he talked about the diversity in learning. We lived in a country with numerous islands. This separates us from each other and makes use lived in different ways. We grew up in different cultures, languages, and beliefs. Having a variety of students in class that differs in many ways is a hard job for a teacher. I think that it will be effective if we are going to relate our activities, medium of teaching and conceptualization to our way of living, culture and language. I used to teach my subject in taglish. This is because my students are not good in English. Although I encouraged them to speak in English, and recitations are in English, I found teaching some topics in taglish effective. They could even give certain experiences where they think the topic is related. Thus shows comprehension in their part. Dr. Bernardo included a research about the Japanese students who are exceptional in math and science. They use their own language in teaching these courses. Look at the Japanese students, they are very good in science and mathematics and made them technologically competitive. It is really hard to let students understand the lessons using the language that they are not good at. Some tells us that teaching science and math in English will develop their ability to communicate in English. But that idea makes an obvious effect; students do not understand the lesson very well because they are doing a dual task, understanding the language and understanding the concept. They could not find

its importance and its relation to their way of living, which is why they could not appreciate the subject. At the end of his study, Dr. Bernardo gives implications regarding the educational goal, learning environment and the teaching process and teacher training. If we were to apply these implications in our curriculum, it would require a very long time. Making things work would mean starting all over again. We have to assess our goals, change the traditional way of teaching, and train teachers that include teaching them to utilize the latest innovations such as computers and computer software. I believe that if we put these things into action accordingly, we can expect a good result.

Issues in Second Language Literacy, Part 1

Maria May T. Colorico* and Maria Salome N. Garcia I. Introduction to the Field of Literacy Education The study of literacy today is a vast and often complicated endeavor. Even within the general field of education, literacy materials are often indexed under a broad range of descriptors, such as emergent literacy, assessment materials and teacher training. This information is frequently reported in a wide variety of outlets, including journals, books, and research reports. It has also recently been lodged in huge computer databases. II. Current Trends in Literacy Education Although terms may have changed, much of what is debated today is often strikingly similar to the substance of past disputes. Issues such as the most appropriate methods and materials to use in the teaching of literacy as well as how to effectively assess what is learned are, after extended controversy, still the center of much of the literacy debate today. A major issue is that of whole language versus more conventional philosophies to instruction. Related to this is the role of phonics instruction, spelling, and basal readers. The nature of emerging literacy in early childhood has challenged older notions of readiness, just as research into vocabulary instruction may surprise you with its implications for day-to-day practice. In content area classrooms, new conceptualizations have arisen as to how literacy activities can help students learn. In the larger arena of education, debate over the proper approaches to assessment and the desirability of national standards has spilled over into literacy. Finally, new advances in technology challenge educators to make the best uses of it in developing literate behavior in students. III. Strategies for Literacy Research The beginning of a literacy study will begin with a question about a particular concern or interest in this area. This question may arise in response to an assignment in a graduate class in literacy education or as the result of a personal interest in a literary topic. It is at this point that many

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individuals begin to have varying degrees of difficulty. Frequently, initial questions are far too general to be answered in a realistic and effective manner. For example, questions such as the following are almost unanswerable: 1. What causes literacy problems? 2. What are effective literacy materials? 3. What is the best method of teaching literacy skills? These examples could be improved considerably by narrowing their scope: 1. Does the home environment of a child have a lasting effect on literacy development? 2. What is the influence of library books on the development of literacy skills? 3. Has the use of language experience been shown to be superior to the use of the basal reader in firstgrade literacy development? The degree of specificity of any question will largely be determined by the background knowledge and purposes of each individual. Once the question has been formulated, the investigator needs to propose a possible answer, sometimes with limited information but always on the basis of theory. Continuing with the previous examples, the projected answers might look like these: 1. The home environment of a child especially parents reading to their children, does have a positive and long-term effect on literacy development. 2. Library books are best used under the direction of a professional librarian rather than the classroom teacher. 3. First-grade teachers find language experience instruction to be better suited to disadvantaged students than the use of the basal reader. Each of these statements may or may not be true. It then becomes the goal of the investigator to find information either to support or to refute these tentative conclusions. In accomplishing this objective, the literacy researcher needs to be aware of a number of potential difficulties. IV. Acquiring Literacy is Natural Oral language develops in all human societies. It is both a personal and social invention. It makes it possible for human societies to achieve a level of interaction unique among living species. We can truly share our problems, needs, thoughts and experiences. Oral language serves the face to face, hereand-now communicative needs common to all human societies. For all but the deaf, oral language is the most accessible and useful form for such immediate communication. It is the form individuals develop first. Quickly, their thrust to communicate causes their personal language to move toward the forms, norms and structures of the language of the family and community. Language is universally human. The form it takes depends on the function it must perform. Deaf people cut off from sound develop a visual language, manual sign, as an alternative for face-to-face communication. Blind people, cut off from sight, use their sense of touch to read Braille.

We have made the critical mistake in the past of ignoring function and teaching reading and writing as the mastery of abstract form. In doing so, we have ignored the intrinsic motivation to learn to read and write that development of functional need brings about. All language is used and learned in the context of expressing and comprehending meaning. Human infants sort out, from the sensory bombardment they receive through all their senses that which is significant and that which is not. They categorize, organize, relate as they continually seek to comprehend. They sort language out of their noisy environments and begin relating it to its functions. In the process they develop not only control over a set of symbols and a vocabulary but also a set of rules for generating and comprehending language not previously experienced. Just as in acquiring oral language, children are finding order in written language, developing control over its system as they seek to comprehend and express. They become aware of the form as they experience the function, they learn the parts from the wholes, generalize and expand their functional competence. Effective language teachers need not be linguistics or psycholinguistics. But they must be knowledgeable about language functions and processes. Learning literacy is like learning a second language in that functional need and continual exposure are more important than the quality of instruction. V. Middle and Secondary Literacy in Perspective The 1930s This decade could be characterized as the incubation period for secondary reading instruction. It was a time when professional interest and concern about secondary reading, growing from issues raided in the late 1920s, led to the initiation of research efforts to determine the nature and extent of adolescent and adult reading problems. Instructional programs were established during the 1930s, the interest and study during this period provided the foundation for much of the subsequent research and program development. The 1940s At the beginning of this decade, once again we were involved in a world war, and once again we discovered that many soldiers could not read. This discovery served as a final catalyst for the implementation of remedial reading programs in junior and senior high schools. By the mid to late 1940s, leaders in the field of reading were recommending- not for the first time but with growing strength that systematic reading instruction for all students continue into the middle grades and secondary school (Bond, 1941; Gray, 1948) and called for the establishment of developmental reading programs for this purpose. The 1950s Considerable expansion of secondary remedial programs occurred. In this period, reading instruction in general, and reading disability specifically, were receiving intense professional and public scrutiny. Increased interest in developmental secondary reading programs and content area reading instruction resulted. The 1960s Secondary remedial reading programs continued to grow during this period. Newly organized

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developmental reading classes appeared in greater numbers, usually designated as Basic English or Remedial English classes, and were taught by willing and courageous, but untrained, English teachers who went on to become the secondary reading specialists of the 1970s and 1980s. By the mid-to late 1960s, content area reading instruction was receiving increasingly widespread recognition and support. The 1970s Wide expansion and growth of remedial reading programs occurred during the 1970s. Emerging programs in learning disabilities, English as a Second Language (ESL), and other special education fields were frequently combined with the reading program to form Learning Resource Centers that served an ever-expanding population. Developmental programs also grew, especially in junior high schools, and were still generally intended for students identified as reading below grade level. The 1980s By the beginning of the 1980s, reading programs of one type or another were well established in most secondary schools. While the emphasis was still remedial, developmental programs, accelerated programs, and attention to content reading instruction were growing. In the mid-1980s, the middle school movement gained increasing attention and momentum. Rooted in the 1960s, the ideals of the movement grew from educators beliefs that junior high school did not adequately meet the needs of the students they served (Moore & Stefanich, 1990). The 1990s and Beyond The expansion of reading and writing instruction into middle school and junior/ senior high schools - with emphasis both in content area literacy instruction and in special reading and writing programs - is a positive factor in contemporary education for all of the following reasons. 1. Expanded reading and writing instructions acknowledges the fact that literacy growth is continuous and does not stop at the end of fourth or sixth grade. 2. Expanded reading and writing instructions provides for diversity of student literacy abilities and needs. 3. Expanded reading and writing instructions allows students to learn new, more difficult reading/ writing/ study skills as they are needed to complete school tasks (Herber, 1978). 4. Expanded reading and writing instruction place remedial reading and writing programs into a perspective that more accurately reflects reality. VI. Issues in Technology and Literacy Education Technology has become not only a vehicle for the transmissions of culture but a means by which people define themselves and the world around them. Technology needs to be incorporated into education. Unfortunately, these diverse groups have yet to reach agreement on what is meant by the terms technology and incorporated! In fact, they have ignored more fundamental questions, such as: What kind of learning does it permit? What are the intellectual tendencies it encourages? What sort of culture does it produce? (see also Ellul, 1964; McLuhan, 1964; Postman, 1985.)

Technology may be the educational innovation of the twentieth century, but in order for teachers to sort out some of the hyperbole and oversell associated with it, they must engage in the kind of critical reflection that enables them to express informed judgments about what aspects of the human condition known as teaching reading will be improved by using technology. Teachers already know that technology will not be a panacea for the problems faced by reading education. Nevertheless, some teachers are developing and beginning to articulate what they believe are technologys answers to the reading problems in their classrooms. VII. Multimedia in Reading Education At the beginning of the twentieth century, multimedia meant blackboards and white chalk and a limited variety of books, paper, and pencils. By the middle of the twentieth century, teachers had green boards and yellow chalk, television, radio, film projectors and films, filmstrip projectors and filmstrips, record players and records, overhead projectors and transparencies, audio tape recorders and audio tapes as well as books, paper, and pencils in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Today, exchanging information includes white boards and colored markers, computers, cameras, videotape players and tapes, compact disc players and discs, videodisc (laserdisc), players and discs, as well as telecommunication networks, both ground and satellite based. All of these mean that the sprawl of information and the diversity of media that mark pop culture of the twentieth century present colossal challenges for literacy education. (To be continued) Issue Contributors Emelita C. Selda
Faculty, Basic Education Department

Maria May T. Colorico

Faculty, Basic Education Department

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