A METHODOLOGICAL MODEL FOR DEVELOPING SPEAKING AND WRITING SKILLS THROUGH TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING
Abstract
The article is devoted to the development of a methodological model for teaching speaking and writing skills of English language learners on the basis of transformative learning theory. It is argued that traditional approaches to productive skills often reduce speaking and writing to the reproduction of ready-made patterns, as a result of which learners are able to produce accurate but reproductive texts and experience difficulty in expressing their own position. Transformative learning, developed by J. Mezirow and elaborated by P. Cranton, E.W. Taylor and S.D. Brookfield, offers a different perspective: learning is understood as a change in the learner’s frames of reference achieved through a disorienting dilemma, critical reflection and rational discourse. The article shows that these key processes are, by their very nature, realised through speaking and writing, which makes productive skills both the means and the result of transformative learning. On the basis of theoretical analysis and didactic modelling, a four-component model is proposed, comprising target, content, procedural and evaluative components. The procedural component is organised as a five-stage cycle: trigger, critical reflection, rational discourse, reflective writing and action. For each stage, types of speaking and writing tasks, the teacher’s functions and indicators of results are defined. A system of assessment criteria is proposed that combines CEFR-based descriptors of linguistic quality with indicators of reflective depth. The model is intended for senior school and university learners at B1–C1 levels and is grounded in the normative documents of the Republic of Uzbekistan on foreign-language education.
Keywords
transformative learning, productive skills, speaking skills, writing skills, methodological model, critical reflection, disorienting dilemma, rational discourse, reflective writing, frame of reference, learner autonomy, English as a foreign language, CEFR.How to Cite
References
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