Does the Faculty Lounge have any special pedagogical bias?
Yes. You were probably expecting the answer "NO" to this question along with assurances of pedagogical neutrality. However, if you review the materials in the Library and Lecture Hall, you will find that biases do, indeed, exist. Here is some background to pedagogical orientation of this site.
First of all, you may notice a preference for theoretical exploration about language, learning and teaching as opposed to emphasis on practical matters such as activities and techniques. It's not that we have anything against activities and techniques -- in fact, the Idea Cafeteria in the Forum is specifically for the sharing of useful classroom gems. However, we believe that effective instruction requires serious deliberation and consideration of the process of learning. What happens in the classroom should not be a result of accident, allegiance to a particular methodology or readiness to adopt the latest fad, but should arise from a deep-seated sense of how the process of learning takes place, based on the teacher's own knowledge and experience. The readings and videos selected are meant to be provocative and foster examination of the theoretical foundations underlying classroom practices.
You will also notice that the articles and videos selected generally focus on the attitude and condition of the learner rather than on the content being taught. In other words, the concern is more about engaging students actively, ensuring that learning is an enjoyable and fulfilling process, and getting students invested and involved in their own learning rather than, say, planning lessons about the present perfect. We have a general belief that students learn best by doing and through discovery and that skills are honed through use. Students become better readers by reading; they become better writers by writing; they become more proficient speakers and listeners by doing a lot of speaking and listening. Therefore, the main challenge of the teacher is not so much how to teach a particular point such as a syntactic element but rather how to increase students' daily use of and engagement with the target language.
So we have admitted our pedagogical biases. It should be clear, however, that these biases are not about espousing a particular approach or methodology but rather about the need for constant consideration of what the process of learning is all about.
