Language in Use 183
This unit considers the crucial
part played by key terms in the understanding of new concepts. It explores
the difficulties which are likely to arise when terms, long familiar to the
teacher, are introduced for the first time.
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[1] In this session, the class should be asked to look at the problem of teachin-, to a younger form the meaning of a term that they have just encountered, such as 'weathering' or 'solution' or 'plot'. Divide the class into small groups, and ask each group to choose one such term and work out how they would put it over to a younger class. Each group should choose one of its number to try out the term they have decided upon by presenting it to the rest of the class.
[2] In this session, the group representatives chosen in [I] present their chosen term to the class. Each presentation should be followed by a brief discussion, focusing upon the way in which the group has tried to match its teaching to the assumed knowledge of the class.
[3] In this session, the groups should choose a term that they think will be unfamiliar to their own class, and present it as in [2]. Their success in putting it over may be measured by asking the rest of the class to make notes and then to write up a brief account of what the new term signifies. Circulate these and discuss how successful each group has been in getting across the essential meaning in the new term. The most fruitful source of tern-is for this session is likely to be in subjects where individual pupils have specialized knowledge.
This topic is discussed by Douglas Barnes in Language, the learner and the school, Barnes and Britton (Penguin).