© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Small group multitasking in literature classes
Bradley Baurain is a teacher and teacher trainer who has worked at universities in China, the United States, and Vietnam. He is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the IEP at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, and continues to edit ‘Teacher's Edition’ for university-level EFL teachers in Southeast Asia. His interests include teacher training and development, moral issues in TESOL, sociolinguistic factors in academic writing and publishing, and imaginative literature in language teaching and learning
Email: bbaurain{at}wheatonalumni.org
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Abstract |
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Faced with the challenge of teaching American literature to large, multilevel classes in Vietnam, the writer developed a flexible small group framework called ‘multitasking’. ‘Multitasking’ sets up stable task categories which rotate among small groups from lesson to lesson. This framework enabled students to work cooperatively in a variety of formats and the teacher to generate a wide range of materials and activities efficiently. It also spurred students to develop more independent learning skills and the teacher to experiment more freely with new techniques. In a narrative and reflective format, in terms both of what he expected and what he experienced, the writer presents the structure, goals, problems, and benefits of this approach.