China's lesson: why the West was wrong to abandon 'chalk and talk' teaching methods
'Chalk and talk' teaching has been phased out in Western countries over the past 40 years. The success of Chinese pupils is forcing a rethink
Seventy teachers from the United Kingdom were sent to Shanghai to study classroom methods to investigate why Chinese students perform so well. Upon their return, the teachers reported that much of China's success came from teaching methods that the West has been moving away from for the past 40 years.
China favours a "chalk and talk" approach, whereas countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand have been moving away from this direct form of teaching to a more collaborative form of learning where students take greater control.
Given China's success in international tests, it seems the West has been misguided in abandoning the traditional, teacher-directed method, where the teacher spends more time standing at the front of the class, directing learning and controlling classroom activities.
Debates about direct instruction versus inquiry learning have been going on for many years. Traditionally, classrooms have been organised with children sitting in rows, with the teacher at the front of the room, directing, teaching and ensuring a disciplined classroom environment. This is known as direct instruction.
Based on this recent study of classrooms in the UK and China and a recent UK report titled , there is evidence that these new-age education techniques, where teachers facilitate instead of teach and praise students on the basis that all must be winners, led to under-performance.
The UK report concludes that many of the approaches adopted in Australian education are counterproductive. "Enthusiasm for discovery learning is not supported by research evidence, which broadly favours direct instruction. Especially during the early primary school years in areas such as English and mathematics, teachers need to be explicit about what they teach and make better use of whole-class teaching," it says.
Many in Australian education believe children are only really learning when they are active. As a result, teachers are told it is wrong to sit children at their desks and ask them to listen to what is being taught.
Again, the evidence proves otherwise. The UK report suggests that even when sitting and listening, children are internalising what is being taught. Learning can occur whether they are "active" or "passive". Often derided as "drill and kill" or making children "parrot" what is being taught, memorisation and rote learning are in fact important classroom strategies, which all teachers should be familiar with, the UK report suggests.
The report says teachers need to "encourage re-reading and highlighting to memorise key ideas", while research in how children best learn concludes that some things, such as times tables and reciting rhymes, ballads and poems, must be memorised until they can be recalled automatically.
Trying to cater to everyone has no effect.
One of the education fads prevalent across classrooms in most of the English-speaking world, involves the concept that all children have different levels of intelligence and their own unique learning styles. For example, some children learn best by looking at pictures, by being physically active, by hands-on, tactile learning or by simply reading the printed page.
The UK report concludes such a teaching strategy is misplaced. "The psychological evidence is clear that there are no benefits for learning from trying to present information to learners in their preferred learning style," it says.
Instead of taking the time, energy and resources to customise what is being taught to the supposed individual learning styles of every child in the classroom, it is more effective to employ more explicit teaching strategies and to spend additional time monitoring and intervening. Lavish praise does no one any good.
One of the prevailing education orthodoxies for many years is that students must be continually praised and that there is no room for failure. The times when "4 out of 10" or an "E" meant fail are long gone. Supposedly, telling children they are not good enough hurts their self-esteem. The UK report says that, while praising students might appear affirming and positive, the wrong kinds of praise can be very harmful to learning.
Overly praising students, especially those who under-perform, is especially counter-productive. It conveys the message that teachers have low expectations and reinforces the belief that near enough is good enough, instead of aiming high and expecting strong results.
To argue that some teaching and learning strategies are ineffective does not mean that there is only one correct way to teach.
While research suggests that some practices are more effective than others, it also needs to be realised that teaching is a complex business. Teachers need various strategies. In the early years of primary school, children need to memorise things such as times tables and poems and ballads so that they can be recalled automatically.
Education is also about curiosity and innovation, and there will be other times when rote learning will be unsuitable.
For example, when students explore a topic that excites them and where they undertake their own research and analysis.
Depending on what is being taught, what has gone before and what is yet to come, whether students are well versed in a particular area of learning or are novices, and even the time of day, teachers must adapt their teaching to the situation and be flexible. The problem arises when teachers privilege one approach to the detriment of all others.
