Postcolonial critics Paulo Freire (1921-1997) and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1942-) have both made attempts at offering pedagogical formulas that take into account the student's experiences in order to oust oppressive tendencies from the classroom, and at first glance, many of their ideas seem close to identical: Freire speaks dismissively of…

In light of recent concerns in the United States and the United Kingdom regarding the rote and restrictive nature of English literature instruction, this article offers an approach to teaching literature rooted not in knowledge, as literary pedagogy is often conceptualised, but instead in understanding. Reading for understanding extends beyond…

From the perspective of Turkish education history, it can be said that the teaching methods applied in the educational institutions of the Ottoman Empire had deductive characteristics. The application of the deductive method was carried out in various forms including memorization, repetition, comprehension, discussion and note taking. Since the…

In world music ensembles such as African and African Caribbean percussion ensembles, the Gamelan ensemble, and the Latin marimba ensemble, members may sing a song, play instruments, and dance simultaneously. This practice is known as music multitasking. For musicians in Western art music traditions, music multitasking can be a challenge. This…

The study analyses the scope and role of Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) in reforming teaching-learning practices in the classroom by employing a systematic balance of questions from both the lower and higher domains of learning in the summative assessment. Thus, this study analyses the annual question papers designed by the Boards of Intermediate and…

This study sought to evaluate the English language coursebooks used at the Turkish public elementary schools. In so doing, a series of coursebooks used in English courses of the curriculum prepared by the Turkish Ministry of National Education were evaluated, using Tomlinson and Masuhara's (2013) set of coursebook evaluation universal criteria.…

This is discussion of one of Leo Tolstoy's fictional dramatisations of aggressive but dull-witted pedagogy. In "Anna Karenina," two adults badger a lively, deep-souled, active-minded boy, Anna's son Seryozha, to learn his rote-lessons.

Many Indonesian scholars (Azra, 2002; Darmaningtyas, 2004; Yunus, 2004), have attempted to bring progressive education to their country. They believe that progressive practices such as critical thinking, critical dialogue and child-centered instruction will help students learn better. However, this implementation is resisted because of cultural…

In China, a widespread learning practice for foreign languages are reading, reciting and memorising texts. This book investigates this practice against a background of Confucian heritage learning and western attitudes towards memorising, particularly audio-lingual approaches to language teaching and later largely negative attitudes. The author…

"National and Civic Education" is a program of study compulsory across all grade levels in Lebanon aimed at promoting social cohesion and active citizenship. A sample of 19 civics teachers in Lebanon across four of the six governorates participated in semi-structured interviews. The conversations delved into their conceptions of…

Millions of Muslim children around the world participate in Qur'anic schooling. For some, this is their only formal schooling experience; others attend both Qur'anic school and secular school. Qur'anic schooling emphasizes memorization and reproduction (recitation, reading, and transcription) of Qur'anic texts without comprehension of their…

The authors of this article consider Western teaching and learning alongside Confucian teaching and learning through reviewing the literature. The paper emphasizes that we must teach lower order thinking skills first before we teach higher order thinking skills, and confirms that rote learning and memorization precede critical thinking and…

Using cultural frameworks, and based on the author's personal experience and conversations with fellow Chinese and American graduate students, this essay analyzes the struggle for Chinese students who have to strike a balance between the American style of learning which is characterized by class discussion and the Chinese style of learning which…

This paper explores the question of whether critical thinking can eventually become part of the cultural fabric in Kazakhstan, a country whose Soviet educational system not only trained teachers to memorise, lecture and intimidate students but also created a culture in educational institutions fraught with many fear-based behaviours engendering…

In this paper, the author first cites passages that highlight the key developments and dilemmas of teacher education in Ghana in the 1960s, when the new nation resolved to prepare its largely untrained teaching force in "progressive" methods. Across the decade--and across subject areas--Ghana conducted in-service teacher training to…