![]() There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers in brainstorming and no danger of teacher correction. McCoy (1976) makes a strong argument in favour of learning problem-solving skills in order to reduce anxiety. This stops them making intelligent guesses and slows down learning.Brainstorming can help students to learn to take risks. Because of nervousness in a foreign language or fear of teacher correction, many students are afraid of using language unless they are sure that it is totally correct (Lucus 1984). The good learner makes intelligent guesses, but the language classroom often works against this. The free association nature allows learners to become involved in the selection of language used in the speaking task. Learners begin examining their existing resources and identifying gaps in their knowledge. Many teachers find that lack of self-initiative is usually more of a problem than lack of ability in conversation classes.Brainstorming can help learners to take charge. This is a problem that faces many Asian students who are generally more reserved than western students (Tsui, 1996). Students who do not take charge of their own learning are unable to take full advantage of learning opportunities. Good Learners Find Their Own Way and Take Charge of Their Own Learning At this point the learners will be better oriented to the topic and better motivated to fill the gaps in their knowledge. The links which appear on paper created in word mapping are visible evidence of this organization. This leads to an organization of language. It works to mobilize the resources of the student by creating a series of connecting ideas. Many learners have a large passive vocabulary which does not translate directly into productive capabilities in the classroom. This mismatch is a block to good learning.īrainstorming invites the learners to organize existing knowledge in their own minds. In many warm-up activities, the teacher and students can be frustrated because the organization of language in the warm-up activity is different from the organization in the learners' minds. A textbook or teacher presentation can never use this knowledge to its best potential. In this way, it provides a link between new and existing knowledge.However, each learner has a different store of existing knowledge organized in a unique way. At the same time, it can direct their minds towards ideas that they will meet in the main activity. A warm-up activity can remind our students of existing knowledge. As teachers, we can try to facilitate this organization by using suitable warm-up activities. Good learners try to organize their knowledge. Good Learners Organize Information About Language These may explain why brainstorming is a useful tool in our classrooms. Four of these characteristics are discussed below. In order to find out why, Rubin and Thompson (1984:114, Rubin 1975) studied the characteristics of good learners. Some learners are more successful than others. Section A : Brainstorming Encourages Better Learning Section C gives some simple brainstorming techniques. Section B describes a research study on brainstorming in the conversation classroom. Section A shows how brainstorming can help our students to become better learners. Is brainstorming useful in teaching conversation? In particular, is it a useful activity for warm-up in conversation classes? This paper will help answer this question. ![]() Activities such as free-association and word-mapping are often included as part of the pre-writing or warm-up phase (Richards, 1990:112). In the language classroom, brainstorming is often used in teaching writing. Since 1930, it has been used successfully in business for invention and innovation (VanGundy, 1981). The principle of brainstorming is that you need lots of ideas to get good ideas.īrainstorming has a wide range of applications. Instead, initial ideas can be be viewed as a starting point for more workable ideas. Each idea produced does not need to be usable. These ideas are not evaluated until the end and a wide range of ideas is often produced. The purpose is to generate as many ideas as possible within a specified time-period. The Internet TESL Journal Brainstorming Before Speaking Tasksīrainstorming is an activity used to generate ideas in small groups.
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