ES modelado o modelaje / CAT modelatge / FR modélisation / DE Modellierung

Modeling is a form of support in the teaching-learning process which involves showing how to use the discourse genre to be understood or produced. This mediation may be carried out through a variety of activities, such as displaying examples in class (either in the language being learned or in the L1 or other additional languages), through the use of the genre by the teacher before the students, or linking it to others of same genre colony, for instance, eliciting the criteria and indicators of achievement. Modeling recreates in the classroom the use and value ascribed to the discourse genre or the genre colony being studied. In that process, the teacher provides extensive guidance to students, and various procedures and bits of knowledge are applied so students can choose among them to manage their own text successfully.

The process obeys the following sequence: deconstruction of the discourse genre > modeling > scaffolding > work with discourse and linguistic characteristics > creation of a model of one's own > internalization of the discourse genre. Modeling offers a model of usage of the genre that the students need to get hold of, in all its dimensions, be they sociocultural, pragmatic, or textual. In short, it is a form of representation and a way of transformation that helps students modify their initial discourse model in order to improve it.

Modeling is based on sociocultural studies and social learning (Bandura 1977), through either observation or imitation. However, modeling entails not only “imitating” or “repeating” a performance (Joyce et al. 2012), but also “interacting” with the learner so they can understand, analyze and represent using their own models the progressive internalization (Ferreira & Lantolf 2008) of the attitude, skills, strategies, concepts, and linguistic resources necessary to understand and produce discourses effectively. Therefore, modeling is conceived as a learning activity and the subsequent models (of whoever needs to develop their discourse competence) are conceived as mediating tools.

References

  • Bandura, Albert (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffr, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  • Ferreira, Marilia M. y Lantolf, James P. (2008). A concept-based approach to teaching writing through genre analysis. En James P. Lantolf y Matthew E. Poehner (Eds.), Sociocultural Theory and the Teaching of Second Languages. Londres: Equinox, 285-320.
  • Joyce, Bruce; Weil, Marsha y Calhoun, Emily (2012). Modelos de enseñanza. Buenos Aires: GEDISA.