Dogme language teaching

Site Owner

Dogme is an approach to teaching that argues that teaching should focus on the learner and not be driven by the resources available, including course books. It is a recent movement in ELT, started by a group of teachers who are against 'resource heavy' teaching, arguing that if learners are not interested they will not learn and therefore all material should be generated by the learners and the lessons directed by them, rather than the teacher.

Example

Learners come to class discussing something that is in the news. The teacher encourages and facilitates discussion and provides answers to questions about grammar and vocabulary as they arise.

In the classroom

In a Dogme lesson, the classroom as such does not exist, as there are no resources, course books or lesson structures apart from those that learners bring. The teacher involves the learners in deciding on their priorities each lesson, and takes the role of facilitator of their objectives.

source

Dogme has ten key principles.

Critical use: teachers and students should use published materials and textbooks in a critical way that recognizes their cultural and ideological biases.

Engagement: students are most engaged by content they have created themselves

Dialogic processes: learning is social and dialogic, where knowledge is co-constructed

Scaffolded conversations: learning takes place through conversations, where the learner and teacher co-construct the knowledge and skills

Emergence: language and grammar emerge from the learning process. This is seen as distinct from the ‘acquisition’ of language.

Affordances: the teacher’s role is to optimize language learning affordances through directing attention to emergent language.

Voice: the learner’s voice is given recognition along with the learner’s beliefs and knowledge.

Empowerment: students and teachers are empowered by freeing the classroom of published materials and textbooks.

Relevance: materials (e.g. texts, audios and videos) should have relevance for the learners

Critical use: teachers and students should use published materials and textbooks in a critical way that recognizes their cultural and ideological biases.

Criticism of Dogme

Dogme has come under criticism from a wide range of teachers and educators for its perceived rejection of both published textbooks and modern technology in language lessons. Furthermore the initial call for a ‘vow of chastity’ is seen as unnecessarily purist and that a weaker adoption of Dogme principles would allow teachers the freedom to choose resources according to the needs of a particular lesson. Maley also presents Dogme as an approach that “[increases] the constraints on teachers”. Christensen notes that adoption of Dogme practices may face greater cultural challenges in countries outside of Europe, such as Japan. Questions have also been raised about the appropriateness of Dogme in low resource contexts and where students are preparing for examinations that have specific syllabi

Source