Using case-study in problem solving fl teaching

USING CASE-STUDY IN PROBLEM SOLVING FL TEACHING

Abstract. The article explores the potential of case-study as a pedagogical technology that can be used in teaching a foreign language. The nature of the concept “case-study”, its types, functions, structure and skills which are formed by it are reviewed. A comparative analysis of case-study and the method of problem-solving education is carried out. The case of illustrative model is developed, shown and analyzed. The peculiarities of the organization of problem-based learning of the English language using case-study in the school education are revealed. The article concludes with the effectiveness of case-study in foreign language teaching and its contribution to the development of students’ analytical and systemic thinking (assessment of alternatives and consequences associated with decision-making), as well as communication and teamwork skills.

Keywords: case-study, English language, problem solving education, communicative competence, interactive forms of learning.

Learning a foreign language requires both acquisition of knowledge and practice of skills. The latter is more difficult to realize under the conditions of classroom learning only. The analysis of the process of teaching English at school shows that unfortunately insufficient attention is paid to real life communication in both written and oral forms, which leads to the lack of experience among learners in dealing with everyday situations in foreign environment and low capacity of solving problems in general. In this regard, the study puts forward the following hypothesis: it is assumed that the use of the case-method contributes to the effectiveness of teaching English, as well as the development of creative and cognitive skills and intelligence of students. And hence the purpose of our paper is to consider the case study and explore its impact on language learning process. To achieve this goal it is necessary to solve the following tasks: 1) to reveal the essence of the concept of “case-method”; 2) to study the types and structure of the case-method; 3) to identify the features of the organization of problem solving education of the English language using the case-method in the school educational process. There is a wide variety of interpretations of case-study concept. Based on our own analysis of the definitions of the conceptual apparatus of the problem under study, we are inclined to the idea of distinguishing the concepts of “concrete situation analysis” and “case-study”, because “case” is an information package, the presence of which is mandatory to achieve the learning objectives, and the situation analysis can be performed without a case. Consequently, in the context of situational learning we consider it appropriate to use two parallel terms: – concrete situation analysis, which means different ways of analyzing a particular situation (concrete – real, clearly defined, accurate) by means of other methods, mostly, but not necessarily, interactive; – case-study method is a way of analyzing a concrete situation with the obligatory presence of a case of a certain type, relevant for the correct solution of this very situation by means of interactive learning technology. Considering the above mentioned, the case-study method is a much broader notion than a concrete situation analysis, as it obviously includes the latter in its structure. Case-study is a method of analyzing specific real-life events and situations that occurred in a certain area of activity and that the author described in order to provoke a discussion in the classroom, to encourage students to discuss and analyze the situation, to make decisions. The essence of it lies in the following - students are offered to comprehend and solve a real-life problem which may have more than one solution [3]. The case development can take place in two ways: on the basis of the descriptions of real events and actions or on the basis of artificially constructed situations. In either case it is very important to have a combination of individual student work and collective discussion of proposals prepared by each member of the group. In the process of discussing situations, students in groups reflect on various topics in a foreign language, thus practicing and improving their skills and abilities in written and spoken English. The case-study acts as a specific practical method of organizing the learning process, a method of discussion in terms of stimulating and motivating the process, as well as a method of laboratory-practical control and self-monitoring. The case can be reflected in the methodological context as a complex system, which includes simpler methods: modeling, system analysis, problem method, mental experiment, methods of description, classification, game methods, which perform their roles in the case-method [10;3]. Each case reflects typical life situations. The situation in the case represents a certain state of reality in which the learners find themselves. There are several different models of a case study but for our purpose we have chosen the following one: an illustrative case study. The purpose of such a case is to teach the algorithm of making the right decision in a certain situation [8]. The case under study contains texts in English describing different people’s pastime, memos with the rules of independent and classroom work on the case, auxiliary lexical material, and assessment table. The students should get acquainted with the recommended information sources and on the basis of them, as well as on their own experience, find a solution to the problem. The conclusions and suggestions should be presented in the form of a table with 4 columns: the suggested option; pros; cons; conclusion. A few days in advance, the students are told the topic of the lesson “The problem of spare time” and it is indicated that the lesson will be conducted using the case study. Taking into account that the level of linguistic background of all students is different, they are offered as homework to study case materials individually and then in class they are divided into 3 groups. After such preliminary preparation, the students’ group work and participation in the discussion will be more fruitful, because all the students will be prepared linguistically and will be able to express their opinions and exchange them. The lesson is held at the final stage of the ‘Life & Living’ theme. The material for the study, as well as the case study situation, is presented to the students in English.

An illustrative example of case study:

Text № 1.

My name is Jordan and I am a bank employee. I am 30 years old and I have a husband, his name is Alex, and son, his name is Sam. Every day I start by getting my child ready for school and my husband ready for work. When they leave, I tidy up the kitchen, then get myself ready and go to work. I work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and then I come home and cook dinner. After dinner, I clean the kitchen again and do homework with the baby. Usually, by the time all my chores are done, it’s 10 p.m. I’m exhausted and go to bed. You might think I never asked for help, but that’s wrong. Once after dinner, I asked my husband to clean the kitchen for me, to which he said “no” and left to watch football. Also I asked my child to pack his schoolbag by himself, which he also refused, arguing that he might forget the necessary textbooks. So I had to do these activities myself, as usual. But one day I got tired of this way of life. While my husband and son are having fun and doing their own things, I work and then go to bed completely exhausted. So I decided to show Alex and Sam what it was like to live like this.

Text № 2.

My name is Alex and I am 29 years old. I’ve never found that I don’t have enough time to have fun. You know, I have such a wonderful wife, her name is Jordan. Our house is always clean, our kid, Sam, is taken care of and we never feel hungry. I’m an economist and I work from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. My wife usually makes breakfast in the morning, I eat and go to work. After work, I don’t have energy for anything, I’m very tired. So, when I come home, I prefer to play computer games. A little later my child comes home from his extracurricular activities and we watch a movie together. Near 9 p. m. Jordan comes home from work and makes dinner, and Sam and I are very hungry! Jordan is a really good cook, so dinner is eaten quickly. After dinner, I go to watch football and then go to bed. I believe this is how a man’s day should go! The kitchen and other household chores are women’s responsibility. That’s why I don’t touch those things.

Text № 3.

My name is Sam and I am an ordinary schoolboy. I am 13 years old. I get up in the morning, have breakfast and go to school. I have my classes from about 8 am to 2 pm. Then I have some extra classes, I go to math and physics tutor. After that, I go to football practice with my best friend Luke. Every practice is a lot of fun, so I go home in a good mood. When I get home, I play computer games, and then my dad and I watch movies. Then my mom comes home from work and we go out to dine together. After dinner I sometimes go out with my friends, but not for long, because I have to do my homework, and I do it only with my mom, I can’t do it myself. When my parents go to bed, I chat with my friends in social networks and go to bed late, so my bag is packed in the morning by my mom, otherwise I may forget the books I need.

Questions:

1. Which of these people has the greatest amount of leisure time? And who has none at all?

2. How important are each person’s activities? Rate on a scale: 3 – very important; 2 – rather important; 1 – unimportant .

3. Do the interviewed people respect each other?

4. Based on the relationship described, who are Jordan, Alex, and Sam to each other? Do they behave as a family or as roommates?

5. Identify the problem that connects the three texts. Suggest possible solutions.

6. Who is able/responsible to fix the situation?

Questions for the conclusion of the class: How do you spend your free time? Do you find your activities productive?

Proposed solution:

Jordan

Another day came and in the morning, as usual, I fed the boys and walked them to work and school and then left on my own. After work I came home and sat down to watch a movie. Alex asked about dinner, but I said I was very tired and wanted to rest, like he and Sam did every day. Then Sam came over and asked me to do his homework with him, and I said “no”, explaining that if he had just once sat down and done it himself instead of playing on the computer, he wouldn’t have had to ask his tired mother for help. After watching the movie, I had a cup of tea and a sandwich and went to bed. How great was my surprise when in the morning I found the boys in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone: cornflakes with milk and coffee. And Sam had even packed his backpack and did some homework on his own during the night. How nice it was that they finally realized that chores should not be the responsibility of just one person!

As we can see, the case corresponds to the following criteria:

– accessibility for all participants;

– adequacy of the material to the tasks participants are able to solve in reality, their daily activities.

The case has a certain structure:

– Situation: Introduction (hero of the case, history) Main part (the main body of information, inner intrigue, problem) Final part (situation may “hang up”, requires appropriate solution)

– Case questions

– Appendix (additional information to the case: tables, statistics, additional details)

– Conclusion (brief description of a possible solution)

– Methodological recommendations for case analysis (the author’s approach to solving the case)

In the process of implementing the case-study the teacher tackles the problems of teaching and educating students, thus performing 6 main functions:

1. educational, which allows to obtain and accumulate new knowledge both of the academic subject (in our case a foreign language).

2. project-making, associated with the design of goals, programs, plans, methodological system and technology of teaching an academic discipline;

3. constructive, which includes the choice and construction of the content of the training course, the choice of the main forms and methods of conducting a class using the case-method;

4. organizational, solving the tasks of organizing the educational process;

5. communicative, which involves the establishment of pedagogically conditioned relations between the subjects of the educational process. The basis of this function is the ability to objectively perceive a partner in communication, to arouse his trust; to be open in communication, to share information; to anticipate and eliminate conflicts; to criticize fairly, constructively and tactfully; to perceive and consider criticism, restructuring his behavior and activities;

6. upbringing function, which is aimed at the formation of the student’s personality, his general and professional socialization.

The creation of such cases has several purposes:

1) stimulation of students’ mental activity;

2) development of speech skills, in particular dialogic and monological speech;

3) repetition and consolidation of certain lexical and grammatical material;

4) a problem situation can also be a way to test reading comprehension.

Case-study can build the following skills:

– the skills and techniques of comprehensive analysis of the situation from the sphere of professional activity, helps in solving similar problems arising in real practical activity;

– the problem-solving skills, which are produced in the process of modeling their own actions in a problem situation, which allows students to test their own beliefs, theoretical knowledge and prejudices;

– to quickly make decisions “here and now”;

– the verbalization skills, that is, the ability to express one’s own point of view clearly and concisely in oral or written form;

– the presentation skills, i.e. the ability to persuasively justify and defend a viewpoint;

– the skills to critically and constructively evaluate the views of others;

– group work skills – to listen and to understand others;

– develop the practical experience of benefiting from one’s own mistakes as well as those of others [5]. Each case should meet certain qualities: to be successfully told as a real story; to reflect a real problem from life; to describe a dramatic situation; to contain contrasting comparisons; to tell about specific people, recent events [4] (Tab. 1).

Table 1

Qualities of cases

This method is not easy to “integrate” into the educational process, firstly because its preparation is time-consuming. The teacher’s activity when using the case-study goes through two phases. The first one is complex work of creating a case and questions for its analysis. It is carried out in extracurricular time and provides for research and methodological activities of the teacher. The second phase includes the teacher’s activities during lessons, where he or she makes opening and closing remarks, organizes small groups and discussion, maintains a business attitude in the classroom, and evaluates students’ contributions to the analysis of the situation.

Secondly, it’s a foreign method of teaching, but it can be better understood if we compare it with problem-solving learning developed in domestic pedagogy during Soviet times, where problem-solving learning in the scientific works of I. Y. Lerner, N. I. Makhmutov, N. M. Skatkin is considered as a means and technology of developing educational training aimed at the active assimilation of knowledge by students, formation of cognitive interest in learning activities, involvement in the search for new ways to solve assigned problems, creativity of the student and formation of weighty in the society personal features.

Problem-based learning is an organization of classes that involves the creation under the guidance of a teacher problem situations and students’ activities to solve them, resulting in a creative mastery of professional knowledge, skills and abilities and the development of thinking abilities. The method is based on creating a special kind of motivation – problematic – and requires adequately designed didactic content which should be presented as a chain of problem situations. Thus, we see the similarity between the methods. Both are based on cognitive conflict which students have dealing with the unknown.

Conclusion

Summarizing the results of the analysis, it is necessary to note that the importance of case-study in foreign language learning lies in its contribution to the development of students’ analytical and systemic thinking (assessment of alternatives and consequences associated with decision-making) as well as communicative and teamwork skills.

Литература

1. Айкина Т. Ю. Метод кейсов в формировании коммуникативной компетенции студентов // Вестник Томского государственного педагогического университета. 2013. № 1 (129). С. 58–60.

2. Грузкова С. Ю., Камалеева А. Р. Кейс-метод: история разработки и использование метода в образовании // Современные исследования социальных проблем (электронный научный журнал). № 6 (26). 2013.

3. Долгоруков А. Метод case-study как современная технология профессиональноориентированного обучения / http://www.vshu.ru/lections.php?tab_ id=3&a=info&id=2600. / evolkov.net/learn/.../case.study.html. – Метод кейсов (case study).

4. Пахтусова Е. Э. Метод кейсов в обучении иностранному языку в вузе // Молодой ученый. 2014. № 17. С. 532–534.

5. Панфилова А. П. Инновационные педагогические технологии: Активное обучение: учебное пособие. М.: Академия, 2009. 192 с.

6. Полат Е. С. Реализация личностно ориентированного подхода и конструктивизма в системе обучения // Современные педагогические и информационные технологии в системе образования: учебное пособие. 2-е изд., стер. М.: Академия, 2008. С. 104–296.

7. Пономарев А. И. Ситуационный метод обучения // Энциклопедия образования / гл. ред. В. Г. Кремень. М.: Прогресс, 2018. С. 821–822.

8. Ростовская Т. К., Зобков В. А. CASE STUDY: принципы создания и использования. Тверь: СКФ-Офис, 2015. 114 с.

9. Селевко Г. К. Энциклопедия образовательных технологий: в 2 т. Т. 1. М.: Народное образование, 2005.

10. Сидоренко А. Предисловие // Ситуационная методика обучения: теория и практика. 2021. С. 7–8.

11. Смирнов С. Д. Педагогика и психология высшего образования: от деятельности к личности: учебное пособие. 4-е изд., стер. М.: Академия, 2009. 400 с