While the previous discussion considered the way in which the content of the class is taken “outside” and related to aspects in the students’ world, this chapter looks at the opposite process, namely at how the students’ lives are brought into the classroom. According to Donovan, this is essential, “[i]f you truly want students to gain from the learning experience and take a deep understanding from that learning task” (2009: 109). In order to make the knowledge significant for them, he says, there is a

“need to connect the students to the learning through the recognition of the student’s culture, their past experience and using that to engage the student to the learning experiences presented to them” (2009: 104).

S2 acknowledges her active engagement in the class with the following words:

“I find that it’s done in a really different way to other courses. They do it in a more conversational way rather than just the lecturing at you way. […] They have more interaction with you overall I think.” (Interview with S2)

With this statement she reveals that the lecturers and tutors are not the only ones to talk during the class sessions but that the students also contribute to what is discussed. This idea mirrors Morgan’s and Golding’s “expectation that lectures and tutorials would be collaborative and involve considerable narrative and dialogue” (Morgan et al. 2010: 10). Terms such as “conversation”, “interaction” and “dialogue” suggest that the students’ participation is not limited to answering questions to test their knowledge. On the contrary, they provide knowledge and input which leads S1 to saying “we teach each other in a way […] with the […] presentations” (Interview with S1).

Information which was gathered through independent research and for the purpose of being presented to the class, however, does not constitute students’ only contribution. L3, for example, claims that he “love[s] people to […] tell their stories, engage with their understandings” (Interview with L3). Thus, he gives the students the opportunity to bring incidents from their life, and experiences they have made into the classroom and connect them with the content to be learned.

Although most of the time no one student is asked separately to share ideas, opinions and knowledge with the class, I can remember one session in which L3 directed a question at the US-American student and me in particular. L3 explains this exception by saying:

“I attempted to bring in the international students into our learning sometimes and draw on your experiences in […] your home lives into the classroom. […] hopefully engage you in the classroom. But also connect the rest of the audience to the […] diversity […] that lives in that classroom” (Interview with L3)

Thus, he specifically took into consideration our cultural background as distinct from the others’ and “accommodat[ed] for what the diverse learners bring to the higher educational context in terms of prior knowledge”, to say it with the words of Morgan et al. (2010: 10).

How aware L3 is of the influence that a person’s background and experience has on their learning and their perception of the class content shows this interview excerpt:

“I like to give people a variety of options when it comes to content. […] So I give you my view of the world. I’ll also ask students to look at other materials, other readings. […] Then I get students to share. So I get people to talk […] and share their experience because, you know, from the way I read something and the way you read something, […] you know, they’d be slightly different, you know. There are certain things that you pick up on that I may not pick up on. […] hopefully as you’re talking about something with your peer or your friend […] you will suggest something that they didn’t realise. Or vice versa and then you get to maybe draw and grab other things. But at the same time you’ll hear things that people say and then it might not relate to your understanding, your interpretations and then students have the opportunity to ignore them and hopefully build their knowledge from something that they understand.” (Interview with L3)

This approach to learning in the classroom is in keeping with “the constructivist views of education” which Morgan et al. describe in his article, “where students actively create knowledge and meaning by being immersed with other students in learning contexts” (2010: 10).

Furthermore, it also reveals that active engagement for L3 encompasses not only a detailed reading of a text and a subsequent class discussion but also an individual, independent evaluation of the importance of an aspect for the own knowledge. This fulfills Yunkaporta’s request that teachers should “[s]upport students to recreate their own versions individually” (2010). He gives the students enough freedom so that they can take ownership of their learning. Thus, they are allowed to learn what is relevant to them rather than what a teacher wants them to learn.

In conclusion, the students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences are incorporated into the classroom on two levels: on the one hand as a resource that can be shared and used by everyone and on the other hand as an underlying condition which influences the focus of the individual students’ learning.

To move on to the next section of the analysis treating the use of reflection tasks, please click here.

To return to the overview over the first part of the analysis, please click here.

(Also see the categories “Connection to students’ world“, “Sharing knowledge“, “Storytelling“, “Diversity“, “Opinions” and “Independent learning“)