Blooms Taxonamy in Relation to VIPkid Curriculum

I circled the image of a woman on the Power Point Presentation (PPT) that I was using to teach my English language student, said “Mom,” and held my hand to my ear. As I waited patiently, my student repeated the word “Mom” after me. I then circled the word Mom that was written in a line of text above the woman, held my hand to my ear and waited until my student once again repeated “Mom”. Now that we had practiced the word with careful pronunciation, it was time to have some fun. I moved my arms in a little dance and sang “Mom, mom, mom!” My student repeated in the same musical tone, “Mom, mom, mom,” then giggled.

As an online English as a Second Language Teacher (ESL) working for VIPkid, scenes like this are a common part of my routine. I am one of over 50 000 ESL teachers that works for the company, and I follow the teaching methods encouraged by the workshops and training material provided by VIPkid. Some teachers that work for VIPkid have a background in education, and may have a firm grasp on different teaching methodologies and how they relate to the lessons VIPkid provides for students every day. Many teachers for VIPkid provide highly effective English lessons without necessarily knowing the terminology and theories behind the complex curriculum and teaching methods. I would like to explore Blooms Taxonamy, which involves hierarchical learning methods divided into three domains. VIPkid’s IPADE (Introduce, Practice, Apply, Demonstrate, Extend/ Evaluate) scaffolding method relates closely with many of the concepts in Blooms Taxonamy, and builds on all three domains of learning.

Historically education has had a strong focus on memorization based learning. For instance the Chinese Imperial Exam that came into existence in the Han period (206 BC–220 AD) (Crozier, Justin 2002) , was a revolutionary addition to the Chinese culture. It allowed anyone who was able to memorize the materials and complete the exam, regardless of status, a civil service position. It required the memorization of over 400 000 characters (Crozier, Justin 2002) and the system of education that was born out of the imperial exam still has influences in China today. In America written tests began to replace oral examinations in 1840 to 1875 (Alcocer, Paulina, and NEA) leading to the standardized tests that are still a current part of the curriculum. The memorization systems created by the Imperial Exam in China, and the Standardized Tests in America, have been heavily criticized, and theories of learning like Bloom’s Taxonamy, have begun to take precedence in the education system.

Bloom’s Taxonomy moves towards teaching students how to learn, rather than forcing them to memorize facts. Especially when teaching languages, theories like Bloom’s Taxonamy must take precedence. It is important to not only memorize vocabulary, but also to comprehend and apply its meaning. In order to speak a language like a native speaker, an individual must be able to organize the words and grammar appropriately in order to synthesize comprehensive sentences using correct syntax and dictation. If an individual simply memorizes the vocabulary, then they will not be able to speak in a way that native speakers of that language can understand.

Bloom’s Taxonomy divides teaching techniques into three domains: the cognitive domain, affective domain, and psychomotor domain. In education the cognitive domain is often the main focus, but it is important to take all three domains into consideration. The cognitive domain is broken up into six parts: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (jshabatu, 2018). Using this system, the student first acquires knowledge, and then attempts to understand it, once developing a clear understanding they apply the newly learned knowledge, analyze their application by organizing elements and relationships, evaluate their new understanding based on their analysis, and finally draw conclusions by evaluating the results that allow for the creation of new theories. The cognitive domain is often the main focus when completing research studies, where a student first completes readings, then develops a theory, applies their theory to research, analyses the results of the research, and then evaluates their results in a paper that wraps up with a clear picture of the whole study and conclusion.

The affective domain is emotionally based, and one of the most important elements of Blooms Taxonomy when working with young children. The affective domain is broken up into five categories: receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and characterization (Kirk, Karin 2018). When working with a student who is learning the English language, we first want them to receive the information through verbal dialogue, readings, images, and examples. We then want them to actively participate, and have fun doing so. This chance to have fun allows them to bond with their teacher, and encourages them to value the learning opportunity. We then want to help organize the information into a format that the student can use. Finally we take the concept one step further in order to help the student apply it, and characterize the information beyond the lesson time.

The third domain is the Psychomotor Domain, and it is divided into seven categories: perception, set, guided response, mechanism, complex overt response, adaptation, and origination (Bloom’s Psychomotor Domain 2018). On the surface it does not seem like something that would be as prominent in language acquisition as the cognitive and affective domains, however it plays an important part. When we help a student associate an action, or a sound with a particular word or concept we develop their understanding at the level of perception, allowing them to translate the word immediately when confronted with it. We guide their actions and responses at first by encouraging mimicking, but soon these actions become habitual, and the student might do them on first contact with the word. Eventually the student will be able to adapt and create their own actions to express a concept to a teacher using their limited vocabulary.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a useful tool for teachers because it puts elements of the education method into clear domains, and categories, and even suggests a hierarchical system. In practice the domains and categories are often not so clear cut, but the guideline Bloom’s Taxonomy provides is an important reference.

I see a lot of relationships between Bloom’s Taxonomy and the VIPkid curriculum, especially when it comes to the affective domain. In the level two curriculum we apply the IPADE Scaffolding Technique to our lesson plans. The IPADE Scaffolding Technique stresses five categories: introduce, practice, apply, demonstrate, and evaluate. These almost line up perfectly with the affective domain: receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and characterization. The IPADE Scaffolding Technique does not just focus on the affective domain, instead it also is closely related to the cognitive and psychomotor domain as well.

Introduce

Bloor’s taxonomy stresses the importance of passively receiving information. This is closely related to the “Introduce” step of the IPADE Scaffolding Technique, where new information is given to the student, with an expectation that the student will repeat. It could also be seen as related to the knowledge step of the cognitive domain. It is interesting to note that the use of demonstration, props, and TPR encouraged by VIPkid also encourages learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy’s Psychomotor Domain, which focuses on action based learning.

Practice

The practice slides give our students a chance to respond to questions using the information they have just received from their teacher. This also checks for comprehension, a category of the cognitive domain, and when a teacher uses TPR or demonstration to encourage an answer, the teacher activates the psychomotor domain, helping set the knowledge in the student’s mind.

Apply

Application lets the student explore the vocabulary through interactive activities, which lets them attach meaning or value to the new word, sentence, or concept being taught. The cognitive domain also has an application category, and the interactive slides, paired with teacher demonstration and TPR allow for the learning in the psychomotor domain by allowing for the student to explore, but also guiding their response.

Demonstrate

Demonstration slides allow for the student to put together the words, concepts, and meaning that they have acquired throughout the lesson. In the Affective Domain they are able to organize the information they have learned while both analyzing and synthesizing that information. The student’s use of TPR allows them to show their understanding while making the actions into habit and developing their mechanism of psychomotor comprehension.

Extend/ Evaluate

At VIPkid the section that was previously referred to as Evaluate has become “Extension”. It is a slide without text or prompts that is meant to build creative discussion. The teacher might ask a question, or use TPR to get a conversation going, with the goal of encouraging the student to characterize their acquired knowledge, relate it to their daily lives, and evaluate its use.

As you can see, the breakdown of these concepts into clear hieratical steps makes the information easier to use and understand. However it is important to realize that the steps might not always fall in order. For instance, in the attached video clip, I work with a young student who is new to VIPkid. The vocabulary she is learning is “Mom”, so I begin by introducing the new knowledge, and she receives the information passively. However I soon prompt her to repeat, meaning she is actively using the information, even though she is not yet demonstrating comprehension. I highlight both the image of the mom, as well as the word mom, and I do an action, and use a funny voice, which she repeats. I do this to help activate the Psychomotor Domain, to help her attach meaning and context to the word. Next I look around the room and ask “Where is your mom?” while using TPR to demonstrate the meaning of this question. Here I am asking her to apply the information I have given her, but I am also extending which allows her to synthesize the information, analyze the question, and lets me evaluate her understanding. I use similar steps throughout the lesson, instead of attempting to categorize each type of learning to individual slides. This allows for a well rounded lesson, and lets me check to make sure my student is understanding throughout the class.