The 6 Cs in the Knowledge Promotion

                                                               Table  2:  Comparison  of  21st  Century  Skills  

In my research, I will be using the 21st century skills presented by The 6 Cs of Fullan and Langworthy. The reason for this is that The 6 Cs are terms that my council has worked with before and is what the colleagues at my school are familiar with. I will, however, be using the work of Pellegrino and Hilton (2012) to provide theoretical insight around deep learning and 21^st century skills throughout the thesis.

2.1.4 The 6 Cs in the Knowledge Promotion

Under the present Norwegian national curriculum, the Knowledge Promotion, the importance of working with skills such as the 6 Cs are prevalent in both the core curriculum and under the individual subject curricula (Knowledge Promotion, 2006/2013). In this section I will

briefly explore how these skills are reflected in the Knowledge Promotion and discuss these in the context of English didactics.

Collaboration is reflected in the Knowledge Promotion in one of the main focus areas, The Social Human Being. Here it states that “a person’s aptitude and identity develop in interaction with others” (2006/2013, p. 30). And as described by Vygotsky, language development is a “result of social interaction,” and is thus central in collaborative learning (Lighthouse & Spada, 2013). Central to Social learning theory, the importance of collaboration, and specifically collaborative dialogue, is further discussed in section 2.2.

Communication is described under two of the four main subject areas in the English curriculum as both oral communication and written communication. English is further described as a universal language where the need to be able to communicate in English is important for both private and professional reasons. It goes so far as to say in the purpose statement that “To succeed in a world where English is used for international communication, it is necessary to be able to use the English language and to have knowledge of how it is used in different contexts” (Knowledge Promotion, 2006/2013, p.1). The importance of communication, and specifically communicative and intercultural communicative competences, will discussed further in section 2.2.1 and 2.4 respectively. Communicating through multimodal texts where the use of semiotic resources in the form of meaning bearing elements, or modes, has also become an important aspect of teaching EFL (Skulstad, 2018).

This will be discussed further in section 2.3.1.

Critical thinking and problem solving are used as students continually learn new new words, expressions and concepts in the EFL classroom. They are also challenged to think critically in their understanding of new concepts and ideas through the meeting with English texts (Hoff, 2016). Learning in the English classroom can aid in the development of media literacy and can facilitate the students’ ability to understand, analyze, evaluate and reflect on issues regarding use of different media (Erstad, 2015). In addition, students are given the opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills as they learn and gain experience with choosing appropriate digital resources and tools (Erstad, 2015; Fullan & Langworthy, 2014;

Skulstad, 2018). According to the Knowledge Promotion, EFL students should be able to

have a “critical and independent attitude to the use of sources” (2006/2013, p. 4). Using critical thinking skills in regards to digital tools will be discussed further in section 2.3.

Citizenship is an integral part of the subject curriculum where the students are to “develop knowledge about, understanding of and respect for the lives and cultures of other people”

(Knowledge Promotion, 2006/2013). Fullan and Langoworthy describe gaining “sensitivity to and respect for other cultures” and having global knowledge as important aspects of citizenship. This is central to the concept of intercultural competence, which will be discussed in more detail in section 2.4.

Creativity and imagination can be developed as the students use new ways to use the language to communicate their message both written and orally. This can either be through traditional media/forms such as essay writing or live communication, or through the use of new technology, media and digital tools. Multimodal texts allow for the students to create a text where the use of digital resources allows the learner to combine pictures, sound and text in order to communicate their message (Erstad, 2015; Skulstad, 2009). Meaning-making through the use of semiotic resources is central (Skulstad, 2018). This is discussed further in section 2.2 where it is explored how creating multimodal texts can enhance communication.

Creativity and imagination are also developed as learners meet different cultures through texts as they are given the opportunity to explore others’ experiences (Hoff, 2016).

Character education can be seen as an overlapping competence with the other competences.

It is strongly reflected in the Knowledge Promotion where the concept of Bildung is important. Klafki (1996) distinguishes between different types of Bildung. In material Bildung learning is seen as acquiring content knowledge. Fenner (2012) describes Klafki´s formal Bildung as having the aim of “personal development, focusing on processes like learning to master various tools, developing skills, ways of thinking, and values,” or, as she summarizes, “formal Bildung traditions emphasize the subjective aspect of education” (p.

374). However, Klafki (1996) argues that categorial Bildung is seen as ideal where both material Bildung and formal Bildung play central roles in the learning process. Character education can thus be understood as this development of Bildung in the Norwegian educational system. According to Fullan and Langworthy (2014), one important aspect of character education is self-regulation. Zimmerman (2002) defines self-regulation as the

ability to set goals and choose strategies when faced with a learning task. It is also the ability to evaluate oneself in the course of a learning assignment and to be able to make necessary adjustments. These reflections can then be used in future learning situations. He describes learners who have the skill of self-regulation as being “proactive in their efforts to learn because they are aware of their strengths and limitations and because they are guided by personally set goals and task-related strategies” (2002, p. 65). Learning is not viewed as a passive action but one in which they must actively and strategically work for to attain. This is also central in critical thinking and problem solving skills but is here discussed under character education since this is where Fullan and Langworthy (2014) have chosen to categorize it. Closely related to self-regulation is the term learner autonomy. Fenner (2012) explains the similarities in that learner autonomy “entails controlling and supervising one´s own learning and changing strategies according to needs” (p. 291). Williamson (2015) describes self-regulation as “one´s ability to think metacognitively, motivationally and behaviourally” (p. 25). She argues that this is not a fixed trait but a skill that can be developed if given the proper guidance. In defining the role of metacognition in relation to self-regulation Williamson explains that it is “associated with the learner´s ability to monitor, plan, organise and evaluate their own learning” (2015, p. 26). In respect to foreign language didactics, Haukås (2014) describes the importance of helping students develop their language learning strategies to increase their metacognition in the language learning process. Despite this importance, Haukås found in her own study from 2013 that 61% of the teachers in Norway who had been asked, responded that they needed more instruction on how to guide students´ language learning processes even though this has been a competence aim in the national curriculum for many years (Haukås, 2014). The Knowledge Promotion (2006/2013) contains aims directed at developing self-regulation. The following are aims taken from the 10th grade English subject curriculum (Knowledge Promotion, 2006/2013, p.8):

• Use different situations, working methods and learning strategies to develop one´s own English-language skills

• Comment on own work in English

• Select different digital resources and other aids and use them in an independent manner in own language learning

With Assessment for Learning (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2015), where one of the four main principles for assessment is allowing students to be involved in their own learning processes by assessing their own work and development, teachers have

been made more aware of self- regulation and the importance of among other things self assessment and setting personal goals.

As explained by Pellegrino and Hilton (2012) “Deeper learning and the development of 21st century competencies do not happen separately from learning academic content. Rather, deep learning enables students to thoroughly understand academic content and to recognize when, how and why to apply that content knowledge to solve new problems.” Klafki (1996) also discusses the importance of offering learners knowledge that they feel they can apply in real life situations and providing learning activities that reflect their interests so as to attract and retain the learners’ attention and desire to learn (p. 189). One of the teaching methods that has been suggested by Pellegrino and Hilton (2012) does just that and is called research-based learning. In the next section I am going to explore the roots of research-research-based learning and put this in a language-learning context. I will, however, be briefly discussing sociocultural learning and communicative language teaching before I look specifically at a research-based teaching method called project-based learning.