Implication of Humanism

• Hamachek (1977, as cited in, Williams & Burden, 1997) provides

certain useful examples of the kind of educational implications that
follow from taking a Humanistic approach. First of all, every learning
experience should be considered within the context of assisting the
learners to grow a sense of personal identity and associating that to
the realistic future goals; that is, learning should be personalized as
much as possible. This is in keeping with the view that one significant
task for the teacher is differentiation, i.e., identifying and attempting
to meet the individual learner’s needs within the context of the
classroom group.
Application of Humanism
• Earl Stevick might be the most significant figure for humanistic approach. He (1980)
remarks: “in a language course, success depends less on materials, techniques and
linguistic analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the people in the
classroom”.
• From humanistic approach, there come up three prominent methodologies---the silent
way, suggestopedia and community language learning.
 The silent way initiated from Gattengo (1972), and it means the teacher remains as
silent as he can when the learners are engaged in learning, but the teacher still stays
the firm controller of the class.
 Suggestopedia is established by Lozanov (1979) on the principle that people are able
to learn more if their minds are clear of other things and likewise free of anxiety.
 Community language learning was founded by Curran (1972), on the basis of
counseling, that is, the learners sit in a circle as a community and determine what they
want to say.
Strategies for Application Multicultural
• The following activities can be used in applying the principles and lessons of this
chapter to a K–12 classroom situation.
• 1. Grades K–6: Students can work with their parents to write their family history,
identifying their history of immigration to the United States and cultural mixes
and intermarriages that may have taken place along their ancestral lines. These
papers can be presented in class with parents (for K–3 students) or alone by
students (for grades 4–6). This will allow for sharing of cultural heritage and
family history with the whole class, creating a positive attitude toward cultural
differences.

• 2. Grades 7–12: Students can research their cultural and family history and write
research papers, do murals, or create other kinds of special projects to showcase
their history and cultural heritage. This could be a way to excite students or their
families to begin a family-tree project. A family history/cultural event day could
be organized with multicultural food and exhibition of their projects.