when s equals p

SPRE | Chris Baldwin | May 30th, 2005

Hi all

Thanks for the welcome messages. Down to work now!

I'm thinking about the SPRE task in FND. It seems to me that it's sometimes very hard to distinguish between SITUATION and PROBLEM. For example I'm looking at an article called "The Power of Problem Classes" (ET Professional, May 2005 p.63) We are told that the word "problem" signals the problem, but it seems to me that this could also be the situation, depending on the reader, i.e. the class has many problems with all it's teachers, so it's a situation, then the specific problems are developed later, with regards to the English lesson.

This is a subject very close to my heart, as I'm thinking about how to tackle 3A this afternoon!

Any observations?

Thanks

Chris

Re: SPRE | Jerry Talandis Jr. | May 31st, 2005

Hi Chris,

I'm not familiar with that article you mentioned, but from my knowledge, the "situation" part of SPRE is more about background info- the school, the class, age/gender/experience of the students, etc. The "problem" (or "puzzle") is found within the actual class itself. Seems to me that you are mixing up the two stages a bit. I guess it's all in how you look at it, however. If you can state your case clearly, then I'm sure it would be ok.

I'm thinking about how to tackle 3A this afternoon

What is "3A"? The name of a problem class you have? Care to tell us about it? It's not like none of us had problem classes before!

Jerry

Re: SPRE | Chris Baldwin | June 1st, 2005

Hi all.

I'll try to justify why Problem can be Situation.

The article I referred to is a "How to do" type article, as required for the AWD assignment in FND, therefore the "Problem class" is not a specific problem for the author, but a general situation, in which many readers find themselves, so it serves to set the situation of the article, not in a particular school, but in a particular type of situation the term "Problem class" as an article title is not sufficiently specific to be a marker of a problem. The author uses the term "problem" to attract attention to the article, before describing specific problems. If an article is focused on the reader, and not the author taking action the S - P distinction can become blurred. This could be what Pinkie referred to in the DL archive.

My reference to 3A was intended as ironic - they are a problem class soon to become SEP (somebody else's problem). I intend to make it the subject of my MET proposal for FND - development of a methodology for problem classes of 10-14 year-olds for conversation lessons.

Any ideas of where to look in the literature?

Any observations?

Chris

Re: SPRE & MET PT proposal | Jerry Talandis Jr. | June 1st, 2005

Hi Chris,

Seems to me your "justification" for why a problem can be the situation is spot on; with a little modification, you've basically got the bulk of your portfolio task already written! The thing with those assignments is that if you really feel strongly one way or another, and can justify your position clearly, then the tutors will be happy. Either do that or ditch the article and find something with a clearer SPRE structure. Doing it this way has brought success, as tutors feel that finding a really simple, clear-cut SPRE article is evidence that you understand the structure. That's all they want to see at this point.

Thanks for including the link to Pinkie's post about SPRE. I hadn't read that discussion in a long time. It helped provide context for your point. The thing I get from that is that SPRE is quite a "flexible" concept.

Regarding your MET proposal idea, what is your narrow focus? Seems like you need to get that down first before you can really do an effective search for literature. "Development of a methodology for problem classes" is quite broad. What is the intervention you're thinking of trying out as the center of your action research?