Believing Your Self

Because you are perfect.

Motivating Learner

Promoting Engagement in Language Learning

Language teachers promote or discourage students' engagement by the ways they define successful language learners. When the successful language learner is one who can pass tests and make good grades, learning about the language is all that is required and success is defined by mastery of rules and forms. When the successful language learner is one who has the ability to use the language to accomplish communication goals, success is defined as making the language one’s own.

To promote engagement in language learning:

• Encourage students to use the language spontaneously to communicate ideas, feelings, and opinions
• Identify informal out-of-class language learning experiences
• Ask students to evaluate their progress in terms of increases in their functional proficiency

Students’ motivation for learning a language increases when they see connections between what they do in the classroom and what they hope to do with the language in the future. Their attention increases when classroom activities are relevant to their other interests.

To make these connections, begin by having students list the ways they may use the language in future. Have them include both the ways they plan to use it and other ways that might arise. Ask them to be as specific as possible. For each way of using language, ask them to list specific communication tasks that they will need to be able to do. Use these purposes and tasks as the basis for task-oriented classroom communication activities.

Some lower level students will respond that they don’t plan to use the language – that they are taking the course to fulfill a university language requirement. Encourage these students to develop an imaginary scenario for themselves in which they have some reason for using the language. In doing this, some students may think of ways in which they really might use it, and others will come to understand that purpose is an integral part of language learning.

Sample Ways of Using a Language

• When traveling in a country where it is spoken
  Tasks: ask for directions (and understand responses), purchase tickets and book hotel rooms, read signs and informational materials

• To study at a university in a country where it is spoken
  Tasks: understand lectures, take notes, read academic materials, talk with other students (social and academic talk)
• To become knowledgeable about the history and culture of a country where it is spoken
  Tasks: read about history and culture, understand plays, movies, and other performances, interview people from the country
• To provide legal assistance to native speakers who are immigrants to this country
  Tasks: gather personal statistical information, explain legal requirements, explain social and cultural expectations, describe procedures, understand and answer questions.

Another way of making language instruction relevant and interesting to students is to find out what topics they are studying and draw materials for reading and discussion from those fields. However, remember that reading and discussion do not always have to be about serious issues or academic topics. Students enjoy talking about movies and television programs, vacation plans, famous people, and other popular culture topics.

Finally, don't be afraid to drop a topic if students' interest begins to fade. Ask them to suggest alternatives. When students know that they have some control over what they do in the language classroom, they take ownership as engaged learners.

Philosopies and Theories of Education

PHILOSOPHIES	METAPHYSICS	EPISTEMOLOGY	AXIOLOGY
Idealism	Reality is spiritual or mental	Knowing is the rethinking of latent ideas	Values are absolute and eternal
Realism	Reality is objective and is composed or matter and form	Knowing consists of sensation and abstraction	Values are absolute and eternal  based on  nature’s laws
Pragmatism	Reality is the interaction of an individual with environment or experience	Knowing results from experiencing use of scientific method	Values are situational or relative
Exixtentialism	Existence precedes Essence	Knowledge for personal choice	Freely chosen values
Philosophical Analysis	Rejected as nonveritable empirically	Emperical verification or logical alalysis of language	Regarded as emotional feelings

THEORIES PENDIDIKAN

THEORIES	GOALS	CURRICULUM
Perennialism	To educate the rational person	Subject matter that is hierarchically arranged to cultivate the intellect
Essentialism	To educate the useful and competent person	Basic education: reading, writing, arithmetic, history, English, science, foreign languages
Progressivism	To educate the individual according to his or her interests and needs	Activities and projects
Reconstructionism	To reconstruct society	Social sciences used as reconstructive tools

POSITIVIST AND NATURALIST AXIOMS

AXIOMS	POSITIVIST	NATURALIST
The Nature of reality	Reality is single, tangible, and fragmentable	Realities are multiple, constructed and holistic
The relationship of knower to the know	Knower and known are independent, a dualism	Knower and known are interactive, inseparable
The possibility of generalization	Time-and context-free generalization (nomothetic statements) are possible	Only time-and context-bound working  hypotheses (idiographic statement) are possible
The possibility of causal linkages	There are real causes, temporally precedent to or simultaneous with their effect	All entities are in a state of mutual simultaneous shaping, so that it is impossible to distinguish causes from effect
The role of value	Inquiry is value-free	Inquiry is value-bound

10 bad Habits for Our Brain

1. Tidak Sarapan Pagi
Mereka yang tidak mengkonsumsi sarapan pagi memiliki kadar gula darah
yang rendah, yang akibatnya suplai nutrisi ke otak menjadi kurang.

2. Makan Terlalu Banyak
Terlalu banyak makan, apalagi yang kadar lemaknya tinggi, dapat
berakibat mengerasnya pembuluh darah otak karena penimbunan lemak pada dinding dalam pembuluh darah. Akibatnya kemampuan kerja otak akan menurun.

3. Merokok
Zat dalam rokok yang terhisap akan mengakibatkan penyusutan otak secara cepat, serta dapat mengakibatkan penyakit Alzheimer.

4. Mengkonsumsi gula terlalu banyak
Konsumsi gula yang terlalu banyak akan menyebabkan terganggunya
penyerapan protein dan nutrisi, sehingga terjadi ketidakseimbangan gizi
yang akan mengganggu perkembangan otak

5. Polusi Udara
Otak adalah konsumen oksigen terbesar dalam tubuh manusia. Menghirup
udara yang berpolusi menurunkan suplai oksigen ke otak sehingga dapat
menurunkan efisiensi otak.

6. Kurang Tidur
Otak memerlukan tidur sebagai saat beristirahat dan memulihkan
kemampuannya. Kekurangan tidur dalam jangka waktu lama akan mempercepat kerusakan sel-sel otak.

7. Menutup kepala saat tidur
Kebiasaan tidur dengan menutup kepala meningkatkan konsentrasi zat
karbondioksida dan menurunkan konsentrasi oksigen yang dapat menimbulkan efek kerusakan pada otak.

8. Menggunakan pikiran saat sakit
Bekerja terlalu keras atau memaksakan untuk menggunakan pikiran kita
saat sedang sakit dapat menyebabkan berkurangnya efektifitas otak serta dapat merusak otak.

9. Kurang menstimulasi pikiran
Berpikir adalah cara yang paling tepat untuk melatih otak kita.
Kurangnya stimulasi pada otak dapat menyebabkan mengkerutnya otak kita

10. Jarang berkomunikasi
Komunikasi diperlukan sebagai salah satu sarana memacu kemampuan kerja otak. Berkomunikasi secara intelektual dapat memicu efisiensi otak.
Jarangnya berkomunikasi akan menyebabkan kemampuan intelektual otak jadi kurang terlatih.

Developing Argument

When you develop your argument, you are confirming your own position, building your case. Use empirical evidence, such as facts and statistics, to support your claims. Appeal to your audience's rational and logical thinking. Argue your case from the authority of your evidence and research.

Your list of strengths and weaknesses can help you develop your argument. Prioritize the strengths and weaknesses for each position; decide on the top three to five strengths and weaknesses. Then, using a technique for developing content ideas, e.g., clustering, association, journalist's questions, begin to expand your understanding of each of the items on your list. Evaluate each item as to how you can support it—by reasoning, providing details, adding an example, by using evidence. Again, prioritize your list of strengths and weaknesses, this time noting what supporting comments need more work, more evidence, or may be irrelevant to your argument. At this stage, it's better to overlook nothing and keep extensive notes for later reference.

As you develop your ideas, remember that you are presenting them in a fair-minded and rational way, counting on your reader's intelligence, experience, and insight to evaluate your argument and see your point of view.

Techniques for Appealing to your Readers

The success of your argument depends on your skill in convincing your reader—through sound reasoning, persuasion, and evidence—the strength of your point of view. There are three fundamental types of appeal in presenting an argument: reason, ethics, and emotion. As a writer, your task is to weave these three types of appeal skillfully into your argument in a balanced and sensible way.

• Reason
  
  Clear thinking requires that you state your claim and support it with concrete, specific facts. This approach appeals to our common sense and rational thinking. Formal reasoning entails following certain established logical methods to arrive at certain pieces of information or conclusions. Generally, these logical methods are known as inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
  
  When our logical thinking states specific facts (called premises) and then draws a conclusion, a generalization, we call this inductive thinking. Inductive reasoning enables us to examine the specific details in light of how well they add up to the generalization. When we think inductively, we are asking whether the evidence clearly supports the conclusions.

An example of inductive reasoning Our marketing study proves that citizens are concerned about information privacy and won't visit certain Web sites.

In deductive reasoning, our logical thinking starts with the generalization. As we apply our generalization to a specific situation, we examine the individual premises that make that generalization reasonable or not. When our logical thinking starts with the generalization, or conclusion, then we may apply the generalization to a particular situation to see whether that generalization follows from the premises. Our deductive thinking can be expressed as a syllogism or an enthymeme, a shortened form of the syllogism.

An example of deductive reasoning

Syllogism (long form)
Aggressive marketers speak of invasive data collection as simply "getting to know the customer," and ABC corporation is actively assembling a database of private client information. Despite their claim to be interested in providing better customer service, we may be concerned that ABC will not protect our privacy.

Enthymeme
Because ABC corporation is assembling a database of private information about their clients, their customers are concerned about identity theft.

• Ethics
  
  Think of ethics as the force of character of the speaker as it is represented in oration or writing. If you misrepresent the evidence or one of your sources, your reader will question your ethics. In any situation where you must rely on your reader's good will and common sense, you will lose your reader's open-minded stance toward your argument when you use unethical methods to support your argument. This can happen intentionally, by misrepresenting evidence and experts and by seeking to hurt individuals or groups. You may also undermine your argument by unintentional misunderstanding of the evidence and the implications of your position. This can happen when you don't research the evidence responsibly, preferring instead to express your own and others' unfounded opinions.
• Emotion
  
  Using emotions as a support for argument can be tricky. Attempting to play on your readers' emotions can smack of manipulation and is often mistrusted. To use emotional appeal successfully, you need to apply discretion and restraint. You need to choose examples that represent and illustrate your ideas fairly and then present your arguments as objectively as possible. The writer must carefully draw the connections between the ideas and illustrations, choosing diction in such a way that readers don't question motives as manipulative and sensational. Strong evidence accumulated by careful research often addresses this potential problem well. An example of an appeal to emotion is presented here: Rather than continuing these tax-and-spend policies, we plan to return your hard-earned tax money to you.