What Makes a Japanese Language Class a "Class"? Part 9: Fostering Reading Comprehension That Gradually Becomes Self-Sustaining Through "Brain Live-Streaming"

"I understand when I hear the explanation. But I can't solve it on my own."
This is a story about the ultimate "baton pass" to change the way such students think.

"Think-Aloud": Prying Open the Black Box of Reading Comprehension

If a teacher only presents the correct answer during a test review by saying, "The answer is written right here," the student's ability will not improve.

What students want to know is the process of "how the teacher themselves noticed that." That is why.

The technique to visualize this black box inside the brain is "Think-Aloud."

・Visualization of inference
"Because there is a 'however,' the author must want to negate the previous opinion."

・Demonstration of hesitation
"This part is a bit hard to understand. Let's skip it for now and check the next part."

In this way, the essence of a Think-Aloud is for the teacher to expose all the "troubleshooting" they do unconsciously while reading.

This is not limited to Japanese language class.
For example, it is also a perfect Think-Aloud when a math teacher shows their trial and error while writing out calculation steps, saying, "This approach seems like it will make the calculation complicated, so let's draw a diagram," or "It's strange that a minus sign appeared, let's go back one line."

Reading this far, some may feel that Japanese language classes appear to guide students through the teacher's questions. What should be done to turn the teacher's Japanese language ability into a Japanese language ability that students can use to navigate on their own?

A Blueprint for "Independence"

To sublimate this teacher's "brain live-streaming" into "self-questioning" that students perform themselves, a process of gradually handing over the initiative is necessary.
In pedagogy, this is called "Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR)."

This diagram represents the process where the teacher carries everything at first, but gradually hands the steering wheel over to the students.

In inverse proportion to the shrinking inverted triangle on the left (teacher's responsibility), the triangle on the right (student's responsibility) is growing.
This shows the ideal flow where the initiative of learning shifts smoothly from the "teaching side" to the "learning side."

As this diagram shows, as the teacher's responsibility (inverted triangle) decreases, the student's responsibility (upright triangle) increases in its place.

Let's look at this "baton pass" by comparing it to the familiar practice of riding a bicycle.

① [Model] An adult pedals to show how it's done (I do it)

The teacher live-streams with full effort, showing all the ways to balance in their brain. This is the stage where students watch the "professional way of pedaling" intently and steal the tricks.

② [Running alongside] Supporting from behind and riding together (We do it)

Pass the baton by saying, "Even I am unsure about this part. What do you all think?"The "ultimate training wheels" of the teacherWith these in place, have the students try internal commentary. This allows the teacher to grasp the students' thinking habits as well.

③ [Watching over] Running alongside and offering guidance (You do it together)

In student groups, have them share their "internal commentary" on how they are reading the text with each other. The teacher runs alongside them, offering hints like "Try looking at the previous page" only when they are about to stumble.

④ [Independence] Going anywhere on your own (You do it alone)

Finally, the teacher lets go. By "asking themselves questions (self-questioning)" internally,students become able to decipher unknown texts on their own.

Shifting the focus of evaluation from "correct answers" to "questions"

As proposed by the psychologist Vygotsky, language first appears as "dialogue with others (external speech)," which is then gradually internalized into "dialogue with oneself (internal speech)."

As students begin to become independent, they will start to voice"sharp questions"rather than just "correct answers."

"Wait, what does this 'that' refer to?"
"Doesn't this contradict the earlier argument?"

At that moment, instead of praising them with "Correct!", please praise the act of raising the question itself by saying,"It's wonderful that you came up with that question!"

Students who have copied the teacher's "internal commentary" and made it their own have acquired the lifelong weapon of reading comprehension.

From dependence to independence.

The moment to take off the training wheels and start running is just around the corner.

~To be continued~