Pedagogical Paradigms in teaching EFL classroom: evaluating approaches of cognitivism, constructivism, pragmatism, and connectivism

Abstract

The aim of the teaching-learning process is to transmit knowledge, skills, and values to the student, who is the recipient. This process must be holistic: in its structure and methodology, it must contain various types of training. Separately, any one of these types of training can improve the quality and effectiveness of the others. At the same time, each type has its own distinctive features, which are determined by the psychological peculiarities of the teacher, the general educational goals, and the particular tasks. This study analyzes the teaching-learning process in the English area based on modern approaches in education, which are important theoretical movements that are currently being used: cognitivism, constructivism, pragmatism, and connectivism. We used a convenience sample of for groups with a total number of 120 university students at the A2 English level. This case study was developed at the Technical University of Babahoyo. We used the English skills of listening, writing, speaking and writing and ICT platforms to put those approaches into practice. As result, the students get greater grades with the inclusion of each approach, getting average grades between 8.17 and 9.23 in the reading and cognitive approach, between 7.38 and 8.91 in the writing and constructivism approach, between 8.25 and 9.52 in the listening and connectivism approach. The speaking activity related to the pragmatism approach was measured in the number of errors where there were between 10 and 16 pronunciation or coherence errors in a one-minute speech. In all the approaches they have a significant evolution since their first activity and also, we have satisfaction levels in all the dynamics above 91%. In conclusion, with adequate strategies, and effective technological and digital resources, multiple changes can be achieved by introducing these pedagogical approaches that allow students to develop their skills through collaborative learning tasks, promoting student autonomy, and fostering their ability to work together to develop their critical thinking and create a community-oriented environment for the students.