EPIC Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 6
3. Methodology
A variety of language teaching and learning theories and approaches create the unique
methodology in Epic – a thematic, story-based curriculum, utilizing multisensory activities in
order to address the diverse learning styles of pupils, thus increasing motivation and
success. The Epic Teacher’s Guide includes clear suggestions on how teachers can help
children achieve their learning goals.
Activities in the pupil’s Course Book are presented spirally, with intensive support at the
initial stages. The activities move gradually from reception to production of one-word
responses, to two- or three-word phrases, and finally, speaking, reading and writing, in full
sentences. Target lexical items and chunks, from the Pre-Foundation word list, are
extensively recycled, allowing pupils to gain confidence in the language.
The methodology behind Epic integrates both language learning theories and language
teaching approaches that have been proven successful in foreign language instruction, as
well as in research and first-hand experiences in the classroom.
The following are theories underlying the Integrated Multisensory Language Teaching
Methodology in Epic:
Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
Children continually interact with the world around them and confront problems. Piaget
theorized that it is through the action of solving these problems that children construct
knowledge. Epic is built on activities in which children are required to use the new language
to solve problems.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Theory
Underlying Vygotskian Theory is the central observation that development and learning take
place in a social context, in a world where children interact and communicate with their
environment. The people around the children play an important role in helping them learn
by bringing objects and ideas to their attention, playing with them, telling them stories, and
asking and answering questions. The ability to learn through instruction and mediation is a
core characteristic to human intelligence. The adult helps the child achieve what the child
cannot achieve on his/her own. Vygotsky refers to this as the Zone of Proximal Development
– what the child can do with the help of an adult, and how this enables him/her to progress.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories have had a clear impact on what teachers can do in the
language classroom in order to aid learning. The Epic Teacher’s Guide implements these
important ideas in explicit instructions for the teacher.
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