Essential Question/Assumption: “What is taught is what is learned.”
I disagree with this assumption.
Students are taught language in class for them to learn based on the curriculum that needed to be completed by the students and the teachers. They are given those important language modules with contents and lessons like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. Indeed, they are taught with information but it doesn’t mean they acquire them. It all boils down if the taught language is acquired or just another information delivered but passively learned.
Basically, what is taught in class is controlled and normally followed a rote learning process aiming to get good scores in exams. This kind of learning is very objective and information learned is forgotten day by day when the information learned is not relevant to daily conversations.
We can see that students who passively learned English through movie watching, constant reading can learn more quickly than those students diligently study words and verbs which are taught in class.
You would be surprised when a teacher asks a student a particular idea taught in class. However, student can answer more sensible information aside from what is taught, since answers are based on student understanding, which is not directly taught by the teacher. The student comes up with answers based on her/his research, previous readings, instructions from home or peers. So learning is not limited to what is taught but it’s more of synthesizing everything. The fact about what is taught in class is just bridging the information students have learned previously.
Somehow what is taught is just an additional information that can help students improve their language learning. Aside from what they have learned in class, they also have their extra reading and information that can help them improve in learning a language.
