You may be hearing more people talking about inquiry-based learning at the moment. It seems to have become a bit of a trend in ELT and education in general.
In this post, I’ll give a short introduction to what inquiry-based learning is, its advantages, and ways to use it effectively in class.
What is inquiry-based learning?
IBL is a learner-centered educational approach that encourages learners to ask and answer questions on a topic of their choice. Similar to project- or task-based learning, students explore a theme in depth by carrying out research.
In short, learners are inspired to get inquisitive and make their own inquiries to learn more about a subject that interests them or to solve a complex problem.
It could be said that IBL is a "bottom-up" learning approach. It gives students a subject to investigate and supports them to share their findings. This allows learners more autonomy and opportunity to develop life skills than a "top-down" approach in which the teacher shares their knowledge with the class.
What are the benefits of IBL for English language learners?
There are many benefits to taking an inquiry-based approach in your classroom. Here are some:
1. It boosts motivation.
Inquiry-based learning lets learners choose what questions they want to answer and what topics they’d like to explore. When students get to choose something that interests them, they are immediately motivated to learn.
2. It allows space for organic language practice.
Learners learn through practicing and using their language skills. In the real world, they need to think spontaneously about their grammar and vocabulary choices. IBL creates a safe space to do this. The inquiry will naturally allow them to ask questions, consider responses, share opinions, give advice, and benefit from a whole manner of other organic language practice opportunities.
3. It is a chance to develop multiple skills.
An inquiry-based approach allows learners to watch videos, listen to podcasts, read texts, write down ideas, and share their thoughts. This allows them to practice all of their language skills at the same time in a natural and engaging way. It also provides an opportunity to develop 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.
4. It is inclusive.
IBL is a flexible approach that allows learners to pick what they want to learn more about. It also allows them to choose how they want to carry out their research, present their learning, and interact with other learners. Small adaptations like these can make classrooms more accessible and welcoming for everyone.
5. It creates a need to use the language.
One of the main aims of English language teaching is to create a need for learners to use the language. An inquiry-based approach creates this necessity by posing a problem to be solved or a question to be answered. Learners then have to use their language skills to solve it or explore the topic more.
How can I use IBL in class?
There are four steps to inquiry-based learning:
1. Inspire curiosity that generates questions
Have you ever read or watched something that got you instantly hooked on the subject and desperate to learn more? That is the feeling we want to give learners in this stage of IBL process.
To do this, we could:
Then give students time to think, talk together, and make notes of questions that this input has inspired them to ask.
2. Research the topic
Now that students have questions they’d like to answer, we can help them to find those answers. In this stage, it is important to teach them research skills and how to identify reliable sources.
In particular, it is essential that students understand that AI tools and Wikipedia pages are good starting points, but that the information within them must be fact-checked. AI tools search the internet for all sources, but haven’t yet learned how to distinguish facts from opinions, or reliable from unreliable sources. In a similar way, Wikipedia can be updated by anyone, so the information may not always be correct there either.
As a research guide, you can help learners to evaluate sources by encouraging them to find information in books, magazines, research papers, and reputable newspapers. You may wish to have learners compare the information represented in each, as different publications might slant their information for political or economic purposes.
For websites, have students think critically about the purpose of each one. Sources such as the World Health Organization, UNESCO, or National Geographic are likely to be well researched and reliable. Other sites may be trying to sell them something and could be manipulating data for their own gains.
3. Share findings
In this stage, learners can present their findings to the rest of the class. They could do this by:
- delivering a presentation
- creating a poster
- writing a blog post
- recording a video or podcast
- doodling a sketchnote
- making an infographic
- building a web page
This is an excellent opportunity to encourage more inquiries and curiosity by inviting learners to ask further questions and explore the topics even further.
4. Reflect
The final stage of IBL is to reflect on the learning process. This gives them a chance to explore what aspects of the process they enjoyed, what was challenging, what they discovered about how they like to learn, and what they might do differently in the future.
Further reading
If you’d like to know more about inquiry-based learning, here are some sites where you can carry out your own inquiry:
- Michelle Worgan is a fantastic inquiry-based learning expert in ELT who offers IBL-themed training, courses, and resources.
- Edutopia
- Australian Government Department of Education
You may also be interested in the following blog posts from Ellii:
Have you tried inquiry-based learning? Would you like to give it a try? Let us know in the comments.
There are no comments on this post. Start the conversation!