MSI Press Blog

Released today! An in-depth guide for teachers seeking to understand dysfunctional classrooms and create a mathemagenic experience. A unique resource, based on experience with thousands of language learners. Based on Jungian psychology, using MBTI categories (with a passing reference to equivalents in Socionics), this book presents an explanation behind dysfunctional language classrooms (though much could apply to any K-16 classroom) and provides a heuristic for managing the classroom successfully. For each MBTI type, there is a section posing a teacher of that type and a classroom of randomly gathered types (as in real life). A discussion follows as to the source of any dysfunction, the way to accommodate all learners, an exploration of the probable comfort level of that teacher, and a posed question as to what would be the case if the class were the same but the teacher the polar opposite. Meant for application by teachers and for use in faculty development, it is a book that t

  excerpt from The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom (Dabbs & Leaver),  from Chapter 1 Defining and Recognizing the Invisible Classroom: Guardians Guardians General Orientation SJ personality types, more especially as adults, feel compelled to pass on the values of their society. As such, the Guardians in every society are essential to the continuation of that society. As Learners As learners, Guardians work to belong in the group, whether that is a social group of their place in the class. For this reason, they possess a strong work ethic. They crave rules, accept and support tradition and traditional approaches, and want to know exactly what is expected of them.   Because many teachers are themselves SJs, the SJ learner fits right in.   The student understands and feels comfortable with the teacher’s methods because that is how they learn.   The SJ likes the structure, likes knowing what is expected, and since the SJ teacher will generally lay things out in a logica

  Introduction Ever wonder why you just could not get along with Sally Jo in high school?   Why you, as a teacher, cannot reach a particular student no matter how much one-on-one time you provide them?   Why two learners in your classroom squabble all the time and seem to delight in challenging you? Why some classes seem so harmonious, and others are clearly dysfunctional? The answer to these questions and many others lies in understanding intragroup dynamics.   These dynamics, exposed, show us an invisible, or hidden, classroom, that can differ quite remarkably from the classroom we think we are seeing, whether we are a student in it or a teacher of it (Ehrman & Dornyei, 1998). In this book, we will be using examples from and demonstrating the dysfunction that occurs in foreign language classrooms, including English as a Second/Foreign Language. Although we address the language classroom specifically in this book, the core causes of dysfunction can occur in any classroom—any

  Excerpt from The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom by Laura Dabbs and Betty Lou Leaver. Defining and Recognizing the Invisible Classroom Artisans General Orientation The SP seeks freedom and action.  Artisans would rather not have rules to follow but go where the impulse takes them.  To them, work is essentially play.  They have no real desire for closure or completion of a task or assignment—to the Artisan, the doing is the learning independent of any conclusion.   As Learners SPs are often the most misunderstood learner in the average classroom.  The SP craves action and hands-on learning;sitting in a regimented row, day after day, can seem like the ultimate torture.  Giving the SP freedom to be creative and to experience hands-on learning can be the key to reaching the SP learner.  SPs are often misunderstood in the classroom and seen as discipline problems because they can’t sit still daily and routinely perform as does the SJ.  The SP wants and needs choices and independe

  This week's story-behind-the-book post provides a look behind the scenes for The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom by Laura Dabbs and Betty Lou Leaver. From one of the co-authors (Leaver) -  For a conference presentation, I could not find any good references that compiled all the known information about how personality differences play out in classrooms. Although my frequent co-authors. Dr. Madeline Ehrman and Dr. Rebecca Oxford, and I had written various treatises on the topic and lectured on it quite frequently, we could not find any sources beyond our own handouts that went into the level of detail needed for this conference. Further, I felt a need for a book that contained all that information in one place instead of in a dozen or more handouts. Since Rebecca was currently teaching graduate courses in learner-centered instruction, I asked if she had a capable graduate student with a strong background in interpersonal differences who could help collate all the information

  Excerpt from  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star Personality Types Every person has a personality unlike any one else. However, there are some commonalities. Jung (1921/2016) identified four continua that he called personality types. [1] These are (1) extroversion-introversion, (2) intuiting-sensing, (3) thinking-feeling, and (4) rational-irrational. [2] One can also be situationally one and the other, i.e. neither one end of the continuum or the other. [3]   Extroversion________________Introversion               Sensing ____________________Intuiting Thinking ___________________Feeling             Rational (Judging) ___________________ Irrational (Perceiving) [4]   Extroverts and introverts Jung does not use these terms in the way that the lay reader might expect. These terms do not mean gregarious or shy. Introverts can be gregarious, and extroverts can be shy. Rather, Jung defines the difference on the basis of energy and values. Extrov