Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy in the EFL ClassroomMaryna TsehelskaKryvyi Rih Pedagogical UniversityEducational Centre “Interclass”Kryvyi Rih

Key Points:1. Bloom’s Taxonomy – an overview.

2. Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs.

3. Bloom’s Taxonomy activities.

4. Levels of questions in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy = levels of thinking

What is it???• Bloom’s Taxonomy is a chart of ideas

Named after the creator, Benjamin Bloom

A Taxonomy is an arrangement of ideas

or a way to group things together

Who is Dr. Benjamin Bloom??• He was a teacher, thinker, &

inventor• He worked at a college• He created a list about how we

think about thinking…

1913-1999

The levels of thinking• There are six levels of learning

according to Dr. Bloom• The levels build on one another. The six

levels all have to do with thinking.• Level one is the lowest level of thinking

of thinking• Level six is the highest level of thinking

Knowledge/ Remembering

Comprehension/ Understanding

Application

Analysis

Synthesis/ Evaluation

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy• These levels are often renamed to

make them easier to remember

• Recently the last two levels were switched around (“Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy”)

Knowledge- Remembering

Comprehension- Understanding

Application- Applying

Analysis- Analyzing

Synthesis- Creating

Evaluation- Evaluation

Original Terms New Terms• Evaluation

• Synthesis

• Analysis

• Application

• Comprehension

• Knowledge

•Creating

•Evaluating

•Analysing

•Applying

•Understanding

•Remembering

(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)

Cognitive operations to organize the material

HOTS

Categorized Description

Building a sentence

Bloom’s Taxonomy coincides with the main models of speech and even with the types of academic essays:

- Description/ Chronology- Categorization- Comparison/ Contrast- Cause and Effect - Opinion- Advantages and Disadvantages

Thinking Skills

Description

Chronology

Classify …is divided into…

consists of….

belong to….

Compare/ Contrast

Categories 1. 2. 3.

Both… …..and…….. …….. like…………. Likewise………….. Also ……………..

Unlike ………. However, ……….. But…………….. In comparison with…

Cause/ Effect

firstlysecondly thirdly

thenfinally

Different Same Different

?__________________

1_______ 2_______ 3_______

If……

When…….

In case………..

So……

As a result….

Then…….

Actually…

Moreover/ Furthermore

For example….

In conclusion/ To sum up

because

But what do we start with?Scientists discovered how our brains categorize and map everything we see.After that point the researchers translated the model to a visual form. Using principal component analysis — a mathematical procedure used to provide a synopsis for a large amount of data — the scientists were able to visualize those 1,700 categories and how they related to one another, creating the chart shown to the right. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/143816-scientists-discover-how-our-brains-categorize-map

Categories to teach:• Start with the most general – they are displayed in the order of

adjectives:

O S Sh A C O M P

OpinionSizeShapeAgeColourOriginMaterialPurpose

So, we need to teach by categories from the earliest age:Speaking Card to describe a toy:

The number of categories growths with the advancements in learning:

To describe appearance we’ll need:

You’ll need many more categories in

the real world:

Description and Categorization are closely connected:

Me may use the

characteristics for description of categorize

clothes by them (e.g.

clothes made of leather,

etc.)

Classification/ Division

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

? ________________________________ system/ group/ process ? _________consists of/ comprises ___ parts/subgroups/ components/stages/ is divided into/arranged in kinds/ types/ sorts/ classes/ Each ____________ has its ___________ characteristics/ elements/features Above all _________________. __________especially ________________significantly Most/ Mostly__________

?__________________

1_______________

2_______________

3_______________

Category + Paraphrase

Prioritize Emphasize

Above all… Especially

Most….

link link

Categories:

Consists of…

Belong to…

Categorization Table:

Comparison Tools

How can we make it more comprehensible?

Category  

1: ___Sponge Bob_ both  

2: Cheese  colour 

   yellow  

 material

  

 sponge    cheese

 structure  

 soft  have holes  tough or soft

 shape  

 square shaped    square shaped or round

Actions and clothes

  

 can act and wear clothes

   can’t act and wear clothes

Speaking strategiesfor young learners:

I want to compare _______________ and ______________________

We can compare them by such categories as …………

They are the same in _________________, they both are _________

They differ in _________, one is ___________and the other is______

They have ____ differences and _____ similarities, so they are

(more/ less) similar than different.

Two objects have similar characteristics: Two objects have different characteristics:

Both __1__ and ____2___ are/ have, etc.

Neither __1__ nor ____2___ are/ have, etc.

1 is _________ and 2 is ___________ too.

1 is/has/does________, but 2______________

Whereas/While 1_________, 2____________

Although/While 1_________, 2____________

1 ________________. Similarly, 2 ___________

1 and 2 are similar in _____________________

1 is similar to 2 in _______________________

There are some similarities between 1 and 2: …..

1 ________________. However, 2 ___________

1 and 2 are different/dissimilar in ___________

1 is different from 2 because ________________

There is a difference between 1 and 2 in (terms of)…..

1__________, (just) like 2 ____

Like 1, 2 is/has/does ______

1 is ______________. Likewise, 2 is __________

1 and 2 are alike.

 

Unlike 1 that_______________ 2 ___________

Contrary to 1, 2 ___________

In contrast to 1 that_______________ 2 ___________

1 and 2 are equally _______________________

1 ______ (does/ works) in the same way as 2.

1 and 2 both__________ (work/ do) in the same way.

1 is _____________ compared to/with 2

In comparison to/with 1, 2 _______________

1 is __________, in comparison, 2 ________

Two objects have similar and different characteristics

Despite different (differences in……) ______________, 1 and 2 both ____________________.

Although/Even though 1_________and 2____________, they both __________________

Though both 1 and 2 _______________, one ____________________ and the other __________________

Cause and Effect:

Cause and Effect speaking strategies:

Intro I want to give the reason / to explain why………

In the essay we’ll analyze the causes/ reasons/ factors that bring the following effect

The reasons for …………. are ……………………………

The effects of ……………..are…………………………….

Cause/Effect     

Because of ___________________(cause), we can observe such effect as __________

Due to…………../ Owing to ……………………

Since………………………..

C ________________________ leads to/ explains why E__________________

The result/ source of C ________________ is E_________________

 

Consequences

For this reason / Therefore ____________________________

As a consequence/ Consequently ___________________

As a result/ Hence, _______________________________

Thus/ So __________________________

 

Opinion – choose a point

Advantages and Disadvantages: categories and point of view:

Conclusion: _________________ has advantage over _____________ in ______________________________________________________,however __________________ is better in _____________________ . I would choose ________________ because of _______________ (rate the advantages).

Categories  1. Country

 2.City

Population

pattern

 

Scarcely populated,

people own spacious houses

Densely populated,

people live in multi-story

buildings

Transport

 

Of great necessity – a family

may own several vehicles

Public transportation

Car-pooling

Traffic congestions

Opportunities  

Pollution

 

   

+ --

References and Sources

1.Карпенко М.П. (2008) Телеобучение. М.: СГА.

2. Zhabotynska, S.A. (2002). Shorts, breeches, and bloomers: Plurality in blends. In A.Hougaard &

S.N. Lund (eds.). The Way We Think. Odense Working Papers in Language and Communication.

Odense: University of Southern Denmark, 127-142.• http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html• http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm• http://oaks.nvg.org/taxonomy-bloom.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bloom%27s_Rose.png