Synectics instructional model — 'making the familiar strange' version for vocabulary teaching

Design · All designs
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description

The Synectics instructional model, adapted for education by William Gordon (1961), is a problem-solving and creative-thinking model based on constructivist philosophy in which learners form personal connections between new and existing knowledge. The article applies the 'making the familiar strange' version, whose steps are describing the topic, creating direct analogies, describing personal analogies, identifying compressed conflicts, creating a new direct analogy, reexamining the original topic, and evaluation. It uses metaphors, analogies and contrasts to stimulate creative thinking and encourage active, collaborative participation.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• A teacher guides students through the seven steps, ensuring participation of every student and voting to select analogies and compressed conflicts

Constraints

• The article examines the model only for foreign language vocabulary teaching in English preparatory classes over 16 class hours

Target Learners

• pre-intermediate university English preparatory-class students

Learning Goals

• foreign language vocabulary learning and retention
• creative thinking through analogies and metaphors

Claims

• Synectics Improves Targeted Vocabulary Learning [+M]
• Synectics Improves Targeted Vocabulary Retention [+M]
• Synectics Increases Indirectly Learned Vocabulary [+M]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Bahadır ERİŞTİ – Mustafa POLAT. (2017). THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SYNECTICS INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE VOCABULARY TEACHING. International Journal of Languages’ Education and Teaching, Volume 5, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.18298/ijlet.1753

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	synectics-making-familiar-strange-model
title	Synectics instructional model — 'making the familiar strange' version for vocabulary teaching
description	The Synectics instructional model, adapted for education by William Gordon (1961), is a problem-solving and creative-thinking model based on constructivist philosophy in which learners form personal connections betwee...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — bahadır-erişti-mustafa-polat-2017

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