Teacher development through exploring classroom processes
Answer: why is it so important for teachers to ask and answer questions about their own teaching? Include in your answer 3 possible questions.
By asking and answering questions about their own teaching, teachers can evaluate their teaching, decide if aspects of their teaching could be changed, develop strategies for change and monitor the effects of implementing these strategies.
What is my role as a teacher?
What kind of planning decisions do I make use of?
What grouping arrangements do I use and how effective are they?
Mention 5 reflection questions that can be used to provide a focus for journal writing
What do I do as a teacher?
What principles and beliefs inform my teaching?
Why do I teach the way I do?
What roles do learners play in my classes?
Should I teach differently?
Mention the 6 different sources of teachers' beliefs.
1. Their own experience as language learners.
2. Experience of what works best.
3. Established practice.
4. Personality factors.
5. Educationally based or research-based principles.
6. Principles derived from an approach or method.
Explain the following beliefs:
-the nature of English
-speakers of English
The nature of English: Learners often have very focused perceptions about which aspects of English they find difficult, and about the status of English in comparison to other languages.
Speakers of English:
Learners often have specific views and attitudes about native speakers of English, based on their contacts with speakers of English or derived from other sources, such as the media.
Although these kinds of opinions may amount to little more than stereotyping, they can influence the degree to which students wish to interact with native speakers. The attitudes learners have about native speakers of English may also be influenced by cross-cultural differences in communicative style between English speakers and people from another culture
Explain the following assumption about teacher development: An informed teacher has an extensive knowledge base about teaching.
Teaching is a complex, multidimensional activity. The teacher who has a more extensive knowledge and deeper awareness about the different components and dimensions of teaching is better prepared to make appropriate judgments and decisions in teaching.
Answer: what aspects of teaching or learning can be investigated using surveys and questionnaires?
Some aspects of teaching and learning can be investigated through carrying out a survey or administering a questionnaire. For example, a teacher may wish to investigate students' attitudes toward group work. A questionnaire is administered to the class which asks students to indicate how useful they find group work activities, what they think they learn from them, and for what content areas or skills they think group work is most appropriate. Surveys and questionnaires are useful ways of gathering information about affective dimensions of teaching and learning, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and preferences, and enable a teacher to collect a large amount of information relatively quickly.
Explain: Beliefs about English
English represents different things to different people. For some it represents the language of English literature. For others it is the language of the English-speaking world. Some associate it with the language of colonialism. Others see English simply as a means of doing business and making money. Peoples' views of English, or of any language, are influenced by contacts they have had with the language and its speakers.
In the case of English, these contacts vary significantly from one individual to another. It is therefore instructive to examine the underlying beliefs teachers hold about English and how these influence attitudes toward teaching it.
Explain the following beliefs:
-the 4 language skills
-teaching
Learners' beliefs about language may also be reflected in specific assumptions about the nature of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Differences between teachers' and learners' beliefs can sometimes lead to a mismatch between their assumptions about what is useful to focus on in a language lesson. For example, a teacher may teach a reading lesson with the purpose of developing extensive reading skills, while the students may think of the activity as an opportunity for intensive reading, building up their knowledge of vocabulary and idioms.
-Beliefs about teaching:
By the time a student completes secondary school, he or she has been exposed to thousands of hours of teaching from a variety of different teachers. As a result the learner may have formed very definite views about what constitutes effective or ineffective teaching.
Differences between learners' and teachers' beliefs can lead to students undervaluing an activity assigned by the teacher.
Explain the following assumption about teacher development: Much can be learned about teaching through self- enquiry.
For many teachers, classroom visits by supervisors are the main source of feedback on their teaching. While comments of a supervisor or other outside visitor can be a useful source of information about one's teaching, teachers themselves are in the best position to examine their own teaching.
It is much more useful that teachers devote time to collect information about their teaching, either individually or through collaborating with a colleague, that they make decisions about their teaching, that they decide if initiatives need to be taken, and that they select strategies to carry them out, than drawing on experts' opinions, theories or external sources of knowledge as an impetus for change or development.
Answer: how should lesson reports be prepared by a teacher to match the goals and content of a course they are teaching?
1. First, teachers should identify in as much detail as possible the philosophy underlying the course and the different kinds of teaching activities, procedures, and resources that you expect to use in the course. For example, a group of teachers teaching a grammar class would first discuss their approach to the teaching of grammar, clarify their assumptions about the goals of the course, and identify the kinds of classroom activities, procedures, and resources they plan to use.
2. Next, teachers should prepare a lesson report form. The grammar that teachers discussed earlier, for example, would prepare a checklist which could be used to collect information about how grammar was presented and practiced during a lesson. The checklist should be pilot tested to improve its design.
3. Teacher should use the lesson report form on a regular basis to record the activities, procedures, and resources used throughout the course.
4. Teachers should meet periodically to review and compare lesson reports with those of other teachers teaching the same course. As they do so, they should discuss any differences that are emerging in the way they teach the class and the reasons for these differences. If necessary, they should rethink and modify the teaching strategies and materials they are using.
Alternatively, they may wish to monitor their own teaching using self-report forms, thus gathering important information that will be useful the next time they teach the same course.
Explain: Beliefs about teaching and learning.
Both teachers and learners bring experience to the classroom that influences their perceptions in subtle ways. Teachers' beliefs about learning may be based on their training, their teaching experience, or may go back to their own experience as language learners. These beliefs represent answers to questions such as these:
• How do you define learning?
• What are the best ways to learn a language?
• What kinds of exposure to language best facilitate language learning?
• What kinds of students do best in your classes?
• What kinds of learning styles and strategies do you encourage in learners?
• What kinds of learning styles and strategies do you discourage in learners?
• What roles are students expected to assume in your classroom?
These differences between teachers' and learners' beliefs reinforce the importance of clarifying to learners the assumptions underlying teachers' classroom practices, or accommodating classroom practices to match them more closely to students' expectations. The consequences of not doing so are likely to be misunderstanding and mistrust on the part of both teachers and learners.
Beliefs about TEACHING:
Teaching is a very personal activity, and it is not surprising that individual teachers bring to teaching very different beliefs and assumptions about what constitutes effective teaching.
Some questions teachers could ask themselves about their beliefs about teaching are:
-How do I see my role in the classroom?
-What methods do I implement?
-How do I define effective teaching?
Explain the following beliefs:
-language learning
-appropriate classroom behaviour
-self
-goals
Language learning:
Students bring to the classroom very specific assumptions about how to learn a language and about the kinds of activities and approaches they believe to be useful.
Language learners might value some language learning strategies which the teacher may try to discourage. For example, students from a culture where rote learning and memorization are widely used may think that these are useful strategies in learning English. However, their teacher may come from a culture where such strategies are not valued and may try to discourage their use by learners. appropriate classroom behaviour:
Learners may have views about what constitutes appropriate forms of classroom interaction and classroom behavior. These beliefs may be culturally based and, at times, at odds with the teacher's beliefs.
Self:
Learners' perceptions of their own strengths and weaknesses as language learners can influence the use they make of opportunities available for language learning and the priorities they set for themselves.
Goals:
Learners may have very different goals for language learning. For some learners, a native-like pronunciation may not be considered an important goal, since they will use English mainly to speak with other nonnative speakers of English. For other students, however, acquiring a native-like accent in English may be a high priority.
Explain and exemplify the following assumption about teacher development: Experience is insufficient as a basis for development.
Teachers are often unaware of the kind of teaching they do or how they handle many of the moment-to-moment decisions that arise. This is seen in the following comments, which were made by teachers after watching videos of their own lessons.
I had no idea I did so much talking and didn't let students practice.
My pacing was terrible. I didn't give students enough time to practice one task before going on to another
Since many things happen almost simultaneously during a lesson, it is sometimes difficult for teachers to be aware of what happens in classrooms and why.
Explain how action research should be carried out.
1. Select an issue or concern to examine in more detail (e.g., the teacher's use of questions).
2. Select a suitable procedure for collecting information about the topic (e.g., recording classroom lessons).
3. Collect the information, analyzes it, and decides what changes might be necessary.
4. Develop an action plan to help bring about the change in classroom behavior (e.g., develop a plan to reduce the frequency with which the teacher answers questions).
5. Observe the effects of the action plan on teaching behavior (e.g., by recording a lesson and analyzing the teacher's questioning behavior) and reflect on its significance.
6. Initiate a second action cycle, if necessary.
Explain: Beliefs about the program and the curriculum. Mention at least 3 questions that teachers should ask themselves about the program and the curriculum.
Any language teaching program reflects both the culture of the institution (i.e., particular ways of thinking and of doing things that are valued in the institution), as well as collective decisions and beliefs of individual teachers.
Within a program or school, teachers' views on such things as lesson planning, the use of objectives, and assessment may lead to quite different classroom practices.
Teachers also have specific beliefs about problems with the programs they work in, which they may pass on to new teachers who enter the program.
Central questions concerning teachers' beliefs about the programs they work in hence include:
• What do you think are the most important elements in an effective language teaching program?
• What do you think the role of textbooks and teaching materials in a language program should be?
• How useful do you think instructional objectives are in teaching?
• How do you decide what you will teach?
• To what extent is your teaching based on your students' needs?
• What is your attitude toward assessment in a language program?
• What changes would you like to see in your program?
Explain how differences in people's cognitive styles reflect the different ways people respond to learning situations
• Some people like to work independently, while others prefer working in a group.
• Some people like to spend a lot of time planning before they complete a task, while others spend little time planning and sort out problems that arise while they are completing a task.
• Some people can focus on only one task at a time, while others seem to be able to do several different tasks at once.
• Some people feel uncomfortable in situations where there is ambiguity or uncertainty, while others are able to handle situations where there is conflicting information and opinions.
• When solving problems, some people are willing to take risks and to make guesses without worrying about the possibility of being wrong, while others try to avoid situations where there is such a risk.
• Some people learn best when they use visual cues and write notes to help them remember, while others learn better through auditory learning, without writing notes.
Explain the following assumption about teacher development: Critical reflection can trigger a deeper understanding of teaching
Critical reflection involves examining teaching experiences as a basis for evaluation and decision making and as a source for change. It involves posing questions about how and why things are the way they are, what value systems they represent, what alternatives might be available, and what the limitations are of doing things one way as opposed to another.
Teachers who are better informed as to the nature of their teaching are able to evaluate their stage of professional growth and what aspects of their teaching they need to change. In addition, when critical reflection is seen as an ongoing process and a routine part of teaching, it enables teachers to feel more confident in trying different options and assessing their effects on teaching.
These assumptions reflect the fact that if teachers are actively involved in reflecting on what is happening in their own classrooms, they are in a position to discover whether there is a gap between what they teach and what their learners learn.
Explain the procedures that should be implemented when and after observing a class by student teachers.
1. Visitors should contact the cooperating teacher for a brief orientation to the class.
2. A visitor who is planning to observe a class should arrive in the classroom a few minutes ahead of time.
3. If something unexpected comes up and the visitor is not able to observe a class at the agreed-upon time, the visitor needs to notify the classroom teacher as soon as possible. It is a visitor's responsibility to keep the classroom teacher informed.
4. Once having entered a classroom, the visitor should try to be as unobtrusive as possible, sitting where directed by the teacher.
5. If a student in the class asks the visitor a direct question (e.g., What are you doing here? Are you a teacher too?), the visitor should answer as briefly as possible. It is important to bear in mind that the visitor is not a regular member of the class. Visitors should not initiate or pursue conversations unnecessarily.
6. A visitor should be appreciative and polite. At the earliest opportunity, the visitor should thank the classroom teacher for having made possible the opportunity to visit the classroom.
7. A visitor who is taking written notes or collecting information in some other way should do this as unobtrusively as possible. The visitor must make sure that the teacher and students are comfortable with any procedures used for data collection.
Post-visitation
1. It is imperative for the visitor to keep impressions of the class private and confidential.
2. The visitors should explain to the classroom teacher that the teacher's name will not be used in any discussions with other people. Any direct references to teachers, in either formal or informal settings, will be anonymous.
3. Any notes or information collected during a classroom visit should be made accessible to the teacher, if he or she requests.
Explain: Beliefs about language teaching as a profession. Mention 3 characteristics a job should have to be considered a profession and mention at least 4 questions that can clarify teachers' beliefs about professionalism.
Professionalism is a recurring concern of language teachers and language teaching organizations . Language teaching is not universally regarded as a profession - that is, as having unique characteristics, as requiring specialized skills and training, as being a lifelong and valued career choice, and as offering a high level of job satisfaction.
The degree to which individual teachers have a sense of professionalism about their work depends upon their own working conditions, their personal goals and attitudes, and the career prospects available to language teachers in their community.
In the survey by Richards et al. (1991), English language teachers reported their belief that language teaching is a profession and that teachers engaged in it are professionals. They reported that they are willing to assume professional responsibilities, that they can take charge of their teaching, and that they can improve the learning outcomes of their students. They shared a common view toward the language they teach, stressing its value and importance in their community for education, career, and business communications.
Possible questions:
• How would you characterize English teaching (or the language you teach) as a profession?
• What changes do you think are necessary in the language teaching profession?
• What kind of training do you think language teachers need?
• What kinds of professional development activities best support teaching?
• What kind of support for professional development is available at a school you are familiar with?
• What is the most rewarding aspect of teaching for you?
• Do you think language teachers should be evaluated throughout their careers? If so, what form should this evaluation take?
Mention and explain the 4 learning styles developed by Knowles
Concrete learning Style Learners with a concrete learning style use
active and direct means of taking in and processing information. They
are interested in information that has immediate value. They are curious,
spontaneous, and willing to take risks. They like variety and a constant
change of pace. They dislike routine learning and written work, and
prefer verbal or visual experiences. They like to be entertained, and like
to be physically involved in learning.
Analytical learning Style Learners with an analytical style are independent,
like to solve problems, and enjoy tracking down ideas and
developing principles on their own. Such learners prefer a logical, systematic
presentation of new learning material with opportunities for
learners to follow up on their own. Analytical learners are serious, push
themselves hard, and are vulnerable to failure.
Communicative learning Style Learners with a communicative
learning style prefer a social approach to learning. They need personal
feedback and interaction, and learn well from discussion and group
activities. They thrive in a democratically run class.
Authority-oriented learning Style Learners with an authorityoriented
style are said to be responsible and dependable. They like and
need structure and sequential progression. They relate well to a traditional
classroom. They prefer the teacher as an authority figure. They like to
have clear instructions and to know exactly what they are doing; they are
not comfortable with consensus-building discussion.