TEFL International

TEFL - TESOL Tester

Teachers and Learners

In this unit we will examine the qualities, roles and responsibilities of both teachers and students in the classroom.

Teachers

What makes a good teacher?

Ask this question to a number of teachers and students and you are likely to get answers that closely resemble the following:

• A good teacher should be kind and patient
• A good teacher should really love teaching
• A good teacher should be lively and engaging
• A good teacher is able to motivate learner
• A good teacher should know what feature of language is being presented to the learner and why.
• A good teacher should have good rapport and interaction with the class.
• A good teacher should be able involve students in a context that is meaningful to them.
• A good teacher should be able to correct students without offending them or affecting their motivation.
• A good teacher should know students strength and how to build on them.

We can see that the first four examples from the above are concerning a teacher’s personality, whereas examples five to eight are more of a reflection on the relationship between the teacher and students.

So what exactly makes a good teacher? A simple answer may be, a teacher that really cares about his/ her teaching, but cares even more about the learning of the students.

The role of the teacher
In recent years there has been more emphasis upon ‘student-centered’ lessons, as opposed to ‘teacher-centered’ lessons. The reality is that some stages of a lesson will be more centered on the teacher and others will be more centered on the students. However, there is a difference between learner participation and learner centeredness. They aren’t the same, and are broadly misrepresented as being the same. Learner participation is when the learners are speaking or doing something other than just listening to the teacher. Even students engaged in a lecture are participating. Learner centeredness is when learners make choices. The question is who is making the choices, the teacher or the student. Usually, the choices come in increments. For example, in pair work if the teacher assigns roles, there is little or no learner choice. If the students can decide what role they will play, there is an element of learner choice. This will largely be dictated by the type of activity concerned.
If we are able to make these changes appropriately our effectiveness as teachers will be greatly enhanced.

During a typical lesson a teacher will have some, or all, of the following roles:

Manager or controller
When teachers take on the role of a controller, they are effectively in charge of the class and of the activity in a way that is quite different from an activity where the students are working on their own, in pairs or as part of a group. A teacher is a manager in the sense that she/ he directs what goes on in class and has control over class procedures. However is neither over bearing nor does he /she force his /her ideas on the students.

Organizer
Often this will involve giving instructions, organizing students into groups/pairs, initiating activities, bringing activities to a close and organizing feedback. Chaos could be caused if students are not aware of that task, or how the groups are supposed to function. So the teacher’s instructions have to be clear and well modeled.

Assessor
Students are usually very keen to find out whether or not they are producing correct English and this is where the teacher will need to act as an assessor, giving feedback and correction as well as evaluating and grading. Often during the course of a lesson the teacher will wish to monitor what is going on in the classroom. This can give the teacher information as to how long an activity is likely to take and how successful it has been. During oral communicative activities the teacher may also want to make notes for correction or praise at a latter stage.

Tutor
Tutoring implies a more personal role for the teacher. This role will often be employed when students are working individually and need some guidance and support or when they are working in pairs and we stop briefly to give encouragement.

Again, care needs to be taken to ensure the teacher gives equal attention to all students and to avoid intruding too much.

Resource or Facilitator
The teacher devises activities that allow the students simply to get on with the process of learning a language for themselves.

There are many occasions when the teacher will wish to withdraw completely from the activity and leave the students to participate in tasks without any interruption or interference. The teacher still needs, however, to be available as a resource in case the students require any assistance or guidance.

When acting as a resource we want to be helpful and available but we have to resist the temptation to spoon-feed.

Model
The teacher and particularly a native speaker of English, is often the only source of real, live English the student has ever encountered. The teacher is the fountain of all knowledge on English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, and in these areas they have particular responsibilities and authority in the eyes of the learner. Many adult learners particularly want to benefit from the speech or pronunciation model that the teacher offers.

Apart from being the source of language inputs, the teacher needs to model concepts and contexts to make language learning meaningful. Unless the teacher is able to model the context clearly the learners will be confused and unable to focus on the topic being taught. As a result they will lose interest in something that they are unable to comprehend.
“Modeling provides symbols or representations for concepts with meaning for the learner. Modeling means getting across the main ideas and concepts in the lesson. This can be done by the teacher by using illustration, demonstration or example. The students should be able to predict from the teacher’s modeling the key ideas to help them understand the language “forms” to be presented in English.” Dave Hopkins, Smooth Moves


Which role and When? Multi - tasker
The role that we employ is largely going to depend on the type of activity and what we wish the students to achieve. Some stages of a lesson will require that the teacher is more dominating or leading, while others will require a more withdrawn role. It is important that the teacher is able to switch between these roles appropriately and is aware of how to carry out the required role.

As well as having the attributes of a ‘good teacher’ and knowing which role to take and when, an experienced teacher will know how to involve and engage the students, how to effectively use mime, gesture and his/her voice.

Learners

What makes a good learner?

When looking at learners of English we have to consider a number of factors, such as age, culture, language level and motivation for learning. Any of these factors could have a bearing on what we perceive to be a ‘good learner’. However, there are number of general characteristics that successful students appear to possess. These can include:

• A willingness to listen to the language
• A desire to experiment with the language
• A willingness to ask questions
• An ability to think about their own learning process and methods
• An acceptance of error correction.
• A desire to learn.

These are all qualities that successful learners usually have and it is the teacher’s responsibility to encourage and foster these attributes in the classroom.

Age

Young learners or adults? It is important to define the difference between young learners and adults. Generally, adults are taken to mean those who are 18years of age or more, and the term is self-explanatory.

However, there are at least three categories of young learners.

• First is the post puberty or early teen age learner i.e. 13-plus.
• Second is the pre-puberty learner, corresponding to primary school or 8 to 12 years old.
• Finally, the very young learners, who are often pre-schoolers, aged 7 years and less. These are becoming an increasingly bigger market the world over. They have shorter attention spans, and in the case of very young ones have not even completely mastered the grammar of their mother tongue, but all are generally amenable to fun games, singing, drawing etc.


It is important to keep in mind certain differences between Young learners and Adults that have a direct bearing on their learning abilities:

Culture and First Language
Different cultures have different approaches to learning. Students from some Asian Countries, for example are noted as being very serious about their learning and respectful to their teachers but sometimes lacking in willingness to communicate. The problem possibly stems from the fact in these areas, the teacher is often still expected to do all the talking and the students are encouraged not to speak in class unless addressed directly by the teacher. In some schools TEFL teachers are sometimes frowned upon and some classes considered unruly because of the noise. (Inevitable and necessary when there is choral work or pair and group work!). Good teacher should be aware of their student’s customs and differences that could affect the success of the classes.

Language Level
Distinctions between different levels of ability in the English language clearly have to be made. The most common breakdown is as follows:

Beginners - From zero knowledge of English to very basic knowledge of English,
which cannot be quickly or easily activated.

Elementary – Students at this level are likely to be able to form basic sentence
structures and communicate on simple topics.

Low or pre-intermediate- Students are able to communicate and understand a greater variety of topics but lacking general fluency and depth of language awareness but are still likely to make many errors even with basic structures.

Intermediate – Able to understand and communicate on a wide range of issues using limited vocabulary store but still lacking in accuracy and fluency.

Upper Intermediate – Should be able to actively communicate on almost all topics using a greater range of language but still lacking in accuracy.

Advanced – Students should have a very good knowledge of English language and now will be studying more subtle language items.

It should be noted that while the above terms are the most commonly used their actual meaning can differ considerably depending on where you work and which text book you may be using, an elementary student in one country could be viewed as intermediate in a different country!

The common European framework recently established by the council of Europe state the following six levels:
• Breakthrough Basic User A1
• Way stage, Basic User, A2
• Threshold , Independent User, B1
• Vantage, Independent User, B2
• Effective Operational Policy, Proficient User, C1
• Mastery, Proficient User , C2

In conclusion
As can be seen from the above, the relationship between learners and teachers is a very important and complex issue. An enthusiastic, sensitive, motivated and caring teacher is much more likely to have successful students who enjoy their learning and continue attending classes.

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