Students’ names: Melina Guadalupe Escudero

María Belén Martínez Patiño

Group: 10-2019

Date: January 19th 2019

Classroom Management -

Techniques and Reflections on Practice

Table of content
Task 1 (question 1) 3

Task 1 (Question 2) 3

Task 1 (Question 3) 5

Task 2 6

References 8

Questions 1.1.

How do you feel about the reflective question: “it isn’t a big chunk of your time, is
it?”. What implications does it have for some teacher’s management of classroom
time? Do we consider activities in terms of time consumption or in terms of assumed
utility? Justify your answers with arguments from the materials and the readings.

The practice activities in the classroom management always have as an aim the time
control because the teacher needs to have strategies of organization to ensure a better
performance in the class. Every second in the classroom is valuable thus teachers of all
levels can benefit with the optimization of the time. So, the time that can be lost with extra
activities or unplanned activities reverberate in the success of the posed.

The implications in the time management lay in its utilization and in the positive influence
that this has to generate opportunities of meaningful learning. Time management behaviour
is at attaining an efficient usage of time during the accomplishment of certain goal-directed
tasks (Claessens, Van Eerde, Rutte & Roe, 2007) Most of the days are scheduled by the
teachers so them cannot afford to waste time with extra activities, since everything is
organized to take place in a planned time, what is true is that the teacher must always have
minimum two minutes of reserve for certain moments of the class such as the organization
of the classroom or organization of work groups.

The activities are considered in both terms: of time consumption and assumed utility. It is
useful that teachers learn to work both effectively and efficiently. As a result of good time
management skills, the instructors or teachers may plot and accomplish their responsibilities
efficiently and can achieve their required aims (Parkay& Hass, 2000; Freiberg & Driscoll,
2000). These two items are always the key to achieving as much as the teachers can with
the time that they have available.

Questions 1.2.

To what extent does Wilson’s story cater for individualised learning? What
advantages and what drawbacks can you identify with the ‘procedure’ described? (Ur,
1996:236) Explain your answer.

By observing Wilson’s pedagogical procedure, it could be seen that learners were organized
to work on small groups so they can adapt the classroom to the activity’s purpose. However,
the story does not provide evidence of the learning material used, the language skill or the
teaching point to be assessed. There is no information whether the activity or material is
presented in different versions to conform each group’s language level but it seems that the
learners’ pace was considered to culminate the activity.
Ur (1996) highlights that individualized learning is concerned about offering activities to suit
to different students’ needs in the classroom and providing opportunities for learners to
assume an autonomous role in their learning (p. 233). In light of Ur’s statement, the students’
distribution in four teams may lead to reflect that learners of different linguistic competences
and interests have formed these groups in order to complete different kinds of topics to
strengthen their autonomy when participating collectively.

According to the procedure’s description, there are some advantages observed with regards
to the traditional concepts sustained by classroom management. One of them is the
rearrangement of seats, which Scrivener (2005) asserts that making this kind of changes
promotes the interaction between students, it serves to recreate real-life situations in their
class and introduces variety in the students’ mood by modifying the learning environment.
The instructions given to the learners to arrange their seats seems to be a positive aspect
since these instructions are simple and clear. According to the teacher Petty, B. (2020)
“establishing clear procedures is essential to an effective classroom and can prevent
classroom time management problems”.

With regards to drawbacks, there are some factors that contradict the recommendable
dynamics of group work. Scrivener states “in a circle or horseshoe, learners can make eye
contact with everyone else in the group and thus interact more naturally. There is also much
greater sense of equality” (p. 88). In this particular case, Wilson’s decision to rearrange
seats in rows disagrees with Scrivener’s viewpoint since the procedure applied does not
seem to facilitate a smooth interactional experience between learners. When it comes to
collaborative learning, the group members exceed the optimal number and this may be
counteractive in terms of quantity of participation and the teacher’s control of group
management (Arzamendi, Ball and Gassó (n.d., cited in Funiber 2016: p.44).

Another contradictory point is the student left out of the groups. This situation reveals that
he/she will not be able to enrich by the scaffolding experience that group work provide as he
will not learn and produce the language jointly as the rest of his peers. Moreover, the
students’ negative attitude to re-establish the furniture to its former place suggests that
learners were not accustomed to this procedure. This lack of adaptation to educational
ideology also reveals the teacher’s failure to manage time effectively with regard to the
closure of the activity. As indicated by Arzamendi, J. (2005) in the subject Methodological
Approaches “the role of the teacher/learner needs to be sensitive to cultural expectations
and norms” (p.130).
Questions 1.3. Considering Ur’s statements in our module, do you think the technique
described could be used with mixed- ability groups? If so, would this always result in
more successful SLA for learners?

Ur P. (1996) suggests that “no two learners are ever the same in any class”, therefore
teachers should approach the language content so as to adjust to the diversity of learning
styles present in any class. Considering “heterogeneous groups” as it is called by Ur, the
teacher can implement activities to maximise the students’ potential to acquire the language.

In Wilson’s teaching practice, it can be seen that learners are divided in teams to work on a
task that is not specified. Taking into account the implications of group work in mixed ability
classes, it can be perceived that Wilson’s grouping technique may provide certain benefits
for weaker and stronger students when cooperating as a group to achieve common goals.
This is illustrated by Lynch (1996) who states that “the more proficient learner gets practice
in producing comprehensible output; the weaker partner gains experience in negotiating
meaning” (cited in Funiber 2016: p.51). Thus, group work techniques as the one used by
Wilson can foster the notion of cooperative learning among students. By working on teams,
all learners are motivated to use the target language, this means that they perform what they
have learnt, and simultaneously, they incorporate the linguistic features and interpersonal
skills they acquire from the interaction with their peers.

This technique would promote more successful SLA for learners as long as the teacher-
designed activities encourage meaningful communication, cooperation as well as
autonomous learning. In order to support this view, Brown (2001) and Harmer (2003) cited
by Ramirez Salas, M., (2005) highlight the benefits of group work in class .According to their
contributions, language activities should stimulate fluency in the form of extended
conversational exchanges to enable students to talk confidently, make mistakes and
complete contextualised tasks in small groups.

By building a low-affective filter atmosphere, students interact freely and as they pursue a
common goal when working in groups, they understand that they should assume
responsibility to accomplish a task by helping each other. Furthermore, the tasks should
apply the principles of multiple intelligences so that students complete different assignments
that suit their abilities and interests.

Task 2

Below, we have listed some common assumptions in the field of TEFL. Do you
strongly agree or disagree with any of them? Choose two statements that would make
you react in either direction, explain how they would relate to each other, in the light
of the bibliography of the subject, and try to reflect on why they made you feel
strongly in either approval or disapproval.

● Our beliefs as teachers affects our classroom management more than any other
factor in the classroom.

It is possible to say that this statement is true because the teachers relate their beliefs with
the pedagogical practices. There are studies showing that teachers’ beliefs affect their
pedagogical practices in the classrooms (Borg, 2003; Ng and Farrell, 2003;Farrell and Kun,
2008 cited in Li, 2012).The classroom is a scenario in which the teacher involves his/her
praxis in a network of beliefs that lead the class to be developed around them, adopting an
affirmative or negative nuance. But another factor that affects positively or negatively is
classroom emotional climate since in this way spaces are created so that students can
perform more calmly or on the contrary they are inhibited from actively participating in the
proposed activities in the classroom. A positive environment is one in which students feel a
sense of belonging, trust others, and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and
ask questions (Bucholz & Sheffler, 2009). Then, in that way there are several aspects that
affect the classroom management but teachers’ beliefs have relevance because of teachers
teach from their own perceptions and beliefs.

● There is always a mismatch between a teachers ‘espoused’ theories and his/her real
classroom behaviour.

Research based on observing teaching lessons confirms that this assumption tends to occur
in real practice. Teachers’ beliefs are shaped by the educational experiences they had as
learners and the training process they received to become educators.This period is called
“apprenticeship of observation” according to Gutierrez Almarza. “Relatively new teachers
may often find that, despite their training,they may start to behave in classroom against their
own training and principles,particularly in times of stress” (cited in Funiber 2016: p.84). This
clearly illustrates that it is the unpredictability of classroom situation, especially when
teaching large groups, what leads teachers to modify their methodologies. It is controversial
because this application of new methodologies do not fit the teacher’s adopted principles
and depending on how drastic the actions taken are, they may result confusing for students
and end up disturbing classroom management.
References

Borg, 2003; Ng and Farrell, 2003;Farrell and Kun, 2008 cited in Li, 2012 retrieved January
26 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283165337_What_you_Think_is_not_what_you_d
o_in_the_Classroom_Investigating_Teacher's_Beliefs_for_Classroom_Management_in_an_
EFL_Classroom

Bucholz & Sheffler (2009) retrieved January 26 from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/sf114049/chapters/The-Importance-of-a-Positive-
Classroom.aspx

Claessens, B. J. C., Van Eerde, W. & Rutte, C. G. (2007). A Review of the Time
Management Literature. Personnel Review, retrieved January 16, 2020, from

https://www.awkum.edu.pk/jbt/downloads/Volume-03-Number-02-July-
Dec-2017/71-83.pdf

Funiber (2016)”Communicative Approaches: A dominant paradigm in Elt”, in

Methodological approaches, Barcelona: Funiber.

Funiber (2016)”Classroom Management- Techniques and Reflections on Practice”, in

Barcelona: Funiber.

Parkay, F. W. & Hass, C. G. (2000). Curriculum planning: A contemporary approach

(7th, edn.). Boston: Allyn& Bacon. Retrieved january 16, 2020, from
https://www.awkum.edu.pk/jbt/downloads/Volume-03-Number-02-July-Dec- 2017/71-
83.pdf

Petty, B. (2020). The 3 Biggest classroom management Time Management Issues

Retrieved from https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/the-3-biggest-classroom-time-
management-issues1809.html

Ramirez Salas, M. (2005). Grouping techniques in the EFL classroom. Retrieved from
https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44720504005

Scrivener, J. (2005) Learning Teaching. Great Britain, UK: Macmillan Publishers.

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK: University Press.