MODULE ONE

The Field of TEFL, the Teacher’s Role, Classroom environments, The

importance of learning styles.

1. FIELD OF TEFL
According to professionals on teaching and learning, there are two foreign terms in
reference to teaching English.To differentiate operationally between foreign language
contexts, think about what happens outside of your classroom. After your students leave
the classroom, what languages they will hear, the foreign language context is the
language for which the target language is already available out there. Teaching English in
the United States or Australia clearly falls into this category (ESL). The foreign language
context is a context in which students do not have a ready-made communication context
outside the classroom. They can get it from their environment, but efforts must be made
to create these opportunities. Teaching English in Japan or Morocco or Thailand is
almost always the context of English as a foreign language (EFL)
.

English as an International Language

English is increasingly becoming a country's second language,. Much research
has been done on the "Indianization" of the English language, with implications for
countries of acceptance and standardization in other countries such as the Philippines.
There are two basic problems for English teachers:
• English is increasingly being used as a tool for interaction among non-native speakers.
Most English teachers around the world are not native speakers of English, which means
that the norm is not monolingualism, but bilingualism.
• English is often studied as a tool for understanding and teaching US or British cultural
values. On the other hand, English has become a means of international communication
in the fields of transportation, trade, banking, tourism, technology, diplomacy and
scientific research.

2. THE TEACHER’S ROLE

The Information Provider

a. The lecturer
Traditionally students are the responsibility of teachers to convey to them
information, knowledge, and understanding of topics appropriate at this stage of their
studies.

b. Clinical or practical teacher

The clinical setting, whether in the hospital or in the community, is a strong context for

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transmission, by teachers. Teachers select, organize and convey information. This is
achieved during environmental teaching loops, tutorial-based environments or more
informally with students in clinical internship roles. leading,

The role model

a. the on-the-job role model
The importance of the teacher as a role model is well documented. The
teacher as a clinician should model or exemplify what should be learned. Students
learn by observation and imitation of the clinical teachers they respect. Students
learn not just from what their teachers say but from what they do in their clinical
practice and the knowledge, skills and attitudes they exhibit.
. The most important physician characteristics found in role models identified by
students (Ambrozy et al 1997) were:
 expresses enthusiasm for specialty
 demonstrates excellent clinical reasoning skills
 establishes close doctor-patient relationships
 views the patient as a whole.
The most important teacher characteristics identif ied were:
 expresses enthusiasm for teaching
 actively involves students
 communicates effectively with students.

b. The role model as a teacher

Teachers serve as role models not only when they teach students while they
perform their duties as doctors, but also when they fulfill their role as teachers in the
classroom, whether it is in the lecture theatre or the small discussion or tutorial
group. The good teacher who is also a doctor can describe in a lecture to a class of
students their approach to the clinical problem being discussed in a way that captures
the importance of the subject and the choices available. The teacher has a unique
opportunity to share some of the magic of the subject with the students.

The 7 Roles of a Teacher

1. The Controller: The teacher is in complete charge of the class, what students do, what
they say and how they say it. The teacher assumes this role when a new language is being
introduced and accurate reproduction and drilling techniques are needed.
2. The Prompter: The teacher encourages students to participate and makes suggestions
about how students may proceed in an activity.
3. The Resource: The teacher is a kind of walking resource center ready to offer help if
needed, or provide learners with whatever language they lack when performing
communicative activities..
4. The Assessor: The teacher assumes this role to see how well students are performing or

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how well they performed. Feedback and correction are organized and carried out.
5. The Organizer: Perhaps the most difficult and important role the teacher has to play.
The success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students
knowing exactly what they are to do nextThe organizer can also serve as a demonstrator,
this role also allows a teacher to get involved and engaged with learners. The teacher also
serves to open and neatly close activities and also give content feedback.
6. The Participant: This role improves the atmosphere in the class when the teacher takes
part in an activity. However, the teacher takes a risk of dominating the activity when
performing it.
7. The Tutor: The teacher acts as a coach when students are involved in project work or
self-study. The teacher provides advice and guidance and helps students clarify ideas and
limit tasks.

Resource developer

A. Creator of material resources

The increasing need for learning resources is implied in various developments in
the world of education. With problem-based learning and other student-centered
approaches, students rely on the availability of suitable source materials for use
both individually and in groups.
B. The study guide producer
The trend from the teacher as an information provider to the teacher as a
manager of students’ learning has been discussed. While learning is facilitated by face-
to-face contact with students, the amount of time available for this is restricted and
can provide only to a limited extent the necessary guidance for students.
The role of teachers as a producer of learning resource materials was
highlighted in the previous section.

3. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Classroom Arrangement Strategies

Classroom Arrangement

Many experienced teachers recommend assigned seating for students to facilitate

discipline and instruction. They argue that students left to their own devices will always
choose a seat that places the teacher at the greatest disadvantage. Best practices suggest a
few common-sense rules to guide classroom arrangements.

Establishing Rules of Conduct

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Here it suggests that students should actively participate in making guidelines to regulate
classroom behavior. This belief shows that students will support the rules they make.
Best practice recommends minimizing the number of rules. Children tend to recommend
a list of laundry rules. Teachers, however, must provide limited structural input so that
the rules are direct, clear, and consistent, and encouraging positive behavior. In
addition,teachers must make sure that rules are designed to support a concept of
consequences for inappropriate behavior rather than punishment.

Consequences versus Punishment

Inappropriate behavior must be accompanied by consequences rather than punishment.

Consequences are seen as the end result of a child's inappropriate actions. That is, they
should not be seen as something imposed, such as sanctions, but as an appropriate
outcome for inappropriate action.
Preventing Disruptions

Effectively managed classrooms are orderly (relatively speaking), with a

minimum of student misbehavior and reasonable levels of time on task. Effective
classroom managers are more skilled at preventing disruptions from occurring in the first
place, These included:
 “Withitness.” Communicating that you know what the students are doing and
what is going on in the classroom.
 Overlapping. Attending to different events simultaneously, without being totally
diverted by a disruption or other activity.
 Smoothness and momentum in lessons. Maintaining a brisk pace and giving
continuous activity signals or cues (such as standing near inattentive students or
directing questions to potentially disruptive students).
 Group alerting. Involving all the children in recitation tasks and keeping all
students “alerted to the task at hand.
 Stimulating seatwork. Providing seatwork activities that offer variety and
challenge.

Psychology of Problem Behavior

Children Behave Inappropriately for a Reason

The first consideration can be handled quite easily. Hungry children should be given
snacks. This should not be seen as a distraction, but rather seen as an easy way to meet
the needs of students with minimal distraction. If two students are the same cause
distraction and hunger are removed as factors, the teacher can determine whether the
distraction occurs when the student is focused on a particular subject.

Moving from Inappropriate to Appropriate Behavior

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Anderson and Prawat (1983) and others have noted that many students do not see a
relationship between their level of effort and their academic results or behaviors. These
students have what psychologists refer to as an "external locus of control," and do not
believe in their own ability to influence events.

Researchers have observed increased behavior in settings where students are taught to
attribute their success or failure to their personal efforts. In this situation, students have
learned to: (1) examine their own behavior and assess its suitability; (2) talk to yourself
through the assignment, using detailed step-by-step instructions; and (3) learn and apply
problem-solving steps when facing classroom problems.

When Intervention is required

Formal Assessment of Inappropriate Behavior

Positive behavior support is a strategy that attempts to reduce or eliminate

inappropriate behavior.. The program has three primary features: functional behavior
assessment, comprehensive intervention, and lifestyle enhancement.

 Functional assessment is designed to understand both the person and the nature
of the challenging behavior in their environmental context.
 Comprehensive intervention requires a continuum of behavior support for
students. It involves teacher decision-making through information, student
behavior change through “best practices,” and staff behavior change through
systems.
 Lifestyle enhancement involves significant diminishing of inappropriate student
behavior, improvement in academic outcomes, and building appropriate teacher
strategies. The Functional Assessment and Behavior Support Plan instrument may
be found in Appendix A.

Why Conduct a Functional Assessment?

The purpose of a functional assessment is to gather information in order to

understand a student’s problem behavior. However, a functional behavior assessment
goes beyond the “symptom” (the problem behavior) to the student’s underlying
motivation to escape, avoid, or get something.

Teacher Management Styles

We have focused our attention thus far on understanding student behavior, from
student assessment to strategies for improving inappropriate behavior. However, an
equally important topic concerns the teacher’s management style. That is, how well do
The authoritarian teacher places firm limits and controls on the students. Students will
often have assigned seats for the entire term. The authoritative teacher places limits and
controls on the students but simultaneously encourages independence.

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 The indifferent teacher is not very involved in the classroom. This teacher places
few demands, if any, on the students and appears generally uninterested.

The laissez-faire teacher places few demand or controls on the students. “Do your
own thing” describes this classroom. This teacher accepts the students’ impulses and
actions and is less likely to monitor their behavior. The teacher strives not to hurt the
students’ feelings and has difficulty saying no or enforcing rules

Encouraging Students despite the Odds

Our goal (and for many, our calling) is to provide the best educational
opportunity for all children who come into our classrooms. This profession provides
some days that are much more complicated than others—for example, days when all we
can do is collapse when we arrive home because we have given all we had to give. We
have undertaken a huge responsibility.

4. LEARNING STYLES

Sensory Preferences

Sensory preferences can be broken down into four main areas: visual, auditory,
kinesthetic (movement-oriented), and tactile (touch-oriented). Sensory preferences refer
to the physical, perceptual learning channels with which the student is the most
comfortable. Visual students like to read and obtain a great deal from visual stimulation..

Personality Types

Another style aspect that is important for foreign language education is that of
personality type, which consists of four strands: extraverted vs. introverted; intuitive-
random vs. sensing-sequential; thinking vs. feeling; and closure-oriented/judging vs.
open/perceiving.

-Extravers vs. Introverts. By definition, extraverts get their greatest energy from the
outside world. In contrast, introverts draw their energy from the internal world, seek
solitude and tend to have only a few friendships, which are often very deep. Extras and
introverts can learn to cooperate with the help of a teacher. Putting time limits on foreign
language classes can keep extravert enthusiasm to a manageable level.
- Intuitive-Random vs. Sensing-Sequential.
Random-intuitive students think in an abstract, futuristic, large-scale, and non-sequential
manner. They love to create new theories and possibilities,. They prefer facts to theory.
The key to teaching random-intuitive and sequential sensing learners is to offer variety
and choice: sometimes a highly organized structure for sensing sequential learners and

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other times plenty of choice and enrichment activities for random-intuitive students.
-Thinking vs. Feeling. Thinking learners are oriented toward the stark truth, even if it
hurts some people’s feelings. They want to be viewed as competent and do not tend to
offer praise easily – even though they might secretly desire to be praised themselves.
Sometimes they seem detached. In comparison, feeling learners value other people in
very personal ways. They show empathy and compassion through words, not just
behaviors, and say whatever is needed to smooth over difficult situations
-Closure-oriented/Judging vs. Open/Perceiving. Closure-oriented students want to reach
judgments or completion quickly and want clarity as soon as possible. These students are
serious, hardworking learners who like to be given written information and enjoy
specific tasks with deadlines. Sometimes their desire for closure hampers the
development of fluency (Ehrman & Oxford, 1989

Desired Degree of Generality

This strand contrasts the learner who focuses on the main idea or big picture with
the learner who concentrates on details. Global or holistic students like socially
interactive, communicative events in which they can emphasize the main idea and avoid
analysis of grammatical minutiae. They are comfortable even when not having all the
information, and they feel free to guess from the context.

Biological Differences

Differences in foreign language learning style can also be related to biological

factors, such as biorhythms, sustenance, and location.
 Biorhythms reveal the times of day when students feel good and perform
their best. Some foreign language learners are morning people, while
others do not want to start learning until the afternoon, and still others are
creatures of the evening, happily “pulling an all-nighter” when necessary.
 Sustenance refers to the need for food or drink while learning. Quite a
number of second language learners do not feel comfortable learning
without a candy bar, a cup of coffee, or a soda in hand, but others are
distracted from study by food and drink.
 Location involves the nature of the environment: temperature, lighting,
sound, and even the firmness of the chairs. Foreign language students
differ widely with regard to these environmental factors. The biological
aspects of foreign language learning style are often forgotten, but vigilant
teachers can often make.