Teaching English as a Foreign or

Second Language
A Self-Development and Methodology Guide

Third Edition

JERRY G. GEBHARD

BUTUH LENGKAP HUB rehanjanda@gmail.com

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Copyright © by the University of Michigan 1996, 2006, 2017

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ISBN-13 978-0-472-03673-8 (paper)

ISBN-13 978-0-472-12369-8 (ebook)

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2020 2019 2018 2017 4 3 2 1

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 This third edition is dedicated to all the students I have taught
throughout the years, especially to those students who have continued
to develop their teaching beliefs and practices through systematic
exploration.

I also dedicate this book to my nephew, Matt Gebhard, for his support
and loyalty to family.
I deeply appreciate his caring attitude toward family.
Contents

Introduction: A Self-Development and Methodology Guide

Part 1. Self-Development, Exploration, and Settings

Chapter 1. The Self-Developed Language Teacher

Chapter 2. Exploration of Teaching

Chapter 3. EFL and ESL Teaching Settings

Part 2. Principles of EFL/ESL Teaching

Chapter 4. Teaching Language as Communication among People

Chapter 5. Classroom Management

Chapter 6. EFL/ESL Materials, Media, and Technology

Chapter 7. Digital Literacy, Technology, and Teaching EFL/ESL

Chapter 8. Culture and the Language Teacher

Part 3. Teaching Language Skills

Chapter 9. Teaching Students to Listen and Comprehend Spoken English

Chapter 10. Teaching Students to Speak in Class

Chapter 11. Teaching Students to Read for Meaning

Chapter 12. Teaching Students How to Process Writing

Appendixes

A. A Selection of Professional Journals

B. List of Publishers

Bibliography

Index
Acknowledgments

I sincerely thank Maria Saryuz Sarska, Dong Xu, and Tim Conrad for
assisting me with research during the development of the first edition of this
book. I also want to thank Tom McClaren for assisting me with research on
technology, Theresa Tseng for her feedback and research into technology,
and both Theresa and Qisi Zhang for helping me to update the appendixes on
publishing companies and journals for the second edition. I also thank John
Fanselow, Thomas Farrell, Pamela Friedman, Barbara Hill Hudson, Joe
O’Connor, Judi Moy, and Lilia Savova for reading and commenting on the
first edition of the book at different stages in its development, as well as
Nancy Bell and Amy Minette for reading and giving thoughtful feedback on
Chapter 3 in the second edition.
I thank the administration at the American Language Institute (ALI) at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for their consent to observe and
photograph classes; Mary Beth Mahler, Zubeyde Tezel, and Trikartikaningsih
for inviting me into their classes; the students in their ALI classes for being
so very cooperative. I also want to thank Tim and Kerry Conrad for their
ongoing support.
I also thank the many graduate students in the Ph.D. Program in Rhetoric
and Linguistics for commenting on chapters in the first edition, students in
the Ph.D. Program in Composition & TESOL on chapters in the second
edition, students in the MA TESOL Program for feedback on both editions,
and students in the graduate and undergraduate programs in English
Education at Pusan National University for ideas for this third edition.
Finally, I would like to thank Kelly Sippell for her support and patience as
I recreated this book into second and third editions.
Introduction: A Self-Development and
Methodology Guide

I’m an English Teacher!?

—Remark made by an underprepared teacher

This book is a teacher development and methodology book. It can be used by

those of you who are learning to teach English as a foreign language (EFL)
and English as a second language (ESL) as a part of your pre-service teacher
education program. It can also be used as a teacher development text in in-
service teacher development programs as a source for experienced EFL/ESL
teachers who would like to refresh their knowledge and see their teaching
differently. In addition, this book can act as an exploratory text for those who
are simply curious about teaching EFL/ESL or by those who have accepted
an EFL/ESL teaching position without the benefit of a formal teacher
education program and are unprepared to take on all of the responsibilities of
being a teacher.

The Purpose and Content of This Book

This book provides ways for you to work on the development of your
teaching and classroom practices. It offers ways that you, as an EFL or ESL
teacher, can develop your teaching through a process of exploration. This
book also provides discussion on the different English teaching settings
around the world and teaching issues associated within them. It also provides
discussions, examples, and illustrations of how EFL/ESL can be taught as
interaction among people; how classrooms can be managed; how teachers
and students can make use of teaching materials, media, and technology;
what digital technology includes and how it can be used; and the significance
of culture for both students and teachers. In addition, this book shows how
EFL/ESL teachers teach students to comprehend spoken English, to converse
in English, to read for meaning, and to process writing.
This book is based on questions EFL/ESL teachers, including myself,
have asked about teaching and learning over a number of years, and each
chapter begins with a set of questions related to the content of that chapter.
As such, one way to use this book as a part of your development is as a
reference for ideas based on the questions posed at the beginning of each
chapter and answered within it. This book also has a list of recommended
sources at the end of each chapter and includes references to professional
books and articles as well as EFL/ESL textbooks. The appendixes contain
information on publishing companies and academic and practical journals on
teaching EFL/ESL. These additional sources will help further your own
development as an EFL/ESL teacher.
The end of each chapter includes a set of self-development tasks that are
an integral part of this book. The purpose of these tasks is to offer
opportunities to work on your development as an EFL/ESL teacher by
observing, talking about, and writing about teaching. I encourage you to
spend time on these tasks. I realize that finding the time to do these tasks is
not necessarily easy because of busy schedules. However, I encourage you to
find the time to systematically think about your teaching in new ways and to
stretch your imaginations through the teacher development tasks.
I want to point out that this book is not, and was never meant to be, a book
that neatly fits into what is known as “reflective teaching.” I point this out
because one reviewer (Rodgers 1998) mistakenly reviewed the first edition of
this book alongside two other books that are clearly within the “reflective
teaching” category. The reviewer took issue with the book; as she put it, “A
reflective book it is not” (p. 611). As the title tag A Teacher Self-
Development and Methodology Guide indicates, this book was created so that
readers can work on their own development as teachers by understanding
what other teachers, including me, believe about teaching and do in their
classrooms. In short, reflection is an important part of learning to teach, and I
do offer chances for teachers to reflect on teaching in this book. However, the
focus of this book is much broader in scope than just reflection on teaching.

About the Third Edition

My approach to this edition was based primarily on feedback from readers,
including those who took the time to write formal published reviews in
journals, students in my TEFL/TESL Methodology class, and people I have
met at conferences or online who offered feedback on the book. I have taken
this feedback to heart, and I have done my best to incorporate what I have
learned from you, the readers, into this edition.
 The basic structure of the book has not changed. It still includes three
parts. The first provides background to my understanding of self-
development, as well as ways you, as teachers or prospective teachers, can
explore teaching to work on your development. Part 2 still includes
knowledge and experience related to teaching language, and Part 3 is about
teaching language skills.
However, while maintaining the same three parts, I have used readers’
feedback to make several changes in the book. To begin, I have added an
additional chapter, Digital Literacy, Technology, and Teaching EFL/ESL
(Chapter 7) to Part II. This chapter highlights how digital technology has
impacted the field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and
English as a second language (ESL). It begins by defining digital literacy and
goes on to discuss the kinds of digital technology that are available to
EFL/ESL teachers and students, as well as provides examples of how
teachers and students have used digital technology to facilitate language
learning. As technology is changing very quickly, this chapter also addresses
the exciting, yet uncertain, future of digital (or other advances in) technology
that could impact teaching and learning languages. The chapter closes, like
the other chapters in this book, by addressing some of the problems
associated with the use of digital technology to teach EFL/ESL.
In addition, I have brought in additional discussion about and examples of
the use of digital technology in Part III of this book on teaching language
skills. However, I also emphasize that teaching and learning EFL and ESL
depends on what happens between people inside and outside the classroom
and that digital technology simply adds another means through which such
interaction can take place. Further, I point out that digital technology is only
one kind of technology. As I highlight in Chapter 6: EFL/ESL Materials,
Media, and Technology, teaching technology can be placed on a continuum
from low technology (e.g., writing with sticks in the dirt, chalk boards) to
high technology (e.g., use of computer programs) to higher technology (e.g.,
digital technology that allows for synchronous interaction), and any form of
technology can be used to facilitate learning. It is not what technology we
use, but rather how we use the technology that is available to us that is
important.
As with the first two editions, Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the concepts of
exploring teaching. However, in Chapter 1, The Self-Developed Language
Teacher, I provide three new-teacher scenarios, and unlike in the first two
editions, in which I relied on my memory to recall the teaching lives of two
EFL teachers, in this third edition I use classroom observation and research to
show how three different teachers approached (or did not approach)
development of their teaching beliefs and practices. Chapter 2, Exploration of
Teaching, still highlights ways teachers can approach the development of
their teaching; however, I have woven in different examples to illustrate how
some teachers have worked on their development. Further, the third edition
maintains the inclusion of teacher self-development tasks at the end of each
chapter, some which I have revised or added.
I have also done my best to read extensively and talk with other
professionals about teaching, as well as reflect on my own use of innovative
ways to teach (especially in Korea and Hawaii), and I have used this
experience to revise the content of the chapters in this book. For example, in
Chapter 4, Teaching Language as Communication among People, I have
added a discussion on Task-Based teaching; and in Chapter 6, EFL/ESL
Materials, Media, and Technology; I have added a detailed discussion on how
teachers can select context appropriate textbooks, as well as a discussion on
how teachers can discover websites that have teacher-created activities and
games, many of which allow students to expand their study of English in a
fun way inside and outside the classroom. I have also included a discussion
on the value of corpus-informed textbooks.
Likewise, in Part 3 on teaching language skills, I have updated each
chapter in regard to ways each skill can be taught. For example, in Chapter
10, Teaching Students to Speak in Class, I have added a detailed section on
the use of student presentations, as well as how digital technology has added
new means for students to expand their speaking opportunities. In Chapter
11, Teaching Students to Read for Meaning, I have brought in a discussion on
the intermediate-level slump problem that readers face and ways to provide
opportunities for learners to cope and make progress with their reading. I also
updated my discussion on the use of reading strategies and have added a
detailed discussion on the importance of teaching students to use
metacognitive reading strategies, as well as how they can be taught to use
them. In addition, I have added discussions on how teachers can teach
vocabulary as well as use grammar to help students to comprehend text.
Further, in Chapter 12, Teaching Students How to Process Writing, I have
expanded my discussion of the writing process to include how students can
get feedback on their writing. I also expanded on an earlier discussion (see
Chapter 7) on using blogs and wikis as a way for students to write to a real
audience and collaborate on writing projects. I have also added a detailed
discussion on how teachers can teach grammar in their writing classes as well
as why they should consider doing so. I also added a discussion on the
problem of grading essays and how teachers can use a writing portfolio as a
favorable way to evaluate what they have accomplished in a writing course.
This third edition also includes an updated Recommended Teacher
Resources section at the end of each chapter, as well as updated appendixes
on professional journals (Appendix A) and publishers (Appendix B) in the
field. I have also updated the endnotes for each chapter to reflect current, as
well as historical, theory and practice.
Part 1
Self-Development, Exploration, and
Settings
1
The Self-Developed Language Teacher

Teachers themselves . . . must become the primary shapers of their

own development.
—Lieberman 1992, vi

• Does self-development make a difference?

• What factors are central to teacher self-development?

Does Self-Development Make a Difference?

To emphasize the concept of self-development, I begin this book by
illustrating its advantages. To do this, I invite you to enter three different
classrooms.1 The first is of an inexperienced teacher (Amy) who was
beginning to work on the development of her teaching. The second is of a
teacher (Kumiko) who had taken on the responsibility for her own
development. The third is an experienced teacher (Soyoung) who had become
complacent about her development. I stress that all three teachers can gain
much by paying regular attention to their teaching.

AMY’S CLASS
The first example focuses on Amy, an inexperienced ESL teacher at the
beginning of her development. Amy was in the last semester of her MA
TESOL program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and had an internship
at the American Language Institute. Her particular job was to co-teach a
conversation course to fifteen intermediate level students. As a part of the
internship experience, the intern was mentored by a co-operating teacher, as
well as by an internship supervisor. I was the internship supervisor. My job
was to work with Amy on her development as a teacher, and I asked her to
make short video recordings of a few of her lessons. I then viewed some of
the recorded class and asked her to describe what was going on in the class. I
suggested Amy pick her own parts of the lesson to describe and analyze, as
Folse, K. S., 210n, 212n, 251
Free writing, 232, 233

Gebhard, J. G., 15n, 18n, 19n, 25n, 27n, 104n, 133n, 140n, 146n, 195n, 223n
Generation 1.5 students, 44, 249–251
Gestures, 136
Goh, C. C. M, 154, 155n, 167n
Google, 125
Grabe, W., 202n, 210n, 211n
Graded readers, 209
Grading, 247–249
Grammar, 58, 175, 21–217, 240–243
Grammar Translation method, 214
Guess the Object activity, 187–188

Halliday, M. A. K., 58n, 215n

Haptics, 135
Harklau, L., 44n, 84n, 85, 249n
Hearing. See also Listening processing our, 155–156
Humor, 164
Hypermedia, 123

Improvisations, 181–182
Inclusion model in EFL/ESL teaching settings, 45–46
Inclusion program in classroom management, 86
Inexperienced teachers, self-development of, 2–4
Information literacy, 115–116
Interactional functions of language, 156–157
Interactive classroom, managing, 83–84, 86–88
Intermediate-level slump, 221–222
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), 16–17
International school as EFL/ESL teaching settings, 49–50

JALT (Japanese Association of Language Teachers), 4

JALT Teaching, 259
Journal of Second Language Writing, 259
Journal writing tasks: in classroom management, 90; in communicative classroom, 70; in
digital literacy, 128; with EFL/ESL materials, 111; in EFL/ESL teaching settings, 53; in
exploration of teaching, 35; in teacher self-development, 13; in teaching culture, 151; in
teaching listening, 173; in teaching reading, 225; in teaching students to speak English,
198; in teaching writing, 253

K–12 teachers, in creating learning setting for ESL students, 84–86

Kazoo, playing, intonation and, 189–190
Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners (Folse), 251
Kinesics, 135, 136
Knowledge, 73–84, 97, 155, 222–223

Language: conversing in second, 175–198; interactional functions of, 156–157; learning

another, 18; learning of host country, 146–148; learning of the host country, 146–148;
making comprehensible to students, 82–83; teaching as communication, 57–71;
transactional functions of, 156–157. See also Communicative classroom
Language institutes, English programs at, 48
Language-play writing, 237, 239
Language teachers, culture and, 130–152
Larson-Freeman, D., 62n, 159n, 192n, 215n, 251
Linguistic features, identifying, 157–158
Listening: active, 154–155; activities used by EFL/ESL teachers, 157–165; authentic, 169;
cloze, 163; evaluating authenticity of materials, 171–172; journal writing tasks in
teaching, 173; judging the authenticity of commercial EFL/ESL materials, 168–169;
observation and talk tasks in teaching, 170–171; problem-solving and, 164; processing
what we hear in, 155–156; purposes of, 156–157; to requests and commands, 159–160;
talk tasks in teaching, 169–170; teaching students to take control of their own,
167–168; using media in teaching, 165–167

McCarthy, M. J., 192n, 240n

Mentoring, 17
Metacognition, 203, 217–221
Multimedia digital literacy, 119–120

Nation, J. S. P., 175n, 210n, 214n, 215n

Neurolinguistic Programming, 233n
Newcomer schools or programs, 44, 45
New Englishes, 40–41
Non-verbal behavior across cultures, 135–137
Note-taking, 163
Nunan, D., 15n, 17n, 18n, 62n

Observation in exploration of teaching, 18, 24–29

Observation and talk tasks: in classroom management, 89; in communicative classroom,
69–70; in digital literacy, 128; with EFL/ESL materials, 111; in EFL/ESL teaching
settings, 52; in exploration of teaching, 34; in teaching culture, 150; in teaching
listening, 170–171; in teaching reading, 224–225; in teaching students to speak English,
198; in teaching writing, 252–253; “Old MacDonald,” 165–166; One Stop English,
108;
Oprandy, R., 15n, 18n, 19n, 195n

Peer review, 236–237

Pen pals, 204
Pèregoy, S., 44n, 46n, 84n, 155n, 202n
Phones in the classroom, 126–127
Phonological features in communicative classroom, 58
Photographs in teaching culture, 143
Pingback, 114
Post-beginners: 181–189, 204–209, 231–240
PowerPoint, 117, 122, 125, 185–186
Pre-communicative activities, 59–61
Pre-reading activities, field trips as, 223
Presentations, 185–186
Pre-writing, 232–234
Problem-solving, 24, 139–140
Project-based learning, 123
Project-based tasks in communicative classroom, 63
Pronunciation EFL/ESL teachers in teaching, 189–198
Proxemics, 135, 137
Publishers, list of, 261
Pullout model, 44–45, 86

Questioning, 203, 232, 233

Questions: confirmation, 74, 75; display, 74, 75; explanatory, for teachers, 20, 21; life-
general, 75–76; referential, 74, 75; teacher, in managing an interactive classroom,
83–84; think-alouds in teaching student to ask, 218

Reading: activities for post-beginners, 204–209; critical, 203, 209; engagement, 201–202;
extensive, 203, 209–210; helping students improve metacognitive, 217–221; jigsaw,
220; journal writing tasks in teaching, 225; for meaning, 201–225; observation and talk
tasks in teaching, 224–225; purpose of, 201–202; skills used in, 203; strategies for
comprehending, 203; talk tasks in teaching, 224; teaching vocabulary in class for,
210–213; for thorough comprehension, 206–209; using senses in, 219
Reading boards, authentic materials on, 101
Reading class: teaching vocabulary in a, 210–213; using grammar in, 213–217
Reading teachers, problems of EFL/ESL teachers as, 221–223
Realia used in EFL/ESL classrooms, 99–100
Reflection for teachers, 10, 22–23
Refugee centers in EFL/ESL teaching settings, 47–49
Requests, responding to, 159–160
Revising, 234–235
Richards, J. C., 15n, 62n, 92, 155n, 156n, 159n, 178, 232n
Role plays, 181–182

Scanning, 205–206
Seating arrangements in classroom management, 78–79
Second language, conversing in, 175–198
Self-improvement, teaching students strategies for, 190–191
Self-observation in exploration of teaching, 18–19
Silberstein, S., 203, 205n
Simon Says, 159–160
Sketching, 232, 233
Skimming, 203, 205
Skits, 181–182
Sociocultural behaviors across cultures, 137–138
Socio-cultural competency in communicative classroom, 58–59
Speech, 162–163, 179–181
Strategic questioning, 232, 233
Structural activities in communicative classroom, 59–60
Students. See EFL/ESL students
Subtractive bilingualism, 45, 46
Summarizing, 203
Synchronous technology, 114, 116
Synonyms, identifying, 212
Syntactic features in communicative classroom, 58

Talk in exploration of teaching, 29–30

Talk tasks: in classroom management, 88–89; in communicative classroom, 68–69; in
digital literacy, 127–128; with EFL/ESL materials, 111; in EFL/ESL teaching settings,
52; in teacher self-development, 12–13; in teaching culture, 148–150; in teaching
listening, 169–170; in teaching reading, 224; in teaching students to speak English,
197–198; in teaching writing, 252
Task-based teaching in communicative classroom, 62–63
Teacher journals in exploration of teaching, 31–32
Teacher self-development, 2–13; advantages of, 2; comparison of teaching methods, 8–9;
cooperation of others in, 11; experienced teachers in, 6–8; factors central to, 9–10;
inexperienced teachers in, 2–4; in-service programs in, 9; journal writing tasks in, 13;
ongoing commitment in, 10; praise behaviors in, 5–6; pre-service teachers and, 9;
problem solving in, 10; reflection-in-action in, 10; reflection-on-action in, 10; talk tasks
in, 12–13
Teaching portfolio, 17
Team-teaching model, in EFL/ESL teaching settings, 45, 46
Technology, 101–106, 109–110
TESOL, 17
Textbooks, 94–98, 107
Text messaging, 117–118
Think-alouds, 218, 221
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), 40, 43, 48, 93
to-infinitives, teaching, 7–8
Top-down processing, 58, 155, 160, 202
Total Physical Response (TPR), 159
Turn-taking, 177
Video materials, processing authentic, 166
Vocabulary, teaching in a reading class, 210–213
Vocabulary log, 212

Web 1.0 technology, 105, 116

Web 2.0 technology, 105, 124–125
Web 3.0 technology, 122
Websites, locating useful, 108–109
Whiteboards, 104
Wikis, 119, 240
WordPress blogging, 119, 240
Writing: audience in, 228–229; bi-weekly conferences in, 238–239; composition, 231–234;
digital, 239–240; drafting in, 234; editing in, 235; essay grading and, 247–249; free,
232, 233; for generation 1.5 learners, 249–251; getting feedback in, 235–237; grammar
as part of in teaching, 240–243; journal writing tasks in teaching, 253; language-play,
237, 239; observation and talk tasks in teaching, 252–253; pre-writing in, 232–234;
problems of EFL/ESL teachers in teaching, 244–251; purpose in, 228–229; as recursive
process, 229; revising in, 234–235; teaching to beginners, 229–231; teaching to
EFL/ESL students, 228–251; teaching to post-beginners, 231–240
Writing conferences, bi-weekly, 238–239
Writing journals, 248–249

YouTube, 114, 116, 122