Teaching Philosophy
"Ideal Teacher vs. Traditional Teacher"
My drawing at APLNG 493
My teaching philosophy was shaped throughout the two years of study in the MA TESL program at Penn State and was influenced by the fact that I was a Chinese EFL student before I entered the program. It made me re-think about the teacher's role and actions in a language learning classroom, and their great influence on students' linguistic development.
"We cannot teach another person directly; we can only facilitate his learning.” (Rogers, 1961)
This is something that remains in my mind and influences my current teaching, and I think will also influence my future teaching in China. As Rogers stated (1961,1967), a teacher should not just present the textbook content or transmit knowledge to students, which makes the process of teaching become a one-way input only activity. Teachers, according to Rogers, should play the role of facilitator in the classroom. Allowing students to think, to discuss, and grasp the teaching moment throughout this process is a more beneficial way of helping students make progress. Also, the students should be expected to not only absorb knowledge, but also to make use of it throughout interaction. Then how to facilitate students and interact with them is crucial to determine. I think I learned something about how to achieve this, especially after taking the course "Communication in Second Language Classrooms". As I analyzed the transcript of classroom interaction, I can see the differences between diverse types of interactions among the instructors and the students and what the students achieved after such interactions. The scaffolding utterances provided by the instructors, their guidance through dialogues with the students, their attempts to build communities within the classroom, things like these leave the space for students' development and provide them a comfortable environment for learning. Not always taking the higher position as an experienced scholar and language user, the instructor could promote students' involvement and build a closer relationship with students by treating them as real conversation interlocutors.
In addition to the interaction between teachers and students, it is also important to promote interaction among students. The goal is not only to improve their linguistic competence, but also their communicative abilities. Designing activities like pair work, group work, peer review activities could definitely promote interaction. Students could have the opportunity to express their thoughts and share them with each other, and sometimes negotiation would appear during such interaction. It is a good opportunity for students to use the target language and at the same time learn from each other. It also creates the relaxed atmosphere for them to practice using the language when they interact with peers instead of with the instructor.
During the process of learning about teaching, I also was able to relate what I learned to the EFL context in China. I followed the traditional way of learning English, which adhered to the teacher-centered and lecture-based way of teaching. There is little time and space for student's involvement and interaction. Moreover, I think the situation has not changed that much even today. An important reason behind such teaching style is due to a couple of exam requirements throughout students' schooling period, and also because of the grammar-focused content of the exams. How I could combine my teaching philosophy with school, students, and their parents' expectations will be a huge challenge for me. However, I still would like to make the effort since as an English learner myself, I think what Chinese EFL students hope to achieve will be beyond just passing the tests, they also eager to be able to "speak" English just as I did.
Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C.(1967). The Interpersonal Relationship in the Facilitation of Learning. In Humanizing Education: The Person in the Process. Ed. T. Leeper. National Education Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, p1-18.
"We cannot teach another person directly; we can only facilitate his learning.” (Rogers, 1961)
This is something that remains in my mind and influences my current teaching, and I think will also influence my future teaching in China. As Rogers stated (1961,1967), a teacher should not just present the textbook content or transmit knowledge to students, which makes the process of teaching become a one-way input only activity. Teachers, according to Rogers, should play the role of facilitator in the classroom. Allowing students to think, to discuss, and grasp the teaching moment throughout this process is a more beneficial way of helping students make progress. Also, the students should be expected to not only absorb knowledge, but also to make use of it throughout interaction. Then how to facilitate students and interact with them is crucial to determine. I think I learned something about how to achieve this, especially after taking the course "Communication in Second Language Classrooms". As I analyzed the transcript of classroom interaction, I can see the differences between diverse types of interactions among the instructors and the students and what the students achieved after such interactions. The scaffolding utterances provided by the instructors, their guidance through dialogues with the students, their attempts to build communities within the classroom, things like these leave the space for students' development and provide them a comfortable environment for learning. Not always taking the higher position as an experienced scholar and language user, the instructor could promote students' involvement and build a closer relationship with students by treating them as real conversation interlocutors.
In addition to the interaction between teachers and students, it is also important to promote interaction among students. The goal is not only to improve their linguistic competence, but also their communicative abilities. Designing activities like pair work, group work, peer review activities could definitely promote interaction. Students could have the opportunity to express their thoughts and share them with each other, and sometimes negotiation would appear during such interaction. It is a good opportunity for students to use the target language and at the same time learn from each other. It also creates the relaxed atmosphere for them to practice using the language when they interact with peers instead of with the instructor.
During the process of learning about teaching, I also was able to relate what I learned to the EFL context in China. I followed the traditional way of learning English, which adhered to the teacher-centered and lecture-based way of teaching. There is little time and space for student's involvement and interaction. Moreover, I think the situation has not changed that much even today. An important reason behind such teaching style is due to a couple of exam requirements throughout students' schooling period, and also because of the grammar-focused content of the exams. How I could combine my teaching philosophy with school, students, and their parents' expectations will be a huge challenge for me. However, I still would like to make the effort since as an English learner myself, I think what Chinese EFL students hope to achieve will be beyond just passing the tests, they also eager to be able to "speak" English just as I did.
Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C.(1967). The Interpersonal Relationship in the Facilitation of Learning. In Humanizing Education: The Person in the Process. Ed. T. Leeper. National Education Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, p1-18.