English Teaching Philosophy
Every teacher is a personality and has his or her philosophy about teaching and learning. I spent my life traveling, studying, and teaching in such culturally diverse countries as China, Australia, Cyprus, Papua New Guinea, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Italy, the UK, Russia, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, Oman, the UAE, and a few more. I believe that traveling and working in culturally diverse environments is one of the most effective ways of shaping a personality.
Most people say that I possess an open, accessible personality, which has been a major asset in my dealings with colleagues and students in various professional contexts. I am aware of and sensitive to the problems and issues involved in intercultural communication and relations at both personal and professional levels. I usually accept criticism and differences of opinion in a positive manner, and I often learn from my colleagues as well as from my students.
My basic field of interest is linguistic pragmatics and cross-cultural communication: the relationships between social and cultural structures, the study of social conflict, and the analysis of face-to-face interaction. At present, I am particularly interested in the field of language teaching as cultural semiotic practice. In my view, the transmission of information through a foreign language is embedded in a universe of signs that are only partially verbal and increasingly visual, based on gestures and even electronics. Computer technology, in particular, is redefining teaching and learning in ways that require further research. It offers new ways of representing and mediating the language, culture, and power relations in language teaching around the world.
There were a few individuals in my life whose theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and research in the field of TEFL/TESL have had a profound impact on me as a language facilitator. Initially, I drew inspiration from Noam Chomsky and Geoffrey Leech, and subsequently, from Stephen Krashen and Claire Kramsch.
Noam Chomsky’s theories inspired me as a linguist, especially his transformational linguistics, which has significantly influenced psycholinguistics and the study of how children acquire language. I was fascinated by his formulated transformational rules, which transform a sentence with a given grammatical structure (e.g., “Peter saw Jane”) into a sentence with a different grammatical structure but the same essential meaning (“Jane was seen by Peter”). This curiosity led me to an idea that sentences conform not only to grammatical rules peculiar to a particular language but also to deep structures peculiar to all human languages and corresponding to an innate capacity of the human brain. This idea led me to further investigation into the relationships between language and thought, and encouraged me to raise such questions as ‘Do we learn a second language, or do we acquire it?’ The above interests led me to pragmatics and linguistic stylistics, and these fields became my basic focus in the late 80s. Geoffrey Leech, particularly through his books 'Principles of Pragmatics' and 'English in Advertising', greatly influenced me during that period. My doctoral dissertation was based on lingo-pragmatic research of the feature article as a genre of English newspaper style.
Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition enabled me to answer many questions related to ESL teaching, and one of his statements, that "language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules and does not require tedious drill,” became my motto. I believe that second language acquisition requires meaningful, natural interaction, and learners are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
The research conducted by Claire Kramsch influenced me, too. Such books as “Context and Culture in Language Teaching” and “Language and Culture” shaped me as an ESL teacher. Language is a part of the culture, and I share the opinion of Claire Kramsch, who underlines the importance of the cultural component of language teaching.
Teaching English as a second language requires me to have extensive knowledge of many fields, such as science and technology, business and computing, career and vocational education, media and communication, society and environment, philosophy and ethics, psychology, medicine, etiquette, literature, geography, history, culture, art, sports, and recreation. I relate my knowledge and life experience to various topics, and I discuss them with my students in the classroom. I perform brainstorming, set the scenarios, and arrange debates from various viewpoints. Such debates expand students’ knowledge about the world and enhance their language skills. They also develop their imagination, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Students study in small groups, and they learn from each other.
I believe that all educated people must have essential knowledge about life and understand their relationship with the environment. Language is a means of learning about the world, so I believe that it is most efficiently acquired in a meaningful context that stimulates students to think and study through the use of the target language. My teaching experience showed that in-class examples and discussions, case analyses, experiential exercises, and class projects enable students to feel more confident, and their learning becomes not only captivating but also efficient. They find the information they need and solve specific problems in their target language. Specific tasks that I usually give to my students include identifying resources to be used to collect information, generating possible solutions, analyzing them, and presenting them either orally or in writing. In my classroom, students continually interact with each other, try new things, build connections, share ideas, and learn from each other.
It is also important to teach students how to study. Students should know some basic facts about language acquisition. In fact, they do not 'learn' a language; they 'acquire' it. To acquire a language means that students 'pick up' some skills, not just memorize information—grammar rules, words, phrases, and syntactical structures. Acquiring a language is like acquiring swimming skills: the person must not only understand the ideas and concepts and have information at hand; the person must also make his or her body adapt to using that information in physical activity. In the case of language acquisition, the physical activity involved is listening, speaking, reading, writing, and body language (or, to be more precise, paralanguage, i.e., mimics, gestures, facial expressions, and many other paralinguistic aspects). I tell my students they must memorize, comprehend, and practice to learn certain skills.
Language is a part of our thinking. Therefore, my task is to develop learners’ thinking skills. I try to ask my students critical thinking questions from all levels. Some of my questions are hard in content or form; others are hard because students' vocabularies are limited. However, I constantly try to adjust questions that are age- and level-appropriate. At the beginner’s level, I prepare responses to some of the most challenging questions by using yes/no or embedded questions. I use pictures, drawings, and diagrams, which help students to give the correct answers. The correct answers to these questions are included in the handout. At the intermediate level, I put more emphasis on comprehension. This level shows that the student has understood the facts and can interpret them. Students are asked to classify, compare, contrast, and illustrate. At the advanced level, my teaching is based on directing learners’ attention to application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. At this level, students learn to solve problems by using previously acquired skills and experience. They learn how to classify, contrast, compare, and categorize these facts; also, they solve problems and evaluate results.
The teacher has to decide which method, or a combination of methods, can be applied during the different stages of the teaching process. The selection is determined by the students’ age, educational background, the subject, the class size, the school requirements, the learning objectives, and some other factors.
I believe that the quality of teaching has a significant impact on students' behavior and motivation. Motivation is an unconscious, psychological process that varies depending on an individual over time, and its degree usually depends on attitude. The individual experiences and cultural background of students influence both attitude and motivation, which are also social processes. A strong curriculum, excellent learning materials, and effective teaching strategies can generate motivation, in my opinion. The instructor must gain the students’ attention by supplying them with stimulating activities and using a range of teaching strategies.
Student motivation can be a difficult task for the teacher. My students usually perceive the content of my lessons as relevant to their objectives. I try to design learning objectives in such a way as to make them achievable and to continually build my students’ confidence. I motivate students by using various strategies such as learner-centered activities, cooperative learning, informal assessments, and open communication. I also explain to my students why they need to learn certain things.
There are two basic categories of problems that I usually need to solve: general problems related to communication (also education) and specific problems related to language teaching and learning. General problems are common to teachers of all subjects: class participation, homework, complaints, cheating, and sometimes behavior management, such as aggressiveness. Specific problems are related to peculiarities of a subject: ways of teaching speaking, reading, listening, and writing, material design, planning, testing, and assessment. All language teachers have to deal with both categories of problems at schools, colleges, and universities.
The teaching of young people places me directly in the line of shaping their lives throughout education. I am an educator and a lifelong learner. Therefore, I have a passion for learning and learners. I believe that a real learner is not satisfied until he has shared all his knowledge with his students. Teaching is a consistent, two-sided process of learning and sharing. I often learn from my students by getting feedback from them. Also, I believe it is important for me to speak with my colleagues to get support and feedback, to learn from their experiences, to be open to new methods and strategies, and to seek professional development opportunities at conferences, workshops, or seminars. My goal is to shape lifelong independent learners who can navigate their own educational destiny.
In general, I think that teaching should be organized in such a way that whatever is offered by the teacher is perceived by his or her students as a valuable gift but not as a hard, repulsive duty.
With these ideas in mind, I believe that the call to teach and educate is one of the greatest missions in life and an extremely significant vocation.
Dr. Algirdas Makarevicius
|