Teacher's Role in ESL.classroom

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Language Curriculum 1 RYB09291801

TES020N205A

Assignment 2

Language Learning Curriculum 1 Teachers and students roles

Introduction

Teachers accompany us and appear throughout the majority of our lives starting with our parents, nursery, and primary school teachers, followed by high school teachers, university lecturers as well as sport coaches or foreign language teachers. Who is a teacher and what is the teachers role nowadays? To answer this question, it suffices to say that both teachers role and responsibilities are affected by constant changes in education worldwide. In this essay, not only various teachers roles will be described but also the teachers responsibilities and boundaries will be demonstrated based upon relevant literary sources. Moreover, it will focus on the impact of the characteristics of the teachers roles such as teachers behaviour, language use, classroom set up and so forth on the corresponding students and their performance as well as their role in the classroom. The second part of the essay will deliver a report on observation of a genuine English language lesson taught by an English teacher to foreign students. The description of each stage of the lesson and the teachers roles will be provided including the statistics in relation to the teachers roles. Finally, the personal views on the teachers roles as well as the observed lesson will be

expressed.

What is a teachers role?

Teachers may have different perception on themselves and their profession. Some of them may feel exposed as Harmer (2007: 107) writes: () they are like actors because they feel as if they are always on stage. Others talk of themselves as orchestral conductors because they direct conversation and set the pace and tone. Yet others feel like gardeners because they plant the seeds and then watch them grow. While teachers view themselves in various ways, almost every human stores memories of his or her favourite teacher or a particularly grim teacher from school. At times the memories and the perception of our teachers disappear unnoticed however, mostly they leave some meaningful traces which usually contribute to higher self-confidence and enhanced comprehension skills. While some of us take an example of a good teacher, others will ignore the incompetent one. This however, is an evidence that regardless of the teachers perception on their profession they play an important role and influence human lives in a significant way.

Teachers roles in literature: Harmer and Scriveners divide of teachers role.

Harmer, J. (1991:253) states: Teachers must be aware of the different roles they can adopt and know when and how to use them. Therefore, different roles of teacher will be identified and described. Harmer distinguishes several teachers roles which may be adopted during various stages of the lessons in the classroom including controller, prompter, participant, resource and tutor (Harmer, 2007:108:110). First of the introduced teachers roles is a controller (Harmer 2007: 108). In this particular role the teacher is in charge of the classroom throughout the process of diverse activities and provides learners with knowledge mostly by lecturing and explaining (Scrivener 1994: 6). The teacher might take on this role for instance during presentation stage while giving the instructions or explaining tasks to students. Controllers take the register, tell students things, organise drills, read aloud and in various other ways exemplify the qualities of a teacher-fronted classroom (Harmer 2007:109). Therefore, a controller organises and controls the lesson according to his own ways of spreading the knowledge. Nevertheless, the role of a controller is often associated with the teachers from the past who would teach and transfer their knowledge onto their students without providing the opportunities for more of an inductive learning and self-discovery. Thus, a controller is a teacher-centred role which is significant at some stages of the lesson although it should not be used throughout the whole lesson. Another teachers role which is worth addressing is a prompter (Harmer, 2007: 109). Teacher may perform this role when the learners require

help with vocabulary or when they are lost in the prescribed task during the lesson, for instance during a role play activity or a discussion. In addition, the teacher is not a controller here therefore doesnt take hold of the activity for the student. Instead a prompter is responsible for bringing the learners back on track and encouraging creative thinking during their process of learning. A participant (2007:109) is one of the next teachers roles demonstrated by Harmer. In this role teacher gets involved in the activities and tasks given to students and provides them with his support merely when required. He is not a controller neither a prompter (Harmer, 2007:108) as he engages himself into the activity or discussion without performing error correction purely for the purpose of being a participant knowing where to draw the line while offering the support to the learners. Similarly, the role of a resource (Harmer, 2007: 110) corresponds to the teachers identity in the classroom and is one of the often encountered teachers roles during certain tasks given to students eg. writing task or a group project. In other words, the teacher serves students as their resource when the need arises to gather some information for instance, to check the meaning of a certain word or to consult information needed to complete the project. The purpose of this role is to encourage the learners autonomy in learning and provide them with guidance regarding where they can find the answers to what they search for instead of providing them with an instant answer.

The last role introduced by Harmer is a tutor (Harmer, 2007:110) which denotes a combined role of both a prompter and a resource who helps individuals and groups to develop ideas during work on bigger projects. The teacher needs to possess a balance between the two combined roles and get involved in providing help to all the learners when required. Equally, providing support contributes to the development of the relations between the teacher and the students. On the contrary, Scrivener narrows teachers role into three categories, he differentiates: the explainer, the involver and the enabler (Scrivener, 1994: 6). The first role has a similar description to the one given by Harmer. Although, it might be interesting it is teacher-centred thus, there is little students involvement during the lesson. The involver on the other hand, resembles a participant (Harmer, 2007: 109) from Harmers view on teachers roles although to a certain extent. Scrivener implies that the involvers (1994:6) aim is to get students attention by creating engaging and interesting tasks which may contribute to enhanced students performance and active participation in the class. The enabler (Scrivener, 1994:6) may comprise a few different teachers roles including a guide, a counsellor or a resource, depending on the circumstances and students needs. All these descriptions provide an evidence that teachers role is diversified, as it depends on the students requirements as well as the syllabus and the aims of the particular lesson. (Scrivener, 1994:6)

Teachers responsibilities in the classroom, the relationship between the

teacher and the learners In order to establish successful teaching and enhance students performance, teachers responsibilities and boundaries in the classroom should be addressed. Therefore, some of the teachers responsibilities may include: organising students, preparing them for the presentation of the new language, providing with explicit instructions, introducing the tasks and activities, organising feedback (Harmer, 2007: 111) and so forth. Nonetheless, not only the responsibilities should be taken into account while creating healthy and successful environment in the classroom. The teacher should be aware of his limitations. These comprise the awareness where to draw the line while helping out or taking on a participants role (Harmer 2007:109). In addition, it is important to mention the factors which contribute to a positive relationship between the teacher and the learner. An American psychologist Carl Rogers distinguishes three characteristics including respect, empathy and authenticity (Scrivener, 1994: 8) which have an immense impact on the relations between students and the teacher and the atmosphere in the classroom. According to him the most meaningful feature is to remain authentic while performing teachers profession, he states: To be yourself, not to play a role of a teacher - but to take the risk of being vulnerable and human and honest. (Scrivener, 1994: 8) These qualities not only contribute to a healthy and positive environment in the classroom but also support successful teaching as well as foster students selfdevelopment at all levels, enhancing their confidence and self-esteem.

Report on observation of an English lesson

After having presented different teachers roles and its characteristic features, a report on the observation of an English lesson will be delivered. Therefore, let us now look at the observed lesson, its stages, classroom set up, and the characteristics of the performed teachers roles as well as the behaviour of the corresponding students. The observed lesson was a part of the semi-intensive general English course which takes place five days a week, three hours a day in Frances King School of English in South Kensington, in London. The course aims include a rapid development of practical communication skills in particular speaking, listening, pronunciation and fluency. The use of everyday English is demonstrated by enthusiastic teachers who present the language to their students by organizing interesting and structured lessons. The observed class consisted of ten participants from diverse international backgrounds. Their level of English is intermediate and they are all in their twenties. Their main purpose of being in London is to learn English. The first lesson started with a revision asking students about phrasal verbs and their meaning. The learners were seated in the U-shaped classroom arrangement with the teacher standing at the front. The teacher started the lesson with general questions regarding phrasal verbs such as: What is a phrasal verb? Therefore, the first role performed by the teacher was a prompter (Harmer, 2007:109) as he made an attempt to bring students back on track and elicit the

answers. However, the corresponding students were not prepared well to the lesson therefore could not answer the majority of the questions. Thus, they performed more of a passive role. The teacher had to take on an explainer role (Scrivener 1994:6) while reminding students what phrasal verbs stand for. The next stage of the lesson was a mechanical practice where the activity on phrasal verbs was introduced by the teacher. First of all, the teacher provided the learners with explicit instructions on the task, then arranged work in pairs. The students set up remained U-shaped while performing the task; the teacher walked round the class and offered support to those who required more help. Furthermore, the teacher was participating and helping students to figure out the answers. The additional questions were answered by the teacher. The students read out loud their answers during the classroom feedback. The teacher confirmed and corrected their answers. The activity was engaging and studentcentred where the learners role was active. Consequently, the roles of a controller, a participant and a resource (Harmer 2007:108:110) were performed by the teacher. The stage was followed by more practice which took a form of a discussion.

The discussion was organized by the teacher - learners were asked to stand up in pairs facing each other and creating two rows. They were given explicit guidelines before the discussion commenced. The teacher directed students by giving instructions and controlling which row asked questions and which one was to give answers. Throughout the whole activity teacher stood on

the side observing the learners and took on a role of an active participant, explaining vocabulary, answering students questions and clapping hands as a sign to rotate the students. This activity proves that teacher may take on as many roles as needed, in this case: an organizer, a participant, a resource, an observer, even during a single activity depending on the teaching style. As Wright, T. (1987:68) states: Teaching style is a complex amalgam of belief, attitude, strategy, technique, motivation, personality and control. It is usually worked out in response to the language teaching/learning situations in which teachers find themselves employed. Therefore, the activity was very interactive, entertaining, student-centred and provided a lot of opportunities for practicing communication skills with students being active. The second lesson followed the typical PPP model with its aim to teach the Future Tense Will and going to. The classroom set up remained the same as during the first lesson, thus a U-shaped arrangement with the teacher at the front. A lead in/ warm up took place by asking students questions regarding the future tense such as: How do we talk about future?, What will we use? where a prompters role was performed. In addition, the teacher was eliciting the answers, although students were rather passive and required the explanation. Additionally, the teacher took on a role of an explainer (Scrivener 1994: 6) and demonstrated the uses of will and the going to structures. The learners were asking questions to confirm the use and grammatical structure of going to. The teacher drew a time line to explain the difference. The presentation stage was finished with a song I will

always love you by Whitney Houston to convey the meaning of the use of will, in this case it was a promise. Overall, it was interesting although it was more of a teacher-centred stage where the role of an explainer (Scrivener 1994:6) and a controller (Harmer 2007: 108) outweigh the time spent on other teachers roles. The corresponding students took on more of a passive role. In like manner, the practice stage which consisted of both mechanical practice and freer practice activities involved work in pairs. The teacher is again an organizer asking students to work on a gap fill task, followed by freer practice speaking activity with a partner using the presented will and going to structures. At this stage the teacher was assessing the learners by nominating students to read out their answers during whole class feedback. Moreover, he performed a role of a resource while giving answers to students who asked additional or off-topic questions. Therefore, once again as in the case of a mechanical practice in the first lesson many teachers roles were performed which are adequate to practice stage and the undergoing circumstances. The activities were very student-centred where the learners remained active. At the end of the class students were given homework where the teacher was an organizer by instructing and informing what needed to be done. Teachers roles in numbers - statistics regarding the observed lessons

Not only the description of the observed lessons is significant while delivering the report on the observation but also the statistics on particular teachers roles are

important and need to be acknowledged. Therefore, let us look at the pie chart with the percentage of the roles performed during the observed lessons.

The statistics in the pie chart imply that the amount of time spent on organizing the activities and giving instructions outweighs the rest of the teachers roles performed during the observed lessons. Also the role of a resource which took 22,2% of the total time proves that the teacher spent quite a lot of time on providing students with the answers to their questions, these include the off-topic questions. The role of a participant and an explainer are equal with 16.7%, a prompter with 11,1% and a controller with 5,5% time spent during the lessons which exemplifies that teachers role is diversified and is not based on pure lecturing but may comprise many various roles.

The attached bar chart illustrates the time which was student/teacher-centred during both lessons. According to the collected data more time was spent on the student-centred activities.

Commentary of the observed lessons & Conclusion

In my opinion, the above results on the teachers roles which occurred in the

observed lessons indicate that a teacher is required to play a number of roles during a single class. Depending on the circumstances and the students level, different teaching style may be employed in the teaching process. Not only does a teacher need to be an organizer or a participant but also the other roles need to be involved to create an engaging, interactive and entertaining lesson. I believe that a successful teacher needs to establish a balance in employing various teachers roles. However, most important fact is that the teacher created the described earlier image; he decides to be himself and to remain authentic while offering his knowledge to the learners. His friendly and enthusiastic approach created the positive, joyful and encouraging environment for students. Thus, I would take an example of such a teacher and employ similar techniques into my own teaching with an emphasis on being human, authentic and respectful keeping in mind the aims and purpose of teaching which include: to teach using my own wisdom and experience, remain authentic and use the meaningful techniques (such as the use of a song to convey the meaning of the syntactic part of the lesson which can make students feel touched). Above all things, these can alleviate the teaching process and cultivate the bonds between the teacher and the learners.

In conclusion, this essay demonstrated different teachers and students roles in the classroom, the responsibilities and boundaries of a teacher as well as the factors which contribute to positive relations between the teacher and the learners. Furthermore, it illustrated a report on the observed English language

lessons, wherein it employed the described earlier teachers roles using the data collected throughout the observation. Least but not last, the charts with the statistics concerning the teachers roles were enclosed. Finally, the commentary of the observation and my own reflections have been included.

Bibliography

Harmer, J. (2007) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

Harmer, J. (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

Scrivener, J. (1994) Learning Teaching A guidebook for English language teachers, Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Wright, Tony, (1987) Teacher and learner roles in the classroom from Wright, Tony, Roles of teachers and learners pp.51-74, Oxford,: Oxford University Press

(Word count: below 2750 excluding quotes and referencing).