Unit 5

Classroom Management

the way teachers organize what goes on in the classroom

What’s the goal of classroom management?

• The goal of classroom management is to create an atmosphere conductive to interacting in English in meaningful ways.

Effective classroom management can be achieved

when the following three conditions are met:

1)  The teacher plays appropriate roles.

2)  The teacher provides clear instructions.

3)  Students are grouped in a way suitable for

the learning activities.

4) The teacher asks appropriate questions.

5) There is discipline and harmony in the class.

6) The students’ errors are treated properly.

I. The roles of the teacher

1.Richards and Rodgers’ viewpoint • Teacher’s roles are related ultimately to assumptions

about language and language learning at the level of approach.

 • Different approaches stipulate（规定） different

roles for the teacher.

2. Teacher’s roles

Although different approaches stipulate different teacher roles, there are some common roles that teachers play in most of the major approaches.

Before the class, the teacher is a planner.

After the class, the teacher is evaluator.

1.controller 2. assessor

3. organizer 4. prompter

5. participant 6. resource-provider

The common roles during the class

A. The teacher as controller of everything that goes on in the classroom. B. The teacher as manager, organizing the activities;C: The teacher as assessor, giving feedback and advice, as well as correction and grading;D. The teacher as participant (co-communicator) in an organized activity such as debate or role play;E. The teacher as prompter to encourage students to participate or make suggestions about how to proceed in an activity;F. The teacher as resource, that is a source of language and

knowledge;G. The teacher as instructor, actually teaching the new

language points and training students in language skills.

Teacher’s new roles

Teachers as facilitators

Teachers as guides

Teachers as researchers

II. Classroom Instruction

Classroom instructions refer to type of language teachers use to organize or guide learning.

Generally they include all classroom language that teachers may use for teaching purposes as well as managing teaching.

Teacher’ instructions can serve as very useful models and meaningful input, as well as tools for organizing Learning.

Rules to follow for making instructions effective

1. Use simple instructions (clear, simple , concise,supported by gesture)

2.Use the mother-tongue only when it is possible

3. Model the task/activity before letting students move in pairs or groups

4.Try to avoid lengthy explanation. (Demonstration, not to do all the talking in class)

III.  Student grouping

1)     whole-class work (lockstep)

2)     pair work

3)     group work

4)     individual study

2. the advantages and disadvantages of the above grouping

grouping Advantages Disadvantages

Whole-class work

All the class are concentrating; good modeling from teacher;

comfortable in choral practice

Students have little chance to speak;

Same speed for different students;

Nervous in front of the whole class;

Not enough communication;

Pair work More chance for practice;

Encouraging co-operation;

Relaxing atmosphere;

Students stray away from the task;

Using native language;

Noise and indiscipline.

Group work Communication in its real sense;

More dynamic than pair work;

promoting self-reliance;

The same as those in pair work;plays some students might dominate;

Difficult to group;

Individual study

No outside pressure;

Study at own speed;

Less dynamic classroom;

No co-operation;

3. Further suggestions about student grouping methods

 1) When working in lockstep, the teacher should not speak too much.

 2) When organizing pair work, the teacher should give the clearest instructions. If necessary, the teacher should demonstrate with one student first.

 3) Some possible ways to group the students:

  grouping the students according to seating arrangement

   students select their own group members(risky)

  strong students and weak students are missed together

  Strong students and weak students are grouped

separately to do different takes.

  Group the students by drawing lots.

4) Although pair work and group work can provide students more chances for practice, individual study should not be totally neglected.

IV. Discipline in the language classroom

1.  What’s the final goal of discipline in the language classroom?

 

The ultimate goal of discipline is to make more effective learning possible, but the relationship between discipline and learning is not as straight forward as it appears.

2.  Practical hints for teachers on classroom discipline

3.  Measures for indisciplined acts and badly behaving students( by Harmer)

1)     Act immediately

2)     Stop the class.

3)     Rearrange the seats.

4)     Change the activity.

5)     Talk to students after class.

6)     Use the institution.

Questions in the classroom

What are the functions or purposes of questions?

To focus students’ attentions

To invite thinking or imaginations

To check understanding

To stimulate recall of information

To challenge students

To assess learning

准备作用

过渡作用

催化作用

路标作用

巩固作用

提升作用

Questioning techniques

Questions should be wise and purposeful, contributing to the overall objectives of the lesson, stimulating the development of knowledge and thinking , as well as Helping to maintain effective interaction.

Question types

Open questions (open-ended questions ） 开放性问题， 非限答式提问

Closed questions （ close-ended questions ） 限答式提问

Display questions( 展示性问题 )

Genuine questions ( 真实问题）

Lower-order questions ( 低层次问题） draw more upon memorized, summary thinking.

Higher-order questions （高层次问题） require more creative, synthetic thinking.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questions (questions of six levels)

KnowledgeComprehensionApplicationAnalysisSynthesisEvaluation

As a teacher, you can use this model to ask questions at different levels of complexity, thereby keeping your students challenged.

VI. Dealing with errors

The right attitude towards errors

The appropriate strategies in dealing with errors

Distinction between an error and a mistake

（ 1 ） The thought of those poor children were really… was really bothering me. （想到那些穷孩子就使我烦恼。

)

（ 2 ） He teached us English. （他教我们英语。）

A mistake: a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip of tongue/pen”, it is a failure performance to a known system. A mistake has nothing to do with the language competence.行为错误（ mistakes ），指的是语言使用层面上的失误（言语失误，口误 /笔误），而在语言能力的层面上使用者是知道关于某一特定语言项目的正确用法的。行为错误 (失误 )是偶然的、无规律的，非系统性的，可能是一时忘记了，或因疲劳等原因出现了语言运用的失误，被提出以后学习者可自行纠正。例 (1) 中使用者自行纠正其语言行为就说明了这一点。

An error has direct relation with the learners’ language competence. Errors do not result from carelessness norhesitation, but lack of knowledge in the target language.Language errors cannot be self-corrected.

Errors ，能力错误（观念性错误，偏误）。学习者并没有意识到自己错在哪里，所以它们与学习者的语言能力（ linguistic competence ）有关，而不是语言使用（ linguistic performance ）层面上的问题。

能力错误是有规律的，它系统地反映了外语学习者在某一阶段的语言能力，不能自行纠正。在例（ 2 ）中，学习者显然过度概括英语动词过去时的形式，比如从work—worked 中类推至 teach--teached 。

Mistakes can be self-corrected.

Errors cannot be self-corrected.

How to deal with (spoken ) errors

accuracy-based activities

fluency-based activities

When to correct

How to correct

Direct teacher correction

Indirect teacher correction

Self correction

Peer correction

Whole class correction

Indirect teacher correction is encouraged rather than direct teacher correction to avoid damaging students’Self esteem and confidence.

Correcting should be gentle.

Self-correction is encouraged before teacher correction or peer correction because if it is a mistake, the studentHimself/herself will be able to correct it.