Perez Mario Alexander

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Successful Language Teaching PracticesMario Alexander PEREZ*AbstractThe following paper endorses four principles of language teachingand discusses why they are effective. The writer calls on relevant TESOLliterature, namely Dörnyei’s (2001) work on motivation, as well as hisown language teaching experience at the tertiary level, spanning reading,writing, and communication courses, to produce the rationale and anec­dotes necessary to support the principles he advocates.Key words: language principles, motivation, group cohesion, fluency, L2classroom, language ego1. IntroductionEnglish is, more than any of its competitors, the language of choice for interna­tional business, trade, higher education and research, tourism, medicine, and the in­ternet. In an age of globalization, when the need for English ability is simply agiven, it is essential that teachers of English in Japan employ robust language teach­ing principles in order to effectively educate students, particularly the unmotivatedtype. The intention of this paper is to present a set of principles I believe to beamong some of the more effective ones in EFL education. I will call on relevantTESOL literature and teaching experience to produce rationale and anecdotes insupport of the principles discussed herein. While this paper will focus on my experi­ence instructing university students, everything put forward is grade neutral and canbe adjusted to fit other L2 classroom environments.??????????????????????????????????????????* Instructor of English as a Foreign Language, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei GakuinUniversityKwansei Gakuin UniversityHumanities ReviewVol. 22, 2017Nishinomiya, Japan??1.1 Four effective principlesIf a student is to consider meeting the reading, writing, speaking, and listeningchallenges that make­up second language acquisition, he or she must, one, have thedesire to do so, and two, have some confidence that success, or acquisition itself, ispossible. In his Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, Dörnyei (2001)writes, it is an “undeniable fact that we do things best if we believe we can suc­ceed,” and, what is more, “we are unlikely to initiate a task, even if we expect tosucceed in it, that we do not enjoy” (p.57). As a language teacher, I believe mygreatest responsibility is to help students form an enthusiastic relationship with Eng­lish so much so that they come to believe that acquisition is possible. There are fourmain practices which I use to help achieve this end: promoting self­confidence, en­couraging group cohesion, making language learning enjoyable, and promoting flu­ency over accuracy.2. Self­confidence and the “language ego” boostI can clearly recall my first foreign language course as a freshman in highschool. To say the least, it was never easy and seldom enjoyable. I started studyingSpanish when I was just beginning what Dörnyei (2001) referred to as “the develop­mental age when . . . self­image is in an ongoing flux, and doubts and worries aboutoneself are more common feelings than confidence or pride” (p.87). It is not unrea­sonable to presume that my first high school Spanish teacher did not read any ofDörnyei’s work. Without providing much instruction on how to employ the materi­als in our textbook, he expected students to build conversational skills on their own.Our skills, or lack thereof, were often put to the test in a rather unforgiving ap­proach: students were made individually to stand at the front of the classroom whilequestions were thrown at us. When we were unable to respond, the cost was often amomentary loss of self­esteem. Needless to say, this was torture for kids in themidst of their most self­conscious years. It is difficult to remember feeling a senseof security in the language classroom as my teacher made very little attempt, if any,to put me and my classmates at ease. Never having experienced this feeling of com­fort possibly contributed to the reason I still struggle when it comes to using Span­ish conversationally. As a young man, then, speaking Spanish was always a test ofability that, if not passed, meant having to swallow an embarrassing, face­threatening moment.It seems to me that a language teacher has a responsibility to treat his/her stu­dents with affective care, thereby instilling the self­confidence the students need totackle the L2. When teachers create this environment of acceptance in the class­room, students excel. Iancu (2000) calls this learning “through gratification ratherMario Alexander PEREZ??than fear” (pg.11). During my first few years teaching as an Assistant LanguageTeacher (ALT) for high schools in the Japanese public school system, I found thattime and again I was unable to reach the students. The reason being, I may have notmade enough effort to hide my disappointment when the students did not perform tomy expectations. I never took into consideration that, in most cases, I was their firstforeign teacher and they did not know how to speak to me. Their approach to learn­ing had long been one of rote memorization and tests. That I required that theycommunicate with me using conversational English was a very tall order indeed.With experience and reflection, I realized that such an approach was mainly unsym­pathetic. Instead of placing pressure on them, I should have been building their self­confidence, what Brown (2001) refers to as the “language ego”, at every opportunity(p.61­62).Relevant literature shows there are a number of ways to boost the languageego. I have found one method in particular works exceptionally well. Dörnyei(2001) recommends administering regular moments of success. This method requiresthat the instructor tailor his/her lesson planning around the students’ ability andregularly assign tasks which they will be able to complete successfully. By takingthis approach, the instructor is in effect breeding student confidence and motivation.This will lead to future gains because through such measures the students will haveacquired the confidence necessary to tackle the inevitable assignments which willnot be so easy to complete. In reference to my current teaching situation, one exam­ple highlights this dynamic. Last semester, a number of students in one of my writ­ing courses struggled with devising thesis statements for argumentative essays.Some were unable to grasp the idea of presenting a decisive argument at the begin­ning of their essay, while some were able to understand the idea with little struggle.Despite schedule demands, I realized this was a moment that could not be ignored. Idecided to dedicate two entire lessons to pair writing. I placed students who hadgrasped the concept of thesis statements and paired them with students who did not.Through the students’ joint efforts, they were able to accomplish the task of defend­ing a simple thesis statement. This moment of success for those who did not under­stand the process made the eventual full­essay production much easier and a muchless excruciating experience. I would like to think it may have given their languageegos the boost required to strengthen their self­confidence when it came to writingon their own. Brown (2001) tells us that this kind of method, supplemented with pa­tience, a friendly disposition, and an overtly supportive attitude on the part of theteachers, will help language educators to create an environment for their studentsthat lends itself to successful learning.Successful Language Teaching Practices ??3. Group CohesionAnother way to inspire students to stay the course in their L2 development isto create a strong sense of camaraderie among them, a sense of togetherness(Dörnyei, 2001). If done correctly, a teacher can make the students feel committedto each other and their collective goals. In a classroom where group unity is strong,students support and help each other through the learning process. They do this be­cause they feel a sense of responsibility toward one another. Dörnyei argues thatthis phenomenon makes “the learning process more enjoyable in general” (p.43).What results is a series of positive moments of engagement with the L2, which mayinspire students to continue their studies, not only with the teacher who made theexperience possible, but with subsequent ones as well.In my communication courses, feeling a sense of belonging is vital to the stu­dents’ success in the course. With up to 35 students in some of my classes, studentssit in groups and must conduct all our activities in those groups. When students feelthe minutest degree of isolation or estrangement from the group, they may find iteasier to withdraw from the learning process. To avoid this, I have incorporated anumber of Dörnyei’s (2001) practical suggestions for creating a “cohesive commu­nity” into my teaching approach (p.43).Dörnyei (2001) suggests that giving students ample opportunity to learn abouteach other makes them feel closer to one another and generally happier in the class­room. Most of the activities I conduct in communication courses and writing coursesask students to utilize and share information from their lives. From simple show andtell activities at the beginning of a course which require students to share importantitems that represent their character and or history to their group, to discussions in­spired by audiovisual media (such as TED Talks or dramas made for television)which ask students to share their life experiences to unravel a complicated storylineor happening, all the activities I design allow students to show­off their past and orcurrent selves. Having the students report “genuine personal information” in thisway permits them to become well acquainted with one another (p.44). This puts stu­dents at ease in the classroom and allows for a sense of community to flourish.Moreover, I promote “cooperation” and conduct activities which foster “intra­group competition”, which Dörnyei (2001) also recommends (p.44). In my classes,groups act as teams which can receive points for things such as winning a competi­tion and lose points for various reasons such as not completing an assignment ontime or refusing to use English during a group discussion. Points are tabulated overthe lifespan of each group and those with the most points receive a small prize, forpurposes of the extrinsic motivational kind. In this way, nearly every sensation eachstudent experiences in the classroom, the ups and downs, the highs and lows, is al­Mario Alexander PEREZ??ways shared with at least three to four other people. The students never really feelalone in the learning process. Also, I make it a point to change groups around twoto three times per semester so the students always get to work with someone new. Itallows students to create bonds of friendship with more than just a few people inthe classroom. Consequently, at least in my experience, the students distinguish L2learning in a positive light.“Successful completion of whole group tasks” is another means of creating co­hesive communities (Dörnyei, 2001, p.44). In my current reading classes, for exam­ple, students are meant to complete two reading circle activities per semester. Thematerial that the students read is science­based and at points quite difficult to con­sume. After reading through the article, each student is responsible for a particularjob in a reading circle. One student acts as the discussion leader, one as the summa­rizer, one draws connections with real world situations, one is responsible for vo­cabulary, and one points out important passages that demonstrate the overall mean­ing of the article. Once all students have prepared their role, they partake in a fif­teen to twenty­minute discussion about the reading. Each student is responsible forengaging their classmates on the material they have prepared, all the while the in­structor observes the talk and issues a single group score which plays a significantrole in each individual’s overall course grade. Because students all share the samegrade, in most cases they work hard for one another. Successful completion of thistype of activity produces community cohesion in a way that students remember.Language learning becomes less of a solitary act where individual failure can leavea lasting mark, and more of a team effort where people work together to achievesomething important.The kind of classroom approach which encourages group cohesion, then, hasdone for my classes exactly what Dörnyei (2001) says it would. In most cases, stu­dents come to see each other as essential players in a group effort to attain somecompetence in language production. Dörnyei (2001) argues, “Whether or not a classbecomes a cohesive community is not simply a question of luck. There are a num­ber of factors that can positively contribute to the process, and many of these arewithin the teacher’s control” (p.43). It is important for students to feel a sense of be­longing if indeed we as instructors want to produce lifelong language learners. Weare less likely to lose the less than motivated students in the process if we empha­size this kind of group unity, the kind where every student’s contribution is neces­sary to achieve success.4. Making the language classroom enjoyableFurther, learners are more likely to engage in their studies when they are enjoy­Successful Language Teaching Practices ??ing themselves. When thinking about young learners, it is probably not surprisingthat the average student saddens at the prospect of writing an essay but brightens upwhen preparing for a gym class. While for some, 90 minutes in the classroom maynot be as enticing as a game on the campus pitch, I do think it is possible to makethe language classroom a less disagreeable place than often imagined. As L2 in­structors, our challenge lay in making the language learning process more enjoyableto sustain learner involvement. As Dörnyei (2001) says,“If we could somehow make the learning process more stimulating and enjoy­able, that would greatly contribute to sustained learner involvement. This is anassumption that most motivational psychologists subscribe to and which alsomakes a lot of sense to classroom teachers ― indeed many practitioners wouldsimply equate the adjective ‘motivating’ with ‘interesting’ (p.72).As an instructor, I have tried all sorts of things to maintain my students’ atten­tion from course start to finish. Anyone who teaches at the Japanese tertiary levelknows this is not the easiest of tasks, particularly when classes last 90 minutes long.Two ways that I try to accomplish this is by “breaking the monotony of learning”and “making the tasks interesting” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.73). While naturally there is acourse curriculum we must get through, I do my utmost to use diverse and enter­taining means to present that material. For example, in my communication courses,curriculum objectives require that students practice, among other things, listeningand discussion skills. As opposed to utilizing dry listening scripts and dialogueprompts made available by numerous textbooks, I have devised a different approach.I use TED Talks and made­for­television series to practice these two skill sets. Viathese mediums, students get to listen to issues facing our time and discuss both sim­plistic to more complicated questions that I tailor to their level. Utilizing these typesof media make for an enjoyable classroom experience that students do not dread asmuch as they do more traditional approaches.5. Fluency over accuracyFinally, if our task as language teachers is to guide students toward acquisitionand some level of automaticity, we best accomplish that aim when focal attention isgiven to meaning and message rather than grammar and linguistic form. Brown(2001) urges teachers to equip “our students with tools for generating unrehearsedlanguage performance ‘out there’ when they leave the womb of our classrooms”,that we “facilitate lifelong language learning among our students, not just with theimmediate classroom task” at hand (p.42). So, whether the focal point of instructionMario Alexander PEREZ??is speaking or writing, if a student communicates his/her intended message, I abstainfrom correcting innocuous errors. A barrage of corrections only blocks avenues tofluency. In my writing classes, while I do focus on form to some extent, I do notgrade students on their grammatical accuracy. Again, if they can deliver their ideawithout a breakdown in communication, I do not push too much for fear of depress­ing their language ego. There are few things more painful for the university studentthan when one’s professor returns his/her essay covered in red marks. As for mycommunication classes, in addition to providing students with topics of discussionon which they possess rich schema (lessening their cognitive load and allowing forgreater ease of discussion), I also give them time before any discussion to write­down some notes on what they would like to say in order to prepare themselves forspeaking on the topic. I emphasize that students not preoccupy themselves withgrammar and spelling while writing these notes. And during the discussion itself,students are encouraged to speak without concern for grammatical accuracy. One ofthe ways in which I encourage this is to explain the directions for the activity inEnglish, then again in my own imperfect attempt at Japanese, to show students thatmistakes will be made but should not be regarded if meaning is delivered. As longas meaning is conveyed, students should feel proud of their achievement in makingan utterance or two.6. ConclusionJust like any other language, English is extremely difficult to master. It is quitepossible that those who take on the challenge of studying it will quit somewherealong the way. I believe one of our jobs as English instructors is to keep studentsfrom jumping ship. If we can effectively bolster the language ego of our students,make the learning process less monotonous and more enjoyable, promote fluency(not purely at the expense of accuracy but to strengthen our students’ affective rela­tionship with the language), and above all create an environment where each studentfeels welcome as an important and vital member of their group and the entire class,I believe we can successfully nurture a healthy relationship between our studentsand their L2. In the end, perhaps it could be one or more of these factors that in­spire our students to stay on the path of second language acquisition. As indicatedin the first sentence of this article, those that do succeed in achieving some level offluency in English will have an exciting world at their fingertips. It is always myobjective to help students begin their journey toward that end.Successful Language Teaching Practices ??ReferencesBrown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy.White Plains, NY: Longman.Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.Iancu, M. A. (2000). Implementing fluency first activities in an intermediate-level EAP readingclass. TESOL Journal, 9(2), 11-16.Mario Alexander PEREZ??

Successful Language Teaching Practices

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