Managing for Success & Language Related Problems in EFL Teaching

1. Managing for Success &LanguageRelatedProblems in EFL Teaching Critical Problems in English Language Teaching and Learning and What to Do About Them

2. Managing for success • Whatifthingsdon’t work as well as theyplanned? • Greatnumber of reasons, but the one that manyteachersfindthe mostdifficult to dealtwith is … • when students fail to cooperate!!! • Whathappensthen? • Students’ failure in participating can disrupt the learning, • theygetout of control, • lessonshave to stop whileyoureestablishes the order!!! This can be unsettling for bothyou and yourstudents.

3. Whataboutourmainaim as classroommanagers? • TO PROMOTE STUDENT SUCCESS ratherthan to becomeinvolved in damage-limitation

4. Problem behaviour can takemanyforms: • disruptivetalking, • inaudibleresponses, • sleeping in class, • tardiness, • poorattendance, • failure to do homework, • cheating in tests, • unwillingness to speak in English, • insolence to the teacher, • bullyingotherstudents, • damagingschoolproperty, • refusing to acceptsanctions and/or punishment, etc.

5. TO MANAGE FOR SUCCESS! • WHAT IS CHARACTERISED AS INDISCIPLINE DEPENDS ON WHAT COUNTS AS A DISCIPLINED CLASSROOM (WELL-ORDERED) FOR THE TEACHER!!! • ARE YOU TOLERANT ENOUGH???

6. IF WE ARE MANAGE FOR SUCCESS, WE NEED TO KNOW : • WHY IT OCCURS, • HOW TO PREVENT IT, • WHAT TO DO IF IT HAPPENS!!!

7. WHY PROBLEMS OCCUR? • PERSONALITIES AND THEIR LEARNING EXPECTATIONS!Closelyboundupwiththeirlevels of self-esteem(howtheyfeelaboutthemselves-safe?), whatlevel of comfort(havingfood to eat or warmth or shelter) andself-confidencetheyareexperiencing. • THEIR CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES! • WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CLASS! • INTERPERSONAL TENSIONS BETWEEN STUDENTS AND THEIR TEACHER!

8. 1. The family • A profoundinfluence on students’ attitudes to learning and to authority: The families! • Difficulthomesituation: indiscipline • Homeattitudesto learningEnglish: good /bad • Teachersthemselves: bypre-disposingstudents to behavebadly!!!

9. 2. LearningExpectations • Negativelyaffectedby the previousexperiences of all kinds, bywhat went before ! • Theirbehavior can be the result of whattheywerepreviouslyallowed to getawaywith!!! • Positivelyaffectedby the learningculturetheyareoperating in. • Norm of Mediocrity: beingtoogood in lessons is not desirable and/or appropriate. • Howstudentsshouldbehave in lessons! • Whattheyshouldthink of teachers! • Ifthesenormsare not confronted, problem behaviour is likely to be an ongoingreality!!!

10. 3. Approval • Self-esteemmayresultpartlyfrom the way the teacherbehaves! Theyseem to thrive on teacherapproval. • Moststudentswhoenjoygoodrapportwiththeirteacherare happy to get that teacher’sapproval. Where that approval is lacking, theirincentive to behavewell is oftencompromised. • They also look for approvalfromtheirpeers (mostnoticeable in teenagers, theyareoftenamazedby the humour or anarchicbehaviour of theirpeers). • Teachershave to find the ways that students can meetwithapproval.

11. 4. What the teacherdoes • Teachers’ behaviours in the class • Beingprepared: studentshavesomethinginteresting to do and far morelikely to be engagedwith the activities, • Beingunprepared: theylosetheirinterest, theirincentive to maintaintheirlevel of concentration is lessened; therefore, theyaremorelikely to be disconnectedwithyou,and maybecomedisruptive!

12. What the teacherdoes • “Most of the disciplinedisciplinedifficultiesexperiencedbyteachersarecreatedbefore the lessonstarted”. • Ifyouarrive at the classroomdoorwithout a clear idea of what to do, chances of things go wrongaregreatlyincreased. • The waywereact to inappropriatebehaviourwillhave a profoundimpact on theirsubsequentbehaviour. • Iftheyseeyou as decisive, effective and fair, theywill be far lesslikely to be disruptive.

13. 5. Success and failure • Success is a powerfulagent for the sustaining of a student’smotivation. • Achievingidentifiablegoals • Teacher’sjob is to make sure that theyrecognisetheirachiements. • Iftheydon’tfeeltheirownsuccess (but theirfailure in tests, in languageuse, in the teacher’sattitude to theirclassroombehaviour), theyaregreatlyreduced . • Failure is a powerful engine for problem behaviour, that is whyyouneed to manage for studentsuccess.

14. 6. ExternalFactors • Being tired (lack of concentration) • Noisefromoutside • Weathercondition: a highwindtends to maketheirchildren ‘go wild’. • Physicalcondition of the classroom: too hot (beingtoorelaxed) or toocold (beingtoonervy) Discomfort > disengagement

15. CREATING SUCCESSFUL CLASSROOMS • BehaviourNorms (Theyneed to be explicitlydiscussed, rewieved and revisited and they can be jointlynegotiated). • Howteachers can ensuresuccesfulbehaviour (start as wemean to go on, knowwhatwearegoing to do, plan for engagement, prioritisesuccess, equalityrules, praise is betterthanblame).

16. MODIFYING PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR • Actimmediately, • Keepcalm, • Focus on the behaviour not the students, • Takethingsforward, • Talk in private, • Useclearlyagreedsanctions, • Usecolleagues and the institutions.

17. What’s a frustrated EFL teacher going to do? • English language teachers! There are good ones, so-so ones and then there are those that justice would only prevail if they were permanently excused from the classroom!!! • So what’s a near-desperate EFLlearner to do?

18. English LanguageLearning Classroom’sMostCritical Problems

19. 1. Lack of Learner Motivation • Students skip class, and when they do show up it’s likely due to fear of failure more than anything else. • They may lack any semblance of attention during class, chatting with classmates, doodling in their note books orin their textbooks. • What experienced EFL teaching professional hasn’t faced the problem of reluctant, unmotivated learners! One key to increasing motivation is to use activities • matched to the personalities, • learning styles and characteristics of the learners as often as practically possible.

20. A-StudentsDon'tPrepareProperly for EFL Classes • If the number of classcontacthoursper week is very low, say for examplelessthanfour or fivehoursper week, there may be fewotheroptionsavailable to the teacheroutside of assigninghomework or projects to be done outside of classhours. If EFL or foreignlanguagelearnersconsistentlycome to classwithincomplete or undoneassignments, boththey and yousuffer the results. Sowhy not try "prodding" themgentlyby: • Givingfrequent or regularwritten and oral reviews • Schedulingmandatorytutorial or listeninglaboratorysessions • Announcing a quiz for the next , or soonupcomingclass

21. B-StudentsRegularlyCopy the Work of Others Foreignlanguages in particular, requireindividualeffort and participation to acquire. Simplycopying the work of otherlearnerswill not promoteforeignlanguageacquisition. • Givelearnersindividualworkshops (or worksheets) which are not identical to be completed in class and outside of classhours • Assignindividual or smallgroupprojects to EFL learners • Useindividual-based web quests as assignments • Usedynamics and practicematerialsprepared in class for eachlearner or small

22. 2. Insufficient Time, Resources and Materials • You know the old adage, • “you can never be too rich, too thin or have enoughforeign language vocabulary”. • So what can you do when charged with teaching EFL in a fewhours per week? • Add too little time to a lack of resources and virtually zero other resources in many third-world classrooms and you have a critical teaching / learning situation indeed.

23. But there are ways, even on the lowest budget, of producing virtually free or very inexpensive ELT aids for use in the EFL classroom!!!

24. A-StudentsDon'tHave a CourseBook • This can be an especiallyacute problem when teaching a coursebook-based program. • Project coursebookpages on a screen or the board using an OverheadProjector (OHP) or opaqueprojector for learners to notekeyitems and exercises • Makeuse of realia or alternativeteachingmaterials and methods for the themebeingtaught.

25. 3. Over-Crowded English Classes • The number of learners in a class room can range from one, to 20,learners in a typical classroom up to “multitudes of 35 or 40or even 50or more learners packed into a language leaning situation. • Forget anything even remotely resembling “individual attention”. Either the throng “gets it” or they don’t with little available to the teacher. When faced with over-sized groups, youshould immediately implement strategies using choral, small group and pair work to help in lessening the load on both youandyourlarge group of learners. • Youmayalso separate out a few of the more “advanced” learners to help youwith group work elements. It doesn’t solve all the problems, but it’s a good start.

26. Your Ideas, Suggestions and Comments • While it would be absolutely impossible to provide detailed answers to such critical, world-wide problems in the English language teaching and learning classroom , we can recognize our limitations and constraints, and collectively make an effort to address and overcome them.