Editorial
Maja Aleksic presented at The 16^th Annual Conference of IATEFL Hungary and the subject of was peer-teaching. It was entitled "Student teachers to teacher students". She also presented at 5^th IATEFL ELTA Annual Conference in Belgrade. The title of the presentation was ″Interactive classroom: Have we got what it takes?''. The presentations have been adapted and updated for the present article.

Student Teachers To Teacher Students

Maja Aleksic, Serbia

Maja Aleksic is an English language teacher to adults at the Institute for Foreign Languages in Belgrade, Serbia. She holds an M.A. in Contrastive Linguistics of English and Serbian languages and is a PhD candidate on Syllabus Design at Faculty of Philology at University of Belgrade. E-mail: majaaleksic@beotel.yu

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Introduction
Theoretical background
Methodology
The case study
Results of the research and discussion
Acknowledgement
References

Introduction

Teaching normally involves presenting and explaining elements of language structure from a course book, typically provided rather than chosen. In the context of formal education, peer-teaching in the foreign language classroom has commonly been neglected. In fact, it has been seen as an inadequate teaching approach, in terms of the competence of peer-teachers in teaching methodology, class management, classroom procedures and lesson planning.

The notion of modern language education casts new light on peer teaching: it is viewed as a process in which learners take greater responsibility for their own achievements, which improves their self-esteem and increases the level of empathy within the class, both in terms of relationships among students and between the students and their teachers.

The aim of the present work is to show that, given the necessary and sufficient conditions (see p. 4. of this work), peer teaching can be regarded as a valid teaching and learning method, at the same time breaking the well-established teacher-student barriers.

Theoretical background

According to a dictionary entry, there are at least two ways of defining the term PEER: on the one hand, this is ''the person who is the same age as you'', on the other hand, this is ''the person who has the same status as you'' (Collins Cobuild Essential English Dictionary, 1994, p.578). The word status is most often used to refer to the same position or importance, although it can also be used to refer to the same gender, the same nationality, etc.

When it comes to defining the term peer-teaching, methodology course books refer to it as a strategy through which better students help weaker ones, working with them in pairs or groups, explaining things or providing good models of language performance in speaking and writing (Harmer, 1998, p. 128). It is usually referred to as one of the alternative ways of dealing with a lesson where the students are at different levels, as a strategy during which the teacher should ensure that weak and strong students are put together. It is also recommended that this strategy be adopted with great sensitivity so that students do not get oppressed by their obligatory teaching role on the one hand, and do not get alienated by their over-knowledgeable peers, on the other hand (Harmer, 1998, p. 128).

As such, the strategy of peer-teaching represents a direct contrast to traditional teaching environment. In order to show the concept of peer teaching in its full light, I will briefly refer to this strategy practiced in the system of formal education promoting student's dependence and reliance on the teacher's authority, thus leaving little space for peers' role as teachers. The counter-example is closely connected to my own school days: an attempt at peer-teaching in philosophy classes in the second grade of grammar school.

From this perspective, its failure can be attributed to the following factors:

• Both the teacher and the students not being familiar enough with the concept of peer-teaching
• Poor preparation with the teacher, aimed at preventing, or at least reducing student teacher's poor performance in the class.
• The lack of enthusiasm about peer teaching on both sides.

However, in this work the spotlights will be drawn on peer teaching as a strategy among students sharing the same status, but not the same age, and as a strategy of teaching where the focus is on the fact that students teach other students, rather than on the distinction between the better and the weaker ones.

The theoretical basis for this research is a series of experiments carried out by American researchers on the subject of peer-teaching, claiming that ''… no other recent innovation has proved so consistently successful'', and that ''...the best way to learn is to teach''. It was followed by a series of experiments in England, which showed that peer teaching can be a valid teaching method, with remarkable results, often referred to as an ''...educational conjuring trick''. The results of the experiments were published in the Sunday Times and in Focus on Proficiency course book (Longman Group Limited, 1995).

However, some differences between the experiments mentioned and the case study described here should be noted at this point:

• The experiments focused on teenage pupils with problems at school, tutoring younger children.
• In the experiments, the tutors were supervised by university students of education.
• In some of the experiments, the pupils were taught not only language, but also maths.

Methodology

The method adopted in the case study was that of informal observation. Which is more, it took the form of an insider's, i.e. teacher's view into the behaviour, knowledge and beliefs of the students (this method of observation is generally considered to be the best form of informal observation, as the one which minimises the chances that people will change their normal behaviour due to the awareness of the fact that they are being observed).

The method involved watching and listening to the students, recording and considering the facts, and forming ideas that would further be confirmed or opposed.

Although other methods, particularly video method, generally produce much better results, in this case the aim was to provide the atmosphere in which the students will not behave differently or feel inhibited because of the changes introduced into the classroom (there was no safe place to mount a video camera and set it to record for a fixed time). Finally, in spite of the fact that one of the disadvantages of this form of informal observation method is that the insider often fails to notice all peculiarities of the target group observed, the advantages of this method won over its drawbacks.

The case study

Peer-teaching was carried out in a group of 12 adult upper-intermediate EFL students at the Foreign Language Institute in Belgrade, sharing the same mother-tongue (Serbian), as well as similar social and educational backgrounds. All the students were above the age of 25.

The case study came as a result of a mere chance rather than that of careful planning. One of the late arrivals, seeing the teacher among students, and noticing that the teacher's seat was empty, took over both the seat and the teaching role, to everybody's agreement.

The students at this level had plenty of experience both with the language and with different learning strategies and teaching approaches to be able to cope with the new situation. The instructions in the course book were clear and easy to follow. Above all, everybody was enthusiastic about the idea.

Results of the research and discussion

Apart from the students' linguistic competence, the factors which pre-conditioned peer-teaching in the foreign language classroom in this case were the following:

• Student-centred, rather than teacher-centred approach was encouraged throughout the course, with the focus on collaborative work, pair work and group work. The students were encouraged to assist each other throughout the course, even at mock tests (which they, at the beginning found a bit surprising).
• The relationships within the class were good, both between students and between the students and the teacher.
• The students had the teacher's unreserved support and assistance throughout the course, which boosted their confidence at their own attempts at peer teaching.

1. Attitude Both the teacher's and the students' positive attitude to the concept of peer-teaching, which prevented discipline and other problems in the class (the word 'attitude' here means one's openness to experience, and not taking anything for granted).
2. Time Plenty of time for student teachers to prepare for each class, during which preparation period they felt free to contact the teacher. ( previous planning prevented poor performance).
3. Assistance The teacher assisted student teachers when needed. This involved the teacher's taking initiative in the class assisting in the areas of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc, when necessary, or helping student teachers with technical problems like dealing with the tape recorder etc.

For example, in one of the units (unit 14, Advance Your English, CUP, 2000.), the grammar was on words and phrases which determine the use of inversion in a sentence. So, the students were first given familiar words and phrases similar to those which detemine the use of inversion, and then the ''inversion'' words and phrases in the same sentences, with the task to underline them and highlight the inversion structures:

As soon as she had gone to sleep, the phone rang.

No sooner had she gone to sleep than the phone rang.

Under all the conditions mentioned above, the main benefits of peer-teaching proved to be recognized in the following areas:

1. pronunciation and speaking
2. vocabulary and reading.

1. Pronunciation and speaking

   In the areas of pronunciation and speaking, some of the common students' problems were reduced due to the fact that the 'teachers' and the students were at approximately the same level of linguistic competence and shared the same mother tongue.
   When it comes to pronunciation, it became evident that the students had fewer problems with the comprehension of fast or connected speech, and felt more comfortable with their own pronunciation of the words of the foreign language. There was also less need for teacher's clarification and reformulation of connected everyday speech.
   On the other hand, for the same reasons mentioned above, some features of everyday connected speech were lost, (/j/, /w/, /schwa/ sounds...), which provoked a need for supplementary materials to be provided by the teacher. This material focused on exactly those features students needed to do extra work on: fast speech, hesitation, reformulation, repetition, etc.

   Here is an example: the students were given six extracts from different speakers, with the task to listen and number the pictures which accompanied the extracts, to say what each extract is about.

   Then, they would listen again with the task to say which speakers they found easy, and which difficult to understand and why.

   Finally, they were asked what they would say to the speakers so that they could understand them better. (a similar task was provided by the course book itself, but at a different point (unit 13).

   Speaking parts proved to be the most illuminating in terms of class management. They clearly showed the students awareness of their teacher's behaviour in the class, the methodology adopted, as well as sources and options taken. They usually started with general lead-in questions, continued with pair work or group work activities and ended with follow-up questions, sometimes provided by other students. Monitoring of class work was carried out throughout by student teachers, occasionally assisted by the teacher.
   In addition to all this, error correction seemed to be carried out in an atmosphere of less tension than when carried out by the teacher, often with a tinge of humour and roars of laughter.

   Interestingly enough, student teachers intuitively followed ''teachers' law'': accept, reject, adapt.

   For example, in unit 13, Feel-good factors, the lesson was supposed to start with the things that make us feel good or bad, but the students quite spontaneously turned to the conversation about favourite perfumes, brands, and a variety of words and phrases to describe smells. (which was supposed to be done later during the class).

2. Vocabulary and Reading

   It proved that in a group of students sharing the same mother tongue, a traditional ″jug and mug″ method of dealing with reading texts and straightforward translation as a way of dealing with vocabulary are still favoured methods, in spite of the fact that the students had regular practice in the skills of skimming and scanning, as well as the fact that they were discouraged from looking up every single word in a dictionary. Here, mother-tongue won the battle over mime, gesture, demonstration, description, explanation and other alternative ways of dealing with reading material and vocabulary.

   A reading text in unit 14 was entitled The English Butler. Although the students were encouraged to use mime, gesture, demonstration, description, explanation, etc, they simply decided it was much easier to translate the words like deflect, defile etc. into their mother tongue than to try other ways. So, the student teacher, Filip, came to the class fully equipped with the dictionary and all the necessary entries.

   The awareness of the standard procedure which the scientific method normally involves is the main reason why the results of this case study will take the form of hypotheses, not disregarding the predictive power that hypotheses often have:

   H1	Peer teaching can be regarded as a valid teaching method.
   H2	Peer-teaching improves students' self-esteem and increases empathy in the class, both among students themselves and towards their teachers.
   H3	Peer-teaching breaks T-S barriers

   If the results of further research on the subject prove clearly and repeatedly incompatible with the results listed here, they will stay within the limited range of this case study. In the meantime, the following questions are open to discussion:

   • Firstly, whether this experiment was just a case, or the results of this case study can be regarded as valid on a more global level.
   • Secondly, how the results of the case study would vary with different age groups, e.g. within a group of children or adolescents.
   • Finally, whether student-centered teaching can be carried out both successfully and completely without the strategy of peer teaching involved.

Acknowledgement

Personality-centered English Language Education has been the focus of The 16^th Annual Conference of IATEFL Hungary, held in Esztergom. The conference was devoted to the notion of modern language teaching as a procedure the efficiency of which depends on both the learners and the teachers, seeking for the chance of progress in the classroom environment.

On the one hand, teachers create stimulus for their students to enable them to master English; on the other hand, students' feedback is an encouraging and rich source of teachers' own professional development. Some of the main foci of the talks and workshops were the following: learner-autonomy, collaborative language learning, peer-learning; communicative, humanistic and process-oriented, 'learning by doing': in pre-schools, primary, secondary schools, language schools, colleges and universities, as well as TEFL to people with special educational needs and information and communication technology in TEFL.

References

Collins Cobuild Essential English Dictionary, 1994

Harmer, J., 1998, How to Teach English, Longman: England

O'Connell, S., 1995, Focus on Proficiency, Longman: England

Broadhead, A., 2000 Advance Your English, Cambridge University Press

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