Psychology for English Language Teachers

reviewed by Hale Unverir, Turkey

Hale Unverir worked at Bahcesehir University between 2008-2011. She now works at Koç University, Istanbul. She holds a DELTA, and a Master's degree in Cultural Studies. She is interested in educational psychology.
E-mail: hunverir@ku.edu.tr

Psychology for English Language Teachers
Marion Williams & Robert L. Burden (Authors)
Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521498807

The Reading Club is an in-service training activity organized for teachers of Bahcesehir University English Preparatory School, who desire to broaden their horizon on professional issues. A common book is chosen by the attendees and weekly sessions are held to discuss the main issues raised in the relevant articles or chapters which are to be read for the respective week. By sending task sheets and summary overviews, the leader of the sessions, namely Fatos Ugur Eskicirak, makes it easier for the members to follow the content of the article or chapter and reflect upon their personal experiences and thoughts. The material to be read is suggested by the leader and chosen by the members.

The book in question that was chosen by the members of the reading club for the 2008-9 academic year, was chosen mainly for its focus on psychology, which tends to be rather neglected while preparing materials but remembered during the actual teaching practice in the classroom on a daily basis. The layout of the book is such that it provides the reader with a theoretical framework to lay the necessary foundations that enable the following chapters to be built upon. Since the latter chapters deal with more individualistic issues related to the learner, it has been carefully structured so that these parts can also be related to the chapters on theory. The book ends with an overview of the book in general and a summary of the main points made in the book.

As to my personal point of view, this particular book offers an insight into theories closely related to teaching English from a psychological perspective. The beginning revises classical theories in psychology and builds up to more contemporary ones. This provided me with the opportunity to remember many essential fundamentals of human learning. Although classical theories seemed like long outdated, they are still valid in providing a simple ground for learners who do not respond particularly well to high level cognitive exercises. Without the basics it would be artificial to assume that learners would succeed in high cognitive skills. Especially considering that our students may not have had the chance to be exposed to such, because the general structure of the Turkish educational system does not encourage or develop analytical thinking skills. Students are mostly exposed to knowledge are required to retain most of it until an exam time. Most information is not put to use, and hence forgotten rather fast. Considering this background of our students, the book helped me to remember not to assume anything but to start with the basics in order to provide successful development in learning.

One aspect that I found particularly interesting was the importance of humor in the classroom. I have not come across another source book that would place importance on humor. In order to establish a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom the use of humor seems to always have been neglected by men of theory. The book advocates that learning blooms to its fullest when experienced in an environment of trust and warmth. Naturally, it falls to the most extend on the teacher to establish such an environment for the learner, for the learner basically acts upon outside stimuli present in the environment, e.g., a critical and cold teacher would cause the learning environment to become unfruitful and disadvantageous for the learner. Furthermore, the learner would not be encouraged and build the necessary confidence to ‘try’, for the fear of possible negative feelings to arise from criticism and sarcasm originating from he teacher. Hence, humor plays a major role in the classroom. I personally observed that my students learned best when they were having fun because they were then not even aware that they are learning.

The question of how humanistic I am as a teacher arose in my head while discussing especially chapter 3. The issues raised in the tasks related to chapter 3 made me reconsider what sort of learning environment I provide to the learner. I realized that at times I was not very permissive when it came to student originating comments outside the topic or grammar structure at hand, for the sake of not losing control over the class as not to obstruct the learning process. While trying to be protective of the learner’s right to learn, I was at the same time being the main obstacle of a possible warmer and more relaxed learning environment. From this, I concluded that I need to adjust a fine balance that would allow learners to share anecdotes and jokes but that at the same time would not redirect the flow of the lesson toward an unwanted direction.

A third learning point for me was that I needed to spend more time on learner training. This is an especially problematic area, since it has been neglected by many teachers our learners have had prior to us. At times it feels like swimming against the current because it is very hard to break old habits and establish new ones, particularly if those new habits are mostly concerned with asking the learner to be observant and responsible of their own learning process. This awareness building process takes a very long time and may not even benefit the teacher teaching in one module. However, even if just a few students benefit from this approach it will most probably become a skill that will accompany them for the rest of their educational life and it may even spread to other areas of their lives.

The main problem I had with the book was that the title and subtitle caused me to assume that it dealt more with the psychology of the teacher more than that of the learner. The book is totally about emotions and experiences of the learner; hence does not provide the teacher with practical solutions to their own pitfalls. There are naturally times when teachers feel they have lost their motivation and energy, and it was these issues I had hoped to find answers to and be presented with different perspectives. It has been a benefit to be informed about the learners’ issues during the language learning process. Still, the title was somewhat misleading.

In the future I aim at considering the main areas I need to improve in while teaching. The book has opened a humanistic perspective considering my own practices and how helpful or hindering they can be. Therefore, I will surely need to refer back to those particular chapters to refresh my memory. It would be interesting to read a book that provides the teacher’s psychology as well. On the other hand, reading the book made me aware of the urgent need to incorporate learner training strategies into our curriculum. The trap here is that all teachers need to believe in the benefit of teaching these strategies and insist on learners to perform them seriously. Otherwise, they will become just another burden on the already overloaded teacher. They need to be incorporated such that the learners do not even become aware that they are being prepared to take the responsibility of their own learning but it just arises as a natural outcome of the task at hand.

Overall, although the book was not what I had expected it to be, still it provided a not so well known and not always considered perspective to the learning process. It could be comfortably read by anyone interested in how the learner feels and what the teachers can do to facilitate the learning process and to help the learner overcome their inhibitions.

Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.