Channelling Negative Classroom Behaviour into Positive Learning in the EFL Classroom

Elzana Habte-Gabr teaches at Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia

Prior to teaching English, I worked for a few months coaching young adults with mental and physical disabilities in a job training program. Several of them would eventually become independent employees. As one can imagine, this was an arduous task as it involved cultivating norms which most adults had acquired as adolescents. To the trainer, there resistance to norms such as being punctual and following instructions was always seen as being negative behaviour to overcome in the training process. A young man in the program who whose compulsive window peeping constantly interrupted his work was unable to obtain a job until one of the supervisors decided to get him a job as a window cleaner. As one can imagine, this did not require much training at all!!! While this experience is quite different from teaching EFL, there is an important resemblance - preparing individuals for a goal that they believe in, but which they do not always have the whole hearted commitment to the process. The EFL negative behaviour of the EFL student could also be positively channelled in the classroom to actually enhance learning.

EFL courses at the college or university level are highly beneficial to the student in an increasingly globalizing world which requires the English language to be competitive internationally as well as locally. It not uncommon for us for example, at our university, to help a law student prepare for an interview in English at a multinational company or review a letter of application to an MBA program in the States or Australia. All our students are fully aware of this from the day they begin studying. However, as they are not English majors, they tend to frown at the fact that they must dedicate so much time to a core course and every EFL instructor has stories about how this is manifested in the classroom. Reading other texts in class, finding ways to get excuses not to attend class in order to get caught up with other subjects, talking with a friend in Spanish, sending and receiving text notes via mobile phones or the occasional phone conversation are amongst some of our observations. While this behaviour is not intended to offend the instructor, it defiantly does contribute to a negative learning and teaching environment. As an instructor, it is always easy to fall into the trap of disillusionment and frustration.

Let us look at some specific examples of negative behaviour that we frequently witness in class and see how they could actually foster learning.

1. A group of students have a literature class in Spanish after English and are trying to get caught up with the reading in EFL. They are taking advantage of the group work session to read in Spanish as they are convinced they could do it unseen.

Should they be reprimanded for doing this, chances are that the instructor and the course would receive criticism. As we are teaching a language, perhaps this would be a golden opportunity to have students use it and talk about what they are doing. Imagine the amount of conversation in English if there is a mutual interest in the book. Students would perhaps practice a lot more English by telling the instructor about the book. Should this work, subsequent classes could be planned in such a way. Students will talk to you more if you ask them to speak about situations that are meaningful to them and the more relevant the situation; the more they would speak, forgetting that they are suing English. I have always taken advantage of the golden opportunity of conversing

2. A student is heavily involved in a conversation with a friend as the class is in progress, constantly disrupting the class.

Rather than asking them to be quite, it may be a good idea to ask humorously if they have something they would like to contribute to class or even if they have thought of exchanging phone numbers to carry on with the conversation after class. Naturally, this would stir up some laughter and eventually draw them back to the class. If they are willing to share the conversation with the class, you have actually got them practicing English again.

3. A student receives a phone call on her mobile phone in class from a friend and must talk to her.

Rather than asking her to turn off the phone try asking her to speak to her friend in English on the phone. You are actually providing them the opportunity to practice a skill we rarely teach in the classroom, using English on the phone. Most students would actually be embarrassed by such a situation to the point of not even bringing the phone to class. However, the experience does permit the instructor to introduce new language to the class.

These are very simple yet relevant examples as they do contribute to a negative learning and teaching environment. It is important that we accept the fact that our students negative behaviour is not directed at us and that flexibility on our part would allow us to actually benefit from such situations as they provide the ideal real life situations for using the language.