Walking the Teaching Tightrope: Being Humanistic and Following a Syllabus
Roger O'Keeffe, Spain
Roger is a centre manager for the British Centre of Melilla. He has worked in Poland, China and Spain. His interests include Spoken Grammar, Discourse Analysis and Sociocultural Theory. He is studying for an MA in TESOL at Sheffield Hallam University. E-mail: the_okeeffes@yahoo.co.uk, www.bcmelilla.com
Menu
Introduction
What is ‘Process Teaching’?
Some practical teaching ideas
Conclusion
Bibliography and references
Teachers who read HLT magazine because it reflects ‘the thoughts and feelings of teachers from around the world who want to place their students at the centre of the process, who feel that teaching is subordinate to learning and who feel that the learner is their main concern and that the subject, the English language, a secondary one’ (Rinvolucri, R 2009:1) and by implication these teachers are humanistic.
So how as humanistic teachers can we strike a balance between our students and our professional obligations? Put another way, how can we as teachers, ‘place our students in the centre of the process’? I would argue that Thornbury (2001) has hit the nail on the head by introducing us to Process Teaching (PT).
PT, argues Thornbury (2001), is a student centred approach which is concerned with the emergent nature of language in general and grammar in particular. It is an ‘emergent pedagogy – one in which grammar is not covered but uncovered’ (2001:76). It places the student in the centre of the process and moves the teacher to a more peripheral role. However, this is not to say that the teacher is no longer important to the process. On the contrary the teacher is as critical as ever, just the power dynamic has changed. He defines seven roles for the teacher and it is in these roles that we see where the teacher should be in a humanistic classroom.
He cites “provider of input” as the first of the seven roles. In this he envisages the teacher as someone who provides lots of comprehensible input through various media. This entails finding/designing materials that contain embedded examples of the target language. He argues that the input needs to be massive (2001:56). As the more frequent an item is at input the more likely it is to be acquired/learnt. I have found that by using more authentic materials at input students are afforded the opportunity to see how the target structures naturally interact within a text. I have also found that by using authentic material at input has benefits beyond the particular lesson and target structure. By this I mean that if the students are constantly exposed to structures beyond their actual level – what Vygotsky (1978) hypothesised as the Zone of Actual Development - they are subconsciously being prepared for more ‘advanced’ grammatical structures. Or put another way, the students are able to see and possibly ‘notice’ structures that they may be ready to acquire but the teacher/syllabus deems otherwise. We are not aiming to the middle ground but in fact in true humanistic/social constructivist style working with individuals. It could be argued that this could have a positive effect on the students’ interlanguage as they are not dealing with grammatical structures in isolation instead they are seeing how language items work with and because of the items around them.
The next role is that of “facilitator of interaction”. This is where the learners and teacher construct meaning together. This involves talking to the learners and working around errors and knowledge gaps to help the students build up the meaning of what they want to say. This can also be achieved by reducing the amount of help given to the learners during the task phases. This is what is known as ‘scaffolding’. Although he never called it scaffolding Vygotsky has been credited with the idea behind it. He posits that the teacher or more knowledgeable other can help the novice develop i.e. go from ZAD to Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), in three ways. These are: leading questions, showing how to solve the problem and the teacher initiating the solution and the learner finishing it with or without the help of other students (1978:85 -86). These three strategies, I would argue, define scaffolding.
One of the main benefits of this is that it allows the students to work at their own pace and reduce the pressure to produce as in the PPP model. The next role that Thornbury cites is “facilitator of item learning”. This sees the teacher using keyword techniques and word cards to better help learners to memorise new words and phrases. These words and phrases would be taken from the input where they are embedded and as such contextualised. In PT students are encouraged to remember new vocabulary by making the process part of the classroom routine, for example, by playing games with the word cards the students produce.
Another area of importance is that of facilitator of pattern detection where the teacher is concerned with training the learners to be good ‘noticers’. This is done by encouraging the students to find grammatical patterns embedded in natural texts rather than explaining discrete grammatical items to them. I would argue that to be successful we need to guide our students through a series of Consciousness Raising activities where, as Thornbury (2001:56) argues the materials are meaning driven.
The next role is that of “provider of opportunities for output” i.e. generating output and then capturing it to use as input. This means interacting with the students and using what emerges as the next stage in the lesson or as a basis for future lessons. Going with the flow! See Thornbury (2001:70/71) for more detailed examples of this. What is of note here is that there is time in PT for the students to speak and for that speech to be used in the lesson. This, I would argue, can only have a positive effect on motivation as the students are indeed part of the process, in that, their output forms the next stage of input. Another point worth mentioning is that the students have a lot of time and opportunity to see the language and to choose and shape their own particular output; this is what Thornbury (2001) calls ‘slow release’.
The next stage sees the teacher interacting with the students and by the use of pair and group work activities provides opportunities for the learners to modify their output to be closer to that of the target structure. This falls under the heading of “provider of feedback”. These interactions, be they student to student or teacher to student, encourage modifications in the learner’s output. It is important at this stage that stress levels remain low thereby creating an environment that allows the students to test any hypothesis they may have.
This brings us to the last of the seven criteria - “motivator”. This means personalising tasks so that the learner really wants to get their message across. But not only personalising them from the students' perspective but also incorporating things from the teacher's own life into the activities thereby making the classroom more of a community where life experiences are shared as in the ‘real’ world. For a more detailed treatment of these criteria see Thornbury (2001: 56-74).
The following exercise is a C-R class that I used with a group of 15/16 year olds. It is highly personalised (although I have changed some details in this version as it will be available on the internet). It is the first in a series of three classes where the focus was the present perfect continuous.
Main aims: Provider of input, facilitate pattern detection, motivator and provider of opportunities for output.
To activate schemata I ask the students, in pairs, to discuss what they think I am like and what things I have done in my life.
I then give them a letter I have written and ask them if they guessed any of the items. There follows a focus on meaning as we discuss what has happened/changed in my life.
They then have a few minutes to prepare to tell a partner about the changes in their lives to date. Then they discuss with their partner the changes in their respective lives.
There is then a whole class feedback/discussion section where we discuss any interesting points that have come up.
The students are then be asked to write a letter using the notes from the speaking activity and my original letter as a model.
My life
I was born in Ireland and I grew up there. When I finished my studies I moved to London and lived there for 15 years. After that I spent 2 and a half years in Poland teaching English. After that I came to Melilla for a year, that was in 2001. I then spent a year in China before coming back to Melilla. I have been living in Melilla for 4 and a half years now and will probably stay here until I retire.
For the last two years I have been studying for my Masters Degree in TESOL, which is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I have been working really hard on my assignments and I am really enjoying what I am learning.
Apart from that I have been spending a lot of time with my daughter, Ana. It is great fun watching her grow up.
I have also been working on my new flat. We have decorated most of the rooms and we just have to finish the kitchen and then life will return to normal. While we have been decorating I have been listening to a lot of Spanish music in the hope that I will be able to get the things I ask for in the shop!
This passage is called a ‘Consciousness-raising activity’ and it is designed to help you see how the different grammar structures are used. I have designed this one to let you see the Present Perfect Continuous but there are also other structures in here that you may find of better use to you rather than the one I am trying to show. If that is the case, good!
What I would like you to do now is discuss with your partner what is happening in your life at the moment and any changes you are making. Think about your studies, personal life, tastes in music etc.
Main Aims: Provider of input, facilitator of pattern detection, provider of feedback and motivator.
The lesson plan will take the students from an initial input phase onto a C-R activity. There will then be a feedback stage where in pairs and then as a whole class the answers to the C-R activity will be given. There will then be another reading activity where the students will read a blog and they will be asked to write questions based on the text to be given to other pairs. They will then be asked to use the headings in the blog to as a template for their own blog.
The texts for this exercise can be found at:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sanjai/dj_biogs.htm
Read the texts and answer the questions in the space provided.
- Who has been a DJ for more than ten years? ______________________
- Who has been a DJ for 18 years? _____________________
- Who started DJing in the 80’s? _____________________
- Who has been doing Karaokes for 17 years? __________________
- Who has worked on the radio? __________________
- Who has worked in pubs and clubs? ____________________
- Who works for themselves? _______________________
- Who plays all types of music? _________________
- Who was a semi-professional signer? _____________________
- Who does not like children’s parties? _____________________
Main Aims: Facilitator of pattern detection, provider of opportunities for output and provider of feedback.
The lesson plan is designed to help the students to notice both grammatical and lexical items and patterns in the text. After the noticing activities the students will then be asked to write a maximum of ten words to help them describe one of the people in the texts. In the final part of the class the students will be asked to write their own blog
Read the texts about the DJs.
What is the purpose of the texts? E.g. are they telling us about their future plans?)
In the texts find examples of:
Repeated words Grammatical structures Synonyms other patterns
(repeated)
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The following text is copied as it appeared on the twitch and fidget website(the errors are a ready made writing class).
Now read the second text:
What I have been doing.
My well deserved uni break has been good; i've slept, i've eaten, i've done no uni work and i've failed my riving test. Brilliant. A steady decline, at least i'm consistent. Which is a good thing, because according to my favourite law and theory; entropy, things will continue on in this downward way until my life gets so disordered my delicate equilibrium stops shifting and things are perfect. Ahh perfection. Perfect that is till I die, because after all (not wanting to get all cyber culture on your asses here, but) once we reach a static state we die. So I take beck my former comment, this is not a good thing. And while it's on my mind “Entropy: the level of disorder within a closed system” brilliant.
I feel like continuing this entry in list form. So here I go.
What I have been reading
Shoebox project; Harry Potter Fanfic. Cannon at it's best.
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights; revisiting the classics
What I have been meaning to read
The Chronicles of Narnia; I started reading it months ago but it just got rather dull.
The Harry Potter Series; though after reading SBP I don't think i'll be able to cope with book five.
What I've been listening to
Snow Patrol; I must stop playing “Run” over and over again.
Wicked; my latest musical obsession.
What I should be doing
Writing a speech.
Putting together a creative thinking portfolio; feck.
Finding an interesting person to interview.
Learning to drive, or park to be more precise.
Finding a job. Which reminds me I must re-write my resume.
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What is the purpose of this text?
In the text find examples of:
Feelings repeated words grammatical structures other patterns
repeated
What are the differences between the two types of texts?
Choose one person and describe them to the class, do not say their name. You can write ten words to help you.
In this article I have tried to summarise what I feel are the benefits of PT and how it fits into humanistic methodology. It is not my intention to claim that PT is the only or the best method for all teaching situations. However, it is something that I have found to facilitate the emergent nature of grammar and the nuances of interlanguage. I am of the opinion that a good teacher has at his/her command a range of techniques and styles to choose from to best fit the needs of the individual students and I would recommend PT to all teachers who wish to change the power dynamic and place the students at the centre of the process.
Rinvolucri, R. 2009. Editorial. Humanising Language Teaching. Online. 11 (1)
old.hltmag.co.uk/feb09/edit.htm
Thornbury, S. 2001. Uncovering Grammar. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers
Willis, J. 1996. A Framework for Task Based Learning. Harlow: Longman.
Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind and society.: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Making the Most of a Coursebook course at Pilgrims website.
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