Teaching A Life Long Process
Introduction
Introduction
English language and English education came to India with the entry of the British rule which, came along with the East India Company. So, when it comes to the learning or the teaching aspect of English we have to take it from the native English speakers. This method of observing, learning the theories and gaining knowledge of using the language is received from the natives. This method of receiving is reflected when one begins to learn a language. But, teaching on the other hand seems to be a process where learning can never stop! English language is highly accommodative to new words its vocabulary seems to be ever growing. If a language is a truly international medium, it is going to be most apparent in those services which deal directly with the task of communication.
English is a source of a great deal of the world's knowledge. And the access to this knowledge is through a fast education. This has resulted in making English an official language or it as their chief foreign language in schools. This event seems to be unique as there has never been a language so widely spread or spoken by so many people as English. English, in some shape or form, found itself in the service of the world community for ever.
Lifelong learning
Learning is something that begins from cradle and never stops till one reaches grave. Lifelong learning reflects a holistic view on education and recognizes learning procedures of the students in and from many different environments. Learning is related to recurrent training; it has more of life-wide learning. It increases the responsibility of the teacher to equip themselves to the requirement of the student. And this is something thats likely to be ever changing. The pressure to use English has grown. The teacher involves in self-education keeping him/her updated with the trends in English language. In the process, the teacher meets resource per-sonnel in the teaching of English and gets enlightened about aspects of ELT which have posed problems. The teacher also shares views and experiences in ELT with friends and colleague so that there is a constant give and take which keep his professional spirit high. Self-education is oriented to the analysis of problem situations of all sorts with an inquisitive bend of mind, and much help is drawn in this regard by the teacher from the resources of (i) professional experience, and (ii) continuous acquaintance with people, books and periodicals.
ELT(English language teaching):
In todays scenario, English language teaching (ELT), has become a major business due to the major growth industries around the world. A survey conducted by the British council suggested
English will retain its role as the dominant language in world media and communications.
English is essential for progress as it will provide the main means of access to high-tech communication and information over the next twenty-five years.
English will remain the world's language for international communication for the next twenty-five years.
This kind of survey provide a useful glimpse of the way specialists are thinking in the world market-place, and when identical opinions are expressed from so many countries they undoubtedly help to confirm the picture of English emerging as a global language.
Individual needs of teachers and their professional development:
To teach English one may have to face educational issues in connection to its theories and practice. For example in some schools of low quality which use bilingual methods, a teacher of English may be found to have an inadequate command over the language. Students who are trained by such teachers have a difficulty as they enter into the transition with mainstream English classes. To solve this problem it is necessary to have teacher training, the proper learning resources and educational facilities. To get children into the English-speaking mainstream as quickly as possible it would require a detailed consideration on the part of the individual teacher on matters such as
1.teaching methods
2.research procedures
3.assessment goals
1.Teaching methods
Not every English teacher need be a linguist or a psychologist. Like the other professionals the English teacher also begins to teach English, only after knowing the level of the language acquired by the learner and what he wants to acquire. Every topic chosen by the teacher has a specific content that focuses on one of the aspects that is, within the overall framework essential for learning the language. Thus the teacher helps the student to acquire the language. Although all teachers may be aware of various teaching styles not many are there who practice and implement it. The teacher has to remember that only variations in their teaching styles can draw the attention of the learners. And encourage a more active participation by the students.
There are a variety of teaching techniques through which the teacher makes the classroom effective. They are:
i) lecturer
ii)tutorial
iii)seminars
These methods of teaching English are effectively employed in the teaching of : 1. Prose, 2. Poetry, 3. Criti-cism, 4. Linguistics (Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics), 5. History of English Language, 6. Spoken English, 7. Reading, 8. Writing.
Lecture:
The essential role the lecture method plays in university teaching it cannot be overlooked. People have the mis-conception that a lecture, means that the teacher is supposed to be doing all the talking. A lecturer needs to be provided with several details and techniques to make it effective. Questioning at intervals should become an essential part of lecturing. As this keeps the student alert and holds their attention. It also helps the students remember better during a revision. It makes the student genuinely participate.
Tutorial Method :
The tutorials generate good discussion on a topic that is provided and obtain practice in the use of the language skills. It also broadens the learners view on a particular subject. The teacher has to prepare a topic for this; it may also be something from the regular lecture class. Questions are prepared in order to motivate the students to discuss and get their mistakes corrected. The teacher plays a minor role in this. And this is the best way the teacher can get every learner to participate.
Seminar Method :
Its the best way to help the students achieve a high level of independence and make them confident to speak and present their acquired language skills. The student is exposed to both a small audience and a large audience. The preparation for this starts well in advance and the students get ready for discussions after their seminar. This may result when their classmates ask questions for clarification. The teacher here must remember to play a minimal part, never interfering.
Communicative language teaching methods:
For a teacher Teaching English it is not enough to concentrate and worry about finishing the portions and lessons alone. They must see to it if the language is acquired as planned and if the learning process becomes complete. This can be achieved through various communicative activities like
1.Pair-Work: This involves two learners. One will ask the question based on the materials given and the second will provide the answer. Then they change roles and do the same. The greatest advantage of pair-work is that it keeps the class active and every individual involves in the session.
2.Role Play: Language is employed effectively to give expression to roles the students play. They are introduced to natural roles in society are simulated in the classroom to give expression to the particular situation. The learner learns the usage of the language in real life situations.
3.Dramatization: Its an enactment of a skit in which whole short theme can be put up for an audience. This is highly activity-oriented.
4.Miming: Miming involves one or more students engaged in a process of imitating some character, say, a barber, a smith, a doctor, a typist etc. The learner does the imitation under the guidance of teacher. At the same time a student is asked to interpret and say what is being done. Here is non-verbal behavior sequence to translation into English language.
5.Reporting Observation: This is a highly practical activity. The learners can be asked to measure, calculate, observe situations/work/games and do a report of what they witnessed. The students can also be encouraged to report scenes the watched over the T.V.
6.Work on Pictures : Pictures, sketches, and charts can be employed for the building of language skills. The students are encouraged to describe the picture first through questions and answers. This will later improve the imaginative thinking and interpretative process.
7.Listen and Say: Here a tape recorder can be used or this activity can be introduced in the language-lab. The part played can be i)a story, ii) conversation, or iii) biography . A number exercises based on the topic played can be given. The learners can be asked to summarize, answer questions like choose, true or false ect..,
The learner in the communicative method is provided simulated learning situations in the classroom or outside of it. This incorporates situational language teaching and employs situations and posses language components for communicative purposes.
2.Research
English language has been recognized and learners now learn the language to be a part of the world. The demands of teaching the language in a more effective way now, rest upon the teacher. The learners now demand education and also training. Now the language teacher must concentrate on developing the individuals ability to search for information and develop knowledge actively and independently. The teacher has to learn about the local learning setting- whether it is of a formal or informal kind and update oneself with the global resources of information and knowledge. The future of English, depends much on how the English teachers equip themselves with regard to the role of English in higher education. English no longer turns out to be merely a language of the elite for reading or reference purposes. It is therefore required of the English language teacher to posses adequate knowledge about lesson planning, preparation, teaching, supervision and assessment expected to take place as part of the course.
The development of the information and communication technology (ICT) has already laid the basis for the creation of information networks, guidance and training in how to search for information and gather valuable resources. The teachers are now required to develop a new skill in- order to cater to the new society. Learning is now beginning to become closer to home with the introduction of online tutoring method. Where, the teacher and the student find themselves in a virtual classroom. The teachers are now able to connect and teach their students across the globe through the internet and use classroom tools developed specially for this purpose. Bringing, learning closer to home. At the moment, there are mechanisms to help the teachers to upgrade their knowledge in the upcoming fields. The key challenges for a dynamic education system are:
Designing the courses
Development of learning material
Learner centric delivery of the material.
Setting advanced teaching courses.
Continuous evaluation, up-gradation and modernization of syllabi.
The language teacher needs training in the fields of developing e-learning materials, delivery methods, courses development, curricula, content etc. A feed back must always be welcome as this would help the teachers in future development of the content, delivery mode ect.
Assessment goals
Language teaching is often viewed from the point of view of the teachers. While teaching is done for learning, all learning is not done for teaching. The students tend to arrive at a classroom with their own influences, motivation, expectations and learning strategies. It becomes necessary for the teacher to know the different styles, strategies, preferences of the student. This is necessary to know how different students respond in different situations. As seen in CIEFLs Materials for teaching English. It mentions that the learners adapt to one or more cognitive styles like:
concrete learning,
analytical learning style,
communicative learning style,
Authority oriented learning style.
The student may be responsive to classes where they are encouraged through games, grammar, audio visual presentations, reading books, pronunciation practice, looking up a dictionary every time they come across a new word and improving ones vocabulary through reference to thesaurus. When a teacher learns to understand the nature of the students learning style it is possible to make their approach towards a lesson more effective. This can be achieved by a questioner, which allows the students to express the method through which their mistakes can be corrected.
Assessment must be fair, valid and reliable, attending not only to the professional teaching standards but also to capturing the very essence of it. The assessment should be a source of support and encouragement to practitioners.
Discussion group and internet resources for teacher development:
Teachers unlock the minds and imaginations of their students by posing compelling questions; they teach their students to reason and think, urging them to aspire to new goals, reaching higher and further than they have before. And like talented and gifted leaders in many fields, gifted teachers often become liberating forces in the lives of those individuals they have taught. A teacher is crucial in the life of a student as they mold the student into what they are in the future. Just like the clay thats molded in the hands of the potter. The potter by giving a lump of clay a form brings a new meaning and purpose to the existence of clay.
To bring about this kind of a new meaning and purpose into a students life its essential for the teacher to equip themselves to bring about this wonderful transformation. The creation of informal discussion groups (small or large), enables the teachers to share classroom procedures which reflect on their class teaching. The teachers share their ideas and insights which occurred to them when teaching. This sharing helps every individual teacher to adopt new techniques and be more effective in their classes. On the other hand such discussion groups can be established over the internet. There are several groups/ communities that have formed in the interest of developing the language skills of the learners. Here teachers share their lesson plans, ideas, work sheets helping other teachers improve their classroom experience. Language teachers from all over the globe can share their ideas, teaching resources making English teaching more effective. A visit to the BBC website or the British council website would give more insight to what is required of a language teacher.
Conclusion:
Teaching English needs careful planning and teacher development activities must be introduced in order to improve standards of English. If English must be kept alive in the country, the language skills should invariably be in the focus in English teaching in universities. Whether it is the teaching of prose, poetry, criticism or history, apart from the communication and consolidation of the pertinent information, the co-ordinate aim should be enable the students to use the language proficiently. Beginning to teach is only a process that leads to in-depth learning and preparation. The language teacher must always be ready to learn and adapt to new methods of teaching. In order to a good language teacher it is not the teaching technique used nor the wealth of information that is taught that is important, but rather the passion, the wit, and the vigor with which the teacher teaches that is of the utmost importance.
by: Amutha Amalraj
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