Microsoft Word Demo

The above video is a Microsoft Word demonstration intended for an audience of lower-intermediate English learners who are looking for practical English. I chose Word because it is a popular software program that many newcomers will likely have to use or learn to write resumes, school projects, etc. As I say in the video, I am aware that many learners will already be familiar with it (although it's unfair to assume all). In those cases, this is a good opportunity to practice associating words with actions, I say "underline" as I underline a word hoping that the visual and the term become better associated.

A New PLN

Even though I have a PLN page on the side bar, it is always valuable to reassess your PLN constantly. Here, we see a diagram of an update PLN.

Taking Action for Lifelong Learning

It should not come as a surprise that completion of your teaching training is the beginning of your learning journey and not the end. As a student, you learn what could make you a great teacher, but at work you will learn what makes you a great teacher. We can all read textbooks, continue to find new resources, and speak to colleagues, but as great as these forms of learning are nothing can over-shadow the value of action learning.

Brown & Lee (2014) describe action research as everything you will learn through the "informal everyday occurrence"(s) that happen in your classroom.  I believe that this type of research is the most valuable research a teacher can possibly obtain. Yes, our theoretical approaches are based on common practices, and have been proven to be effective. However, once we have learned the rules as students, our time will come to break them as teachers.

Theory is a good place to start, but as class ensues you will be lucky if the theory you start with remains effective. Instead, Davidoff & van den Berg (1990) suggest that we approach our classrooms with a 4 step research process to conduct effective action research. These steps include plan, teach/act, observe, and reflect (Davidoff & van den Berg, 1990). 

Your best teachers? They're not teachers at all!

Plan: When it comes to the first step of action research, Davidoff & van den Berg (1990) highlight that you first must identify the gaps in the theoretical teaching process you started your class with. While planning every lesson is important, it is also important to embrace the possibility that things might change. This is especially important if you ever intend to teach within a cultural context that is vastly different than the one that you are used to. Jalali-Tehrani (2017)  discusses how her decision to embrace action research was born from the need to deviate from her original lesson plans. This type of "flexibility born from necessity" (Jalali-Tehrani, 2017) could easily be the identified problem that you apply Davidoff & van den Berg (1990)'s 4 step process to. Of course, expected problem areas such as student attentiveness, homework habits, etc. may be potential problem areas as well, but be aware that the identified gap in your initial practice may be a gap in your understanding, not theirs. John Dewey (n.d.) on TeachingEnglish.org provides a useful resource on ideas regarding how you can tell there is a problem and how to assess if your re-evaluation has worked.

Teach, Act, and Observe:  Once you've realized there is a problem, and considered possible ways to solve it, it's time to experiment! Observational learning is a big component of action research and how you conduct it should be a combination of being attentive to your students' behaviour and using some hard assignment guidelines to assess your effectiveness. The Center for Education Innovation (2016) provides a resource list of ideas on how a teacher can effectively enact the observation step in the action research process. 


Reflect: After you've acted and observed, was your new plan effective? If so, congratulations you've learned something! If not, well, you've also learned something. Amazingly, the 4 step process is a circle not a line. Once you're satisfied with your reflection stage, it's time to go back to the planning stage to either re-assess your method or build upon what you've discovered works.

In many ways, your time as a student is never over, even if you've dropped the title of being one. The best teachers are ones that recognize that part of their job is to be educated as much as it is to educate. You've learned a lot as a student, and now it's time to learn even more from the students you are about to meet.

Illustration

Image created on Canva.com

Problem: Diverse classrooms include diverse minds. From every culture, some students are visual learners, some are auditory learners, and others are physical learners. This creates a problem, how does a teacher cater to all of these unique needs in one setting?

Solution: The teacher in this classroom remembers to write the words on the board as she says them. This helps the students with both their listening and reading skills. It also helps learners who prefer to read and those who prefer to listen at the same time. She remains animated, moves around a lot and encourages student participation. This reduces monotony and helps physical learners. She has a smile on her face, and her students' attention is kept!

Cherry Picking? Designer Methodology? Or does it... just work?

As I think about the diverse and long history of EAL teaching methodology, it is impossible for me not to notice the amount of cross over that exists among seemingly very different teaching styles. It makes me wonder how much of that results from practitioners building upon each other and how much of this cross over is a matter of "great minds think alike." In C.S. Chong (2012)'s webinar A Trip Down the Memory Lane of Methodology Chong (2012) always takes a moment to remind her viewers of the value of seemingly outdated methodologies with her "I 🧡..." slides. This choice stands out to me because it verifies my curiosity that even those of us with seemingly very different views on best practices can come to an agreement that some things "just work" when it comes to language learning.

I will admit, I am not an experienced EAL teacher. The bulk of my experience came as an Academic Writing Tutor at the University of Manitoba. While my job was to work with all kinds of students, EAL and native speakers alike, a large percentage of the students who sought my services happened to be EAL and "what worked best" is something I had to build from observation and instinct without the formal education. Just like the methodologists before me, it is fascinating that my own observations and instincts brought me to some of the same conclusions that many formally educated EAL teachers have come to. Chong (2012)'s "I 🧡..." slides discuss the value of repetition, translation, and a relaxed environment in language learning, and interestingly all of these factors are things that I have found significant in my untrained experience. Let's take a look at these three factors and perhaps come near a conclusion as to why they seem to be fairly universal.

I love you painted in various languages from around the world. Photo captured by Hannah Wright in Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia

Translation: Chong (2012) makes the accurate observation that even if a teacher attempts to avoid translation, students will be doing it in their heads anyway. This is natural and obvious, and shows that EAL teachers' desire to pull students away from their L1 may be more detrimental than beneficial. Pressure to rip students away from their L1 the moment they enter the classroom can make the learning experience stressful, and as Chong (2012) said, they will still be using it in their heads even if they aren't using it out loud. Luca Lampariello (2016) writes a blog post on how language teachers living in a world that has grown past the Grammar Translation Method can utilize their students' instinct to translate to their advantage. Lampariello (2016) suggests that students and teachers can utilize a bidirectional translation method to help a learner notice gaps in their comprehension and to help them recognize the meaning of the words instead of simply the structure. This suggestion is complex, and may seem somewhat impossible to practice when the teacher is monolingual. However, I do appreciate the acknowledgement that student translation is inevitable and that instead of treating L1 usage as a detriment, we can instead find creative ways to use L1 to help instead of hinder.

Repetition: When Chong (2012) 🧡's The Direct Method she says it's because there is real validity to the practice of repetition in language learning even if we have grown past the practice of drilling students as the soldiers the method was invented with were. Indeed, we even have neuro-scientific evidence to suggest that repetition is critical in accurate L2 learning. Ghazi-Saidi & Ansaldo (2017)'s paper Second Language Word Learning through Repetition and Imitation: Functional Networks as a Function of Learning Phase and Language Distance demonstrates L2 acquisition and notable changes in fMRI scans after 4 weeks of L2 repetition learning (Ghazi-Saidi & Ansaldo, 2017). While repetition does not experience the same criticism that L1 translation usage does, it can be tempting for modern teachers to view repeating drilling as an outdated and boring method. A modern teacher may also be concerned that word repetition will teach a student the word and annunciation but not the meaning. Nevertheless, repetition is a necessary tedium and with the right dose of creativity a teacher can ensure that neither meaning nor student attention is lost.

Relaxation: Finally, Chong (2012)'s 🧡 for Suggestopedia is a result of its emphasis on the value of a safe and relaxed classroom. The famous Stephen Krashen supports this idea as he tells his audience that anxiety can be a very detrimental barrier to a learner's language usage (n.d). Of course, one must be careful not to make the classroom too relaxed, students are still there to work after all. A teacher must also be aware not to be too laid back when working with students who are of a culture that values teachers as authority figures. Ironically, being too laid back with students of this cultural background may cause them more anxiety instead of less. In cases like these, positive reinforcement and empathetic, constructive criticism are key. Perhaps, the original Suggestopedia ideas of a classroom with couches and Baroque music is unnecessary, but teachers today must not forget how much anxiety can affect a student's L2 learning. Positive reinforcement is a needed asset in any form of teaching, but in language teaching, it is not just a needed asset, it is critical.

Krashen's theory of second language acquisition  emphasizes much of what I have observed and discussed in this blog. Krashen (n.d) highlights that in our collective hyperfocus on how we want to see everyone's differences, we lose sight of how we are all the same. Of course, we cannot ignore the uniqueness of each student nor can we forget about how personality and cultural idiosyncrasies can have a major impact on a student's learning. However, as we remember the differences we cannot forget the similarities, Krashen (n.d)'s talk and his observation with the young girl in his neighborhood show that perhaps there is a reason that so many diverse methodologies throughout EAL profession's history have come to so many similar conclusions.

Cherry-picking and designer methodologies appear to be the predominant approach of EAL teachers today. Observing the approaches throughout history, and the evidence that some facets of these methodologies "just work" makes it unsurprising that this is the predominant approach today.