Effectiveness of the Teaching - Case Study Example

Project report on the integration of language skills in second language teaching Introduction The development of teaching methods across the world is traditionally depended on the local ethics and culture; moreover, the response of learners to the methods used by teachers in various educational sites can be differentiated in accordance with the tools used for the ‘transmission’ of knowledge within the particular sites and the educational/ cultural background of the learners involved. In practice, it has been proved that the effectiveness of the teaching methods can be also related with another issue: the level of participation of the state in the development of the relevant project – through the design and introduction of the curriculum in a specific region. For this reason, the methods used by teachers in order to develop the knowledge and the skills of learners in various educational sites have to be based on specific principles taking into consideration the local social and cultural traditions but also the capabilities of learners to participate in specific educational schemes and projects as developed by teachers around the world. The role of the state in the success of the relevant effort is crucial: the curriculum taught within a specific region has to be customized with the local social and cultural characteristics as well as the potential of learners to have access to specific supportive material (libraries, PCs and so on). Current paper focuses on the methods used by teachers in order to achieve a high level of integration of language skills in a specific educational environment: second language teaching has been chosen as the ‘model’ of study regarding the effectiveness of specific educational projects proposed by teachers when the integration of language skills in the above educational environment is pursued. In order for the above task to be completed the relevant theory will be presented in combination with practical examples showing the interaction between theory and practice in the specific scientific area. 2. Teaching methods and materials that are currently used in teaching reading and writing When having to choose the methods applied on a specific educational site, teachers take into consideration a wide range of criteria. Most commonly, the educational background of learners and their age are used by teachers in order to develop the appropriate teaching methods regarding the delivery of curriculum in a particular educational environment. The effectiveness of the methods used will be proved in practice through the response of students and their willingness to participate in the various tasks planned and administered by teachers. The specific issue has been examined in the literature. It has been proved that learners tend to use specific criteria when having to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching methods used by teachers in a particular site. In a relevant research made by O’Hagan et al. (1984) ‘pupils were asked to rank, in order of preference, six items in four separate areas: namely, personal qualities of the teacher, classroom organization, discipline and teaching styles; the items ranked first in these domains were patient, makes sure the pupils have the materials they need, treats all pupils in the same way and explains the work pupils have to do, respectively’ (O’Hagan et al., 1984, 97). The above issues refer only to the criteria used by learners when having to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching methods used in a specific educational environment. Teachers have to take the above remarks into consideration when developing specific teaching methods in relation to a specific curriculum. The decisions of teachers over the methods used for the delivery of curriculum in a particular educational site usually based on certain principles. On the other hand, the ability of learners to respond to the teaching methods applied on a specific educational site is differentiated: age and educational background are the most usual reasons for the existence of this differentiation. Various tools have been proposed in the literature for teachers at various levels of educational hierarchy. Arts have been regarded as one of the most effective tools for the delivery of curriculum in all educational sites (schools, colleges, universities and so on). The specific issue has been examined by Oreck (2004) who made a relevant research in which teachers from various educational levels were asked to evaluate the value of arts as a tool for the delivery of curriculum. In the above research it was revealed that ‘teachers believe the arts are important in education, but use them rarely; they are hindered by a lack of professional development and intense pressure to teach the mandated curriculum; awareness of student diversity and the need for improved motivation and enjoyment in learning were the most frequently cited motivations for using the arts while teachers’ self-efficacy and self-image relating to creativity and artistry influenced arts use more than any other personal characteristic’ (Oreck, 2004, 55). In other words, arts can be a valuable tool for the delivery of curriculum in educational sites of all levels; however, it is necessary that appropriate measures are taken in order to ensure the appropriateness of the artistic schemes used for the needs of the particular educational site. In the case of second language teaching – which is the issue under investigation in current paper – the use of arts for the delivery of curriculum can be significant even if considered as a teaching method involved more in technical or mathematical sectors. Apart from arts, other teaching tools have been considered as appropriate regarding various teaching activities, especially the teaching of language. Towards this direction, the communicative language teaching has been used by teachers worldwide in order to improve their performance in the classroom. The specific issue was examined by Mangubhai et al. (2005). The specific researcher tried to identify the responsiveness of students to the communicative language teaching used by teachers in specific educational sites. Their research revealed that ‘while teachers collectively have internalized most of the elements of communicative approaches, there are many individual variations; teachers have integrated aspects of communicative approaches into an overall view of teaching that incorporates many features not normally mentioned in the second language literature’ (Mangubhai et al., 2005, 31). In other words, the development of teaching methods when teaching reading and writing (referring to all aspects of language in its use as a written or oral means of communication) depends on the teacher involved; his/ her experience and educational background are likely to influence his/ her choices when having to teach reading and writing; the support offered to the teacher as part of the professional development required at all levels of teaching activity is also considered as responsible for the teacher’s decisions on the tools used for teaching. Communicative language teaching has been extensively examined in the literature and the empirical research. In a relevant research made by Miller et al. (2000) the views of students on the performance of teachers regarding the specific teaching method were identified and analyzed – the region of Hong Kong was used in order to gather the relevant material. Through the above study it was revealed that ‘for student teachers who have grown up in cultures which often have teacher-centred classrooms, examination and curriculum constraints, and large classes’ (Miller et al., 2000, 1) tend to show different performance when having to deal with specific teaching methods – referring not only to teaching language related activities but will all similar teaching activities. In accordance with the above remarks teachers’ effectiveness regarding the administration of specific teaching methods can be influenced by their personal experiences and thoughts, apart from their educational background as already noticed before. Apart from the specific teaching method – communicative language technique – other teaching methods are considered to be extremely effective when having to teach reading and writing; these techniques are presented in the sections that follow. Through the years, it has been proved that the use of different teaching methods can lead to the development of different results even regarding the same part of curriculum. Two specific methods, ‘the traditional teaching methods (i.e. lectures) and the problem-based learning (PBL) techniques’ (Sevening et al., 2002, 27) were examined as of their effectiveness in a particular educational site. The above research was based on the views of students participating in the classroom. The performance of students was also used in order to measure the effectiveness of the teaching methods chosen by practitioners in the above educational site. In accordance with the results of the above research ‘students did not respond well to PBL and preferred a lecture-based format; the experimental (PBL) group entered the course at a higher knowledge level than the control group (lecture-based), but failed to demonstrate a significantly greater achievement gain in relation to the control (lecture-based) group’ (Sevening et al., 2002, 27). It is clear from the above study that the development of teaching methods within a particular educational site has to be based on specific criteria: the needs of learners in the specific site should be the most important criterion for the decision on the teaching method involved in the relevant effort. On the other hand, it is proved that the more traditional teaching methods can be also more effective not only because teachers tend to have higher experience on the specific methods but also because these methods are simpler in all their aspects; therefore it is easier for learners to follow the delivery of curriculum in the classroom. Group activities should be also considered as a valuable teaching technique when having to teach a secondary language. The specific issue was examined by Jacobs (1996) who came to the conclusion that ‘Southeast Asian second language educators feel group activities are appropriate to their contexts and that they are already making use of groups in their teaching; key problems cited in using groups were low motivation, significant variation in proficiency levels, and large classes’ (Jacobs, 1996, 103). In any case, it should be noticed that when designing and developing group activities for teaching a secondary language, educators should take into consideration the social and cultural characteristics of the country/ region involved – different social and cultural structure may lead to different performance of the methods involved. On the other hand, it has been noticed in the literature that teaching language requires specific standards and principles. The effectiveness of the above activity is difficult to be guaranteed mostly because there are many factors intervening in all aspects of the above effort. The specific issue was examined by Wray (2000). The above research supported that teaching of language should be based on a series of specific ethics and practices taking into account the needs of the specific educational sector. Indeed, in the specific research it was stated that ‘one important component of successful language learning is the mastery of idiomatic forms of expression, including idioms, collocations, and sentence frames (collectively referred as formulaic sequences); their form often precludes, and their function specifically circumvents, such internal inspection, for their value resides in the bypassing of the analytical processes which encode and decode strings’ (Wray, 2000, 463). In accordance with the above, teaching language (referring to reading and writing) requires specific teaching skills and competencies; in order for teachers to be able to meet the demands of the specific activity they should have the appropriate educational background among with an extensive experience in teaching. Personal competencies, like the ability to effectively interpret curriculum, are also required at the level that the particular sector is involved in the development of a fundamental part of human communication – as reading and writing can be characterized. In order to understand the effectiveness of the teaching methods used in teaching a secondary language it would be valuable to refer to relevant cases around the world. Because of its importance for the commerce and the communication worldwide, the English language is most likely to be taught to schools internationally as a secondary language (in those countries that do not use English as their native language). In a relevant research conducted in Asia and Australia by Pennington et al. (1997) it was revealed that ‘those teaching in Australia were the most process-oriented in theory and practice, those teaching in Japan were the most product-oriented in theory and practice, while those teaching in the other countries of the survey showed a greater difference between theory and practice and more variation across individual teachers’ (Pennington et al., 1997, 120). In other words, significant differences were observed among teachers in different regions globally taking into consideration the local culture and ethics – educational background and personal competencies should be regarded as always having an influence on the development of teaching methods not only related with the teaching of language but with the delivery of any type of curriculum in educational sites around the world. The basis for teaching a secondary language is the curriculum. Educators cannot develop different educational material – they can only use their own methods in order to deliver the curriculum suggested by the state (or the school administrator in case of private owned schools/ colleges). The specific issue was examined by Richards (1993) who noticed that ‘textbooks and other commercial materials in many situations represent the hidden curriculum of the ESL course; textbooks thus play a significant part in the professional lives of teachers’. The above study refers especially to the teaching of English as a second language; however it could be equally used in all educational sites where the teaching of a second language is provided to pupils/ students. Though a similar study it was proved that ‘teachers of child ESL students and teachers of adult ESL learners shared some common sets of practices but also differed in the teaching practices they used in their lessons and thus confirmed that indeed the age of the learners does make a difference to what language teachers do in their classrooms’ (Hird et al., 2000, 3). The above findings confirm the remarks made throughout the paper regarding the importance of age of learners for the design and the development of secondary language teaching methods. 3. Design relevant teaching and learning tasks In order to understand the theory provided above, a practical representation of a potential secondary language teaching plan could be presented. This plan should be divided into particular sections/ levels – each one of them should take place in accordance with the order presented below. Each part of the plan should begin to be applied after the completion of the previous part. When all parts of the plan are completed, the learners involved are expected to have successfully been taught a second language. The plan would consist from the following parts: ◊ Identification of learners – targeted group of participants ◊ Identification of personal, cultural and educational characteristics of learners ◊ Alteration on existed curriculum in accordance with the competencies and the skills of learners but also the social and cultural characteristics of the particular country/ region ◊ Discussion on the secondary language teaching plan with learners – before applying it in practice ◊ Distribution of roles/ tasks among participants in accordance with the specific plan ◊ Gradual development of the plan – delivery of education material with the simultaneous allocation of tasks to the learners in accordance with the sections of the curriculum delivered each time ◊ Close monitoring of the performance of learners – identification of potential weakness of learners to respond to the needs of specific parts of the plan ◊ Regular revision of the material taught – dividing the material into sections ◊ Suggestions by learners are welcomed throughout the delivery of the curriculum ◊ The plan is reviewed periodically by the educator in order to identify any potential points that should be re-structured or re-developed. ◊ Various teaching tools (like multimedia, interviews and so on) may be included in the plan if considered as appropriate by the educator 5. Conclusion In the literature presented above it has been proved that significant differences exist in the performance of teachers when teaching a secondary language. The specific issue is highlighted by Pennington et al. (1997) who noticed that ‘the community of explanation (theory or ideal for practice) and the community of practice (actual practices) among teachers of English composition are not always well-aligned’ (Pennington et al., 1997, 120). Different views are likely to appear regarding the design and the development of secondary language teaching methods globally. On the other hand, the examination of cases related with the teaching of English as a second language (the specific language was chosen as an indicative example for the reasons already explained above) has led to the assumption that teachers are free to choose among various teaching methods when having to teach a second language; however, they have to follow the local ethics and traditions as well as the social perceptions regarding the role of persons and gender within the society (as an example, different approaches for teaching a secondary language to women should be used in countries of Middle East and countries of Europe). At a next level, the scheme proposed above regarding the teaching of a second language (see section 3) can be characterized as achievable and simple to be followed; however, specific alterations may be required in case of countries where local ethics and traditions are highly involved in all parts of social life – including education. References Hird, B., Thwaite, A., Breen, M. (2000) Teaching English as a second language to children and adults: variations in practices. Language Teaching Research, 4(1): 3-32 Jacobs, G., Ratmanida (1996) The Appropriacy of Group Activities: Views From Some Southeast Asian Second Language Educators. RELC Journal, 27(1): 103-120 Mangubhai, F., Marland, P., Dashwood, A., Son, J. (2005) Similarities and differences in teachers’ and researchers’ conceptions of communicative language teaching: does the use of an educational model cast a better light? Language Teaching Research, 9(1): 31-66 Miller, L., Aldred, D. (2000) Student Teachers Perceptions About Communicative Language Teaching Methods. RELC Journal, 31(1): 1-22 O’Hagan, F., Robertson, J. (1984) Primary School Childrens Preferences Concerning Teachers and Teaching Methods. School Psychology International, 5(2): 97-101 Oreck, B. (2004) The Artistic and Professional Development of Teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1): 55-69 Pennington, M., So, S., Hirose, K. (1997) The Teaching of English-as-a-Second-Language Writing in the Asia-Pacific Region: a Cross-Country Comparison. RELC Journal, 28(10: 120-143 Richards, J. (1993) Beyond the Text Book: the Role of Commercial Materials in Language Teaching. RELC Journal, 24(1): 1-14 Sevening, D., Baron, M. (2002) A Comparison of Traditional Teaching Methods and Problem-Based Learning in an Addiction Studies Class. Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, 1(2): 27-42 Wray, A. (2000) Formulaic sequences in second language teaching: principle and practice. Applied Linguistics, 21(4): 463-489 Read More