Learning and Teaching English - Essay Example

SECTION 1 Introduction This section entails a critical contrast and comparison of approaches of teaching English language I met in Australia along side those that I have encountered in my country Saudi Arabia. The approaches in Saudi Arabia were used by my teachers as well as the ones I used during my six months practicum. The approaches as per the experiences felt are given in details including the learners characteristics, personality of the teachers, other factors influencing the learning environment like imposed syllabus, locale and time, the overall philosophy of the teachers and their application and finally the evaluation of my own teaching and learning approach. The experiences in Australia and Saudi Arabia were different in some ways and in some other ways were similar depending on the approaches used for teaching the language. English language in Australia is more valued as compared to Saudi Arabia. This is because in Saudi Arabia the English language is only taught in the intermediate and high school but not in primary schools, so I started learning English in the intermediate school. The approach used by the teachers at that stage was the Grammar Translation Method. The teachers used the approach of translating the Arabic vocabulary into English for the students by the use of fundamental activities students would be involved in like cassette recording, video and pair work. In Saudi Arabia, a large percent of the student at that stage do not have the basic knowledge of English. This is because most of them are brought up speaking their native language which is Arabic. It is also important to note that most of the students in class do not have that desire to learn the English language (Barbara, 2005). This made the teaching approach hard because no matter what the teacher did, the students did not show any interest to learn the language. They didn’t receive enough supportive services from the teachers and parents who also did not really take much interest in English language. Approaches used in high school level and the learners characterists In the high school, the predominant approach of teaching was the Grammar Translation Method. The teachers at that level emphasized more on reading, translation, writing and conscious grammar mastery. The teachers also apply a new approach which is the Total Physical Response. This is whereby the teacher in the classroom issues some commands and all the students are expected to obey like “close your eyes”. The students characteristics exhibited include shyness in class especially in responding to the command issued by the teacher, and they only used the language of English in class but not outside the classroom. Most of the students took English as an important subject meaning they were serious in learning it so that they can pursue and specialize in it later (Van Note Chism, 2009). At the level of university, learning English in Saudi Arabia was much different. The teaching approaches were modified. Some of the teachers prefer lecturing, others discussion, demonstration and some focus on rules. The Direct Method of teaching English is mainly used for teaching in the university whereby the students are expected to produce natural, socially and appropriate utterance in grammars during their communication. Most of the students at that level are very enthusiastic in their desire to learn the language. They are in most cases developed learners and show positive interest. The experience in Australia While in Australia, I did a course in English for a period of six months then commenced for my masters. Most of the student’s first language is not English and so the approaches used included Audio-lingual method and direct method. In Australia learners’ characteristic is different. Most of the students are not conversant with the English language since they are international students but due to the fact that they are in their higher level of academics, they are very eager to learn. Students are very eager to learn and they participate. They do struggle with accents since English is not their first language for most of them. Teachers personality and approach towards teaching English Both in Saudi Arabia and Australia the teacher’ personalities and approach towards teaching English are different. In the intermediate school where the teaching approach used by my teacher was the Grammar Translation Method, most teachers were not enthusiastic in teaching English language, they were not hard-working enough, and lacked important characteristics like understanding the students and flexibility. In high school, some of the teachers were very tough, did not give homework regularly to the students, and they were less motivated to work. In the university, the teachers’ personality was quiet different. Most of the teachers were highly motivated to work and very consistence. In Australia, most of the teachers are hardworking, very qualified professionals in teaching English, attentive in their approaches of teaching, flexible, pleasant, optimistic and cordial. This has been very advantageous for the students because it has created a suitable learning environment where the teachers and students freely relate. The students appreciate the teachers because they are considerate to them. The learning situations in both countries have effects in the learning process. In Saudi Arabia, the syllabus was not well developed. This is evidenced by the approaches the teachers used. In addition, The English language was not taught until in the intermediate level. The time allocated for the lessons was also very little. This is because in the intermediate and high school a week only four hours was set for the language. This makes it harder for the students whereby they are expected to study for four years in the university. On the other hand, in Australia, international students are expected to take English courses for six months before proceeding with masters. This enables the students to learn Basic English to help them in their studies. Teacher’s philosophy and applicability The teachers’ philosophy in the Saudi Arabia was not effective because most of them were not well qualified. This is showed by the personalities exhibited by them towards the students. It is because of their philosophy that most students were not much interested in the language until in the higher learning institutions. The experience in Australia is different, because most of the teachers are self- motivated, very hardworking, social, and qualified professionals. Evaluation of my own teaching and learning approach I taught in Saudi Arabia and the experiences were different. I taught in a junior school for six months. My teaching mode was direct method whereby English language was used for teaching but occasionally I used grammar translation methods. The most effective methods were the use of activities like games, posters, oral exercises and pair work. This was very effective in Saudi Arabia especially because most of the students did not show much interest in the language. Through the use of those approaches, the students were involved in the learning process because they self motivates themselves which made the teaching experience easy and enjoyable. SECTION 2 Implications of my experiences for my future language teaching and language-teacher-education role My experiences as both a student and a teacher in Saudi Arabia and Australia have implications for my future career as a language teacher and my role in language teaching. My teaching philosophy has greatly been improved after comparing all the experiences. This is whereby I will work towards creating a teaching and learning environment that is suitable for every learner and that will give each of them a sense of responsibility and belonging irrespective of their intelligence level, social background, and culture to achieve maximum fulfillment of the objectives efficiently and effectively as well as a means of solving all the problems and challenges arising in the learning environment (Dominic et el, 2007). Grammar translation method was the main approach used in the intermediate and high school. It involved instructing the students in terms of grammar through the provision of vocabulary which have the meaning so that the students could memorize. In my future teaching in junior school I will use the method because English is not a first language and the fact that many of the students are not very keen in mastering the language (Dominic et el, 2007). Another fact that led to my decision to use the approach was due to the fact that most students are likely to show no interest in learning the English language such as a teacher I must opt to train in the rules of grammar which allows the students to express their views freely. This is an approach that gives the students control of the tools in the language like grammar, orthography, vocabulary, being able to read ability to writing and understand texts written in English. The direct method was also used by my teachers greatly in teaching back in Saudi Arabia and in Australia. This is whereby some of the teachers would teach the English language using English vocabularies refraining from the use of Arabic language during the teaching. This is a method I have also adopted and used in teaching my students. This method is very important because it gives the issue of correct pronunciation a priority (van Lier, 1994). It emphasizes on the oral skills and it mainly relies on representations of experiences into the form of linguistics. This is whereby the students are given a scenario and asked to act. The words are printed in English so that the students can master it quickly. Ensuring the mother tongue and other languages are not used so that they do not interfere with the pronunciations of the students. This teaching approach was used by the teachers whereby they started by asking us to name some simple objects like cups, cars, doors, tress etc. this motivated me greatly since it gave me interest to learn the language then later the teacher introduced us to verbs and some other complicated grammatical structures. My choice for this approach is due to the fact that I will be teaching in a junior school where most students are likely to use mother tongue. Also the students being very young and barely conversant with English will have an opportunity to learn as much and fast as possible. Teaching through the approach of communicative language which is an approach I largely use and it is also called communicative approach. it entails interaction whereby the students are encouraged to interact with each other especially during the English lesson by speaking the language. I will use this method because it will give the students confidence since interacting with each other at the level of classroom will encourage them to the same outside the class. Audio-lingual method. This is a very effective method of teaching like I noted when I used it with my students. The students are encouraged to freely interact and mingle with the English native speaker so that they can easily capture the language. Some time they are encouraged to listen to a recorded conversation audibly whereby the students get s an opportunity to cross check what is audibly spoken with what is written down in the text. The students are given an item that contains a written dialogue to memorize, then the students are presented with questions from that dialogue to answer followed by a brief introduction of the vocabulary and verbs or other English grammatical structures in the next chapter (Satya, 2010). . This enables the students to easily understand and differentiate different words structures in the text. In my teaching in the junior high school, this method will be applicable because apart from learning the correct spelling through the audio they will also learn the right pronunciation. Finally I used the total physical response. This is whereby I wound give the students commands in English and I would expect them to respond to my commands using their body responses. For example I would tell them to stand, close eyes, open mouth and shout. They would respond to those through actions (Richard, 2006). This method will aid my teaching in the future in teaching my students on the subject verbs which are doing or action words. SECTION3 New ideas you have met outside your own country ( in Australia Successful teaching entails involvement of new ideas and skills (Lindsay, 2010). This is because with the changes in technology, it means new methods of learning are emerging each day. A good example is the computer technology. This is whereby so many search engines are available in the internet for research. It is very important for the students to be self sufficient by equipping them with skills for searching materials from the internet. By doing so, they will have the liberty to do their own research and gain more knowledge on their own. The following are the five main ideas I met in Australia that I will use in future in teaching my students. Online discussion forum is one of the ideas used in Australia and I intent to adopt it in future for my teaching. This is whereby the students will create an account for themselves to enable them engage in an online discussion forum. This is one of the ways that will enable the students to share knowledge with each other very fast. It is one of the quickest means of communicating an idea to the students. It is also very cheap since it will ensure the distance is minimized. Within one day an idea can be circulated to all students irrespective of where they are (Herbert, 2008). This will also enable the students to keep their discussions ongoing even during the holidays because of the fact that they can connect to each other. As a teacher I can easily get to know what the students think about a subject within a short period of time by engaging them on an online discussion. After that it can be easy to deal with any problems in the classroom. The second idea entails the use multimedia tools in our schools. The classes I will teach will be equipped with multimedia materials and equipments like projectors, TV and videos. Most of the classes in Australia are equipped with these equipments but not in Saudi Arabia. Through watching a video tape on a specific topic, the students will have an opportunity of listening to a spoken conversation. This will help them to learn and improve on the issues of pronunciations. What they watch too can easily be remembered and well understood since it not only entails the spoken works but also the actions (Lynne, 2008). Class trips will be another useful idea that I have experienced in ELC in the University of New England. This will entail site seeing for the student. This is especially when the students will be learning new vocabulary, For instance if we are learning about a car parts. Then it will be helpful for the students to visit a manufacturing company where cars are being assembled, by doing so they will be able to see for themselves. Also the students can visit places like a garden where all types or most of the plants are growing (Lynne, 2008). They will have an opportunity to see and learn the names and all that entails cultivation of trees and the plants in English language. A group discussion is yet another very important idea that teachers in Australia mostly used. This is whereby I will divide the students in my class into groups of five. In those groups factors like gender, social background, and level of intelligence will not count. This will give the students a sense of belonging and also it will make them feel equal. The students will be expected to discuss issues on English subject in their groups. As a teacher I will ensure I give assignments to the students which they will be expected to accomplish in the form of groups. This will enable the students help each other and especially the slow learners students will have an opportunity to catch up during their group discussion (Lynne, 2008). Physical dramatization is another idea that the teachers at ELC in the University of New England used in teaching English. This is whereby the students will be expected to come up with dramas in class, practice and dramatize them. It will help them is clearly mastering the language as well as understand the vocabulary. Their spoken English will also be polished with time. It will also give them more interest to watch television broadcasting in the English language so that they can give a good performance. By doing so, the students will not only understand English but also enjoy the subject (Cora, 2007). Dramatization is very helpful because as a student speaks and act it will build his or her capacity to understand and learn how to speak and write the language. Reference Barbara, M. (2005). Learning and teaching English grammar, K-12. London: Routledge Cora, L. (2007). Learning and teaching English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dominic, W., Russel, J., & Helen, B. (2007). Teaching English, Language and literacy. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Herbert, S. (2008). Education: intellectual, moral and physical. Oxford: oxford university press. Lindsay, C. (2010). Learning and teaching English: a course for teachers (cd1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lynne, T. (2008). Strategies for teaching English learners. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Richard, A. (2006). Teaching and learning English: a guide to recent research and its application. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Satya, R. (2010). Modern methods of teaching English. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. van Lier, Leo. (1994). Some features of a theory of practice. TESOL Journal, Autumn, 6-10.s Van Note Chism, Nancy. (2009). Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement. Ohio State University. Retrieved from http://ftad.osu.edu/portfolio/philosophy/Philosophy.html Read More