The Role of Teacher Cognition in English Language Teaching - Coursework Example

The Role of Teacher Cognition in English Language Teaching Institution Name Tutor Course Date Introduction Teacher cognition can be described as the unseen recognition of the concepts of tutoring on what the minds of teacher’s goes trough and what they know and most importantly what they believe. Additionally, it entails the relationships of the mental constructs as to what teachers does while in the language teaching classroom. Various aspects of teacher’s cognition are deemed to have been ignited by the philosophical arguments which are amongst educators who aimed at distinguishing between the interrelated notions as teacher’s knowledge and their beliefs. In this regards, it was concluded that teachers are inevitably interconnected in their minds. Apart from their personal nature, teacher cognition is as well influenced by the prior experience of the teacher as a learner which indubitably continues to affect their practices throughout their career. In addition, their education programs and courses that the teacher joins continuously affect them as well. Moreover, the teacher’s instructional practice in the classroom is believed to be mutually informing with the teacher cognition alongside the context factors that play a vital role in enabling teachers to enact their personal, practical knowledge. Notably, teacher cognition has a crucial impact on teacher’s professional growth in the sense that it is the central attribute to determine teacher’s role and behavior in the classroom. Due to the tacit beliefs, which constitute part of the teacher cognition, teacher’s stated beliefs, personal theories, and pedagogical principles are being distilled and filtered. If not uncovered, prior beliefs established by the teacher’s experience as a learner can control their behavior and practice, which could be undesirable. In this regards, understanding the role of teacher cognition and developing awareness regarding its various components is vital. This is because it could lead to detecting, explicating and altering the tacit beliefs along with finding alternative routes that can substitute the insufficient practices 9Tedick, (ed), 2005) Teachers ought to be cognizant about some various things in the midst of their duties. This entails the cognizant regarding the various research supports which are deemed to be very important in ones learning as well as thinking. This implies that the teachers should have the ability to compare the experts with the novices or the proficient students in their classes together with the no proficient students. Therefore, the teachers should have the ability to distinct the methods which are used on figuring out such differences and moreover the strategies which can be used in problems solving so that they can carry out their duties more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, teachers should be cognizant about the techniques which the teachers employed so as to appraise and to decide the awareness scholars have earned from a tutoring, unit, or program of guidance. The degrees that are accredited by instructors are published to many viewers as an expression of students’ success. Given the importance of degrees for multiple relevant audiences, it is critical that the methods which are adopted are very solid (Wright, 2010). Teachers as well should be cognizant with regards to the mapping strategies in essay writing for adults as well as for the high school students. Students tend to envision writing as a task. In this regards, the student instructed to write a sentence describing the first section of the text, then next draw an arrow down the page, and write the second sentence, instructing students to continue in this fashion until they had filled the entire page with their plot map. This activity required students to use thinking skills to develop and use inferences to compare and contrast main ideas. In doing this, the teacher will know which strategies will help the students to learn faster and most importantly to understand the concepts involved. The teachers as well should be cognizant of that learning is personal. Notably, learning is a private personal experience that ought to be internalized as well as integrated by each student. When teachers attend to the class, each student has an obligation to adapt and most importantly apply the lesson to their existing knowledge. This is because the pairing of the small groups and interactive activities should be achieved. Teachers ought to as well provide lessons in which the students should then personalize so as to enable them to make lessons individually meaningful. Every piece of knowledge that individual student owns must have a purpose that links to other significant knowledge they possess (Borg, 2006) Teachers should as well be cognizant that it's only the individuals who learn. Notably, they can learn individually though being a part of a class, but the group does not learn. It is the individual differences in students, their previous knowledge, and concern levels that make teaching-learning complex. The more information and interest a student possesses in the lesson, the simpler it is to learn, know, master, associate, recall, and build on. Group commitment is thus not sufficient; any student who does not engage oneself in learning is indubitably engaging oneself in something else. Teacher as well should be cognizant in that learning is constructed. In this regards, each learner builds and adds to understanding according to his or her knowledge and experiences together with the predisposition and beliefs. In this regards, if there is new information which does not relate to existing understanding the brain will indubitably not accept it. Therefore, the teachers ought to always involve kids and utilize their feedback regarding the same. Most importantly, each of the students ought to apply their thinking so as to get it to fit (Barnard & Burns, 2012). One of the aspects that lead to the development of the teacher cognition is the role played by the teacher in the language classroom. It is indubitable that teachers have different perceptions regarding their roles inside the classroom. For instance, some believe in the teacher-centered approach, and some others believe in the learner-centered approach. Since a teacher’s role is determined by their tacit beliefs which are deemed to be their cognition then there is a need to develop cognitions. Cognition formation starts early in life and continues to develop alongside the individual’s personal experience. The acquired beliefs at that point of time are difficult to change. However, they are changeable. These include beliefs about language learning and teaching that a teacher has shaped throughout their life as a learner. In consequence, this prior experience, which establishes teacher’s beliefs, influences the teacher’s classroom practice as well as their instructional decisions. How the prior experience affects classroom practice can be displayed in teacher’s reinforcement of a certain practice or avoidance of another in their teaching based on the experience as a learner (Breen, 2014). Studies depicted that the student-teachers use material and activities in their teaching that were of use to them as second language learners. Further findings depicted that some of the teacher participants have integrated components that were enjoyable to them as second language learners. On the other hand, a study conducted revealed that teachers eliminated the use of certain strategies that were not of benefit to them as learners. As an example, one teacher has adopted the communicative approach as a basis for his practice as an alternative to the grammar-based education they were taught through. Since cognitions determined the different roles which are played by teachers in the foreign language teaching, it can be found out that the teachers cognitions in the teaching practice are developed by such practices. Some of these practices included the teaching process which requires various teaching skill. Besides this, the different kinds of teaching strategies are triggered by actualizing the teacher's cognitive role in teaching. Teaching is assumed to be a complex cognitive process of decision-making and problem solving. Hence, well or ill-structured decisions are actualizations of teachers' cognitions. These cognitions can lead to the development of cognitions which are good for teaching process even in rigorously supervised and prescribed situations (Bartels, 2007). Teacher cognizant interact with teacher learning in various ways, concerning their role in the classroom, it is noted that they vary in their teacher-learner relationship. It was found out that some of the teachers prefer to have a close relationship with their students assuming that this encourages them to use the language whereas some others would rather keep their distance and rely on the teacher-centered approach. Additional research pointed out the interaction of teacher cognition on language teachers’ roles in the classroom regarding their perceived requirements in the class. Consequently, it is depicted that most teachers had some knowledge concerning the situational mediation which they use to interact. This has been found to be linked with some of the teachers not able to identify the universal meditative techniques. Interestingly, most of them are unable to separate the mediators from traditional teaching roles. Therefore, the teacher participants had misconceptions and inadequate knowledge of mediation beside their fail to execute the mediator role. In this regards, the teachers’ cognitions in relation to their functions in the international literature lesson, it is apparent that teachers do not always perform the role they find adequate. Instead, their tacit beliefs direct their decision- making and the approaches they employ in the classroom. This can be observed in how the teacher participants dealt with their students in situations where they are unable to justify their actions. Similarly, it is perceived that the teachers had different stated beliefs than the tacit ones that, actually, dominated in their teaching practice (Burns & Richards, 2009). In Woods (1996) study, a student-teacher has developed a certain belief which encompasses that the communicative approach is better than the grammar-based education. This principle was established due to his experience as a second language learner of the French language that he was unable to acquire via years of formal learning, but via months of the execution of the communicative approach. In addition, it is described that a situation in which the teacher decided not to stress the use of terminology in implementing the grammar-based education. This instructional decision derived from his prior experience as a learner. Obviously, researching the impact of the prior experience of teachers as second language learners on teachers’ cognitions discloses the crucial role played by it in forming the teacher cognition. Then, this influences teachers’ practices and decisions in the language classroom. If not uncovered, this prior knowledge may affect teachers’ professional lives. Studies in teacher cognition include the Problem-solving aspects of life, which are perceived to be routine, whereas others are more complex. Problem-solving is routine or more complex is encountered daily, but age does have an effect on this cognitive ability. The significant objective of problem-solving is to overcome problems and create a decision that sufficiently terminates the problem. There are several types of strategies for problem-solving, but the best strategy depends essentially on the circumstances. In some situations individuals are better off learning everything; he or she can regard the problem and using the realistic knowledge to develop a recommendation. In other circumstances, creativity, and acumen are the greatest choices. There are several steps to problem-solving, which is called the problem-solving cycle. The problem-solving cycle consists of developing approaches and classifying information. The problem-solving cycle is described in a sequence, but individuals seldom pursue a strict sequence of steps to discover a resolution. Instead, individuals frequently omit some levels or revise over the steps many times till the approved solution is achieved. The problem-solving cycle consists of seven steps which include distinguishing the problem, explaining the problem and most importantly coming up with a strategy, arranging information, sharing the resources, controlling progress, and assessing the outcomes (Corcoran & Tormey, 2012). Teacher Cognition together with the prior language learning experience entailed the about teachers expertise to produce results in their lessons, and their determination in education, in general, perform a fundamental task in their capabilities to efficiently assist their learners. Since then, knowledge of training productiveness together with the addition in subjects of instructor effectiveness has increased drastically. The Arab teachers tackle the student’s oral errors in SLT classroom, and what kind and types of English errors they treat regarding what it has been observed that many teachers do give feedback to their learners. Teachers find that some oral errors once corrected, the grammatical errors have to go together, and any grammatical error may hinder, impede, or block the hearer from understanding what is meant by the speaker. Furthermore, one can produce grammatical sentences with the erroneous utterance, and the message can easily be converted and understood by the hearer. Accuracy, in its classic view, is the ability to produce correct grammatical sentences. For instance, since its vital role to acquire the English language in Palestine, grammar should seize a vast distance in SLT classrooms and should be taught either inductively or deductively. Nevertheless, the method of teaching and learning does not guarantee that all scholars are expected to generate grammatical sentences, so the role of the teachers, here, is to acknowledge and give immediate feedback. The erroneous utterances may impede with the intelligibility of what is said. When the feedback provided during a conversational interaction, the acquisition process is facilitated, and the direct treatment of errors helps learners learn better (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2005). The feedback and correction of errors are parts of the process of learning and teaching. It’s believed that over-correction, i.e. repetition of correct form, is vital inside the classroom because repeating erroneous utterances by learners would be harmful to them. This belief may make students fragile so that they become reticent in the class. The role of the teacher is to be aware when and how to give immediate feedback on grammatical errors to avoid damaging learners’ confidence. The aim of providing positive feedback is to bring about self-awareness and improvement. However, if the purpose of the lesson is accuracy, the teachers should give immediate feedback, but they shouldn’t correct mistakes resulted inadvertently. The feedback should be on those errors thought to be correct by learners. Furthermore, it is an unbelievable thought that mistake correction on learners’ writing is useless or worthless. The target population, for example, is asked to write a passage, and then they are demanded to revise their writing based on the teacher’s feedback. Then, an oral meeting is conducted to give them feedback on their errors. However, the last version of some of their work contains more errors than what is expected from them. This result calls for the conclusion that the improvement in linguistic accuracy has nothing to do with error feedback on written work, but it lacks immediacy. According to this notion, direct correction is best for producing certain revisions and enhances students’ accuracy (Weakley, Stoltman, & Western Michigan University, 2010). Additionally, correct self-perception under the supervision of the teacher is a valid way for error feedback. To test this, observed two adult SLT participants watching a cartoon video clip, and then they performed a narrative repetition. What is found is that the repetition of the narrative task enhances and increases learners’ fluency and accuracy. The repetition, by the teacher, of the correct form of the erroneous grammatical utterance, by the participants, may enhance their efficiency. The rationale or theory here is that learners do commit grammatical errors; the teacher either corrects or ignores them. If these errors are not corrected directly, learners may repeat them and produce segments of ungrammatical language. However, when the teacher keeps on correcting students’ errors, learners may become hesitant or get embarrassed. All in all, the value of this study is to find out the impact of immediate grammatical feedback in learners’ accuracy and to check the effects of such comments. Therefore, grammatical errors focus during teaching as well as learning processes have to prove to be a major obstacle or challenge regarding learning the language. It is believed that grammar and meaning go together. The one who produces grammatical sentence can produce meaningful one. Regardless of the error correction provider, participants do need immediate grammar feedback. They feel cheated if they are not corrected immediately, and they become more confident if they produced error-free sentences. This claim implies that these learners can improve their accuracy and fluency if they corrected. In contrary, teachers too should vary the types of activities and procedures in teaching grammatical points, and they should understand that the students’ beliefs have a significant effect on the success or failure of their teaching enterprise. Besides, another reason for this may be that not all the errors should be corrected. Being a matter of discussion, the learners’ point of view toward immediate grammar feedback is positive. Teachers should make allowance for positive correction for students’ errors in grammar (Childs, 2011). Conclusion As the study investigated the relationship between immediate grammatical error correction and accuracy in English teacher cognition, it has emphasized that the effect of corrective and immediate feedback builds up students’ accuracy. It has also shown students’ opinions toward grammar and revealed that grammar and grammatical feedback are necessary for SLT context where English is trained as a second language. This implies that there is a need to correct their errors in English so as to enhance their fluency and accuracy in the tongue. The cognition also elicited responses from learners’ as to whether they like to be corrected or not. It is clear that almost all the participants agreed that grammatical error correction is vital to develop their accuracy. Besides, they don’t want to repeat the same mistake again. However, teachers’ style of correction should be varied from one point to the other so as to engage all the beneficiaries with the intended content delivery. They should see various streams of correcting and giving feedback that doesn't distract students’ attention from the main subject that is going to be discussed. The error feedback provider doesn’t cause a big problem for the participants. The main issue for them is to be corrected whether by the teacher or by their colleagues. References Barnard, R., & Burns, A. (2012). Researching language teacher cognition and practice: International case studies. Bartels, N. (2007). The construct of cognition in language teacher education and development. Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice. London: Continuum. Breen, P. (2014). Cases on teacher identity, diversity, and cognition in higher education. Burns, A., & Richards, J. C. (2009). The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education. New York: Cambridge University Press. Childs, S. S. (2011). Language Teacher Cognition: Tracing the Conceptualizations of SecondLanguage Teachers. Corcoran, R. P., & Tormey, R. (2012). Developing Emotionally Competent Teachers: Emotional Intelligence and Pre-service Teacher Education. Oxford: Lang, Peter, AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften. Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (2005). Cognition and learning in diverse settings. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI. Tedick, D. (ed) (2005) Second Language Teacher Education: international Prospective. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Weakley, K. D., Stoltman, J. P., & Western Michigan University. (2010). The effects of an inquiry-based earth science course on the spatial thinking of pre-service elementary teacher education students. Woods, D. (1996) Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wright, T. (2010). Second language teacher education: Review of recent research on practice. Language Teaching, 43, 259–296. Read More

This entails the cognizant regarding the various research supports which are deemed to be very important in ones learning as well as thinking. This implies that the teachers should have the ability to compare the experts with the novices or the proficient students in their classes together with the no proficient students. Therefore, the teachers should have the ability to distinct the methods which are used on figuring out such differences and moreover the strategies which can be used in problems solving so that they can carry out their duties more efficiently and effectively.

Additionally, teachers should be cognizant about the techniques which the teachers employed so as to appraise and to decide the awareness scholars have earned from a tutoring, unit, or program of guidance. The degrees that are accredited by instructors are published to many viewers as an expression of students’ success. Given the importance of degrees for multiple relevant audiences, it is critical that the methods which are adopted are very solid (Wright, 2010). Teachers as well should be cognizant with regards to the mapping strategies in essay writing for adults as well as for the high school students.

Students tend to envision writing as a task. In this regards, the student instructed to write a sentence describing the first section of the text, then next draw an arrow down the page, and write the second sentence, instructing students to continue in this fashion until they had filled the entire page with their plot map. This activity required students to use thinking skills to develop and use inferences to compare and contrast main ideas. In doing this, the teacher will know which strategies will help the students to learn faster and most importantly to understand the concepts involved.

The teachers as well should be cognizant of that learning is personal. Notably, learning is a private personal experience that ought to be internalized as well as integrated by each student. When teachers attend to the class, each student has an obligation to adapt and most importantly apply the lesson to their existing knowledge. This is because the pairing of the small groups and interactive activities should be achieved. Teachers ought to as well provide lessons in which the students should then personalize so as to enable them to make lessons individually meaningful.

Every piece of knowledge that individual student owns must have a purpose that links to other significant knowledge they possess (Borg, 2006) Teachers should as well be cognizant that it's only the individuals who learn. Notably, they can learn individually though being a part of a class, but the group does not learn. It is the individual differences in students, their previous knowledge, and concern levels that make teaching-learning complex. The more information and interest a student possesses in the lesson, the simpler it is to learn, know, master, associate, recall, and build on.

Group commitment is thus not sufficient; any student who does not engage oneself in learning is indubitably engaging oneself in something else. Teacher as well should be cognizant in that learning is constructed. In this regards, each learner builds and adds to understanding according to his or her knowledge and experiences together with the predisposition and beliefs. In this regards, if there is new information which does not relate to existing understanding the brain will indubitably not accept it.

Therefore, the teachers ought to always involve kids and utilize their feedback regarding the same. Most importantly, each of the students ought to apply their thinking so as to get it to fit (Barnard & Burns, 2012). One of the aspects that lead to the development of the teacher cognition is the role played by the teacher in the language classroom. It is indubitable that teachers have different perceptions regarding their roles inside the classroom. For instance, some believe in the teacher-centered approach, and some others believe in the learner-centered approach.

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