On the Change of Teachers’ Role in English Class.doc

谈英语课堂中教师角色的转换On the Change of Teachers Role in English ClassContentsAbstract.1Key Words.1I. Introduction .1II. Teachers Roles in Traditional ELT.2III. Teachers Roles in Learner-centered ELT.33.1Teachers as Manager and Organizer4 3.2 Teacher as participant and language resource53.3 Teacher as Facilitator.53.4 Teacher as Assessor .63.5 Teacher as Prompter.63.6 Teacher as Tutor.73.7 Teacher as Observer.73.8 Teacher as Teaching Aid8IV. The Illustrations of Teachers Role in Different Class.94.1 Teachers Roles in Listening Class94.2 Teachers Roles in Speaking Class.104.3 Teachers Roles in Reading Class114.4 Teachers Roles in Writing Class.12V. Enhancing Teachers Role-play.125.1 Developing with Colleagues .125.2 A Broader View of Development of Teachers Themselves.13VI. Conclusion .14References.15On the Change of Teachers Role in English Class 摘 要： 本文作者对在英语课堂中教师所扮演的角色问题进行了深入细致的分析。英语教学课堂管理包括多个方面，而其中之一就是在多种多样的课堂活动中教师所能发挥的功能。我们已被公认的教学目标就是培养学生用英语交流的能力，并且，对于中国学生学习英语而言，再没有比在课堂中与老师交流互动更好的方式了。因此，教学过程成功与否，课堂气氛活跃与否，教师所扮演的角色起着至关重要的作用。关键词： 教师角色；交流；互动；转换Abstract: In this paper, the author will focus on detailed analysis of teachers roles in learner-centered English language teaching. The management of English language teaching consists of a combination of aspects. One of which has to do with what functions the teacher is expected to perform in various classroom activities. It is agreed that the goal of our teaching is to develop students ability to communicate in English. And for Chinese student, there is no other way than in the classroom to learn English through interaction with the teacher. Therefore, the roles that the teacher is supposed to play are of great importance for the success and dynamics of the teaching and learning process.Key words: teachers roles，communication，interaction，changeI. Introduction It is held that language teaching is “a complex issue, encompassing socio-cultural, linguistic, psycholinguistic, as well as curricula and instructional dimensions”(Richards, 1998:11). In any language classroom there will always be aspects of the classroom encounter, the play of personality and the tactics of expedient interaction between teacher and students. Hence, a successful language program goes beyond the mere content and presentation of teaching materials, and a large number of factors will be extremely significant in determining the success or failure of a learning experience.The whole process of the management and organization of English language teaching consists of a combination of aspects, of which the development of teaching process, the implementation of classroom activities and the evaluation of teaching efficiency are of particular importance. However, in English language curriculum, any single factor cannot decide whether classroom teaching is effective or not. On the contrary, there are variety of factors that contribute to the success and dynamics of the teaching and learning process. All these factors are categorized here into two main aspects: learner factors and teacher factors. The former may include such aspects as learners attitude, motivation, expectations and individual differences etc. while the later focused on the functions the teacher in expected to perform in various classroom activities.II. Teachers Roles in Traditional ELTBy roles, we mean a set of norms and expectations applied to the incumbents of a particular position. The incumbents concerned here are, according to widdowson, “ those who take up positions in the language classteachers and learners”(Widdowson, 1990: 181). And according to stern, language teaching refers to “activities which are intended to bring about language learning” (H.H. Stern, 1997:21). Whereas for Chinese students, there is no other way than in the classroom to learn English through interaction with the teacher. Therefore classroom teaching of English is of great importance for both the teacher and students. However, in traditional ELT class, quite a lot of teachers appear to be ignorant about functions they should perform in class. They usually tend to be in superiority over their students. Instead of making a probe of students cognitive, emotional and psychological background, they keep on complaining about the students poor behavior and performance in class. In this case, there is no doubt that the teacher is conditioned to function as a complete authority who takes the charge of the class while the students become “passive and ignorant audience” who just write down mechanically what the teacher has crammed into their mind. This will necessarily lead to poor teacher- student interaction relationship and unsatisfactory effect of classroom teaching. In this teacher-centered ELT class, the teacher is undoubtedly functioning as controller and dominator, especially during the process of presentation of knowledge, who guides hisher students to just memorize some written forms of the language instead of using the target language to communicate. When teachers act as controllers and dominators they are in charge of the class and of the activity taking place in a way that is substantially different from a situation where students are working on their own in groups. Controllers take the roll, tell students things, organize drills, read aloud, and in various other ways exemplify the qualities of a teacher-fronted classroom. Teachers who view their jobs as the transmission of knowledge from themselves to their students are usually very comfortable with the image of themselves as controllers. Most people can remember teachers from their past who had a gift for just such a kind of instruction and who inspired their students through their knowledge and their charisma. However, not all the teachers possess this ability to inspire, and in less charismatic hands transmission teaching appears to have less obvious advantages. For a start it denies students access to their own experiential learning by focusing everything on the teacher; in the second place it cuts down opportunities for students to speak because when the class is acting a whole group, fewer individuals have a chance to say anything at all; and in the third place, over-reliance on transmission teaching can result in a lack of variety in activities and classroom atmosphere. Thus, this kind of teaching will result in “the teachers heavy control and domination over the whole class and students passive reception, which frustrate students potential and creativity” (Liu Xiaohong, 2002).III. Teachers Roles in Learner-centered ELTThe previous decades have witnessed a variety of techniques and methods that attempt to make the teaching of English as a foreign language thought provoking, interesting and successful. Among the diverse approaches of teaching, the Communicative and Progressivist Approaches are of particular importance and value (Thanasoulas, 1999) and are placed special emphasis on in English language curriculum. As is advocated by communicative approach, language is viewed as a vehicle for communication: a means through which people express their feelings and exchange information and opinion. And “the classroom should not just be perceived as physical surroundings but also conceived as social space” (Widdowson, 1990:182). Therefore, in classroom teaching and learning situation, the students are expected to be involved in all kinds of classroom activities to ensure a sufficient chance of learning and using the target language. As is suggested by Harmer, “its better to involve our students in various classroom activities to foster acquisition and learning.”(Harmer, 1983:38). In addition, the students are expected to be effective participants in the process of learning and responsible for their outcomes while the teacher as guide and facilitator who creates conditions for the development of an inventive problem-solving capacity (Thanasoula, 1999:23). So, the ultimate goal of all our English language teaching is to train our students for communicative efficiency in the target language. In the complex process of language teaching, the interaction between teacher and students is considered to be extremely vital to the outcome of teaching and learning. Each time the student interacts with the teacher, heshe makes some contributions to the dynamics of the classroom teaching and learning.However, the communicative value of our teaching cannot be fully achieved if there is emphasis on controlled accuracy work. In learner-centered class, the teacher should shift hisher role from dominantly cramming linguistic knowledge such as vocabulary items and grammatical structures into students mind to guiding the students to apply what they have acquired to practical communication. It implies that the role of the teacher means a lot more than merely providing instruction and guidelines for students. In various types of classroom activities of language teaching, the teachers behavior and functions will be quite different. In language classroom” the modification which teachers make to their language, the questions they ask, the feedback they provide and the types of instructions and explanations they offer can all have an important bearing, not only on the effective management of the classroom, but also on the acquisition by learners of the target language “(Nunan, 1991:7)Therefore, the role of the teacher in learner-centered English language teaching class will depend to a large extent on the function he is expected to perform in different activities of classroom teaching. In the whole process of teaching and learning, the teacher is called upon to perform a variety of functions: teacher as manager and organizer, teacher as participant and language resource, teacher as facilitator, teacher as assessor and prompter, teacher as tutor, and teacher as observer, all of which will be put into detailed discussion in the following section3.1Teachers as manager and organizerIn a learner-centered system teacher must be the principal agent of curriculum development (Nunan, 1997:74). The task of the teacher is to create for students a right classroom atmosphere which is warm and stimulating and in which the students will feel confident and much motivated. Also, the teacher should take the responsibilities of organizing various kinds of activities and game which are appropriate, effective and relevant to the classroom teaching and which will best meet the students needs and expectations. The ultimate goal of this is to respond to the students interests and abilities so that they will be highly motivated to play the target in each stage of classroom activities. But the teacher should bear in mind that she he should give clear instructions as to what is to be done because the success of many activities, no matter whether it is a specific role-play or a group discussion, depends on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are expected to do (Harmer, 1983:202). Otherwise, it is impossible for the two parts of teaching.Teachers role as manager and organizer is considered to be the most important and difficult that the teacher has to play in class. Because when organizing any single activity, the teacher should take all the following responsibilities into account as telling the students what they are going to do, giving clear instructions about what the task is, getting the activity going smoothly and then organizing feedback when it is over. Otherwise, the students will not be able to perform their task satisfactorily.3.2 Teacher as participant and language resourceThe second role that the teacher is expected to fulfill in learner-centered English language teaching is participant and language resource. In any form of classroom activities that enable students to play with the language they have learned for efficient communication, the teacher should not isolate himherself from the students, for the whole process of teaching and learning of English involves the participation of both parts. With the participation in any of the intended classroom tasks, the teacher will not only help to improve the atmosphere in the class so as to raise students interest and motivation, but will also give the students an opportunity to practice English with someone who does better than they do.During the participation in classroom activities, the teacher is also expected to be the language resource. There is no doubt that it is the teachers responsibility to ensure necessary language input and to offer help whenever it is needed. The teacher should help students to acquaint themselves with the target language and culture. He should also make students aware that language is always learned for communicative purpose. During this process, the one is on the teacher to encourage students to produce their own language and to eradicate students errors so as to help students develop their own learning strategies and techniques both at the sentence level and the discourse level.3.3 Teacher as facilitatorIn order to train students ability to communicate effectively, the teacher should try every means to enable students to play to the best of their potentials. In this sense, one of the teachers main roles is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts. Facilitation involves encouragement and assisting. In traditional ELT, the teacher is the lecturer in class who places much emphasis on the amount of information heshe offers. However, in learner-centered curriculum, the teacher becomes a bridge between language input and output. His main task here shifts from pouring as much as possible into students mind to excavating all students potentials and promoting students understanding and using of English language, especially when students are anxious about his performance. The teacher should provide each individual student with opportunities to participate, to practice and to produce. He also need s to encourage each student when there is silence or when the student is not sure about his performance or about what to do next. This will enable the students to have deep in sight into their potentials and as a result they will become more self