MY INTERVENTION POINT

My intervention points:

“Students’ lack of confidence and fear when communicating a message in the foreign language”

“Negative attitudes due to the Lack of practice in oral skills”

Entry one:

“When I began the class, I attempted to speak in English but my students got shocked. They told me they had never heard a teacher communicating with them in that foreign language. Because the other teacher taught them only grammar”

“I have to do my best in order to change negative attitudes and behaviors towards learning this beautiful language”

Entry two:

“I also noticed there were students who expressed frustration because they did not understand what they had to do”

“The debate started, everyone was ashamed because they were not confident with the pronunciation of some words”

Entry three:

“In fact, most of the students were afraid of failing, nevertheless there were some of them who were willing to learn from their mistakes”

“When I saw my students ‘attitudes, I told them I understood it was not easy due to the lack of chances they had to interact in English, but also I mentioned it was not impossible and that I was not a “punisher” but I would provide guide and support in their learning”

“I was concerned because the other students were quiet”

Entry four

“Most of the tenth graders are characterized as “lazy or uncommitted” but I hoped to obtain their active participation in class”

“At the beginning of this exercise for some students it was difficult because they had never been told how to pronounce in English, and some questions were not clear for them”

I PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING ACTION PLAN: 

  1. Implementation of instruments such as self-observation and a survey to confirm the problem.

  2. To identify the causes of the problem by the implementation of an interview.

  3. To produce hypothesis about possible approaches that could help solve the problem

  4. To apply different approaches to try to solve the problem such as humanism, cooperative learning and task-based learning

  5. Creating strategies to counteract the problem. Bellow you can find possible strategies to raise the confidence, change negative attitudes and overcome students’ fears when communicating a message in the foreign language:

  a.       To develop cooperative learning (promoting negotiation of meaning, asking for clarification and other techniques to obtain feedback from peers)

  b.      To avoid direct correction of errors. (use of recasting, modeling, etc)

  c.       To promote peer monitoring

  d.      To promote a value-laden environment based on democracy, and values such as respect, love, responsibility and tolerance. This will might help to encourage language production.

  e.      Implementation of interesting material (could be authentic or adapted)
  f. To provide guidance and support in the development of oral skills
  g. To implement games to increase confidence and relaxation to communicate a message in the foreign language.
  h. To make deal with students about the process of using the foreign language.
  j.  To encourage the students by making them feel important in the class. Additionally, the teacher should appreciate the students' efforts (offering congratulations, rewarding with prizes etc).

  6. Writing and applying lesson plans to carry out the strategies proposed previously.

  7.  Reflection in, on and for action

  8. Writing a teaching journal to analyze if the intervention was successful or not, as well as to write my understandings about the students’ learning and improvement.

  9. Reexamine my perspectives and considering some changes of strategies to attempt to solve the problem.

   TO CLARIFY WHY HUMANISM COULD BE ONE POSSIBLE APPROACH TO KEEP IN MIND.

   

      A possible factor of students’ attitudes and low confidence could be the development of a high affective filter in most of the students. Therefore, the introduction of humanism in class might provide strategies to solve the main issue.

According to Curran (1976) Humanism “Views the language class as a community in which the learners builds up trust and interactive relationships with other members to enhance language learning”

With this in mind, teachers should provide a good environment by building safe relationships in the classroom. Hence, teachers become facilitators and offer a nice learning atmosphere.

According to Paul Bress (2005) the humanistic teacher is someone who is aware of possible changes that could benefit the performance and behavior of the students.

Moreover, teachers will be aware of the individual learners' 'developmental readiness' (Piaget, 1970, as cited in Paul Bress in 2005). This is really worthy to understand and decide when and how to teach according to the students learning styles. Finally, humanistic teachers attempt to seek the factors that affect the motivation of every learner and reflect on the differences.

References

 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/humanistic-language-teaching

EXPLORING TEACHERS´ BELIEF

DIRECTIONS: On an individual basis, read carefully the metaphor narrative, the four journal entries and the autobiography you posted on your personal blog. In a new blog entry, respond to the following questions:

1.     What beliefs or assumptions about language learning and language teaching have you held throughout your English language development and your teaching career? (You are expcted to support those assumptions with references taken from your journal, metaphor narrative and autobiography)

h    BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING

     English learning conveys cooperative learning, active participation, and creativity.

-I decided to challenge my students to create a debate. (journal 2)

-Everyone was active and their participation was fruitful. (journal 2)

-one of my students asked me if she could help me with the attendance list… It was funny but also it was fantastic to see my students are taking active roles in the classroom. (journal 3)

-I asked the students to communicate their daily routines but in a creative way. Thus, I displayed some options such as an explanation through a drawing, a song, a guessing game, a role play, in a written form etc. I thought it was a good start to work with different learning styles. (journal 3)

-I hoped to obtain their active participation in class. (Journal 4)

English Learning is developed when is purposeful and matches real life. 

-My third pillar is to teach English as a foreign language for a real purpose. So that I wish my students could express their feelings and interact socially using the target language. In this way, students have opportunities to reflect on their community problems and necessities (my metaphor)

-This teacher decided to interact with the students in English and made us use it for real purposes. (autobiography)

English learning is an ongoing process that passes through different stages that are embellished along with motivation, commitment and values.   

-My class must be surrounded by moral principles. Values such as respect, responsibility, love, cooperation and honesty are practiced in every single class (My Metaphor)

-students seemed to be enthusiastic and willing to learn new things (journal 1)

-I raised their motivation by giving them some extra points. (journal 1)

-My students told me I was a clown and had a lot of fun indeed. They imitated the same gestures and understood the message correctly. (journal 3)

-there were some of them who were willing to learn from their mistakes. (journal 3)

-Moreover students were excited and eager to learn. (journal 3)

-they showed interest and were keen to carry out the activity in English. (journal 4)

-I realized when students are motivated they are capable and eager to do many things in order to learn this foreign language. For this reason I passed to listen to them and felt the necessity to reward then with some extra positive points. Of course, they felt more committed and earnest in English class. (journal 4)

-English was my favorite class (autobiography)

I really enjoyed teaching them because they were open-minded, joyful, fun and willing to do whatever to learn such as playing games, singing songs, making role plays and so on. (autobiography)

English learning is embellished by practice

-your students must love your classes because you find the balance between having fun and making the learn by practice. (Sergio Garcia's comment, journal 2)

-After that brief explanation, I said “without practice no knowledge” So it’s time to use this! (journal 4)

-when they switched turns and continue interviewing other classmates, they learnt the pronunciation, and the questions and answers where more fluid. (journal 4)

-I used to learn vocabulary every day. Hence, I just needed an opportunity to interact, communicate and share my knowledge with others. (autobiography)

Learning English needs the family’s support

-the support from the families play an important role to develop our careers. (Leidy Diana’s comment in autobiography)

-I had what I needed, my “parents’ support”. (autobiography)

 BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING

English teaching enhances students’ skills to criticize and propose strategies to enhance their learning process

-I consider my students must be people that are able to analyze, reflect and propose in their Efl learning process.(my metaphor)

-The next day, when I was going to get into the classroom all the students arranged the chairs in a circle by themselves. So I was surprised they took that decision, but at the same time was happy because it seemed they felt more comfortable studying in such way. (journal 3)

-Sebastian told me he had looked up the words in the dictionary and tried to write the message in English. (journal 3)

English teachers are characterized for being decision-makers, creative and resourceful

-I made a deal with them, sometimes I spoke in English and when it was necessary I spoke in Spanish.(journal 1)

-I told them we were going to play a game but they had to work in groups and I assigned the people for each team. (journal 1)

-Accordingly, I used some exercises to increase their confidence when talking. (journal 2)

The previous class I asked my students to work in a circle because the classroom was too small for them and for me (journal 3)

-Sixth graders are very noisy and talkative, that is why, I prepared a song called “baby shark” to catch their attention and manage the class since the beginning of the class.  (journal 3)

-I modeled a way to tell a routine with gestures as well. Later, I asked my students if they had understood but most of them answer “so, so”. Due to this, I changed the example with one of my students, she told her routine with my help. (journal 3)

-In the plan it was supposed to be done in the classroom, but when I realized the school basketball court was empty, I decided to work with the students there (journal4)

-I learned to be more creative, caring, adaptable, determined, engaging, joyful and have a good group manage. (autobiography)

Teaching English involves knowing the learning context and reflection upon social issues and cultures

-l2 learners must have the opportunity to reflect on their social environment and have spaces to build their own identities and ideologies that endorse the improvement of their target language using it in real life.(my metaphor)

-I met marvelous students and teachers who helped me comprehend the community was important in the process of teaching and learning… it was time to start a research on social issues that affect positively or negatively in the English learning. (autobiography)

English teaching involves mutual support from students and teachers

-extra help, increases the students motivation, and they will feel more confident when speaking next time. (Natalia's comment, journal 1)

-I realized my students were talented, collaborative and smart people who are able to solve problem in and out of the classroom. (journal 1)

-I like to listen to my students and attempt to support them when they have any problem. I try to advise them but correct them as well (comment of my own journals)

-My role was to guide, scaffold and support the students in the pronunciation of the words. (journal 2)

-When I was observing the students I realized some of them participated more than others, they were leaders and provided many positive things in the group. In fact, they cooperated and supported other students with lower levels (journal 2)

English teacher should be open-minded

-I tend to be creative and open-minded to tackle the classroom reality. (metaphor)

-therefore, I made a deal with them, sometimes I spoke in English and when it was necessary I spoke in Spanish. (journal 1)

-I said to not worry about that and proposed other ways that could fit their learning style and preferences. (journal 3)

-I understood I could modify or change the methodologies according to the learning context. (autobiography)

English teacher attitudes contribute to make the learning processes enjoyable and easier.

-that humor should be one of the main pillars to achieve a well environment in the classroom (Hans' comment, metaphor narrative)

-The first thing I feel is necessary when teaching English is “Humor”. Since the first moment you get into the classroom till the last second of class. (my methaphor)

-“teacher, you are the more pretty and the more intelligent, good teacher, thank you” (journal 3)

-In that moment I felt grateful and proud of my job (Journal 3)

-He was well-prepared and had a lot of fun with us. (autobiography)

-Leidy was very creative, friendly and responsible in every class. (autobiography)

-I’m aware of the difficulties for obtaining quick outcomes, but this is a process where we as teachers must be patient and persistent. (my metaphor)

English teaching embraces new challenges to understand needs, beliefs, and differences in the learning context.

 -let me tell you that these challenges help us to be better teachers… Sometimes, we have to deal with some situations, taking into account our students' needs and apply the necessary strategies to engage them into learning (Ana Milena's comment, journal 1)

-you are a very good teacher who deals with new challenges from a positive perspective. (Ana Cecilia's comment, journal 1)

-I told them I understood it was not easy due to the lack of chances they had to interact in English, but also I mentioned it was not impossible and that I was not a “punisher” but I would provide guide and support in their learning. (journal 3)

English teaching should focus on learner-centered practices

-I like student-centered classes, because I love when my students are active and participate to enrich the class. I do not want my students to be passive and quiet. I do not want “Good pets” that imitate or please their “owners” (my metaphor)

Teaching English must be purposeful and have a plan

-To begin with, my purpose for that class was to make my students identify and describe two places: the city and the country. As they live in a rural area, I wanted to know their beliefs and thoughts about each one of these places. (journal 1)

-I told my students the main purpose of the class and the activities we were going to follow. As well as the challenges they had to tackle, they had to use the foreign language to talk about the activities that were part of their daily routine (journal 3)

-I told them about the objectives and the activities planned for this class. (journal 4)

English teachers can be professional models

-I admired my English teacher and wanted to be like him. (autobiography)

-All what we do in class would be reflected in our students and that somehow we are models for the learners. (Leidy Diana’s comment in autobiography)

2. What sources have you derived those beliefs or assumptions from?

My assumptions about language learning and teaching have been constructed mainly through theory and practice. I think it is essential to have theoretical basis to start with the action itself. 

As time goes by my beliefs change or get strengthened due to the experience I get when implementing those methods or approaches I learned at the University. Therefore, the more chances you have to apply those assumptions the more knowledge and improvements you obtain into your teaching practice. 

Additionally, my beliefs have been also built upon my constant contact with my students who are the main focus of my work and the principal factor that shape my teaching practice. 

Another source is my peers. Hence, when I see that their strategies are worthy I attempt to use them or adapt them to the learning context. Finally, the influence of my professors from University has taken part in the process of constructing such assumptions or beliefs because they could be models or become inspiration in my work.

3.  How would you challenge some of those beliefs?

In my opinion, I would challenge those beliefs through the reflective teaching, colleagues, students and action research.

First of all, reflective teaching is a good way to assess those assumptions, so that this helps me to reflect on what works and does not work in my teaching practice. As Dewey states (1933, as mentioned in Pollard and Tann, 1995) “Reflective teaching evaluates and revises your own practice continuously”. 

Moreover, reflection goes along with action research because this facilitates to find the main problem of learning or teaching. 

Additionally, my students are the main source to confirm those beliefs because they display the real results obtained during the action. 

Finally, I think my colleagues could give me some insights, opinions and also suggestions to improve those assumptions previously mentioned.

jj