Learner Autonomy and Freshman English

Professor Meei-ling Liaw, who came from National Taichung University English Department gave us a speech on learner autonomy and freshman Englsih. The topic focused on the use of technologies and other resources to foster learner autonomy. She also presented the concept of SALL (Self-access Language Learning) center which is a space where students can work independently, and materials are vaired so that users can work at their own pace according to their needs, preference, and learning styles. This kind of special learning space is very useful for supporting self-directed learning with an electronic learning environment. Both physical environment and virtual environment can help us learn English. The conclusion of the speech pointed out the importanc of  learner autonomy, learner independence, learner attitude, learning strategies, and learner empowerment or emancipation all can make a great impact on learning. I was very interested in professor Liaw’s excellent speech and learned a lot from her. Learning English is fun!

Grammar Teaching

Group Two (Shirley,  Cynthia, Christine) actually gave us a successful demostration with PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) approach to teach grammar. The grammar teaching is in an inductive way, that is the teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves. Their lesson plan is completely cohere with the goal and the whole process is smooth, so almost every students can fully participate in activities and enjoy the cheerful atmosphere in the class.

There are many models for planning a lesson, and all models have their advantages and disadvantages. Teachers should choose the appropriate way to teach depending on the lesson, class, level and learner styles. Grammar teaching can be interesting just like Group Two’s presentation which is different from the traditional way, Grammar Translation Method.

 I think it is difficult for us to make a compromise between the two extremes of a structured based curriculum and a purely communicative classroom when teaching grammar because both of them have their own excellences and shortcomings. For beginners of learning language, Grammar Translation Method might be used more than Communicative Approach.  For advanced learners, it is more suitable to use CA during all the classroom. However, it is necessary for teacher to use GTM to explain complicated structures or concepts to students in Taiwan, which is a test-oriented country.

Grammar seems not as concrete as daily usage. Teachers can design and offer tasks in real situation or more close to daily life to students, thus, student can learn how to apply what they have learned in the class to their life. It is so called meaningful learning.

Vocabulary Teaching

Even though Group One (Simon, Irene and Irene) only had a week to prepare for their presentation, they actually did a good job, and gave us a lesson sample of vocabulary teaching. Their demonstration provided a variety of teaching aids, such as the video, PowerPoint, flashcards, blackboard, ect. I was so surprised when their video was shown, because it was a very special way for a teacher to produce his/her own video to get students’ attention and mantain students’ motivation toward learning. However, I also felt confused during their performance, because it seemd there was no clear line between teaching, or no smooth transition. Then, when it comes to vocabulary teaching, I would like to present new words by using visual images like pictures to show concrete objects; thus, students can understand easily and memorize quickly. On the other hand, about abstract words, I would provide words in context or some example sentences to help students learn the words.

Craft or Science

For me, teaching is a science rather than a craft. Teaching requires organized knowledge and a kind of skill of an expert, so it is not just a simple occupation. Being a teacher is a complicated mission. For example, being teachers of foreign language should be familiar with three kinds of scientific knowledge. First, the teachers have to be familiar with educational psychology in order to help students learn efficiently and understand students more closely. Second, the teachers should master the foreign language they teach; hence they can be the model for the learners. Finally, the teachers must know all kinds of language teaching methdology to make learning and teaching more diversified and lively.                                                                       

My Teaching Philosophy and Beliefs

Carl Rogers, an American psychologist, suggested that there are three core teacher characteristics that help to creat an effective learning environment. These are respect, empathy and authenticity. When a teacher has these three qualities, I think the learning atmosphere is happy and free from stress. Therefore, the learners are able to work with less fear of taking risks or facing challenges. In doing this they increase their own self-esteem and gradually taking more and more of the responsibility for their own learning themselves rather than assuming that it is someone else’s job. Besides, for me, the more opportunities teachers can give students to practice English in the surroundings, the sooner students can get used to using English to communicate.

Hello world!

Welcome to Milly’s  inner world.

If you want to share your experiences or thoughts with me,

you can visit this world anytime.