Intervention point

My intervention point is lack of participation

Journal entry 1

The teacher was struggling to keep students focus on the activities they were asked to do. However, students were reluctant to do the first activity. Even though the activity was easy for them to do, they took too much time to do it.

Journal entry 2

The teacher wrote some exercises and then he wrote in a corner of the board: positive points. I have to say that before the teacher wrote that deep little phrase, students (most of them) were kind of reluctant to participate in the activity. 

Problem solve

Since the problem was detected in class observation (I did not apply the class but observed them), it would be required a set of steps in which each of them has a specific objective. Thus, the problem would not only be identified and described but also it would be addressed in terms of reflection on action. It means that according to this experience it is compulsory to come up with a series of phases to solve the problem.

Action plan: Action research

Step 1. Identification: Once the problem has been identified it is relevant to go back to the journal and identify the possible roots of it. Though, the problem is not only contextualized but also we can also pin point what are the causes of the problem.

Step 2. Survey implementation: in this phase a survey is going to be implemented so as to “hear students’ voices”. The questions would be addressed in the sense to get relevant information about the source of their lack of participation. Do you like to participate in class, why? Why not?  What are the activities you are more comfortable with? What kind of activities would you like the teacher applied in the classroom? Do you feel afraid of participating in front of your classmates? Why? Notice that the questions are made with two purposes, first: to have a wider knowledge of students’ lack of participation and second: to have a clear idea of the activities the teacher could apply to tackle the issue.

Step 3. Implementation: Once the teacher has detected the source and the possible solution for the issue through the survey outcomes, the next step would be the implementation of the techniques and activities that the teacher have thought of.

Step 4. Reflection: To know exactly if the implementation was successful, it is essential to write down a journal in which the teacher expressed what was the students’ behavior in the sense of the activity an if they were active at participating or not. 

Exploring teachers' beliefs

My beliefs

1.      “Language teaching has become in a “science” and people have worried to develop new approaches and techniques to get the most out of learners’ skills”.

 “Teachers have developed a bunch of theories and methods to make language learning as suitable as possible for every single person in the world”. (Excerpt from my metaphor)

“Hence, the role of teachers is to make the language learning process easier for them in terms of the variety of approaches and methods we can apply in the classroom to make it enjoyable”. (Excerpt from my metaphor)  

“The success of a foreign language students is equivalent to the effort that the teacher make in terms of the decisions he/she does when implementing the materials and tools in a EFL setting”.

“Sometimes we get used to the same classes, the same strategies that we do not innovate our practices”. (comment from Ana M. from my autobiography )

“The teacher started his class by recalling what they have learned in the previous class. The teacher wrote some exercises and then he wrote in a corner of the board: positive points. I have to say that before the teacher wrote that deep little phrase, students (most of them) were kind of reluctant to participate in the activity. Then, students started to become more active. This totally blow my mind. How can a little phrase be as relevant as it was, and how that phrase just turn around the whole class. This can be taken as a strategy for students to be motivated (for a praise) and to be active agents of the class. Moreover, the fact that the positive points were given in public raise students’ confidence and somehow self-steam.” (excerpt from my 3^rd journal entry)

2.      “When language teaching is taking place, we have to bear in mind the context in which it is happening”.

“The teacher was struggling to keep students focus on the activities they were asked to do. However, students were reluctant to do the first activity. Even though the activity was easy for them to do, they took too much time to do it. They did not express themselves about the classroom being hot, but I realized because they were waving their shirts to make themselves coolers”. (Excerpt from my 2^nd journal entry)

“Though, the sort of activities have to be well structured according to external issues students have namely: social class, cultural matters, parents relationships, etc”. (Excerpt from conceptualizing teaching questions)

“This is also reflected in our educational contexts, for instance, the way teachers and students interact, attitudes and behaviors as well as friendships and love in the classroom”.(a comment from Noryda  from my autobiography)

3.      “The particularities of each student might provide a wide range of information in terms of the abilities or drawbacks each students’ have”.

“As a compass is relevant for us to have a clear idea what students really want to learn taking advantage of their particular skills. It means that is compulsory for us to acknowledge what students feel more comfortable and confident with to take the most out of them in the sense of L2 learning”. (Excerpt from my metaphor)

“When teaching, learning does not necessarily happen, however learners are aware of the relevance of education, even if they think education is not worthwhile they somehow are reflecting and reflection is part of the learning process. Thus, the effect would be positive or negative according to the students’ particularities”. (Conceptualizing teaching)

4.       “Learning has convey the knowledge not to be static but dynamic, it has made that education, economy, technology, science, evolved in such fast way we do not realize yet”.

“Another fact was that in an oral (memorize a prayer) activity they were required to fulfill as a part of evaluation, was that a big percentage of the girls were using their cellphones to practice”. (excerpt from my 1^st journal entry)

“Finally, language learning must be taken not just as a mechanic or a rigid process. Learning is dynamic and language learning is not the exception”.

What sources have you derived those beliefs or assumptions from?

There are some things that we can assume through our experience in English teaching. Through time and experience, those beliefs are molded and most important I followed my English program teachers’ beliefs of teaching. Although they never talked about them explicitly, now I can clearly deduce they were teaching us not only language structures and theory but also they were shaping our teaching signature. Moreover, there is no need to cite researchers that have developed new techniques and approaches in terms of EFL language learning and teaching since it would probably take me more than 100 blogs to fill in with. Furthermore, in the sense of language learning as a dynamic process, Krashen (1981) stated that language learning is a dynamic process consisting of three stages, namely input, central processing and output. Thus, by combining those stages language is transformed in a dynamic process since it is shaped according to the L2 learner needs.

How would you challenge those beliefs?

Nowadays teachers must become more open-minded and try to fit in a world of constant change. Of course, language learning and teaching is not the exception for this premise. Undoubtedly, my experience as a teacher would test my practices in the classroom and my changing pedagogy with my students. By changing pedagogy, I mean that in order to get my students motivated and willing to learn EFL I must look for different strategies and approaches to be updated and to recognize what students feel more comfortable with. Moreover, as language learning is dynamic, teachers must be dynamic as well and this challenge is easy to surpass by trying not to do the same classes in the same order. For this not to happen, it is compulsory to be reflective, it is relevant to look back and change not only the things that we do wrong but also to modify the things that we do in a right way.   

Beliefs

English

It is not a top secret that English has become in the language that allows people to communicate with the outside world. Hence, it is a priority for people not only to learn the language but also to learn how to use it in context. Moreover, it has to be said that English is not only an isolated language, it is also about culture and behavior, it is about being open-minded and being somehow respected. From my perspective, English has given by some means power to society. That is to say that by learning English as a language people has learned to expand their boundaries in the sense of knowledge and for some people in an economic way (since the majority of the business made for foreign companies are held in English). So, we must not take English slightly, it is not only words, it is the language people has chosen to close the world boundaries.

Learning

Learning exists since the raise of the man as a human being. Our ancestors had to learn how to protect themselves from the danger, from the cold, they had to learn hot hunt, and how to use fire properly. They were the first “people” on earth they learned from experience. Learning from observation, learning by doing without any assistance. Though, this empiric knowledge and expertise passed from generation to generation creating another kind of learning. The learning we receive from someone that is expert in any field. The give us the steps we require to get to the top, to be successful at anything we want to be good at. Learning has convey the knowledge not to be static but dynamic, it has made that education, economy, technology, science, evolved  in such fast way we do not realize yet.

Teaching

By teaching we can say that is the process of providing knowledge that a particular person has. This knowledge can be acquired from an empiric person or more in a more formal way from school or university. However, for this to take place, the person is required to have some abilities to be able to give information as clear as possible. In education, it is called pedagogy. Pedagogy are the techniques, approaches, methods we use in a learning setting. Teaching also has to do with the methods and approaches people can use to be as innovative as possible. However, teaching is not just about to teach specific subjects, a good teaching goal is to teach apprentices to use that knowledge in particular situations. Teaching is about how to tackle possible issues not by giving them the explicit solution but by teaching them how to be resourceful.

Language teaching

Language teaching has become in a “science” and people have worried to develop new approaches and techniques to get the most out of learners’ skills. For this to come, they have done much research in terms of language teaching and learning. Hence, with the seen outcomes, we can think on what approaches or techniques are more suitable for our students. Likewise, when language teaching is taking place, we have to bear in mind the context in which it is happening. The particularities of each student might provide a wide range of information in terms of the abilities or drawbacks each students have. However, it is easier for use to tackle the issues L2 learners may have when learning English. Nonetheless, language skills is not only about students skills, as I mentioned before, it has to do with context in which the L2 is taking place. Thus, issues regularly come to light in a setting class namely, social class. To sum up, language teaching is a wide range of approaches, techniques, methodologies, etc. which we can take them as a support for students’ L2 success taking into account the particularities in which they are developing their language skills.