Communication. Culture. Confidence.In this mini-lecture, I will discuss a few of the ways in which a teacher can create a culture that is most conducive to helping their students develop communicative competence as well as linguistic self-confidence.
I will do this by discussing three of the most important, and often overlooked, factors concerning second language development: Communication, Culture, and Confidence. As always, make sure you take the time to read the notes below as this might help you understand my mini-lecture a little more easily. Please watch the mini-lecture at the bottom of the page. |
What Does C Stand For?
Communication: The main reason people wish to learn a second language is related to their desire to communicate. So, as teachers, we need to not only think about lexis and grammar, but we also need to think about helping our students develop communicative competence in a range of different situations,
When thinking about communication, it might help to think about the way we communicate in different situations (e.g. at the bank, buying movie tickets, in a job interview), the way we communicate with different people (e.g. our partner, our boss, the server at the restaurant), and the way we communicate depending on the topic (e.g. talking about sport, talking about a date, discussing politics). Do we communicate the same way in every interaction?
Note: Make sure you are encouraging your students to engage in conversations and communicative acts to help facilitate communicative competence. It might also help to remind your students that English conversations may follow different protocols and conventions than those applied in their native tongue.
Culture: As you are probably aware, it is very difficult to separate language from culture. Both shape the way we see and interact with the world. This being true, it might be a good idea to incorporate culture (both the target language’s culture and the student’s own culture) into your lessons. This can be done by simply explaining cultural idiosyncrasies (e.g. If I sneeze in class I take this opportunity to teach my students to say ‘bless you’.), or by doing entire units on cultural icons or practices. You could also examine culture through literature, film, art, history, politics etc., if your students are old enough (and linguistically proficient enough).
However, these are not the only facets of culture we need to think about as teachers. In this lecture I am more interested in the culture of the classroom and learning environment. The culture that we, as teachers, can create will have a huge impact both on you and on the learners. This is because every class, every classroom, and every school/institution etc, have different learning environments, or cultures. Now, although many of the external factors (location, school policies etc.) that impact our classroom cultures are often way beyond our control, there are still many things we do have control over.
I believe it is our role as teachers to do as much as we can to promote a culture (the teacher's attitudes, role, and expectations + the students' attitudes, role, and expectations + learning environment = learning culture) that empowers and excites our students. A culture of acceptance, inclusion, and participation. A culture that is free from judgment and open to student input. A culture that values people and their ideas. These are the types of cultures that have been shown to facilitate learning.
Keep in mind that although teachers have a huge role to play in molding and shaping the culture of a class - it may not always be possible to implement a class culture as you envision it. It might also be the case that the culture you are striving for is sabotaged by students or parents (or other stakeholders) who are opposed to the culture you are striving for (e.g. your goal of encouraging open discussion may be at odds with the parents' concept of a culture that places the teacher as the provider of knowledge as opposed to a facilitator of discovery and development).
Do not be discouraged. As long as you are always trying to put your students first then you are doing the right thing!
Note: For more on the interaction between culture and language check out the lecture on Culture and Language on this site.
Confidence (+ Self-efficacy): One way we can really help our students is by helping them feel confident using their new language. This can be achieved by providing our students with: (a) positive reinforcement and useful feedback/feedforward, (b) sufficient practice and production opportunities to ensure that the student has a good command of the language that they wish to use, and (c) providing the chance to build confidence based on success (i.e. once the student proves they can communicate effectively, they will probably try to communicate more). The research exploring the relationship between success, self-efficacy, and motivation is pretty clear - when people experience success, they are more likely to pursue more success. As such, make sure you learners experience micro successes on a regular basis.
Communication: The main reason people wish to learn a second language is related to their desire to communicate. So, as teachers, we need to not only think about lexis and grammar, but we also need to think about helping our students develop communicative competence in a range of different situations,
When thinking about communication, it might help to think about the way we communicate in different situations (e.g. at the bank, buying movie tickets, in a job interview), the way we communicate with different people (e.g. our partner, our boss, the server at the restaurant), and the way we communicate depending on the topic (e.g. talking about sport, talking about a date, discussing politics). Do we communicate the same way in every interaction?
Note: Make sure you are encouraging your students to engage in conversations and communicative acts to help facilitate communicative competence. It might also help to remind your students that English conversations may follow different protocols and conventions than those applied in their native tongue.
Culture: As you are probably aware, it is very difficult to separate language from culture. Both shape the way we see and interact with the world. This being true, it might be a good idea to incorporate culture (both the target language’s culture and the student’s own culture) into your lessons. This can be done by simply explaining cultural idiosyncrasies (e.g. If I sneeze in class I take this opportunity to teach my students to say ‘bless you’.), or by doing entire units on cultural icons or practices. You could also examine culture through literature, film, art, history, politics etc., if your students are old enough (and linguistically proficient enough).
However, these are not the only facets of culture we need to think about as teachers. In this lecture I am more interested in the culture of the classroom and learning environment. The culture that we, as teachers, can create will have a huge impact both on you and on the learners. This is because every class, every classroom, and every school/institution etc, have different learning environments, or cultures. Now, although many of the external factors (location, school policies etc.) that impact our classroom cultures are often way beyond our control, there are still many things we do have control over.
I believe it is our role as teachers to do as much as we can to promote a culture (the teacher's attitudes, role, and expectations + the students' attitudes, role, and expectations + learning environment = learning culture) that empowers and excites our students. A culture of acceptance, inclusion, and participation. A culture that is free from judgment and open to student input. A culture that values people and their ideas. These are the types of cultures that have been shown to facilitate learning.
Keep in mind that although teachers have a huge role to play in molding and shaping the culture of a class - it may not always be possible to implement a class culture as you envision it. It might also be the case that the culture you are striving for is sabotaged by students or parents (or other stakeholders) who are opposed to the culture you are striving for (e.g. your goal of encouraging open discussion may be at odds with the parents' concept of a culture that places the teacher as the provider of knowledge as opposed to a facilitator of discovery and development).
Do not be discouraged. As long as you are always trying to put your students first then you are doing the right thing!
Note: For more on the interaction between culture and language check out the lecture on Culture and Language on this site.
Confidence (+ Self-efficacy): One way we can really help our students is by helping them feel confident using their new language. This can be achieved by providing our students with: (a) positive reinforcement and useful feedback/feedforward, (b) sufficient practice and production opportunities to ensure that the student has a good command of the language that they wish to use, and (c) providing the chance to build confidence based on success (i.e. once the student proves they can communicate effectively, they will probably try to communicate more). The research exploring the relationship between success, self-efficacy, and motivation is pretty clear - when people experience success, they are more likely to pursue more success. As such, make sure you learners experience micro successes on a regular basis.