A Handbook
Of
Communicative
Methodology:
Learning to Teach/
Teaching to Learn
The principle purpose of education is to improve the quality of learning.
The English Department,
Guyuan Teachers College,
Ningxia Province, 756000,
People's Republic of China,
2002.
Preface
Introduction
Action Planning
Part One:
Classroom management: creating a good environment for learning:
Motivation: your enthusiasm; using your students' strengths for the benefit of all.
-using facilities educationally: arrangement of furniture; wall-displays; blackboard; O.H.P.s; pictures; tape-recorder.
-Beginnings: punctuality; outline of lesson; review; humour/encouragement.
-Endings: strategies; humour/encouragement; previewing; your evaluation.
-managing oral work: asking questions - teachers' questions and students' questions; pair and group work/ encouraging discussion-skills;
-Cao Hongmei's Action Plan about motivation.
Part Two:
Lesson planning:
-teacher-centred and student-centred learning;
-structure of a lesson plan;
-a lesson plan;
-one teacher's (Ma Jie) Action Plan to improve Lesson Planning;
-Ma Jie's evaluation;
Part Three:
Monitoring, evaluation and assessment of students' learning:
What distinguishes the three forms of judgement?
Monitoring: when, how and why; marking homework: three examples; what have we learnt? monitoring with learning-partners.
Evaluation: commenting on a student's work.
Li Xiaoyu's Action Plan about Monitoring and Evaluation
Part Four:
Tips for teaching traditional English tasks communicatively within the Chinese examination system:
Cloze-procedure; listening comprehension; dictation.
Glossary
Useful Web-page Addresses
Preface:
China is a developing country and it doesn't just need teachers, it needs great teachers. It needs the kind of teacher you can be. It needs teachers who will study hard, think carefully, act with deliberation and care, and be able to meet the demands of the future with their students. Teaching is one of the most important ways to enable a country to develop and therefore the job you are about to do is one of the most important in China today.
The Chinese government has made a great commitment to education, especially in the countryside Provinces like Ningxia, and in the area of English teaching: it is committed to developing more communicative methods in the classroom and therefore needs new methodologies to suit its purpose more efficiently. Although at the moment some of these methods clash with the current examination system, signs are that China's teachers of tomorrow (you, in other words) will be adopting an even more flexible approach to the teaching and learning of English in the future. Already, Listening is examined. Soon it is likely that other areas will be developed in this way, like Oral English for example. In Beijing, educational reforms are already underway and the new teacher needs to be aware of the latest developments intended to be made compulsory in 2005. You need to be prepared for teaching these changes. The government is relying on its teachers to do a good job in old and new respects to help Chinese citizens take their place on the world stage. By teaching English communicatively, you have a special role to play in the future of your country, so whether you are going to teach in a tiny country village or in a big city, just remember to be proud of yourself and what you are doing.
Teaching is a difficult job. It requires strong and gifted people with vision. It requires people to care about students, to care about English, to care about the future of the country. Your country. It requires you, in other words. If you have already got this far, you have done very well already. Now your job is to continue with that wonderful effort and make the most of your opportunities for you and your family, for your students - and, of course, for China.
Good luck!
Introduction:
The traditions of learning in China and the West:
From the time of Kong-zi, China has always cared about education, and seen it as a way of helping the population to increase their knowledge and understanding. Teachers have always been respected because of their knowledge, and these days that knowledge is very important as it will help China in its development programme.
Learning in China has traditionally been quite different from some methodologies in the West. Most methodologies concentrate on understanding, but use different ways of getting there. This Handbook will be showing you one way of teaching, drawn from many different approaches and ranges of experience, all of which have a long research history (see more about that in the section on Action Research and also below*).
The purpose of this Handbook:
This Handbook is about teaching, and specifically teaching English in a communicative way. Teaching or learning a language communicatively is more than about transmitting and receiving knowledge about English. It's more than knowing about grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and intonation, spelling, speaking and listening, reading and writing. It's about knowing how to communicate your understanding to others in order that they understand the language and enjoy learning it well. Let's face it, if you don't enjoy learning, you don't learn much yourself, so try to remember that when you're teaching. Your students want to enjoy their English lessons with you and it's your job to help them do so.
Who is this Handbook for?
Its primary focus is on student-teachers of English, but it will have relevant aspects for in-service teachers as well. Although it is mostly for English teachers adopting communicative methods, many of the processes recommended in this Handbook are relevant to all teachers. This is because it deals with issues to do with classroom management, lesson planning and evaluation, which are the content of all teachers' work.
The methodology used in this Handbook:
This Handbook relies for its processes on an educational methodology called Action Research. Put simply, Action Research enables individual teachers to answer questions like: How can I improve this process of teaching here? in order to help their students learn more effectively. It is particularly useful in improving communicative methods in the classroom. You will find that there are many occasions in which there won't be a set answer to a question you might have in your teaching, but only a range of solutions, or ways of finding those solutions. As you gain in experience and confidence, you will find yourself able to make better choices in your actions, based on greater insight and a realisation of the complexity of teaching in real classrooms.
As you probably already realise, you learn differently from your own classmates and colleagues. Perhaps you learn best through reading. Maybe your friend learns most effectively through reflection. Others have a preference for learning by doing rather than thinking about it. Because all students learn in different ways, this Handbook will alert you to the kind of decision-making you should become familiar with in order to be flexible in your approach to students' learning. If all your students have different ways of understanding things, you are going to need to develop complex and varied strategies in order to cope with them all. The mark of a good teacher in this methodology is one who learns flexibility in managing the learning of all the students in the classroom.
The Organisation of this Handbook:
First you will read about the process called Action Research. I have placed this first because I want you to think about it whilst studying the other parts of the book. Action Research is a way of thinking and acting in teaching, so you need to bear it in mind all the time.
After that the Handbook is divided into four parts:
1)Classroom Management,
2)Lesson Planning
3)Monitoring and Evaluation of students' learning;
4)Specific tips about teaching English in the current examination system.
As you work through the Handbook you will find some expressions which you might find difficult. In order to make some ideas more clear, you will find some words and phrases are underlined, and that means that they are listed at the back of the Handbook in a Glossary (which means a word list by the way). Let's hope this helps you.
The Handbook finishes with a list of helpful web-page addresses for teaching which you should find useful. It is not a comprehensive list, but might give you a chance to see some more detail about the areas in this Handbook that interest you.
Just try to remember this, too.
One of the biggest problems for Chinese teachers is managing communicative methods within an examination system, which still determines processes as well as outcomes. Although this is gradually changing, coursebooks are often rigid with set-ways of doing things and it is difficult for teachers to be flexible and innovative. Compromise is an important aspect of any new methodology, and a clever teacher will adapt the methods discussed in this Handbook to what is truly practical within her/his classroom. The final part of this Handbook will help you specifically in this area of methodology.
Good Luck!
Action Planning:
I would imagine that you care about teaching well. I think everyone who teaches in the classroom wants to be a success. I would imagine that you care about your students doing well in examinations and enjoying the processes of learning in the classroom with you. I also imagine Action Planning can help you in your job.
Action Planning is a process by which you can improve what it is you are doing in the classroom. It starts with a question: How can I improve this process of education here? It never ends, because there is always something to improve. Once you have solved one problem, then you can go onto the next. The great advantage of using this method is that it helps you to focus on practical ways of solving problems in your teaching.
Action Planning is a collaborative activity. It works best if you have someone with whom to discuss your ideas. So, if you can, find someone to be your learning-partner, someone you trust, someone who will help you discuss and go through the situations you want to improve. Using the following plan will help you. It is used in many countries in the world to improve teaching. It's used in Australia, New Zealand, American, Britain, Germany, France - and it's also used in Guyuan Teachers College by many staff in the English department. We (Guyuan Teachers College) are hoping that it will become more widespread throughout China as it offers an effective way of improving practice.
Here's the Action Plan with some comments about how to fill in each section. You will need to write down the questions for yourself and then write down the answers after talking them through with your learning-partner. Don't try to write them without discussion. It always helps to make your own learning more clear if you discuss it with others. And try doing this in English, as it will be good practice for your teaching later on!
1) What do I want to improve in my teaching?
You should pick just one area of your teaching that concerns you, and not too big a one either. So don't choose Classroom Management because that's a huge area with lots of different aspects. You could pick instead one aspect you'd like to improve, like your blackboard skills, or how to organise the furniture. So, one response to the question might be the question: How can I improve my blackboard skills? (For some tips on this, go to the sections on Blackboard Skills and Tips for Teaching English later on in the Handbook.)
2) Why am I concerned about it?
This question is important because it helps you understand what it is that matters to you about your chosen question - How can I improve my blackboard-skills? Knowing why something matters to us can help us to be clearer about what we can do to improve it. Do you want to improve your blackboard skills in order to make your main teaching points clearer? Do you want students who learn better through reading to have a chance to back up their learning from what you have been saying? Do you want to give the students something to copy so that they will be able to learn the main points better? Do you want to organise their learning more effectively? Do you want students to have a better chance of understanding the lesson so that they will learn more and become more confident in their use and comprehension of English? Whatever the reasons for your concern, knowing them will help you structure your blackboard skills more effectively.
3) How might I improve it?
You might read books with examples of blackboard drawings. You might ask your classmates and teachers what they think? You might practice writing and drawing on the blackboard during the break. You might study the way different teachers do it and work out which methods would work best for you. You might practice designing blackboards for different grammar points and asking your classmates and teachers for feedback.
4) Who can help me and how?
Perhaps your learning-partner could help you by listening to your questions and clarifying your solutions. Your teachers/colleagues could give you some tips on how to tackle the problems you face. They could tell you which parts of your blackboard skills are unclear and need improvement.
5) How will I know that it has improved?
There are lots of ways you can tell if your blackboard skills have improved. Your students' learning will be clearer and they will understand more. Perhaps their test results will improve. They won't ask so often what you mean by what you are writing on the board. You will feel more confident about your blackboard skills. Your students will be more focused on what you are doing. They will be able to read your writing more easily. They will feel more confident about your abilities as a teacher.
So, there are five questions, which you should try to ask yourself when you are teaching and planning to teach (see Section on Lesson Planning). The above gives you some idea about how to think about being in the classroom. If you can try to bear this in mind throughout the reading of this Handbook, and then in your teaching itself, you will find it very helpful. The method of Action Research really does help individual professionals to improve what they are doing and give you confidence in your teaching. And if you are confident in yourself, your students will be confident in you as well.
How do students learn and teachers teach?
Differently! Every person learns differently, and a good teacher learns how to accommodate their teaching style to suit the range of learners in the classroom. Some students learn by reading, some by thinking. Others learn by writing or through actions. Some students learn through looking. Before you read on, consider how you learn, and then see how the different pieces of advice given later in this Handbook seem to apply to your particular style or not. Not only do students have different learning styles, but teachers have preferred teaching styles which are related to how they learn. Try to bear that in mind as you read through the Handbook.
Classroom Management:
This is perhaps the most significant aspect of your teaching as it includes many different areas of activity. Classroom management means the way you organise every task and activity in the learning process. The aim of classroom management is to improve the quality of learning with the students. Everything you do in the classroom - from the organisation of the chairs and desks and strategies for motivating students, to the setting of homework and marking it - should be to help the students learn. Good classroom management leads to students who learn effectively and deeply with enthusiasm. Poor classroom management leads to students who don't understand both the task and the reasons for it and gain little pleasure from the learning process. As you will obviously want to be good at classroom management, you need to take notice of all the following ideas and see how you can use them to the best effect in your classroom.
Motivation:
Educational motivation I perceive as a desire to learn or teach well. As teachers, of course you will want your students to want to learn. Some of you will teach in poor country areas where there are few facilities. Managing the motivation of your students is a huge task for you to develop in your methodology. Many teachers, when they make Action Plans about their teaching, are concerned about how they can motivate their students. They ask questions like: How can I motivate my students better in their learning so that they will learn more effectively? The following sections try to offer helpful solutions to the problem of motivation in and out of the classroom. If you manage motivation well, you will have solved many of the difficulties of learning in your classroom, so you should accord motivation a high status in your methodology. You should think about how your methods will be felt by your students.