Teaching Philosophy: Effective Language Learning

Michelle Ko
A classroom is a place full of diversity. It is a place where students can build genuine
friendships, grow, and accelerate academically. In order to teach a language effectively, I believe
that a teacher must create a comfortable classroom environment that is conducive to language
learning, encourage student interaction, and build rapport with the students. These three points
focus on my main ideas on how one can teach a language effectively.
My desire is to create a classroom environment where students can freely express
themselves and be open to their own thoughts. I believe that in order to teach a language
effectively, a teacher must first build rapport with their students. I feel that by establishing a
friendly classroom atmosphere, students will be able to feel more at ease and comfortable in the
classroom. The act of showing students that you care can help create a positive and supportive
relationship between a teacher and a student, and will ultimately help build an environment
where learning can flourish. I believe that in order to teach a language effectively, a teacher must
also have a global mind. They must understand and accept students who come from different
cultural backgrounds and gain mutual trust. To do this, a teacher must gain experience and
knowledge of different cultural backgrounds and have an open mind. Doing this will ultimately
help create a comfortable classroom environment for second language learners.
I believe that learning a new language should be a fun and enjoyable experience. In a
classroom setting, effective language learning can be accomplished by first encouraging student
interaction in the classroom. According to Long (1996), interaction is extremely vital when
learning another language. He mentions that by having students engage in real interaction, it can
help them have a reason to pay attention to what others are saying and can provide them with a

chance to negotiate meaning and understanding, which will eventually help them get better at
interacting in the L2. He also mentions that through the resulting interactions, learners will be
able to have more opportunities in understanding and using the language that was once
incomprehensible. This can help students receive more or different input and have more
opportunities for output (Swain, 1985, 1995). Student driven output is another way effective
language learning can be present in the classroom. Swains comprehensible output hypothesis
states that one indispensable condition is necessarily present if we are to guarantee the
facilitating role of output in L2 acquisition, and that is the forcing of the learner to produce
language. By having the students force themselves into producing language, they will be able to
slowly break through the thick barrier that is preventing them from fully acquiring a language.
According to Swain (2005), when students are given the opportunity to use the L2 for their own
purposes, they will naturally be more involved in using the language and become more interested
in learning how to use it more effectively. She states that output, combined with interaction
makes the L2 a usable thing, rather than just a subject to study. I agree with Swains statement
that output combined with interaction makes an L2 very useful. Learning a language as a subject
at school is usually not as fun for students. However, if interaction comes into play, students will
be able to express themselves more and be able to push for more output.
In order for student interaction and output to come into play, I believe that role play is a
great activity to do in the class. I believe that role play is an effective way to facilitate student
interaction since it requires a student to produce language spontaneously and forces them to
break through the barrier that prevents them from producing language, whereas dialogues only
make the student memorize the conversation and prevents them from expressing themselves.
When doing a role-play activity, I will have students pick from a deck of flashcards that have

different scenarios written on them. Then, I will have each student do the role-play with me oneon-one. By doing this, I will be able to monitor each students language proficiency and will be
able to help them one by one. I will also focus on giving meaning focused feedback by
rephrasing the errors in the students speech without directly telling them that they made a
mistake. Long (2007) asserts that although clearly not necessary for acquisition, recasts appear
to be facilitative, to work better than models, and to do so incidentally, without interrupting the
flow of conversation and participants focus on message content (pp. 94). I believe that through
recasting, students will be able to improve in the language without feeling discouraged or put
down. I will focus on giving positive feedback to my students and encourage them to speak out
more in the classroom. I feel that by doing this, students will be able to accelerate in their
language ability faster and will also have a fun learning experience.
My philosophy of teaching mainly focuses on how effective language learning can be
present in a language classroom. I believe that effective language learning can be done by first
building rapport with the students and creating a fun and enjoyable classroom environment. As
for teaching, the two main theories of teaching that I believe in comes mainly from Longs
(1981) interaction hypothesis and Swains (2005) comprehensible output hypothesis. I believe
that through interaction and student driven output, students will be able to improve in the L2
faster. I also agree with Long (2007) that recasting is a great way to help students focus on the
message of the content and helps them improve in the language without feeling discouraged.
When I become a language teacher, I plan to put all these theories into practice and will aim for
my students to improve in the language in a fast and effective way.

References:
Aparicio, Irene Alonso. "Long, M.H. 2007. Problems in SLA. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates. ISBN." (2008): 315-17. Web.
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In
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Diego: Academic Press.
Liddicoat, Anthony, and Angela Scarino. "Chapter 3/Second Language Acquisition,
Language Learning, and Language Learning within an Intercultural Orientation." Intercultural
Language Teaching And Learning. N.p. 2013. 36-40. Print.
Mackey, Alison. "INPUT, INTERACTION, AND SECOND LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT." An Empirical Study of Question Formation in ESL: 557-87. 1999. Web.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: some roles of comprehensible input and
comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass and C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second
language acquisition (pp. 235-253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Swain, M. (2005). The output hypothesis: Theory and research. In E. Hinkel (Ed.),
Handbook of research in second language learning and teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.