Adrienne Cardoza Beliefs paper Wallace TESOL 427

Beliefs Paper

I would like to start off by saying that I dont think any one method of teaching speaking is the right way to teach. I base my philosophy of the hopes of teaching English in either Japan or Korea, so I have a monolingual one culture classroom in mind. This being said, I will make my decisions on my personal philosophy in a general manner that will hopefully be applicable to all of my future teaching situations. My goal as a teacher is to help my students to be able to communicate in the target language (English). However, unlike most people (who think communication is only listening and speaking) I believe that all major language skills (Reading, writing, grammar, speaking, listening) are required for full and complete communication to take place. Students should learn proper grammar rules and have a large lexis; this will help students to have more confidence in their speaking abilities. I have found through the survey that many students find grammar to be the hardest aspect of speaking properly. Though grammar should be worked on and practiced, it should not be suggested in the classroom that the students grammar must always be correct, this I find, hinders the students ability to feel comfortable enough to speak in a more fluent manner. Students should feel comfortable enough that they dont get bothered by small mistakes and are not afraid to take risks in speaking. Reading and writing are an essential part of language learning, and are great ways to enhance speaking skills. There are many people who can speak a language but are illiterate and are thus unable to communicate in a way that native people can understand easily; I think this hinders their potential greatly. Reading can open up a whole new

side to a language and much about that languages culture can be learned through reading. Through reading and learning about the culture of that language, students will have better sociolinguistic competence, and will be able to speak in a manner that is more socially acceptable. The role of the teacher should be that of authority, and the teacher should be an authentic model of the target language. For the most part, the teacher should be leading the activities and have control of the classroom. Students should see the teacher as an authoritative figure, not as a friend or equal partner. Respect for the teacher and respect for the students is crucial. The students should feel comfortable enough however, to ask the teacher questions freely. Students should be mostly taught in a deductive manner; where they are given a grammar rule or some other information so they can become familiar enough with it that they are able to produce. Speaking is a productive skill and requires student participation and deductive teaching keeps everyone on a relatively equal learning field. Students learn target language vocabulary through their native language so that they can better understand the target language, realia and other means of vocabulary association is also appropriate. Students should be exposed to and should try to produce the target language as much as possible. During class, the target language should be spoken as much as possible, only vocabulary translation and if a student truly does not understand an important principal is it acceptable to use the native language. Students should be interacting with not only the teacher but with their fellow students. Students should only speak to each other in the target language. Group work is vital. The teacher should explain to the students why they are doing certain activities so as to preserve motivation and keep morale high. Culture should be taught alongside language, because culture helps students learn context and helps them to better understand how the language works. Learning languages should be enjoyable.

Students should feel comfortable in the classroom. It is important that they feel safe and secure enough to take risks in language learning. The teacher should listen to the students needs and opinions, but ultimately the teacher is the one to decide what is to be done in the classroom. Written tests and interviews are a few ways that evaluation can be done. However, testing should not be the main goal of the classroom. It should be understood that some students do not do well on tests but may still be quite proficient in the language thus evaluating speaking skills through personal interview and careful observation the teacher can evaluate the students progress in a more accurate manner. Student errors should be dealt with carefully. Not all pronunciation errors require immediate correction or any correction. If pronunciation does not hinder communication and the student is feels comfortable with their accent then pronunciation does not need to be perfect. If pronunciation does hinder communication then repeated errors should be addressed and corrected. Errors are bound to happen and are acceptable, but students should strive for more native like language skills. The teacher should correct in a way that does not discourage the students want to try and take risks.