Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

Bei Zhao (Isabella)

UCR Extension: TESOL Portfolio

23 February 2017
Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

As having learnt English as the first foreign language for over 15 years, from my

own experience, for most of students in my class, the purpose of learning English is to

pass all kinds of exams and try to get higher scores. Especially when I studied in the

middle school and high school, our English class was extremely teacher-centered

and just focused on the textbook with many exercises. During the 45 - minute class,

most of time, the teacher was busy in imparting the English knowledge which

students needed for the test. And students used to be busy taking notes and trying to

remember all things that the teacher told them. Most of my classmates did not like this

kind of teaching environment, moreover, students learned English that aimed to pass

the exam instead of being interested in learning a foreign language, so that is also

why sometimes they did not feel the pleasure of learning English even they studied

very hard and got high scores. Since as a member of them who do not like the

teacher-centered teaching approach, I chose the Foreign Ling uistics and Applied

Linguistics as my major for my master degree and tried to understand the pedagogy

for my English class in the future.

If I have the opportunity to be an English teacher in the high school, I want to use

the student-centered teaching approach to teach my students in a comfortable and

safe environment.

I believe that students learn a language by using the language. According to a

Chinese proverb, I see and I forget, I hear and I remember, I do and I understand.

Due to this belief, the studentcentered teaching approach will be used in my English

class. Students will be actively involved in learning a foreign language through

Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

various activities, such as games, group discussions and group projects. An

important skill in teaching is the ability to make your learners the focus of your

teaching (Richards & Farrell, 2013). That is to say, in terms of the student-centered

teaching method, the teacher should know and meet the students needs and learning

purposes. This involves understanding your learners needs and goals,

communicating trust and respect for them, acknowledging diversity of needs and

learning styles, giving feedback on their learning in ways that help develop their

confidence and self-esteem and minimize loss of face, and using strategies that help

develop an atmosphere of collaboration and mutual support among learners

(Dornyei 2001; Lamb 2003). At the beginning of a semester, in my opinion, as I

teacher, I will find time to have a small talk with every student in my class, the aim of

this kind of small talk is to have a mutual understanding between me and every

student. Moreover, through this process, I will write down and realize their different

learning needs and goals. Since there is a close relationship that we have to mention

between the learning styles and multiple intelligences, then I will let every student do

a survey which is about multiple intelligences (MI). According to Christison (1998), the

theory of multiple intelligences was developed first as an account of human cognition

that could be subjected to empirical test by Howard Gardner, and the MI theory

includes eight intelligences, such as linguistic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence,

bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence, etc. According

to the survey, during the class, I will try my best to divide students into groups which

students in each group they have the similar learning styles and also give them
Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

different assignments based on their learning styles.

In addition, the national requirements for the English learning in the high school

which are made by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China are

also taken into consideration of my teaching approaches. And I will have an equal

arrangement among these five parts: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and

translating. Since now according to our reformed English test system, seniors in the

high school have more opportunities to take the National English test for university

admission. It is really a great news for both students and teachers I think since they

do not have large pressures any more. Moreover, it can increase motivations of the

students. Meanwhile, I believe that social interaction is a crucial point for language,

now the teacher can also have the opportunity to offer students a better natural

English learning environment for language use instead of focusing on the grammar

drills every day. In fact, if we check the information about the social interaction in

Wikipedia, you can find that in sociology, social interaction is a dynamic, changing

sequence of social actions between individuals (or groups) who modify their actions

and reactions due to the actions by their interaction partner(s). In my opinion, I think

the most important purpose to learn a language is to communicate and interact with

other people, and due to Chinese and English belong to different language families

and we do not have a great language environment for speaking English in China, as

an English teacher, I should search more and more authentic materials to help

students to speak English in their daily life. For example, before or during the class, I

will let students watch a part of movie, talk show, or listen to a song to arouse their
Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

interests in learning English, and recommend them some interesting materials to

watch or read after class. It can also help to increase students understanding for

English history and the culture of English speaking countries. Moreover, encouraging

students to go to English clubs or English corners every week and make friends with

native speakers are direct ways to let them immerse in the English speaking

environment.

Last but not least, creating a comfortable and safe environment is also a vital

point for English language learners. If students learn English in such environment, it

will increase their willingness to communicate (WTC). According to Brown (2014),

Peter MacIntyre defined willingness to communicate (WTC) as an underlying

continuum representing the predisposition toward or away from communicating, given

the choice. And the researchers proposed a number of cognitive and affective

factors that underline WTC: motivation, personality, self-confidence and intergroup

climate (Brown, 2014). As a Chinese English learner, from my own learning

experience, I believe that in the result of the traditional Chinese culture, most of

students are afraid to lose faces when they speak English and shy to speak English

out in front of people. In order to change this situation, offering them a safe and

comfortable learning environment is very necessary. To achieve this aim, in my class,

I will ask students randomly to answer questions, respect their opinions, encourage

them, and control the class climate for avoiding students laughing at their classmates

when they answer or ask questions. F urthermore, I will monitor students when they

do group work and communicate with them and senior English teachers to make
Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

reflections in every two weeks.

In conclusion, through the student-centered teaching approach and learning in a

comfortable and safe environment, I hope my students will be able to regard learning

English as their interests, increase their solid knowledge step by step, and use this

international language without barriers.

Running Head: My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

References

Brown H. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Pearson

Education.

Christison, M. A. (1998, April-June). Applying Multiple Intelligences Theory In

Preservice and Inservice TEFL Education Programs. The English Language

Forum, Vol 36, No 2.

Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Lamb, T. E. (2003). Individualising Learning: Organising a Flexible Learning

Environment. In M. Jimenez Raya & T. Lamb (Eds.), Differentiation in the modern

languages classroom (177-194). Pieterlen and Bern: Peter Lang.

Richards, Jack C. & Farrell, Thomas S.C. (2013). Practice Teaching: A reflective

Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Social interaction (n. d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction#Sociology