Introduction: thinking about the āELT classroomā
English language classrooms are complicated places. Common sense tells us that classrooms are places where āpeople, typically one teacher and a number of learners, come together for a pedagogical purposeā (Allwright, 1992: 267). However, in addition to their physical (or virtual) location and pedagogic function, classrooms are also social environments, that is, language lessons can be understood as social events based upon social relationships and social interaction (Erikson, 1986; Breen, 2001a; Tudor, 2001), where āevents interweave, as participants experience themā (Wright, 2012: 61). The beliefs and expectations of parents, institutional managers and governmental agencies beyond the classroom and the relationships between the participants in the classroom (i.e., teachers and learners) affect classroom practices and behaviour. Thus:
The classroom is not a world unto itself. The participants ā¦ arrive at the event with certain ideas as to what is a āproperā lesson, and in their actions and interaction they will strive to implement these ideas. In addition the society at large and the institution the classroom is part of have certain expectations and demands which exert influence on the way the classrooms turn out.
(van Lier, 1988a: 179)
Clearly, therefore, diversity and complexity are fundamental elements of language teaching and learning, and of language classrooms (Tudor, 2001; Williams et al., 2015). Given the number of participants who in some way affect what happens in a language classroom, and the varied local contexts in which English language teaching (ELT) takes place, each classroom is unique; and it is this human and contextual complexity (Tudor, 2001) that makes classroom language teaching āmessyā (Freeman, 1996). What goes on in a classroom is inevitably much more than the logical and tidy application of theories and principle; it is localized, situation-specific, and, therefore, diverse. Indeed, using the metaphor of ācoral gardensā to convey their socially complex and diverse nature, Breen (2001a) has suggested that individual language classrooms develop their own specific character and culture. (As we shall see in Chapter 3, where we shall examine the image of ācoral gardensā in more detail, metaphor has proved a particularly useful way in which teachers and applied linguists have characterized and explained language classrooms and language teaching.) Recognizing the complex and diverse nature of ELT class rooms around the world, and the social as well as pedagogical aspects of classroom life, is the starting point of our exploration of roles, relationships and interactions in second language (L2) classrooms. How might teachers organize and manage their classrooms and learners, and what practical dilemmas do they face when doing so?
Before we proceed: teacher beliefs and classroom practice
Much has been written about the links between teachersā beliefs (also sometimes labelled āpersonal theoriesā) and their classroom behaviour (e.g., Crookes, 2003; S. Borg, 2006). M. Borg (2001: 186) summarizes a belief as:
A proposition which may be consciously or unconsciously held, is evaluative in that it is accepted as true by the individual ā¦ [and] serves as a guide to thought and behaviour.
Although terms such as ārules of thumbā or āteacher loreā (Crookes, 2003) may appear to downplay their importance, as Crookes remarks (47), āit is impossible to act, as a teacher, without having theories (including values) that inform teaching actions, at least to some degreeā.
Equally notable is that teachersā beliefs are derived from and influenced by a range of sources including the perspectives of others (e.g., colleagues, teacher-trainers and educators, and academic research and researchers) and their own practical experience of what is and is not successful. This suggests that a two-way relationship exists between beliefs and practice, with beliefs informing (but not determining) practice and, vice versa, practice informing what an individual may believe.
However, even establishing what teachers (indeed, anyone) actually believe is extremely challenging, involving, as it does, issues of consciousness (e.g., have I ever consciously thought about a topic before? do I really know what I think about it?), the ways in which peoplesā ideas change over time, how articulate a person is at expressing their beliefs, and social pressures and expectations on speakers that cause them to modify what they may reveal. Several researchers have also found mismatches between what teachers say they believe and what their classroom practices actually seem to demonstrate (e.g., Phipps and S. Borg, 2009). The potential role contextual and institutional factors might have in affecting and constraining teachersā behaviour should also be acknowledged (as we shall see in later chapters).
That said, at some level, teachersā classroom practices are informed by their personal theories in areas as broad as āwhat is teaching?ā and āwhat role should the teacher and learners take in the classroom?ā, through to the more specific āhow should learners be organized and seated in classroom activities?ā and āhow should language be elicited ā¦ and corrected?ā. Sometimes, this is through deliberate and explicit thought and reflection; sometimes, however, it is through implicit, taken-for-granted assumptions, or beliefs that were previously learned or instilled on teacher training programmes and which are now realized through routine (and routinized) teaching practices.
Thus, teachers should not be viewed as āskilled technicians who dutifully realize a given set of teaching procedures in accordance with the directives of a more or less distant authorityā (Tudor, 2001: 17). Instead:
Teachers are active participants in the creation of classroom realities, and they act in the light of their own beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of the relevant teaching situation ā¦ we need to be aware of āthe unique contribution which each individual brings to the learning situationā (Williams and Burden, 1997: 95).
(Tudor, 2001: 17ā18)
Task 1.1 Thinking through ābeliefsā
- What are your beliefs about the ideas that āerrors in the language classroom should be corrected as soon as they are madeā and āgetting learners to work in pairs or groups is the most effective way of promoting learning in the ELT classroomā?
- What other beliefs do you have about how English is taught? For example:
- What is/are the most appropriate role(s) for the teacher and learners in the L2 classroom?
- How much should teachers and learners talk in class?
- Should the learnersā first language (ever) be used in class? If so, when and by whom, how and how much? If not, why not?
- What is the most effective way of arranging the desks and seats in an L2 classroom?
- Have your ideas and beliefs about how to teach English changed over time? How? Why?
- Can you think of an example where what you do in class seems clearly related to what you think you believe about how to teach English?
- Can you think of another example, this time where what you do in class seems to contradict what you think you believe about English language teaching? Why do you think this is?
Thinking about classrooms: exploring teacher roles
We can see, therefore, that how teachers manage classrooms, and the roles that they and learners enact in class, will vary according to their beliefs and their teaching context. However, although teachers (and learners) may be more comfortable with one particular way of organizing teaching and learning compared to another (e.g., āteaching from the frontā compared to group-based discovery activities), they are likely, of course, to take on more than one role in the classroom, switching between them as required. Additionally, how teaching is conceptualized ā as the transmission of knowledge from teachers to learners, or as the provision of opportunities for learners to discover and construct knowledge for themselves ā will also affect the role teachers assume in the classroom. We shall discuss differing approaches to teaching in more detail in the next chapter, examining broader philosophies of education in Chapter 12; now, however, we shall turn to examine the practical implications of āroleā in the L2 classroom.
First thoughts: teachers and students ā¦ teachers and learners
Observing that role can be defined in a variety of ways, Wright (1987: 7) suggests that it is āa complex grouping of factors which combine to produce certain types of social behaviourā, while Widdowson (1987) emphasizes the importance of social expectations and norms in prescribing (or constraining) the personas and behaviour (i.e., the role) of teachers and learners. Widdowson characterizes the classroom as a āsocial spaceā, and both he and Wright recognize that teachers need to balance both social and pedagogic purposes within their classroom behaviour (as we have seen).
Thus, Wright highlights the job or task-related (i.e., pedagogic) elements and the interpersonal (i.e., social) elements of the teacherās role. Likewise, Widdowson suggests that teachers are obliged to function as representatives of institutions and society, leading to clear, fixed and hierarchical relationships in the classroom between teachers and students; but teachers also engage in more pedagogically oriented relationships with learners.
By using different terms for the same group of classroom participants, Widdowson highlights the dual nature of the teacherās role and teacher-student/learner relationships. Teache...