Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy has been heavily influenced by an old Japanese proverb: To teach is to learn. As an English language teacher, I believe that the classroom should be a place where creative ideas are conceived, where our students learn lessons in tolerance, humility, and cross-cultural awareness, where both faculty and students embark on the journey of knowledge and wisdom by forging an intellectual alliance, where every individual is dedicated to the interactive process of teaching and learning, and where our students become better citizens by setting higher objectives for themselves.
English language teachers must envisage
pedagogy, which furthers these principles, fostering non-obtrusive teaching
styles through the following methodology. The educational institutional
offering English language courses invests authority in the teacher to impart
knowledge to adult language learners, both native and non-native speakers,
through a variety of pedagogical techniques. The teacher facilitates a
conducive learning atmosphere by discouraging passive learning styles and by
encouraging active student participation. Curricular goals for each level of
proficiency are clearly defined and assist both the teacher and the students in
improving reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Collectively, the
teacher and the students isolate and resolve linguistic insecurities, using a
wide range of heuristic aids.
The great twentieth-century teacher, Gilbert
Highet, once reasoned, “You must [be able to] think, not what you know, but
what they do not know; not what you find hard, but what they will find hard;
then, after putting yourself in their minds, obstinate or puzzled, groping or
mistaken as they are, explain what they need to learn.” English language
teachers must continually strive to locate impediments to linguistic growth. I
fervidly believe that complacency hinders professional development. Therefore,
vigilantly breaking new ground, we must plumb the depth of the psychology of
language learning, contructing bold new sensitivities to unperceived and
formerly intractable problems of English language learning.
As a two way process, communication involves
comprehension and production abilities.
Thus, becoming proficient in a second language (L2) requires achieving
balanced skills in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. To reach this balance, L2 learners need to be
placed at the center of an integrated approach in which they can acquire and
develop all of these skills. As English
as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, we have a pivotal role in facilitating the
learner’s development of balanced skills since it is in our classroom where
they can actually work with the language and in the language. It is in our classes where they can get the
input and the encouragement to achieve overall langauge competence for which
they strive.
Since communicative competence involves
knowledge of and ability to use language, it is essential to motivate L2
learners to communicate in English so that they can begin to internalize the
rules of language use. The ability to
determine what is appropriate language based on contextual factors that frame
an interaction, written or oral, is as important as the ability to produce and
interpret language accurately. Our
primary responsibility then is to empower L2 learners to develop their skills
by exposing them to written and oral language, raising their consciousness
about the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of the language, and
providing them with multiple opportunities to use the language for various
purposes and in both formal and informal contexts. In other words, we are likely to succeed in
helping learners become competent in English if our approach brings
contextualized input and output into equilibrium. I often remind myself of the
great linguist S. Pit Corder who wisely pointed out, “We may be able to allow
the learner’s innate strategies to dictate our practice and determine our
syllabus, we may learn to adapt ourselves to his needs rather than
impose upon him our preconceptions of how he ought to learn, what
he ought to learn and when he ought to learn.”
In sum, I consider that integration of skills,
focus on the learner, attention to sociocultural issues and critical thinking
are fundamental factors in the development of language competence. An English language program that combines
reading, writing, listening, and speaking skillfully and designs specific
curricular goals for each level of proficiency without compromising instructional
creativity or the L2 learners’ ability to focus on their particular linguistic
needs will allow both teachers and students to grow professionally and
academically, thus contributing to the enrichment of the teaching/learning
experience. I believe that my views on language learning and my teaching
philosophy are closely aligned with the principles of language aquisition, a
complicated process whereby students and teachers are able to expand their
horizons while working towards a common goal: educational excellence.
This is definitely true. Not only do students learn more when they learn actively but as a teacher you learn countless things you didn't know before. Students never learn as well when their learning is passive and they are spoon fed the information as when they have to take responsibility for their learning. Part of the reason for this is the overabundance of knowledge sources. It is not possible for a teacher to be a paragon of knowledge anymore especially in a language teaching situation where every student is different and learning the language is individualized and skill based rather then knowledge based.
ReplyDeleteTeaching and learning are symbiotic; one cannot exist without the other. I once complained to my senior colleague about a novice instructor talking through the entire lesson and said that there was a whole lot of teaching taking place in the classroom, but that I wasn't sure if there was any learning happening. My colleague wisely pointed out that there was no teaching without learning. You make an excellent point that the teacher shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of imparting knowledge to the students all the time since learners have to play a proactive role in their learning.
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