Some aspects of the teacher’s role in teaching english in private language center versus teaching english in state school m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DƯƠNG THỊ TÚ ANH SOME ASPECTS OF THE TEACHER’S ROLE IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN PRIVATE LANGUAGE CENTER VERSUS TEACHING ENGLISH IN STATE SCHOOL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ KIỀU THU, Ph D HO CHI MINH – 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY v RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii ABSTRACT .viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF CHARTS xii CHAPTER – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Rationale of the study 1.3 Objectives of the study 1.4 Limitation and delimitation of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Setting of the study 1.7 Hypothesis 1.8 Research question 1.9 Overview of the study 10 i CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Teacher’s roles in English classes: 11 2.1.1 What is the teacher’s role 11 2.1.2 The role of an English teacher in different teaching methodologies .13 2.2 Other factors that affect the teachers’ role 18 2.2.1 The institutional administrative structure 18 2.2.2 Teaching quality issues: 19 2.2.3 Teaching settings 19 2.2.4 The materials 26 2.2.5 The cultural aspects 27 2.2.6 Summary 28 CHAPTER – METHODOLOGY 29 3.1 The Research Questions 29 3.2 Research Design: 30 3.2.1 The Subject: 30 3.2.2 Instruments 31 3.3 Data collection procedure 34 3.4 Summary 35 CHAPTER – RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 36 4.1 Results from the questionnaire for students 36 4.1.1 The frequency of pair work and group work in class 36 4.1.2 Frequency of teacher's participation 38 4.1.3 The reasons for teachers to participate in classroom communicative activities 40 ii 4.1.4 The role of teacher 51 4.1.5 Teacher’s mistake correction 53 4.1.6 Teacher's position 56 4.1.7 Other factors affecting the English teacher’s role in speaking classes 59 4.2 Results from questionnaire for teachers 78 4.2.1 Teaching method in English classes 78 4.2.2 Teacher’s role in speaking class 80 4.2.3 The degree of the teacher’s satisfaction with his role 83 4.2.4 The teacher's ability in class management for speaking 86 4.2.5 The frequency of speaking activity 88 4.2.6 Factors that cause problems to teachers 91 4.2.7 The teacher’s mistake correction 93 4.2.8 The teacher's frequency in joining training courses and seminars 96 4.2.9 The teacher's frequency in exchanging teaching experience with colleagues 98 4.3 Results from class observation 101 4.4 Major findings 103 4.4.1 Teacher’s participation 103 4.4.2 Teaching settings 103 4.4.3 Mistake correction 104 4.4.4 Teaching method 104 4.4.5 Teacher-learner relationship 105 4.4.6 Teacher’s role 105 CHAPTER – PEDAGOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 107 iii 5.1 Pedagogical Recommendations 107 5.2.1 Teacher’s role and teaching method 107 5.2.2 Class size reduce 108 5.2.3 Teacher’s participation 109 5.2.4 Materials and facilities 109 5.2.5 Mistake correction 110 5.2.6 Teacher-learner relationship 110 5.2.7 Improving teacher’s quality 110 5.2 Conclusion 111 LIST OF REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix Questionnaire for students (in English) Appendix Questionnaire for teacher Appendix Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese) Appendix Observation sheet iv CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: SOME ASPECTS OF THE TEACHER’S ROLE IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN PRIVATE LANGUAGE CENTER VERSUS TEACHING ENGLISH IN STATE SCHOOL in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, April 2010 DƯƠNG THỊ TÚ ANH v RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Dương Thị Tú Anh, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, April 12th, 2010 Dương Thị Tú Anh vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my grateful thanks to Dr Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, my thesis supervisor, for her perceptive and comprehensive guidance, invaluable comments and constructive criticism, and opportune encouragement My special thanks also go to the administrators of this master course: the Department of Post Graduate Studies and the Department of English Linguistics and Literature of Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities, and their staff members I am really grateful to all my friends who have regularly helped and encouraged me for the completion of the thesis I owe a debt of gratitude to my family for their moral support and useful advice during the time of conducting the thesis vii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the most influential factors in teaching and learning: the teacher’s role in two different settings, public schools and private centers In order to this, questionnaires for both teachers and students were delivered and class observations were performed in order to elicit information about teachers and learners’ ideas about the role of teacher in those classes and explore other factors that influence the quality of teaching and learning The output of this comparison may help to explain the situation why students in public schools are not successful learners of English as compared to those in private language centers and to offer recommendations to improve the communicative skills for students in public schools The research is based on the questionnaires delivered to a sample population of 352 students in two state schools: Ho Chi Minh University of Industry (HUI), Pedagogy University (PU) and two private foreign language centers: Duong Minh school (DMS) and Vietnam-Australia International Language School (VAILS) In addition, questionnaires were delivered to 24 teachers in both kinds of schools, and class observation was made to back up or assist the interpretation of the data obtained from the questionnaires The findings revealed that teacher in public schools took the role as controller while in private school teacher carried out the role as facilitator These two different roles were reflected through teaching methodology, the class talk time, the language teacher used in speaking classes Some influential factors which caused the disparity were mentioned in the study Based on the finding of the research, some recommendations were given Besides improving objective factors, the teacher’s role especially in the public school needs to be changed, to be fostered in order to develop the learners’ English speaking skill viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3a : The distribution of students’ gender in SS Table 3b : The distribution of students’ gender in PFLC Table 4.1a : The frequency of pair and group work in SS Table 4.1b : The frequency of pair and group work in PFLC Table 4.2a: Frequency of teacher's participation in SS Table 4.2b: Frequency of teacher's participation in PFLC Table 4.3a: Responses to the question 6.1 of students in SS Table 4.3b: Responses to the question 6.1 of students in PFLC Table 4.4a: Responses to the question 6.2 of students in SS Table 4.4b: Responses to the question 6.2 of students in PFLC Table 4.5a: Responses to the question 6.3 of students in SS Table 4.5b: Responses to the question 6.3 of students in PFLC Table 4.6a: Responses to the question 6.4 of students in SS Table 4.6b: Responses to the question 6.4 of students in PFLC Table 4.7a : Students’ feedback about the teacher’s role in SS Table 4.7b : Students’ feedback about the teacher’s role in PFLC Table 4.8a: Students’ ideas about teacher’s mistake correction in SS Table 4.8b: Students’ ideas about teacher’s mistake correction in PFLC Table 4.9a: Students’ feedback about the teacher’s position during students’ oral practice in SS Table 4.9b: Students’ feedback about the teacher’s position during students’ oral practice in PFLC Table 4.10a: Students’ feedback about extra activities in SS Table 4.10b: Students’ feedback about extra activities in PFLC Table 4.11a Students’ feedback about the factors that most influence their learning in SS Table 4.11b Students’ feedback about the factors that influence their learning in PFLC Table 4.12a: Students’ choice of the teacher’s most important quality Table 4.12b: Students’ choice of the teacher’s most important quality in PFLC ix the kind of role model many students can identify with, and that will encourage them to work hard in their own English study” Along with available talent and aptitude, the teacher has to study, enrich his knowledge more and more to become the reliable supporter to his students Paige, the U.S Secretary of Education (2001) concluded, “Teachers are the heroes of the classroom who “on the front line day after day, week after week, dedicated to meeting the needs of each student in their classroom” Therefore, to meet the needs of his students, teachers have to study, enrich their knowledge more and more to become the reliable supporters The role of teachers, however, is not only passing knowledge and skills on to their students They also have to have some characteristics and skills necessary for a good teacher They have to be enthusiastic and patient, and to improve their way of teaching Hill Dobbyn (1982:30) put it that “even a person who is not a born teacher can improve a lot by learning to smile, to be enthusiastic and patient, and to be constantly looking for new ways getting his message across to his pupils” Tony Wright (1997:125) suggested, “Teachers’ primary roles are instructional and managerial” Instructional role is to transfer knowledge to learners while managerial role is to organize learning and learning activities A primary function of teachers’ management role is to motivate the learners to the task of learning of foreign language Group work and simulations are two examples of such activities Instructional and managerial roles complement each other; the latter would be more or less impossible without the former In practice, it is difficult to separate the two and often one act in the classroom can perform both functions simultaneously However, the role of English teachers changes according to the teaching methods We can see that, throughout the long history of language teaching, educators have been introduced several methods of teaching which affect the role of language teachers in their classroom In the following parts, we will look at the role of English teachers in the various teaching methodologies 12 2.1.2 The role of an English teacher in different teaching methodologies Grammar Translation Method In the Grammar Translation Method, the teachers’ role is to provide and explain grammar rules and the meaning of words in the learners’ native language (Brown, 1994; Davies, 2000) Besides being providers and explainers, teachers are also translators who eventually translate the entire texts from the target language into the native language (Halliday, 1994; Ellis, 1994) Chastain, K (1998) put it that “Proponents of this method believe that learning a foreign language is achieved through the constant and fast translation of sentences from the target language into the learner’s first language and vice versa” In short, in the Grammar Translation Method, the teachers work as providers and explainers, teachers are also translators The Direct Method In this teaching methodology, which opposes to the Grammar Translation, there is little or no analysis of grammatical rules Instead, learners are encouraged to listen carefully to the teachers’ models, imitate and participate as much as possible in the oral practice of the language (Davies, 2000) Therefore, the roles of teachers are to give model, organize practice and correct learners’ mistakes In other words, teachers work as organizers and controllers in their classrooms The Audio-lingual Method The main activities of this method are dialogue repetition and memorization, and substitution drilling Besides, teachers should try as much as possible to get students to produce error-free utterances Thus teachers play the role of correctors In addition, like the Direct Method, the roles of teachers are either to provide models or to have learners listen to the tape then repeat, then control substation drills (Brown, 1994; Davies, 2000) Although there are several innovative forms of this teaching method such as the Communicative Language Learning, The Silent Way, Total Physical Response, and The Natural Approach, the roles of teachers in all these approaches are central and dominant 13 Communicative Language Teaching This approach emphasizes that communicative competence is the desired goal Instead of controlling and correcting, teachers should help learners in any way that motivates them to work with the language (Brown, 1994) Besides, teachers are advised to let learners to have some control over their own learning (Davies, 2000) and to participate in class communication activities In addition, as the emphasis in CLT is on the processes of communication, rather than mastery of language forms, a leading function of this language teaching method is therefore to provide opportunities for learners to engage in interaction with the teachers and each other It also requires a supportive classroom environment in which learners feel free and eager to get involved in these oral activities In the communicative classroom, the teacher plays varieties of roles: an organizer, a prompter, a participant, and a facilitator Besides, he/she is also a counselor and a process manager (Brown, 1994) In more details, Richard and Rogers (1992) pointed out that teacher’s roles are related to the following issues: - the type of functions teachers are expected to fulfill, e.g whether that of practice director, counselor or model - the degree of control the teacher has over how learning takes place - the degree to which the teacher is responsible for content - the interactional pattern that develop between teachers and learners A good point of this approach, according to Howatt (1987: 279): “The ‘strong’ version of communicative teaching, on the other hand, advances the claim that language is acquired through communication, so that it is not merely a question of activating an existing but inert knowledge of the language, but of stimulating the development of the language system itself If the former could be described as ‘learning to use’ English, the latter entails ‘using English to learn it” Learner-centered Teaching Since the 1960s, there has been a movement away from teacher-dominated modes of learning to more learner-centered approaches, which has led to a reexamination of traditional teacher roles 14 Methodologists who favor the humanistic approaches in language teaching suggested that “language teaching is not just about teaching language, it is also about helping students to develop themselves as people” (Harmer, 1992:35) and therefore, placed “the experiences and feelings of the student at the center of the learning process” (Nunan, 1989:308) Brown (1994:80) suggested using techniques that “allow for student creativity and innovation” and that “enhance a student’s sense of competence and self-worth” Teachers’ roles in relation to their students have definitely changed recently According to Harmer (1983:200), teachers now realize that they are not “the sole repositories of truth, wisdom, and authority, but merely instruments to see that learning takes place.” He stated: “Therefore, they keep a low profile in all their functions: as controllers they relax their grip on the class; as assessors they resort to gentle correction; as organizers they set activities in motion and then stand aside; as prompters they perform with discretion; as participants, they play second fiddle; as resources, they offer help, but only when requested” However, innovative methods still requires teachers to carry out particular roles in the classroom in order to facilitate the language acquisition processes the method is designed to activate (Richard, 1990) “The communicative classroom requires a teacher of extraordinary abilities: a multi-dimensional, high-tech, Wizard-of-Oz like super person – yet of flesh and blood.” Richard Rossner and Rod Bolitho (1990: 104) concluded that “he or she must be confident without being-conceited, judicious without being judgmental, ingenious without being unbridled, technically skilled without being pedantic Farsighted without being far-fetched, down-to-earth without being earth-bound, inquiring without being inquisitive - the list is endless But above all he or she must be learner-centered The term ‘learner-centered’ is the great gimmick today; this slogan is tagged on to every single language teaching technique” In addition, “student-centered learning is about opening the cage door and releasing this creative power…like an animal which has been in capacity for too long Handing over responsibility and ownership to the students is not dangerous; it simply sets him 15 free to use his creative powers, or not to use them, as he chooses It is only granting him his human rights Each individual has enormous creative potential Put a collection of individuals together and we multiply the potential This is real power! Power to and to achieve, power to solve problems, change things, overcome difficulties, power to learn.” Donna Brandes and Paul Ginnis (1992: 29, 30) Weimer (2002) indicated that in learner-centered teaching, the roles of teachers are guiders, facilitators, and designers The teacher should learning tasks, less telling, have the students more discovering, more design work, more modeling and get the students learning from and with each other The teacher should work to create a climate for learning and more with feedback They are no longer the main performer, the one with the most lines or the one working harder than everyone else to make it all happen It is a very different role for teachers who have sought to improve their teaching by cultivating effective presentation skills In addition, the learner comes to class not because an attendance policy requires it but because they see the activities and events of class time as making an important contribution to their learning She also claimed that in learner-centered teaching, instructors guide and facilitate learning With learner-centered teaching, the role is not optional Learner-centered teachers have been described as midwives that good teachers, like good midwives, empowered, good teachers find ways to activate students for learning requires which are invention and discovery Learner-centered teachers connect students and resources This is obviously when the focus is less on teaching and more on learning Students learn content and develop as learners much less effectively and efficiently if they are never given opportunity to learning tasks that facilitate acquisition of content Perhaps Harmer’s (1992) descriptions are the most helpful to summarize the role of an English teacher He placed the teacher as controller (the most controlling) and the teacher as a resource (the least controlling) at two opposite ends of a cline of controlling and facilitative Those roles are described as follows: - The teachers as controllers who are in complete charge of the class and control everything The cycle of instruct – cue – nominate is “the perfect example of the teacher acting as controller.” This role is placed at the extreme of the cline 16 - Less controlling are the teachers as assessors who show where incorrectness occurs and help the student to put it right Harmer distinguished the extents of controlling as “correction”, “gentle correction” and “organizing feedback” “Correction” occurs during an accurate reproduction stage where the student’s mistakes are corrected almost instantly This is the most controlling of the three “Gentle correction” occurs when students are involved in immediate creativity or pair-work drills The teacher shows the students that a mistake has been made but does not take it seriously “Organizing feedback” means to record the students’ mistakes and discuss how to put them right when the activity is over either with the whole class or with the person who made the mistake Harmer put this role in the middle of the cline - With the role as prompters, the teachers encourage students to perform some task and are ready to help when the students cannot think of any of themselves This role is less controlling than the teachers as organizer - The teachers as participants who “participate as an equal in an activity especially where activities like stimulations are taking place.” The key of success at this role is that teachers should avoid dominating and the students should not expect that to occur - The teachers acting as a resource are those who not intervene where a genuinely communicative activity is taking place but are aware of what is going on as a secret assessor and are ready to offer help when necessary Harmer places this role at the facilitative end of the cline Harmer’s concept about the role of teacher in the English classes can be summarized in the following figure controller gentle correction ↑ participant ↑ ↑ Controlling X -X -X X - X -X Facilitative ↓ ↓ ↓ correction organizer resource Figure 2.1: Harmer’s concept about the role of teacher from the most dominant to the least dominant (Adapted from Harmer, 1992) 17 2.2 Other factors that affect the teachers’ role 2.2.1: The institutional administrative structure The roles of teachers are primarily occupational roles, predetermined by the nature of schools Teachers interpret their roles in different ways depending on the kinds of schools in which they work Richards and Lockhart (1994) pointed out that different settings create particular roles for teachers based on the institutional administrative structure Very often, we identify “traditional” schools of strict of hierarchy and fixed curriculum with those of flexible teacher’s role and courses In a traditional school, the role of a teacher is reflected in the following account of how teachers function “… The regular teachers most of the teaching and more or less have to whatever they are asked to Teaching schedules are issued, but there is little monitoring of what teachers actually teach or how they teach it The students, too, have very little choice over the courses they study …” (Richards and Lockhart, 1994:98) 2.2.2 Teaching quality issues Dozier and Bertotti (2000) stated that in 1990s, new standards for student learning have been introduced, giving greater attention to teaching quality as a primary determinant of students’ success Dornyei (1994: 63) also put it that: “Teacher quality refers to the teacher’s general and specific knowledge that he/she mastered during his/ her training at university and from the experience of doing the job” They also explained that teacher’s quality also concerns the appropriate teaching methodology he/she conducts and the knowledge of pedagogy they possess All of these motives, directly or indirectly, affect our students’ learning process and outcomes 18 2.2.3 The teaching settings Class size: Class size has strong influences on the teachers’ roles in their class Burke County, 2000: 17) said: “Suitable class size in language classrooms offers teachers the opportunity to teach differently from the way they teach in larger classes They don't have to spend as much time lecturing, or having all the students worksheets at their own desks Having more time for students means that teachers can organize classroom learning activities differently and have students demonstrate their achievement through speaking and listening skills” Concerning class size, Krahnke, K (1994) suggested that “smaller classes are more likely to be "friendlier" places, where students develop better relationships with their classmates and with the teacher, encouraging students to become more engaged in classroom learning activities The smaller the class is, the harder it is to escape the positive influence of the classroom communicative skills” “In smaller classes, teachers introduce more topics, cover more content, use more individual teaching strategies and more frequent interactions between teachers and learners (Claxton, 1989: 15)” He also pointed that for teachers, smaller classes offer the opportunity to spend less time enforcing discipline and more time guiding students' individual learning—a chance to "become the type of teacher that they value” Professional development is a critical need to help teachers "take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by suitable class sizes," according to a recent national conference on class size cosponsored by the U.S Department of Education and the Laboratory for Student Success Conference attendees also suggested aligning "teaching practices with the class-size strategy … Small classes should enable teachers to cover material in greater depth than they in larger classes." Classroom management is often reported as less challenging for teachers of small classes; thus, teachers can spend more time teaching This additional teaching time may enable teachers to cover more material, either by going deeper into a given subject or by covering more subjects Some research suggested that students 19 are more engaged in smaller classes and less likely to drift away from lessons or disrupt others who are completing academic tasks (Glass and Smith: 2001)) By the roles of skillfully managing their classrooms, high-performing teachers have time to individualize lessons, which involves monitoring students’ understanding and skill, offering feedback, and re-teaching when necessary Most teachers in smaller classes not automatically individualize their lessons, change their teaching methods, or teach different content than they might in larger classes When we have the ideal class size, it is easy for teachers to perform their roles in class management in which seating arrangement plays an important factors in any class activities as well Classroom seating arrangement Classroom arrangements or seating arrangement also require consideration of whether the task is to be carried out whole or partly outside the classroom It shows the relationship to the roles of teachers and learners: “While some might prefer that the roles and settings be dealt with separately, I have decided to deal with them together, as the social setting (whether, for example, an activity involves the whole class small groups or individuals) will be an important factor influencing roles and relationships” (Nunan, 1989: 91) According to Harmer, (1992), “Seating arrangement for a classroom is one of the most important decisions a teacher can make The proper plan can facilitate the learning process, while a poor choice can all but render a lesson a failure.” Generations of teachers have got their priorities straight: first discipline, then teaching Practitioners see classroom control as probably their most urgent task, because, in Hargreaves’ words, “without it the classroom soon becomes a ‘circus without a ringmaster’… and the teacher will become rapidly exhausted and demoralized” (Hargreaves 1972: 234) Lortie (1975: 51) had the same thought “…there is universal agreement that the teacher must establish and keep sovereignty over classroom affairs…if their capacity to maintain ‘classroom control’ is in doubt they may be tided” Hargreaves (1994: 37) also stated “rigid seating arrangement leads to failure in classroom activities.” 20 Therefore, teachers should be flexible in applying some kinds of popular classroom seating arrangement It is clear in quotation: “Using the traditional arrangement in an attractive course or the horseshoe arrangement in an unattractive course may not be good practice Students prefer the opposite Using the less desired arrangement may only make a bad situation worse If students want to interact but the arrangement inhibits interaction, or if students not want to interact but are arranged so that interaction demands are high, we can expect students to develop negative affect which can interfere with learning” (Claxton, 1989: 21) Desk rows is a traditional classroom seating arrangement of several rows of desks facing the teacher The teacher is usually only able to walk from the front to the back in this set up, not walk from side to side without making students move A variation on the bicameral (two sides) arrangement is the Horseshoe Though, every arrangement should be made based on what you want the lesson to accomplish Both the bicameral and horseshoe arrangements work well for handing out stuff The role of the teacher seems to be coordinator and collaborator in these classrooms Semi-circle seating arrangement is when all the desks touch each other facing the front of the room in a semi-circle shape The teacher can easily see each student and they can see him/ her and the instructional aids A circle of desks puts every student in the front row The teacher can then either be in the middle for teacher centered lessons or at one of the desks for activities in which the teacher is a collaborator or facilitator This arrangement can work for any size class, but might have to be changed to include an inner and outer circle if the room is not large enough for the number of students Putting desks in small groups so that students face each other is ideal for group activities When the desks are placed tightly together they provide a larger working surface and promote collaboration among the students in the group The teacher can move easily among the groups and, if arranged so that no student’s back is to the board, can still redirect attention to provide instruction or directions Teacher’s role is facilitator 21 School facilities “Education environment has great influence on teaching and learning effectiveness School conditions, educational authorities’ privileges, equipments and facilities… play a decisive factor to the teachers and learners’ success” (Garvin, 1993) In English language classrooms, basic equipments like cassette recorders, videos, projectors, screens, speakers system… cannot be deficient They are the means to decrease the burden on teachers’ workload and the important means in communicative language classrooms Secules et Al (1992) investigated the use of video for listening comprehension on university students of French An experimental group used video plus traditional classroom exercises, and the control group used the same traditional direct method classroom activities, but without the video The length of the study was an academic term The experimental group scored higher on listening comprehension tests than did the control group in the three areas of main ideas, understanding details, and inference They concluded “Student in the video-based curriculum clearly had better listening comprehension than did students in the traditional curriculum, on all levels of analysis, for all classes” (1992: 486) Although schools create and acquire knowledge, they are seldom successful in applying that knowledge to their own activities In fact, academic institutions typically lag businesses by roughly a decade in the adoption of new technologies (U.S Congress, 1988) “This is certainly true in terms of the application of information technology into the learning process: the blackboard and chalk remain the primary teaching technologies in many schools even while the merits of information technology to improve communication, efficiency…is recognized” (Dorothy E L, 2002) Many language education scholars and professionals consider that the ideal way to connect their classrooms to the Internet is to use Internet-connected computer labs in the school Many publications cater to the needs of teachers who work in such ideal environments (Dudeney 2000; Eastment 1999) The activities involve students using Internet-connected computers outside the classroom, 22 including computers in school walk-in computer labs, self-access study areas, libraries, computers in local public libraries, community centers, and where possible at home In some cases, modern technologies in these countries are considered to be backward in the other countries: A recent qualitative study in several high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, Kirkpatrick (2002) found that many English Language teachers were still using a great many traditional technologies in instruction, such as overhead projectors and VCRs, to “support, rather than alter, their existing teacher-centered practices such as teacher-led lectures and textbookbased discussions” Although many educators and researchers have argued that pedagogy is inextricably linked with modern technology (i.e., computer technology, telecommunications, and the Internet), and urged teachers to use it in their instruction (Bruce & Levin, 2003), research has consistently shown that many English language teachers have not yet integrated technology in a meaningful way to support their curricular goals As McKenzie’s (2004) convincing argues, he stated that administrators and government officials have pushed computers and peripheral equipment into language teachers’ classrooms without engaging them first in sustained conversations about the worthy uses of technology for their specific subject matter Research has also revealed a strong connection between the instrumental use of technology and traditional conceptions of pedagogy and theories of learning that still prevail within the teacher community Becker (2001), in a Teaching, Learning, and Computing Survey of over 4,000 teachers, grades 4-12, found that teachers with constructivist backgrounds across all content areas, including English teachers, tend to use computer technology more for higher-order thinking and learning than teachers with traditional transmission-oriented pedagogies The latter teachers frequently resort to instrumental technology uses, for low-order ways of learning in their instructional engagements with technology Activities in the class room (a) Pair work Relating to pair work, Hill Lewis (1989) mentioned pair work as a kind of activities that increase student talking time and the most important ways of 23 achieving teaching They also suggested the way to organize pair work well They claimed that the teachers must give clear instruction and may write the order or model of what the students have to on the blackboard Also, while the students are working, it is necessary for the teacher to move around to monitor and correct the mistakes Pair work is a good idea because it immediately increases the amount of practice, student’s participation and language use It can be used for an enormous number of activities, especially communicative skills Pair work allows students to use the language more and encourages their co-operation, which is important for the atmosphere of the class and the motivation The teacher will be able to act as an assessor, prompter, or resource (Hammer: 1992) With pair work students can practice language use and join learning It is important to remember that the type of pair work the teacher will organize depends on the type of activity the class is working with However, how students are put in pair depends on the teacher Teachers will have to decide whether they will put strong students with weak students or whether they will vary the combination of the pair from class to class There seems to be no research to give an answer to the ideal combination for either pairs or groups Teachers should probably make their decision based on the particular class (b) Group work Besides pair work activities, group work seems very effective in exchanging ideas in different skills, especially communicative skills Group work seems to be an extremely attractive idea for a number of reasons Like pair work, we can mentioned the increase in the opportunities it gives students really to use language to communicate each other It is also a way to get the students involved directly in the classroom When the teachers talk less the students will help each other, the atmosphere is more relaxed Harmer (1992) stated that: “group work can also be used a preparation for a text or topic; grammar practice can be done in groups rather than in the standard question and answer way, discussion follow-up can be based on questions first discussed in small groups” 24 Ur (1996) figured out that group work as a form of learner activation that is of a particular value in the practice It fosters learners’ responsibility and dependence It can improve motivation and contribute to a feeling of cooperation and warmth in the class The author insisted that the success of group work depend on some extent on the surrounding social climate, on the selection of an interesting and stimulating task Doff (1998) mentioned to group work and pair work as the ways of organizing the class which can be used for many different kinds of activity and are more suitable for some activities than others 2.2.4 The materials used A teacher needs a suitable teaching material, like a cook needs fresh raw food Teaching materials are defined by authenticity, relevance and practicability of content and tasks and attuning to learners levels of competence, both linguistic and cognitive A wide variety of materials which have been used to support communicative approaches to language teaching are labeled as text-based materials or textbooks, task –based materials, realia Task-based materials are exercise handbooks, cue cards, activity cards, paircommunication practice materials, and learner-interaction practice booklets which serve s variety of games, role plays, simulations and task-based communication activities Realia, or “authentic”, “from-life” materials – as proponents of Communicative Language Teaching call it – consists of language- based realia, such as signs, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers or graphic and visual sources around which communicative activities can be built, such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs and charts With these activities, students feel interested in learning because they find it useful in practical and real life This inspires teachers in teaching and they not feel burdensome However, they have to be flexible in their roles to various activities 25 2.2.5 The culture aspects Several authors noticed the influences of cultures on the roles of teachers in class Laudauer (2000), for example, noticed that in every culture where Confucianism is a code for daily living, teachers hold “a highly respected position in the community.” and “It is worth noting that in traditional Confucian ideology, the teacher is ranked just below the king and above the parents.” He point outs that teachers are the symbol of perfection and power, therefore, their behavior, gesture must be appropriate He writes: “ teachers are regarded with a great deal of respect in general Although this is a very pleasant situation to be in, the converse side is that their behavior and appearance in under greater scrutiny as well Displays of temper are frowned upon because it is a sigh of lack of self-control” Halliday (1994: 59) pointed out that in Confucian-heritage cultures, a teacher is seen as an authority figure, he is “a fount of knowledge, which is delivered without any concession to students and which students must struggle to attain” Thus, in this setting, the roles of teachers are dominant and tend to be teacher-centered 2.2.6 Summary [ The primary objective of this chapter is to review all relevant sources contributing to the establishment of the research questions in which teacher’s role plays the major part in the teaching and learning of English Class management, mistake correction, teacher’s participation in pair work and group work, teacher’s position are mentioned basing on Harmer’s (1992) concept to find out which role a teacher takes: a controller, an organizer, a participant or resource… In addition, the teaching performance will be more effective if the teacher’s appropriate role is supported with other factors Besides subjective elements from the teacher such as applying the right teaching method, being well-qualified and having good personality, objective factors are necessary They may be facilities, class size, class arrangement, textbooks… 26 ... THE TEACHER’S ROLE IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN PRIVATE LANGUAGE CENTER VERSUS TEACHING ENGLISH IN STATE SCHOOL in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the. .. role of an English teacher in different teaching methodologies Grammar Translation Method In the Grammar Translation Method, the teachers’ role is to provide and explain grammar rules and the meaning... Approach, the roles of teachers in all these approaches are central and dominant 13 Communicative Language Teaching This approach emphasizes that communicative competence is the desired goal Instead of