How useful are comprehension questions?

 

Submitted by Mario Rinvolucri on 2 November, 2008 - 21:03

 

You may well ask me “How useful is the question in this title?” After all to check what a student has understood after listening to or reading an L2 text seems plain common sense. If it were not felt to be a sensible procedure why would course book writers supply comprehension questions in large quantities?

Teachers’ comprehension questions
Comprehension questions are a part of an EFL teacher’s arsenal that few people would regard as controversial. In ordinary conversation, in L1, it is quite normal to ask a comprehension question if you are unsure about what the other person has said. You might break into what they are saying and hypothesise: “Oh, so, do you mean that……?”
So, clearly, comprehension questions are a normal part of discourse. The difference is that, in normal conversation, it is the listener who decides to ask the speaker for clarification when he fails to follow what the other is saying. In the EFL class it is an external authority (course book/teacher) that initiates the comprehension checking.
When you come to think of it this is a very bizarre procedure: How on earth does a course book writer in North Oxford know where the linguistic difficulties in a reading passage will lie for a 16 year old in Cairo? Or a university student in Bangkok or a senior citizen in Hamburg?
One might reasonably expect that the undertow of Egyptian Arabic, Thai and German might affect the three learners differently in terms of their ability to comprehend the same passage.

Student comprehension
My first suggestion is that comprehension questions are the business of the students and no one else. One good way of dealing with a reading passage in class is to ask the students to read the text twice and then write 7 questions, each one aimed at a different, named classmate. The students themselves know, better than the teacher does, which classmate is likely to be able to give them an adequate answer. Once each student has written at least four questions, ask them to move around the room asking their questions and listening to the answers.

• This procedure is respectful of the students’ right to find out what they feel they have not yet grasped.
• This procedure links the course book passage to real people in the room.
• This procedure reduces the teachers’ preparation time (if she is in the habit of creating her own comprehension questions.)

Deletion, elaboration and transformation
Yet there are other deeper reasons for doubting the usefulness of the comprehension question in second language reading and listening. The comprehension question is based on the notion that a listener or reader is a sort of CD-ROM that accurately holds the entire in-coming message. This can never be the case. The normal act of listening or reading is always one of deletion, elaboration and transformation.

• The listener/reader will defocus from details that strike them as insignificant. These details will be deleted from the listener/reader’s memory.
• The listener/reader will elaborate the text as it hits the auditory circuits of her brain - if she is listening to a story the elaboration will often be visual and the listener will create her own ‘inner film’.
• In some cases the listener/reader will transform the text by framing it within previous experiences.

For example, I once told a group a tale about a wall girdling a town and the theme of the story was ‘fear’. One listener perceived the whole story in the political framework of the Berlin Wall and its breaching. This person ‘heard’ a much bigger story than I think I told.
Such deletion, elaboration and transformation are a part of the normal, everyday creativity of listening and reading. When I tell a story to 25 students my auditory text is replaced by 25 new texts in the students’ minds. It seems to me very bizarre to go back in time and ask my students language questions about the now ‘dead’ Mario text. Actually I would suggest that such questions are an insult to the students’ inevitable creative elaboration of the original text.

Alternatives to comprehension checking
So what can I do after telling the class a story? I can offer the students questions that help them explore each others’ elaboration. I ask the students to go through the questions below and cross out the ones they do not relate to. Once this deletion is effected I pair them and ask them to use the questions they have retained to get an idea of their partner’s elaboration. Here is a set of such questions:

• In which sort of country did you imagine the story?
• What kind of pictures did you get as you listened.
• Did you create a sort of film from the story?
• Were you ever actually in the same space as the character in the story?
• What feelings did you have during the telling?
• Did you become any of the characters?
• What, for you, is the moral of the story?
• Did this story remind you of other stories you know?
• Did any of the characters seem like people you know?
• Can you think of someone in this group who may have disliked the story?
• Would your brother/mother/daughter/father like this story? Why would they like it?
• At which point in the story did you really start listening?
• Which was the most vivid bit for you?
• At which points in the story did you drift off and think of other things?

The list of questions could be much longer and more detailed, but you will notice they all focus on the students’ elaborated text and on their reactions to the text. None are about details of the original text.
“Very nice” I can hear some readers saying” but what if the students did not understand the language during the telling?”
My answer to this is that the teacher/teller needs to make sure she gets her meaning across by using mime, drawing and L1 glosses on words or phrases that may be hard for students. It is the teller’s job to ensure language comprehension as she tells, and I believe minimal, disciplined recourse to L1 is natural in this situation.

Conclusion
By the time you get to this point in your reading, the lines you have read will have undergone deletion, elaboration and transformation in your mind. As you get up to get yourself a coffee and think back over these lines, you carry in your head your own unique reading of this text. Thank God you are a normally creative reader and not a tape-recorder with the ‘Record’ button down. Do I really need to write comprehension questions on your behalf?

What are the characteristics of good teachers?

What are the characteristics of good teachers?
March 5, 2011 by Cintia Stella

I thought it would be interesting to answer this question now that I’m embarking on a teaching career, and compare it with my answers in a few years time.
What are the characteristics of good teachers? This is the opinion of a teacher-to-be:
Good teachers:
• are creative
• have a sense of humor
• have a positive outlook on life
• understand that they don’t know everything nor do they attempt to act like they do
• have faith in their students and help them to build faith in themselves
• are aware of the huge responsibility they have as role models
• aim at getting the most out of their students
• understand that each student is unique
• enjoy learning and applying the new knowledge they acquire in their teaching
• are flexible and open minded
• know the subject matter they teach and know a bit of everything, too
• add value to the students and colleagues
• are passionate about what they do
• create a positive learning environment
• balance their work and personal life effectively
• are consistent, generous, patient and caring
• encourage students to follow their passion
• reflect on themselves and their surroundings
• try to improve a bit everyday
• keep themselves updated
• set realistic goals for students
• are willing to try new things that may boost students’ learning and motivation
• share their experiences with other teachers
Surely, the list goes on. It would be great to hear from other teachers, both new and seasoned ones!
Posted in teaching | Tagged good teacher, opinion

Turning Disappointment Into Opportunity

Turning Disappointment Into Opportunity
March 16, 2011 by Cintia Stella
I spent the whole weekend planning a lesson. I designed several activities, plus two extra ones just in case. I rehearsed the lesson at home and pictured how much the students and I would enjoy in class. I made 20 copies of each worksheet and headed to the language institute on Monday morning.
This was an optional reinforcement class so it was not possible to know in advance how many students would attend. For some reason (maybe because it was what I hoped for), I expected that there would be around 15.
The class started at 8.45 am. 10 minutes early, I was already in the classroom, waiting anxiously for the crowd of students to arrive. The bell rang, and the classroom was empty. A few minutes later, a student arrived. Her name was Carmen and she was very shy. I told her that we would wait for 5 more minutes in case other students were on their way. Time passed but the door did not open.
It was Carmen and me, just the two of us, together for 90 minutes. A jumble of thoughts ran through my mind simultaneously:
• I will run out of activities very quickly. Should I play Hangman when that happens?
• Does Carmen feel uncomfortable because she is the only student?
• How am I going to teach only one person?
• Does she regret coming to class?
• I need more students to play the game that I have planned. What will I do?
• I’m so disappointed. I’ve worked so hard hoping that there would be more students!
This last thought struck me like a thunderbolt. One person is as important as fifteen or more! I was focusing on myself instead of focusing on my student. Rather than being disappointed, this was a fantastic opportunity in my teaching career.
I decided to change plans. Instead of doing the activities I had planned, I started asking Carmen about herself and I told her a bit about myself too, so that we could get to know each other. I could see how her body language changed as we held a conversation. She began to smile and turned into a totally different person from the one that had entered the classroom a short time before.
She was eager to learn all that she could and welcomed every task with genuine enthusiasm. I enjoyed teaching her, and she enjoyed learning. Or I should say, I enjoyed both teaching and learning, because I learned so much from this young girl. She taught me that teaching is wonderful, regardless how many students you have, and that every soul in the classroom is important. She made me realize that it is not about how much I work to plan a lesson, but about how much value I can add to a person’s learning experience.
Those 90 minutes passed really fast and when the class was over, I was sad to see Carmen leave.
Posted in learning, teacher training, teaching | Tagged learning, opportunity, student, teacher training, teaching

Teaching Practice: Give Students Power

Teaching Practice: Give Students Power
April 11, 2011 by Cintia Stella
Today was the penultimate teaching practice in the teacher training course. Same as last month, it was a reinforcement class for Basic level students who had just learned the Present Continuous tense, and despite the fact that I could have used the same activities that I had used in March, I wanted to plan new ones. I knew that my fellow trainees, who had done the teaching practice the day before, had given the learners a good amount of written activities such as Listen & fill in the gaps, Read the questions & answer and Write a Postcard so I decided to plan different ones.
This is one of the activities that we did and that worked very well:
- Picture dictation: I told the students that I would read a description so they had to listen carefully and draw what they heard. I anticipated that some of them might not feel comfortable due to their lack of artistic skills, so I explained that the quality of the drawing didn’t matter, as long as we could all understand what they had meant to draw. I gave them an example, by making some drawings on the board, and that was clear enough. You can look at the photo below and you’ll notice that I’m not very artistic (or should I say that I am not artistic at all?):
The description I read was about people on the beach, and I included some more challenging sentences such as: An old man is NOT reading the newspaper, he is smoking a pipe. Two tall women are walking but ONLY ONE of them is wearing a skirt.
I allowed plenty of time between sentences for them to draw and I noticed they were really enjoying the activity. When I finished the dictation, I asked the students to get in pairs and show their drawings to their partners. Finally, I asked if anyone wanted to copy the drawing on the board, and I quickly had 3 volunteers. Here they are:
I didn’t expect to do anything else with this activity after the students had copied their drawings on the board, but two of them had drawn some objects which they didn’t know how to say in English: to represent an old man, one of the students had drawn a person sitting in a wheelchair while another student had drawn a man with a walking cane. I gave them the English word for both objects and elicited some sentences to make sure that they had understood.
Some of the students asked me if they could do a similar activity because they had liked it a lot, so I asked the whole class if they agreed and they all did. I didn’t have another description to dictate, so I suggested that they did the whole activity by themselves. I told them to get into 2 groups, and that they would have to write the description that the other group had to draw.
I wasn’t sure if students at this level would be able to work independently, but they did such a wonderful job! I was there in case they needed me, but I didn’t interfere.
I enjoyed the idea of giving students power. During the teacher training course I’d read about this but honestly, I didn’t know how to put it into practice. Finally, without even planning it, I did, and I feel that I’ve made a good step forward as a teacher.
Posted in activity, learning, teacher training, teaching | Tagged activity, give students power, picture dictation, teaching practice

A CONCISE OVERVIEW OF SOME ESL METHODS

A CONCISE OVERVIEW OF SOME ESL METHODS
(Leela Mohd. Ali)
The English Teacher Vol. XVIII Sept. 1989
http://www.melta.org.my/ET/1989/main2.html

Different theories concerning the nature of language and language learning when applied to the actual ESL situation have given rise to a considerable array of instructional methods. In the sixties, methods were linked to linguistics and psychology, and this was evident in the audio-lingual method. Contemporary methods are based on areas that were unknown or unconsulted by the linguists and psychologists of the fifties and sixties. According to Richards and Rodgers (1985:16) these areas are studies in textual cohesion, language functions, speech-act theory, sociolinguistic variation, presupposition semantics, interaction analysis, ethno methodology and face-face analysis, ethnography of speaking, process analysis, and discourse analysis.

Some contemporary methodologies are the Silent Way, Total Physical Response, Communicative Language Teaching, Counseling Learning, and Suggestopedia.

TERMINOLOGY
Any comparison of language teaching practices immediately runs into the problem caused by the differences in the usage of certain terms. One approach to the problem of certain terms being often used in different ways is to attempt to introduce some sort of standardization, at least for the purposes of the classification. Two of the more widely-known attempts at such standardization are Anthony (1963) and Richards and Rodgers (1985).

Edward M. Anthony (1963: in Allen and Campbell 1972:5) used the terms approach, method, and technique hierarchically. He views an approach as a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language and the nature of language teaching and learning.

He views a method (1972:6) as an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural.

He views a technique (1972:6) as implementational - that which actually takes place in the classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method and therefore in harmony with an approach as well.

Richards and Rodgers (1985) modified Anthony's terminology and spoke of approach, design, and procedure. These represent "three interrelated elements of organization upon which language-teaching practices are founded".

Method
Approach <----------> Design
Procedure


Richards and Rodgers (1985:17) describe the three levels:
o The first level approach, defines these assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and the nature of language learning that operate as axiomatic constructs or reference points and provide a theoretical foundation of what language teachers ultimately do with learners in classrooms.
o The second level in the system - design - specifies the relationship of theories and learning to both the form and function of instructional materials and activities in instructional settings.
o The third level - procedure - comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs.

In this write-up, however, instead of attempting to strictly follow either Anthony or Richard and Rodgers, an attempt has been made to avoid the terminology problem altogether by comparing a number of the better-known methods and approaches in terms of seven different perimeters: principal features, a brief history, objectives, techniques, theoretical bases, student-teacher/ teacher-student interaction, and strengths/ weaknesses.

Among the methods surveyed, some have been developed through the way language or language context is defined and organized in a syllabus or through the application of a theory of language learning processes and instructional procedures, In one place or another in the survey below, structural/ situational, aural/ oral, audio-lingual, notional/ functional, and ESP (English-for-Special Purposes) have made concrete proposals for a language syllabus. Many of these can be adopted by a language teacher at one time or another to help with teaching. Common to many of the methods below is the incorporation of both a psycholinguistic or language-learning dimension and a teaching dimension. Also common to many of the methods surveyed below is a concern for the learner as a total human being, a viewpoint that has given rise to such methods as Total Physical Response, the Silent Way, Counseling Learning, and Suggestopedia.

The traditional and contemporary methods discussed under the various above-mentioned seven subheadings have been worked out to give those interested a concise, general overview of these methods - one in which they can be easily compared with one another. Perhaps this will facilitate the formulation of an eclectic method for practitioners.



1. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
GTM emphasizes the teaching of the second language grammar. Its principal practice technique is translation from and into the target language.

BRIEF HISTORY
The original motivation for this method was reformist. The grammar-translation method was an attempt to adapt the traditional scholastic approach among individual learners in the eighteenth century i.e. to acquire a reading knowledge of foreign languages by studying a grammar and applying this knowledge to the interpretation of texts with the use of a dictionary to the circumstances and requirements of school. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, grammar-translation was attacked as a 'cold and lifeless' approach to language teaching.

OBJECTIVE
GTM was used for reading and appreciating foreign language literature. GTM lays little emphasis on speaking or listening to the second language; it is mainly a book oriented method for learning the grammar of the language. It was thought that the study of the grammar would make students more aware of the grammar of their own language and would help the students grow intellectually.

TECHNIQUE
The textbook presents short chapters of lessons containing a few grammatical points of rules illustrated by examples; technical terms are not avoided. The learner has to memorize rules, paradigms, vocabulary, and lists e.g. of prepositions. Elaborate grammatical explanations and illustrations are followed by practice in the writing of paradigms, in the applying of rules in the construction of sentences, and in the translation of passages of prose from the native to the foreign language. Some exercises practice translation into the first language. As the learner progresses, he advances from translating isolated sentences to translating passages.

THEORETICAL BASE
The target language is primarily viewed as a system of rules to be related to the rules and meanings of the first language. Language learning is implicitly seen as an intellectual activity involving rule learning by means of massive, translation practice. Like learning Latin and Greek, second language learning is viewed as mental training.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
Most of the interaction in the classroom is from teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction. Learners listen, copy rules and write out exercises and correct them from the blackboard. The average student has to work hard at what he considers laborious and monotonous chores, without much feeling of progress in the mastery of the language, and with very little opportunity to express himself through it. He has a passive role in the classroom. He absorbs and then repeats what he has absorbed to satisfy his teacher.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
Besides the use of the first language as a reference system for the second language learner, there is recognition of the role that the careful use of translation can play in language learning. Thinking about the grammar of the second language and doing translation as a practice technique put the learner in an active problem-solving situation.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
Translation was overused. Also, there was an overemphasis on the language as a mass of rules (and exceptions). The limitations of the practice techniques never freed the learner from the dominance of the first language. The tremendous task of memorization and the lack of coherence with which the language facts were presented to the learner is undoubtedly one of the weaknesses. Certainly the claim made in the nineteenth century that this method provided a safe, easy, practical entry into a second language is false.

2. DIRECT METHOD
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
It is characterized by the use of the target language as a means of instruction and communication in the language classroom, and by the avoidance of the use of the first language and of translation as a technique.

BRIEF HISTORY
The language teaching reforms from 1850-1900 were responsible for the emergence of the direct method. Practical unconventional language reformers such as M. Berlitz (1852-1921) and F. Gonin (1831-1896) developed the direct method in response to the need for better language learning in a new world of industry and international trade and travel. The development of this method is closely linked to the introduction of phonetics into language teaching pedagogy. Hester (1970) and Diller (1975-1978) reaffirmed the direct method as a valid 'cognitive' or rationalist method which emphasizes second language use without translation in the language classroom.

OBJECTIVE
This method shifts the focus in early instruction from the literary language to the spoken language. Speech precedes reading, and even in reading, students are encouraged to connect print and meaning without using translation into the native language. The ultimate aim is developing the ability to think in the language, whether conversing, reading, or writing.



TECHNIQUE
Short, specially constructed textbook passages are usually used with difficult words and expressions explained in the target language with the help of paraphrases, synonyms, demonstrations or context; questions are asked about the text or wall pictures. The grammar is from the text read; the students are encouraged to find the rules involved for themselves. Exercises involve transposition, substitutions, dictation, narrative, and free composition. Good pronunciation is stressed. From the beginning the utterances used form part of a simple discourse. There is no translation; instead, comprehension is tested by questions and answers in the foreign language.

THEORETICAL BASE
Linguistically, language teaching was to be based on phonetics and on a "scientific" grammar. Language learning was viewed as analogous to first language acquisition, and the learning processes involved were interpreted in terms of associationist psychology. The emphasis was on sounds and simple sentences and association of the language with objects and persons in the immediate environment.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students from students to teacher, although the latter is often teacher-directed. Students converse with one another as well. Students read texts aloud together. The classroom is continually filled with the sound of the foreign language, and all activity is closely linked with its use in speech and writing. The teacher and the students are thought of as partners in the teaching and learning process.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
The direct method abandoned L1 as the frame of reference for L2. Teachers thus developed new non-translational techniques. This gave rise to the focus on a textbook, to illustrating meanings through objects and pictures, to emphasizing questions and answers, to using spoken narratives, to using dictation, and to new grammatical exercises.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
Conveying meaning with no translation at all and prevention of misunderstanding without any reference at all to the L1 were major problems. Another problem was applying the direct method beyond the elementary levels.

3. READING METHOD
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
This method deliberately restricts the goal of language teaching to training in reading comprehension.

BRIEF HISTORY
Advocated by some British and American educators. The Coleman Report (1929) as a result of the Modern Foreign Language Study in the U.S.A. stated that since the majority of American students studied a foreign language for only 2 years, the only realistic objective was the development of the students' reading skills. West (1926), teaching English in India, agreed that learning to read fluently was more important than speaking. Reading, to him had 'the greatest surrender value' for the student in the early stages of language learning. The Reading Method was much criticized during World War II, when spoken language became a national priority in the U.S.A.

OBJECTIVE
It restricted the goal of language learning to one of practical attainable utility. Students were trained to read the foreign language with direct comprehension of meaning, without a conscious effort to translate what they were reading.

TECHNIQUE
Before students were introduced to reading, an oral part thoroughly initiated them into the sound system. The course was divided into intensive and extensive reading. Students were not encouraged to translate; they were trained to infer the meaning of unknown words from the context or from cognates. Special readers were published which conformed to specific levels of word-frequency and idiom counts, and the student was guided by the teacher from level to level. Class projects studied the country where the language was spoken and the customs of the people who spoke the language so that the students might read with greater appreciation of cultural differences.

THEORETICAL BASE
Education activities should be geared to specific ultimate practical objectives.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
There is interaction both ways but it is clearly teacher-directed. Individual students read the text aloud and the question-answer sessions see the teacher interacting with the students and vice-versa. When students worked on projects they worked co-operatively. The extensive reading programme gives students the opportunity to progress at their own rate i.e., students within the same class can work with readers at different levels of difficulty.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
This method introduced some new elements into language teaching: (a) the introduction of teaching geared to specific purposes, in this case, the reading objective; (b) the application of vocabulary control to second language texts, as a means of better grading of texts; (c) the creation of graded 'readers'; and (d) the introduction of techniques of rapid reading to the foreign language classroom.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
Not surprisingly, this method for the most part produced students who were unable to comprehend and speak the language beyond the very simplest of exchanges (W. Rivers 1970:24).

4. AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
Characteristics:
 separation of the skills, listening, speaking, reading, writing - and the primacy of the audio-lingual over the graphic skills;
 the use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language;
 emphasis on certain practice techniques - mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills;
 establishing a linguistic and psychological theory as a basis for the method.

BRIEF HISTORY
The origins are in the 'Army Method' of American wartime language programmes in World War II. It was furthered by Fries and Lado at the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan, by the development of contrastive linguists, by the new technology of the language laboratory, and by generous U.S.A. government funding for language research and development. The term 'audio-lingual' was proposed by Brooks (Brooks 1964:263). The theoretical bases for audio-lingualism were questioned by Carroll, Rivers, Saporta, and Anisfield as early as 1964, and there was a 'prolonged and heated debate' on the audio-lingual methods between 1966 and 1972.



OBJECTIVE
The emphasis is placed on the four language learning skills. Listening and speaking are given priority and these precede reading and writing. Audio-Iingualism tries to develop target language skills without reference to the mother tongue. The ideal outcome of this method is a co-ordinate command of the second language.

TECHNIQUE
New vocabulary and structures are presented through dialogues. Dialogues are learned through imitation and repetition. Drills/pattern drills are presented in the dialogue. The correct responses of pupils are positively reinforced. Grammar rules are not provided. Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogues or is presented by the teacher. Students' reading and written work is based upon the oral work they did earlier.

THEORETICAL BASE
The ALM is based on descriptive, structural, and contrastive linguistics of the fifties and sixties. It is based on behaviorist psychology, mainly following Skinner and influenced by neo-behaviorists such as Osgood. It interprets language learning in terms of stimulus-response operant conditioning and reinforcement with an emphasis on error-free learning in small well-prepared steps and stages.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
There is student-to-student interaction in chain drills and when students take different roles in dialogues, but this interaction is teacher-directed. Most interaction is between teacher and students and is initiated by the teacher. The teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior of her students. She is responsible for providing her students with a good model for imitation. Students are imitators of the teacher's model or the tapes she supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher's directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
It was based on declared linguistic and psychological principles. It was concerned with syntax, not just with vocabulary and morphology. It developed simple techniques, without translation, of varied, graded, and intensive practice of specific features of a language. It used separation of language skills as a pedagogical device. It introduced techniques for auditory and oral practice.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
Empirical research did not conclusively establish its superiority. Teachers using audio-lingual materials and applying the audio-lingual method conscientiously complained about the lack of effectiveness of techniques in the long run and the boredom engendered among the students in the short run.

5. SILENT WAY
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
In language learning/acquisition learners use their thinking processes - cognition - to discover the rules of the language they are acquiring, by formulating hypotheses. Errors are inevitable and are signs that the learners are testing their hypotheses. Learners are actively responsible for their own learning. "Teaching should be subordinated to learning".

BRIEF HISTORY
Caleb Gattengo is the originator of the Silent Way. In the following books, he conveyed his ideas on the Silent Way.

1972 Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way
1975 On Being Freer
1976 The Mind Teaches the Brain
1977 Evolution and Memory
1977 The Science of Education
1977 On Love
1978 On Death
1979 Who Cares about Health?

OBJECTIVE
Students should be able to use the language for self-expression i.e. to express their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings. Learners need to develop independence from the teacher and develop their own criteria for correctness.

TECHNIQUE
Students learn the language through its sounds. The color-coded Fidel Charts are used to help students learn spellings that correspond to sounds and progress to reading and pronouncing words correctly. The teacher sets up situations that focus student attention on structures, and provides a vehicle for students to perceive meaning. The teacher uses the students' errors to ascertain the language the students are unclear about, and determines what to work on based on this. Students receive a great deal of practice with a structure without repetition for its own sake. They gain autonomy in the language by exploring it and making choices. Students take responsibility for their own learning.

THEORETICAL BASE
In the Silent Way, students use their own thinking processes to discover the rules of the language they are acquiring. The individual is "an evolving system endowed with awareness and the capacity for self-education". Silence is a tool; like many of the techniques, it helps to focus and to develop individual initiative and autonomy.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
For much of the student-teacher interaction, the teacher is silent. He is still very active, however, setting up situations to "force awareness", listening attentively to students' speech, and silently working with them on their production. When the teacher does speak, it is to give clues, not to model the language. Student-student verbal interaction is desirable and is therefore encouraged. The teachers' silence is to allow for this. The teacher constantly observes the students and helps them overcome negative feelings which might interfere with learning.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
The teacher provides challenges based on the student's current abilities, while remaining silent and non-interfering as the student works to learn the material that the teacher has presented to him. The learners are viewed as whole, complex people and not "simple few-dimensional simplifications". The Silent way rejects any idea of trying to "protect" students from making errors.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
There is the possibility of confusion about the meaning of words. Students used to relying on the teacher for confirmation are sometimes reluctant to place any faith in their own judgment. The grammatical sequencing, which is crucial, requires a tremendous amount of ability on the part of the teacher.

6. SUGGESTOPEDIA
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
This method has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling they cannot succeed by helping them overcome the psychological barriers to learning; learning involves both the conscious and the unconscious. The learner is seen as a person whose physical, emotional, and intellectual sides are intertwined. People can learn much faster than they usually do.

BRIEF HISTORY
Suggestopedia was developed by Georgi Lozanov in Lozanov's Institute of Suggestology in Sofia, Bulgaria. Stevick describes this method as "not a fixed system, but only an area of Dr. Lozanov's ongoing research". It is discussed in Lozanov's book Suggestology and the Principles of Suggestology (1979).

OBJECTIVE
Teachers hope to accelerate the process by which students learn to use a foreign language for everyday communication. More of the students' mental powers must be tapped in order to do so. The principal strategy employed by this method is to "desuggest" the limitations of students and to suggest how easy it will be for them to succeed at language learning.

TECHNIQUE
Ideally courses are conducted in a comfortable room with music to ensure a relaxing environment. During the course, students select target language names and create whole biographies to get along with their new identities. The strategy of Suggestopedia is to remove inhibiting tensions among students and to ensure success at language learning. The teacher has i) psychological, ii) artistic and iii) pedagogical "tools" for helping the learner. Direct and indirect positive suggestions are made to enhance students' confidence and to convince them that success is attainable. According to Bushman and Madsen (1976:32), "Content precedes form. Accurate pronunciation and grammar are to come in due course".



THEORETICAL BASE
Learning involves the unconscious as well as the conscious functions. People can learn much faster than they usually do. Learning is held back by (a) expectations and limitations, (b) the lack of a harmonious, relaxed learner, and (c) the consequent failure to make use of powers which lie idle in most people most of the time (Stevick 1980).

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
The teacher initiates interactions with the whole group of students and with individual right from the beginning of a language course. Initially, the students only respond non-verbally or with a few target language words they have practiced. Later the students have more control of the target language and respond more appropriately and may initiate interaction themselves. Students interact with each other from the beginning in various activities directed by the teacher. The teacher is the authority in the classroom. The students must trust and respect her in order for the method to succeed.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
It deals with the students own often quite harmful and often quite negative feelings about their own abilities. It sets up a non-evaluative classroom atmosphere; thus it also avoids both criticizing and praising. The processes of desuggestion and resuggestion require the teacher to make deliberate and skillful use of the general learning atmosphere. Teachers need to be lively, cheerful, and efficient.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
Teacher needs to be well-trained and have the right personality; otherwise, this method will not be completely effective. It is unclear how successful this method would be with younger children.


7. COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
The formula SAARRD summarizes this method: S-Security, A-Assertion, A-Attention, R-Reflection, R-Retention, and D-Discrimination. Students are viewed as whole persons; thus, the relationships and understanding among learners as a "knower-counselor" and the learner as a learner are responsible for bringing their own unique resources to the learning experience.

BRIEF HISTORY
The Community-Learning method and its principles were developed by Charles A. Curran. Among the more readable descriptions of the method are those of Jenny Belle, Dan Travel, and Pat Tirone, who worked closely with Curran at the Counseling-Learning Institute. Curran's books include the following:
1968 Counseling and Psychotherapy: The Pursuits of Value
1972 Counseling-Learning: A Whole-Person Approach for Education
1976 Counseling-Learning in Second Languages
Earl Stevick and his students have also experimented with this method and they have made adaptations.

OBJECTIVE
Students are considered as "whole persons". Students learn to use the target language communicatively. Students take responsibility for their own learning. Students' feelings and intellect have to be considered; an understanding of their instinctive protective reactions, and their desire to know are integral to language learning (and language teaching).

TECHNIQUE
At the beginning students speaking the native language and the teacher helps them express what they want to say by supplying them with the target language translations in chunks. The chunks which the students produce are recorded, and when replayed sound like a conversation. Later a transcription is made and it becomes the "text" with which students work. Various activities are then conducted (e.g. examination of a grammar point, working on the pronunciation of a particular phrase, or creating new sentences with words from the transcript) that allow the students to further explore the language they generated. During the course of the lesson, students are invited to say how they feel.

THEORETICAL BASE
In the beginning experience knowing and feeling are closely interwined with each other. Both the "knower"/ teacher and the learner are responsible for bringing to the language learning task the resources that they alone possess. This is a relationship with a constantly shifting equilibrium, not a relationship of fixed roles. Power is evenly distributed between the "knower" and the learner. (Stevick 1980).

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
It is neither student-centered not teacher-centered but rather teacher-student centered with both making decisions in the class. Building a relationship with and among students is very important. In a trusting relationship, the threat that students feel is reduced, and non-defensive learning is promoted. Students learn from their interaction with the teacher. A spirit of cooperation, not competition must prevail. At times the teacher facilitates the students' ability to express themselves, and at times the teacher is in-charge and providing direction. Thus the nature of student-teacher interaction changes within the lesson and over time.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
By having the students work with the content of their own choice and creation, the students are intimately involved with the material. Meanwhile, the teacher attends more closely to the structuring of the class and to the highlighting of the materials. By listening to the students in structured feedback sessions, the teacher establishes an atmosphere of security which helps minimize behavior problems.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
If the teacher lacks emotional or intellectual sensitivity or lacks skill at teaching, this method will be rendered ineffective. The teacher needs to be very good at both languages.

8. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
Like all of the "comprehension" methods, TPR emphasizes listening comprehension while it delays speech production. The main teaching device is the use of commands through which the teacher directs students' behavior. Meaning in the target language is taught through actions. TPR was developed in order to reduce the stress that learners feel when studying a foreign language.

BRIEF HISTORY
TPR, one of several "comprehension-based" methods is now most closely associated with James A. Asher (1972), although as early as 1925, H.E. Palmer and D. Palmer stressed the importance of "imperative drills" in English Through Actions. Asher's Learning Another Language Through Actions: Complete Teachers' Guidebook (1977) is written to assist teachers in implementing TPR. Asher compared students taught through TPR and students taught through audio-lingual methods and found that those taught through TPR"progressed nearly five times faster" (Krashen 1984: 155). Krashen and Terell (1983:75) also use TPR in their Natural Approach as a technique to provide beginners with input in a realistic way.

OBJECTIVE
Learners must enjoy the language learning experience i.e., learning to communicate in a foreign language. The method was developed' to reduce the stress that people feel when studying a foreign language with the hope that they will persist in their attempt to study a language beyond a beginning level of proficiency.

TECHNIQUE
In the first phase of the lesson, the instructor issues commands to students, then performs the actions with them. In the second phase, students demonstrate that they understand the commands by performing them on their own. The teacher then combines elements from different commands to allow students to develop flexibility in understanding unfamiliar utterances. After learning to respond to oral commands, the students learn to read and write them. When students are ready to speak they issue the commands. Students speak only when they are ready to do so; this avoids anxiety.

THEORETICAL BASE
Language learning is more effective when it is fun. Feelings of success combined with low anxiety facilitate learning. Meaning in the target language can often be conveyed through actions. Memory is activated through learner response.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
The teacher interacts with the whole group of students and with individual students. Initially, the interaction is characterized by the teacher speaking and the students responding nonverbally. Later on, the students become more verbal and the teacher responds nonverbally, Students perform actions together or individually. Students learn from each other. As students begin to speak, they issue commands to, their peers as well as to the teacher.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
TPR ensures the active participation of students, helps the teacher know when utterances are understood, and also provides a context to help students understand the language they hear. TPR lowers students' anxiety as they are not required to produce in the second language until they themselves decide they are ready; that is, they are allowed a silent period.

ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
It is often criticized because of the "constraints" imposed by the continuous use of imperatives, although in actual practice an imaginative teacher finds embedding other structures in the imperative relatively easy. It is also criticized because of the grammatical focus of the lessons.

9. COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
PRINCIPAL FEATURE
Learners need to use the target language forms, meanings, and functions in negotiating meaning. Foreign language teaching must be concerned with reality, including real communication as it takes place outside and inside the classroom. The learning atmosphere must be supportive and must promote opportunities for expression.

BRIEF HISTORY
Since the 1970's, this approach has been influential in foreign language teaching. Munby (1978) proposes a model for defining the communicative needs of learners of English for Specific Purposes in the form of inventories. Wilkins (1979), has had a wide influence in the field of communicative syllabus design. Others include Brumfit and Johnson (1979), Johnson and Morrow (1978), and J. Yalden (1984). The nature of communicative ability is discussed in detail by Candlin (1976), Leeson (1975), Littlewood (1979) and Widdowson (1978), among others.

OBJECTIVE
The main objective is to have students become competent i.e., able to use the language appropriate to a social context.

TECHNIQUE
Almost everything is done with a communicative intent. Students use language through communicative activities such as games, role-plays, and problem-solving tasks. Communicative activities have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback. Another characteristic of this approach is the use of authentic materials in order to give students an opportunity to develop strategies for understanding language as it is actually used. Communicative activities are carried out by students in small groups to ensure that each student has maximum time to interact in order to learn to negotiate meaning.

THEORETICAL BASE
The communicative approach helps match the content more closely with the actual communicative purposes that learners have to use the language for. Their communicative ability develops through processes "inside the learner". Students will be more motivated to study a foreign language since they feel they are learning to do something useful with the language that they are studying.

INTERACTIONS: STUDENT-TEACHER, STUDENT-STUDENT
The teacher is the initiator of activities but he does not always interact with the students himself. Sometimes, he is co-communicator but more often he establishes situations that prompt communication between and among the students. Students interact a great deal with one another. They interact in pairs, triads, small groups and as a whole class. Students are seen as communicators actively engaged in trying to make themselves understood. The teacher is a facilitator of his students' learning.

ASSESSMENT OF THE STRENGTH
It contextualizes language learning and focuses on meaning rather than on the linguistic form. This means that the teacher extends the range of situations in which the learner performs with the focus on meaning, without being hindered by the attention he must pay to linguistic form. This helps make the linguistic content of a course more relevant to learners' needs.


ASSESSMENT OF THE WEAKNESS
The Communicative Approach is not so much a method as a way to augment and improve existing techniques. Nonetheless, certain potential weaknesses may arise from an attempt to use this approach exclusively. At times attention to form is valuable for students. At times, having to deal with both a new form and with a new communicative situation at the same time imposes too much of a burden.













BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen,H.B. and Campbell,R.N. 1971. Teaching English as a Second Language. London: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited.
Blair, W. Robert (Ed.). 1982. Innovative Approaches to Language Teaching. Massachusetts: Newbury House.
Brumfit, C.J. and Robert, J.T. 1983. Language and Language Teaching. London: Batsford Academic and Educational Ltd.
Howatt; APR. 1984. A History of English Language Teaching. London: Oxford University Press.
Larson - Freeman, D. 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. London: Oxford University Press.
Littlewood, W. 1981. Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction. London: Cambridge University Press.
Littlewood, W. 1984. Foreign and Second Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
McArthur, Tom. 1983. A Foundation Course for Language Teachers. London: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J.C. 1985. The Context of Language Teaching. London: Cambridge University Press.
Rivers, Wilga, M. 1981. Teaching Foreign Language Skills. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Stern, H.H. 1983. Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. London: Oxford University Press.
Stevick, E.W. 1979. Teaching Language: A Way and Ways. Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers Inc.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

By: Zulhidah (www.zulhiddahpbiuin.webs.com)

A. Introduction

English is one of the international foreign languages formally and non-formally learned by most of Indonesian people. It is a compulsory subject, which is taught from Elementary School up to Universities. It seems that everybody who wants to continue his/her studies in his/her country or abroad, have a good job position in a prestigious company with higher salary, and participate effectively in global community and maintain standard of living in the context of increasing global competition and cooperation needs English.

As the twentieth-century draws to a close, more and more Indonesian people especially young professionals are starting to understand that a new, highly interdependent global marketplace of producers and consumers has emerged. Leaders in many professions now realize that fluency in English and multicultural sensitivity is essential in their fields.

As we know that Indonesia lack citizens in many professional fields who can communicate in foreign languages including English and understand other cultures and value systems. Most of schools in Indonesia do not incorporate global perspectives in their curricula. Most university students do not develop the expertise to understand even one of the foreign languages and cultures. Consequently, most Indonesian professionals lack the basic skills needed to cultivate working relationships with colleagues in Indonesia itself and foreign countries and do not have easy access to new ideas and developments from abroad.

On the other hand, to have a good proficiency in foreign languages in particular English is not easy. It is influenced by a number of factors such as the language learner’s qualification, interest, and efforts, the English learning facilities they have, and qualified teachers. Nowadays, in many third countries in the world including Indonesia, the foreign language teaching profession in particular English is faced with increasing enrollments and a shortage of qualified teachers. At the same time, a rapidly increasing student number, nationwide education reform, and the development of national standard for foreign language learning are placing a lot of new demands on qualified English language teachers.

Curtain and Pesola suggest that foreign language teachers today “require a combination of competencies and background that may be unprecedented in the preparation of language teachers” and that professional development is critical one. Clearly one of the goals of teaching English is to make the students able to communicate, to understand and be understood by native speakers and nonnative speakers of the language. In order to help the students reach this goal, the teacher should be able to apply effective teaching in the process of teaching and learning English that has relationship with their professional development.

This paper tries to describe the challenges for English language teachers, skills and knowledge needed by them, and opportunities for professional development of the English teachers.

B. Challenges for English Language Teachers

Teaching English as a foreign language is not an easy job especially for nonnative speaker teachers of the language. There are many factors that make the teaching of foreign languages in particular English challenging for teachers’ professional development. Pertaining to the issues, Curtain and Pesola (1994) and Tedick and Walker (1996) in Joy (1997) recognize that factors as follows:

1. The cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic, and academic diversity typical in today’s student population requires foreign language teachers to work with students whose needs, educational experiences, and native language skills are very different from those of students they have typically taught.

2. The variety of reasons students have for learning foreign languages and the different ways they approach this learning require that foreign language curricula and instruction address a range of student goals and learning styles.

3. The current emphasis on exclusive use of the target language in the classroom requires that teachers have strong language skills.

4. The emphasis on thematic learning demands that teachers have to be skilled in thematic areas explored, competent in the vocabulary related to these areas, responsive to student interests in various topics, and able to work in teams with content-area teachers.

5. The emphasis on collaborative learning and student self-directed learning requires that teachers be able to act as facilitators, guides, counselors, and resources, not just as language experts.

6. The increase in foreign language enrollments and the shortage of qualified teachers may require foreign language teachers to teach at more grade levels than they have in the past.

7. The emphasis on technology for language learning and teaching requires teachers to keep informed about new technologies and their instructional uses.

The previous challenging factors absolutely emphasize the need for strong professional development of the English language teachers. English language teachers should be able to cope with the seventh challenges above in order to fulfill strong professional development needed by them to help the students able to accelerate the reaching of English teaching goals. To face that challenges is not easy for English teachers. They need to improve their language skills in modalities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing and their general knowledge.

In accordance with the statement above, Met says that good foreign language teachers need the following skills and knowledge:

1. A high level of language proficiency in all of the modalities of the target language; speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

2. The ability to use the language in real-life contexts, for both social and professional purposes.

3. The ability to comprehend contemporary media in the foreign language, both oral and written, and interact successfully with native speakers in the United States and abroad4 (Philips, 1991)

4. A strong background in the liberal arts and the content areas.

5. Understanding of the social, political, historical, and economic realities of the regions where the language they teach is spoken.

6. Pedagogical knowledge and skills, including knowledge about human growth and development, learning theory and second language acquisition theory, and a repertoire of strategies for developing proficiency and cultural understanding in all students(Guntermann, 1992).

7. Knowledge of the various technologies and how to integrate them into their instruction.

In Indonesia, many colleges have developed teaching English as a foreign language program to prepare good and qualified English teachers. To master then competencies in the general areas of education, interpersonal skills, and professional education above, the English teachers need experiences for developing those competencies and resources that available to aid in their professional development. In fact, many of English teachers in Indonesia still lack of those competencies because they lack of experiences and resources needed.

English language teachers must maintain their proficiency in the target language taught and stay up to date on current issues related to the English language teaching and the target culture. So, they have to study cross-cultural understanding to make them easy to teach the language.

In recent years, various Universities in many countries in the world have developed many programs for professional development in the teaching of foreign languages and cultures for specific purposes. In addition to this condition, language teachers also try to seek training needed in the application of foreign language and cultural instruction.

Language proficiency in all four-language skills is key to academic achievement for both teachers and students. Regardless of the skills and knowledge that foreign language teachers possess when they commence teaching, maintenance and improvement must be an ongoing process. We know that most teachers must continue to accumulate academic credits while teaching, in order to keep their teaching license current. These can be done through seminars, lectures, workshops, on higher education training and researches offered by governance, professional associations or universities.

To fulfill both of them is not easy for most of English teachers in Indonesia in particular when they want to develop their students’ competence in the language and literacy of instruction across the curriculum demands. It needs five pedagogy standards for effective teaching and learning for all students and we have known that our students have individual differences that require us to have good preparation and well-organized program and activities for them. They are (1) teachers and students producing together; (2) developing language proficiency; (3) connecting school to students’ lives; (4) teaching complex thinking, and (5) teaching through conversation.

To make these five standards run well needs hard work of the teachers. These standards emerge from five principles of practice that have proven successful with majority and minority at-risk students in numerous classrooms in many countries. They incorporate the broadest base of knowledge available and reflect the emerging professional consensus about the most effective ways to educate linguistically, intelligently, and culturally diverse students. For many years, researchers have attempted to integrate studies of diverse students into literature reviews encompassing thousands of studies carried out worldwide.

First, teachers should facilitate learning for the students through joint productive activities among teachers and students. Learning takes place best through joint activity – when experts and novices work together for a common product or goal, and during the activity have opportunities to converse about it. In many schools, however, opportunities for this kind of shared experience are rare, which in turn limits students’ opportunities to develop common systems of understanding with their teachers and with their peers. Discourse, which builds basic schooled competencies, can take place only if the teacher shares in these experiences. Joint productive activity between teacher and students helps to create a common context of experience within the school itself.

Second, teachers should develop students’ competence in the English language and literacy of instruction throughout all instructional activities. Language and literacy development should be fostered through meaningful use and purposive conversation between teacher and students, not through drills and decontextualized rules. The ways of using language that prevail in school discourse are frequently unfamiliar to English language learners and other at risk students. Third, teacher should contextualize teaching and curriculum in the experiences and skills of home and community. The teachers should provide the following indicators:

1. Listen to students talk about familiar topic

2. Respond to students’ talk and questions, making on the spot changes that directly relate to their comments.

3. Assist language development through modeling, eliciting, probing, restating, clarifying, questioning, and praising, as appropriate in purposeful conversation.

4. Interact with students in ways that respect their speaking style, which may be different from the teacher’s, such as paying attention to wait-time, eye contact, turn taking, and spotlighting.

5. Connect student language with literacy and content area knowledge through speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities.

6. Encourage students to use content vocabulary to express their understanding.

7. Provide frequent opportunities for students to interact with each other and with the teacher during instructional activities.

8. Encourage students to use their first and second languages in instructional activities.

To increase student language development and promote student understanding, the teachers should use the following strategies:

1. Presenting information in known contexts.

2. Modeling appropriate language and vocabulary.

3. Providing visuals and other materials that display language.

4. Using familiar language from students’ funds of knowledge.

5. Using sentence patterns and routines frequently.

6. Adjusting questioning to meet students needs.

7. Asking students to explain their reasoning.

8. Inviting students to paraphrase often.

9. Simplifying sentences and syntax.

10. Playing with words.

Students can develop their language skills if the teacher can create an environment that provides a variety of social contexts to emphasize the explicit connections among the students’ experience, language, literacy, and academic knowledge. There are three levels of contextualization that must be addressed. They are as follows:

1. At the level of instruction, teachers should try to establish patterns of classroom participation and speech that are drawn from conversational styles of family and community yet help students develop the academic style of talk suited for schools.

2. At the curriculum level, cultural materials and skills are the media by which the goals of literacy, numeracy, and science are contextualized. The use of personal, community-based experiences as the foundation for developing school skills.

3. At the policy level, the school itself is contextualized. Effective school-based learning is a social process that affects and is affected by the entire community. Longer-lasting progress has been achieved with children whose learning has been explored, modified, and shaped in collaboration with their parents and communities.

In connecting teaching and curriculum by using experiences and skills from students’ home and community, the teachers can provide the following indicators:

1. Begin with what students already know from home, community, and school.

2. Design instructional activities that are meaningful to students in terms of local community norms and knowledge.

3. Learn about local norms and knowledge by talking to students, parents, and community members and by reading pertinent documents.

4. Assist students to connect and apply their learning to home and community.

5. Plan jointly with students to design community-based learning activities.

6. Provide opportunities for parents to participate in classroom instructional activities.

7. Vary activities to include students’ preferences, from collective and cooperative activities to individual and competitive ones.

8. Vary styles of conversation and participation to include students’ cultural preferences, such as co-narration, call-and-response, and choral.

Fourth, teachers should challenge students toward cognitive complexity. There is a clear consensus among researchers that at-risk students require instruction that is cognitively challenging, that is, instruction that requires thinking and analysis, not only rote, repetitive, detail-level drills. This does not mean ignoring phonics rules or not memorizing the multiplication tables, but it does mean going beyond that level of curriculum into the deep exploration of interesting and meaningful materials. There are many ways in which cognitive complexity has been introduced into the teaching of at-risk students.

Fifth, teachers should engage students through dialogue, especially the instructional conversation. Basic thinking skills are most effectively developed through dialogue, that is, through the process of questioning, answering, and sharing ideas and knowledge. Language development, both oral and written, is best acquired through interaction with more linguistically proficient users.

The instructional conversation is the means by which teachers and students relate formal, schooled knowledge to the student’s individual, community, and family knowledge. This concept may appear to be a paradox; instruction implies authority and planning, while conversation implies equality and responsiveness. True dialogue teaching transforms classroom and schools into “the community of learners” they can become” when teachers reduce the distance between themselves and their students by constructing lessons from common understandings of each others’ experience and ideas and make teaching a warm, interpersonal and collaborative activity.

C. Opportunities for Professional Development

Indonesian government has offered many programs for development of English teachers to continue education, have broad insight of English teaching methodology and strategies by joining seminars, workshops, and projects in curriculum and material development in particular since Competency-Based Curriculum has to be implemented in the process of teaching and learning in every school in Indonesia for all subject matters including English.

Most of language centers and professional organization like Linguistic Society in Indonesia have tried to provide many programs that can be followed by English teachers to improve their teaching profession. One of the most important programs needs by the English teachers is a training of trainers on language teaching method. In fact, there are a variety of strategies and techniques used in content-centered foreign language instruction.

Nowadays, in many countries in the world, there is a phenomenon where there is a variety of training opportunities exists for language teachers has increased especially for the language teachers who want to teach English for a Specific Purposes, such as English for Secretary, English for business, English for Hotel, English for Tourism, and so on. Many young professional businessmen need English for development of their future career in their business world. English becomes a vehicle for them to run their business well in particular when they want to have joint-venture with foreign investors that can invest much money to their companies.

In colleges and universities, internationally focused courses have been created, and interdisciplinary programs of study requiring foreign language proficiency and cultural knowledge have been developed. The application of foreign language and cultural studies to the field of business has emerged as a prominent component in these recent reforms. Besides, many of the new interdisciplinary business and foreign language programs encourage students to spend some time acquiring practical experiences by working for a company in their country and even abroad. Some institutions in Indonesia have created study abroad opportunities focused specially on international business practices and foreign language use.

Relating to the issues, in fact, foreign locations offer many advantages of total immersion, direct contact with foreign business people in a variety of economic sectors, and personal observation of foreign business operations. To combine foreign language and cultural studies with business is access to examinations leading to certificates and diplomas in business foreign languages offered by foreign educational, business, and governmental organizations.

Language teachers seeking training in the application of foreign language and cultural instruction to business, as well as business educators wanting to internationalize their courses and programs can also draw on a significant body of published information. Hundreds of articles and more than a dozen books covering these new academic fields have been published in the past decade. A bibliography listing over 200 such publications was printed in the Modern Language Journal in 1991.

Teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia in particular in formal educations from Elementary school up to university seems fail to produce successful outcomes that can possess the language for their need and future career in developing and improving the condition of Indonesian economy. It seems as a challenge for both teachers and government to build a competent nation for the sake of this country development.

Pertaining to the problem faced by the English teachers, here are the recommendations for teacher education that will give benefits for their professional development in the future:

1. Teacher education must shift from a focus on pre-service training alone to lifelong professional development.

2. Rather than separating language teacher preparation into different departments-English as a second language, foreign language, bilingual, and immersion-teachers should be prepared to teach in more than one second language context. For example, in both English as a second language and foreign language classes, or both the intermediate level and advanced level.

3. Rather than beginning with academic coursework and educational theory and moving later to classroom practice, theory and practice must be integrated from the very start.

4. Teacher preparation programs need to expand their criteria for graduation beyond language proficiency and academic achievement alone, to include experience with different cultures, ability to work with diverse learners from many educational backgrounds and in many different educational settings, and ability to use the state of the art technologies in their instruction.

5. In response to widespread teacher shortages due to high enrollments, teacher retirement, and teacher attrition, many countries are granting emergency certification to individuals who meet certain criteria such as a college degree, proficiency in the language, teaching experience, and pedagogy coursework.

6. Teachers in English as a foreign language and second language classrooms need to form strong partnerships that allow for the sharing of information, curricula, strategies in teaching, and support across disciplines, departments, schools, and levels. Partnerships also need to be formed across Institutions, Schools, Professional Organizations, Universities and Community Colleges, and local and country leaders all need to collaborate to enhance the quality of foreign language education.

C. Conclusion

Foreign language teachers especially teachers of English as a foreign language are encountering educational reform, a rapidly changing student clientele, technological development, and new views on assessment. So, High priority should be given to English teachers in accordance with how to provide first class instruction for the students, keep up with a growing list of demands, support for high quality teacher preparation, and continue their professional development. Without giving those priorities, it is impossible for the English language teachers to have good professional development.

References:

1. Curtain, H., & Pesola, C.A. (1994). Languages and Children: Making the Match. White Plains, New York Longman, page 241.

2. Joy Kreeft Peyton, (1997). Professional Development of Foreign Language Teachers. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearing House on Languages and Linguistics.

3. Met, M., & Rhodes, N. (1990). Priority: Instruction. Elementary School Foreign Language Instruction; Priorities for the 1990s. Foreign Language Annals, 23, 433-443.

4. Philips, J.K. (1991). Upgrading the Target Language Proficiency Levels of Foreign Language Teachers. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearing House on Languages and Linguistics.

5. Guntermann, G. (1992). Developing Tomorrow’s Teachers of World Languages. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearing House on Languages and Linguistics.

6. Rogoff, B. (1991). Social interaction as apprenticeship in thinking: Guidance and participation in spatial planning. In L. B. Resnick, J.M. Levine, & S. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition. Washington: APA Press.

7. Berman, P., et al. (1995). School reform and student diversity, I. Santa Cruz, CA: National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning.

8. John-Steiner, V.P., & Osterreich, H. (1975). Learning styles among Pueblo children: Final Report to National Institute of Education. Albuqurque: University of New Mexico. College of Education.

9. Collier, V.P. (1995). Promoting academic success for ESL students: Understanding second language acquisition for school. Elizabeth, NJ: New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages-Bilingual Educators.

10. Dalton, S. (1989). Teachers as assessors and assistors: Institutional constraints on interpersonal relationships. Paper presented at the meeting of American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

11. Grosse. C.U. & Voght, G.M. (1990). Foreign Languages for business and the professions at US Colleges and Universities. Modern Journal, 75. pp. 36-47.