A foreign-language teacher's guide to learning

By Simon Marcus Gower

This is the second of two articles on foreign language teaching. The first article appeared on Saturday.

JAKARTA (JP): The growth in the realization of the need to better appreciate the needs of the learner has created a condition in which one might study a language for a whole host of different, yet quite specific reasons.

One might encounter a huge variety of purposes for language learning from the general areas of the likes of learning a language for conversational purposes, for sectors of the tourist industry such as hotel staff and for business purposes through to more specific and perhaps more demanding areas of, for example, language for academic study purposes or even the extremely critical area of airplane flight and landing controllers.

Each of the plethora of modes of study that one might now adopt in learning the language amount to efforts to get closer to the learner, be more learner-centered as opposed to an outdated mode of educating/training in which the teacher/instructor is the center of attention in a near dictatorial fashion.

Likewise, the considerable array of modes or categories into which one might choose to fall as learner of a language represent the move toward recognizing that language is a tool that different people in different walks of life will put to different uses.

In such a "mode", the role of the teacher almost inevitably changes. It becomes less and less relevant for the teacher to be the center of learners' attention and activities and more and more relevant and appropriate for the teacher to act as a guide toward, at first, best practice and then actual practice through interaction. Through interaction, whether between teacher and student or student to student, the critical element of application of learning and practicing of what is being learnt is being applied.

Here, then, the teacher acts as the instigator of activities. Initiating the direction of the class and setting out to provide an appropriate and good model of the aspect of the language that is being addressed, whether it be topical, structural, functional or task-based in its orientation.

From this starting point the teacher then proceeds to act as guide or mentor in coaxing interaction or activity out of the learners and monitoring the learners' efforts in a bid to highlight and redress any errors that may arise. The teacher is critical, therefore, as someone viewed as an experienced, capable and trusted advisor to the learners' learning process.

As Bambang Sugeng highlighted in a recent article, How one can become a good foreign-language learner, (June 6, 1999, The Jakarta Post), successful language learning is hugely dependent upon the efforts of the language learners themselves. This is not to say that the role of the teacher is redundant but rather to suggest that the teacher needs to appreciate and analyze the learning traits and abilities of the students. In this way the teacher becomes a guide or leader toward the ability to utilize the language.

Because of the more "traditional" perception of the position of the teacher as authority figure, a reappraisal of the role of the teacher as guide or mentor may lead to fears of some element of abdication or even loss of authority. The fear that the teacher's role is, in some way, diminished should not, however, be viewed as a negative development. Instead it should be viewed positively because, while the teacher's role is still hugely important, the greater concern must be that learning is being achieved. Thus, if we are not aware of the students' as learners we are precluding our awareness of the most vital aspect of any system or vehicle of education.

How, then, does a teacher of a foreign-language maintain his or her "still hugely important role" while developing awareness of the learners? Each teacher and each learner may create different challenges, arouse different questions and, thus, lead to different solutions. However, certain guidelines may be proffered that could help foster an environment conductive to developing the teacher's role as guide to learning through interaction.

For example, learners of a foreign language often face the problem of being unwilling or overly cautious in the classroom. Hesitant to participate and interact because of their limited linguistic ability, there exists a fear of the unknown, or fear of being wrong, and an accompanying sense of failure and even ridicule. The teacher of the foreign language should not assume that he or she can teach the learner to talk but should, instead, seek to create the potential for interaction to readily and naturally occur. This may include the likes of:

* the use of real-life and/or relevant situations that permit the students to become less self-conscious;

* keeping the atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable to minimize fears of failure or ridicule;

* attempting to provide the students with feelings of confidence and success;

* maintaining a good pace to the lesson but not rushing the students to perform;

* providing a variety of activities to stimulate and maintain interest, (an interested student is a learning student);

* teaching through examples rather than burdening the student with explanations;

* maintaining realistic goals -- competence rather than mastery should be aimed for;

* frequently reviewing what has been looked at previously as learning is highly cyclical;

* resisting the temptation to correct every single mistake as this could prove counterproductive;

* keeping teacher talk to a minimum. In the classroom the students should have the opportunity to "do the talking" and interact; and

* always attempting to be helpful and encouraging toward students' efforts.

Ultimately, all students will already know how to interact. They almost inevitably already do so in their own native language. As guide and mentor, it is incumbent on the foreign- language teacher to provide opportunities in which interaction will be both possible and stimulating to the learners. This interaction can, of course, include the teacher but it must involve the learners.

Thus, interaction will be occurring when the likes of the following can be observed in the learners of the foreign language.

* they are directing dialog of one another rather than through the teacher;

* they do not have to be invited to contribute to a conversation;

* they comment immediately on what has been said;

* the learners are able to disagree with or challenge statements made;

* they are able to interrupt (politely) to insert their thoughts, opinions or questions in a natural conversational manner;

* they use personal pronouns such as "I" and "you"; and

* during interactions they use paralinguistics (this would include the likes of body language, gestures, facial expressions, exclamations and so on).

The teacher as guide or mentor would, then, try to create an environment in which interactions might naturally result. Where such interactions are being exhibited, with the occurrence of some or all of the aforementioned traits, one may conclude there is meaningful communication and, thus, the learner is actually actively participating and thence learning.

This is, perhaps, the highest priority for the teacher of a foreign language. If the learners are stimulated and active in their learning time with the teacher there if a greater likelihood that they are actually achieving learning.

The writer is a director for Academic English at International University Transfer Programs, Jakarta.