CC BY
10Norwegian Journal of development of the International Science No 20/2018 55
ON BECOMING A LANGUAGE TEACHER: INSIGHTS FROM STUDIES
Kolodko T.
PhD in Pedagogy, Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor Ukraine, Kyiv, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Abstract
This paper presents the nature of the induction process of English as a foreign language teachers teaching through individual interviews. The 'teaching context' for a new beginner is outlined in the article. The findings are organized around research questions and there appeared four main themes: 1) nature of induction process; 2) common concerns of novice teachers; 3) possible adaptation challenges; and 4) practices to overcome difficulties. The results revealed that education completely responded to the needs of future foreign language teachers in the induction period. So considering sufficient preparation and good pedagogical formation processes, an effective teacher education program as well as a contributing teacher induction program is claimed to be adopted by all higher educational institutions.
Keywords: future foreign language teacher, induction process, new teacher development, adaptation challenges, classroom management.
Introduction. Every English language teacher passes through an induction process in adapting to his/her teaching profession and remembers those early years sometimes as nerve-racking sometimes as pleasurable. One way or another, all those experiences lead to further development of future foreign language teachers in their profession. Intending to learn from those experiences, the aim of this study is to examine the nature of the induction process of language teachers teaching at Higher Education level through individual interviews and to discover specifically what it means to be a newly qualified language teacher in school; how the beginning language teachers experience their first years in the profession; what sort of practices they are engaged in while they are passing through the induction period; what kind of concerns they have in the early years; what kind of difficulties or challenges they encounter in and outside the class; and how they overcome those possible difficulties.
Results of the research and their discussion. Acknowledging that English is learnt today in an increasingly multicultural context, it puts pressure on educational leaders, teachers, policymakers, curriculum designers to address the needs of students who find themselves in a relatively new environment in the process of education. The English language classroom provides an obvious multicultural context for learning, and teachers need to help students understand and appreciate the differences and similarities among the various methods in education [5].
One of the most frequently perceived problems of beginners is indicated as classroom management, which specifically includes concerns like how to create an orderly but positive teaching environment in the classrooms; how to maintain discipline, authority and control; how to handle disruptive behaviors; how to cope with various groups of students; how to structure classroom interaction; and how to organize feedback. Feeling left alone when learning how to manage the classrooms or getting insufficient administrative support and attention to student discipline appear to be an important challenge for many teachers-beginners.
The second concern includes issues like instructional setting and activities, curriculum and methodology, correction techniques, use of materials and resources, and lesson organization. To exemplify, M.Wonacott classifies induction detractors sometimes as pedagogy detractors related to short-term instructional planning, delivery, evaluation, and improvement; sometimes as curriculum detractors involving medium-term planning of course content and preparation for instruction; and sometimes as program detractors arising in long-term departmental or program planning and operation [7]. Curricular planning issues like how to plan lesson for the entire year, how to structure lessons and assignments to promote student independence, and how to plan activities for gifted students in the classroom assessing students' work, organization of class work, insufficient or inadequate teaching materials and supplies; decisions about materials, topics of conversation, and goals for the students' actions and discussion of specific activities to be used in the classroom are some of the apprehensions among the future foreign language teachers [8].
As another challenge of future English language teachers, motivation and guidance is attached importance in the literature. In our study, most of the participants indicate that their formal training in teacher education programs did not prepare them to teach in a culturally diverse classroom. Motivating students, dealing with individual differences and problems of individual students considering their needs and interests coping with students' disinterest in school, lack of attention, and excessive talking are discussed in other studies [4].
In order to understand the problem widely, many different approaches and methods available are suggested. Moreover, some approaches have to go in search of procedures and techniques with which to form a method. Some methods are explicit about the approach they exemplify and the procedures they employ. And what the interested teacher needs to do when confronted with a new method, for instance, is to see if and how it incorporates theories of language and learning. What procedures does it incorporate? Are they appropriate and effective for the classroom situation that
teacher works with? In case of techniques and activities, two questions seem worth asking: Are they satisfying for both students and teachers? and Do they actually achieve what they set out to achieve?
The 'teaching context' for a new beginner is so important that they might sometimes feel the drawback of being a minority teacher and the turnover rates might be higher in low-performing schools than in other high-performing schools. Politics in school, negative school climate and culture, lack of resources in the school, lack of collaboration among teachers, lack of administrative support, insufficient feedback from school administrators, less frequent communication, and inter-personal distance in the organizational climate all add to the uneasiness of a future English language teacher.
Two things need to be said about the teacher's craft. In the first place, being democratic and letting students participate in the decision-making takes more effort and organization than controlling the class from the front. Moreover, the promotion of learner autonomy is only one view in teaching-learning relationship where students not only learn on their own, but also take responsibility for the learning. In some situations both teachers and learners may feel more comfortable with a more autocratic leadership style.
It is worth pointing out that being a 'democratic' teacher (where the teacher shares some of the leadership with the students) is simply one style of teaching, informed by strong beliefs, of course, but nevertheless only one way of doing things. Some teachers are effective when teaching in this way, but others may find it more difficult. Whether or not we are more autocratic or democratic as teachers, we are called upon to play many different roles in a language-learning classroom.
One of the most important tasks that future teachers have to perform is that of organizing students to do various activities. This often involves giving students information, telling them how they are going to do the activity, putting them into pairs or groups and finally closing things down when it is time to stop [3].
So, firstly, we need to get students involved, engaged and ready. In most cases, this means making it clear that something 'new' is going to happen and that the activity will be enjoyable, interesting or beneficial. At this point teachers will often say something like Now we're going to do this because ... and will offer a rationale for the activity students are to be asked to perform. Moreover, motivation is a good tool stimulating future teachers to form their own professional creativity and as a result forms desire and energy to be attractive, successful and individual. Thus, instead of just doing something because the teacher says so, they are prepared, hopefully with some enthusiasm, for an activity whose purpose they understand.
Once the students are ready for the activity, the teachers want to give any necessary instructions, saying what students should do first, what they should do next, etc. Here it is important to get the level of the language right and try to present instructions in a logical order and in as unconfusing a way as possible. An important tool in instruction is for the teacher to organize a demonstration of what is to happen [2]. If students are
going to use a chart or table to ask other students questions and record their answers, for example, getting a student up to the front to demonstrate the activity with you may be worth any number of complex instructions. Demonstration is almost always appropriate and will almost always ensure that students have a better grasp of what they are supposed to do than instructions can on their own.
The next step is to start or initiate students' activity. At this point students probably need to know how much time they have got and exactly when they should start.
Finally, the teacher stops the activity when the participants have finished and/or when other factors indicate that it's time to stop. So, it is vital to organize some kind of feedback asking questions or a detailed discussion of what has taken place. Future foreign language teachers have to think about content feedback just as much as they concern themselves with the use of language forms in form and use feedback.
Thus, we can summarize the role of future foreign language teachers as follows: Engage ~ instruct
With regard to' the challenges experienced during the induction process of the participants, two main sub-themes emerged from the codes [1, p. 343-350]: a) in-class challenges including instructional challenges, challenges in motivating students, use of instructional technologies, and classroom management; and b) challenges outside the class, which was treated under two categories: work-related issues and social issues. Work-related issues included the sub-categories of curriculum and lesson planning, testing and evaluation, and partnership system in teaching, which meant dividing the weekly class hours of a group of students between the two partner teachers. More specifically, workload of 18 or more hours of teaching a week is perceived to be much work for a new starter by most of the participants. Social issues included the relationships with students, colleagues, administrative staff, and teacher trainers.
To start with the instructional challenges, most of the participants (seven students) talked about overloaded curriculum and their uneasiness with rushing in order to catch up the program. Alex was uncomfortable with the fact of being limited with the syllabus, which was indeed over-loaded and hard to complete on pre-scheduled time. Anna mentioned her losing concentration during the flow of a lesson when she was asked unexpected questions, which usually made her forget what to do and led some disconnection between the activities. Maria had problems with time management, because she was always preparing overloaded lesson plans and having difficulty in implementing what she had already planned. The findings indicated that the novices teaching encountered more instructional challenges because of wide range of students coming from different schools and so having different sorts of needs and expectations [6, p. 150-151].
The next point motivating students was a common issue for all of the participants. They all had inattentive, unwilling, and sometimes even sleeping students. Olena commented on learned helplessness and Natalia
described the situation giving examples like students' prejudice and dislike for English. Maria and Anna classified the motivation problem as the most challenging part of the teaching English. According to Oleander, the most demanding thing when teaching was to deal with different-level students in the same class.
As two last categories, use of instructional technologies and classroom management appeared as another significant issue. Common management problems were students' disturbing others, off-task speeches, distracting behaviors, disobeying common classroom rules, attitude towards new teachers, etc. Alex drew attention to individual-student-dependent problems, whereas Victoria talked about her difficulty in managing the noise when giving instruction and preparing the tracks. Olena had difficulty in dealing with the negative attitudes of the students in the class towards a particular student because of her personal problem and in overcoming the underestimation of the students considering the new teacher like her.
Partnership system was another issue that emerged from the codes. As Anna described, the novice instructors had to work with different experienced colleagues when teaching to same groups. She expressed her uneasiness about the distribution of class hours, which was not equal according to her. Maria listed the negative effects of partnership system as being uninformed in advance, feeling unguided, getting last-minute information, having limited control, and encountering abuse by certain partners, who feel themselves superior because of having more years of teaching experience.
As the third theme in this category, there was also the issue of social challenges occurring outside the class, which was more about relationships. As to the relationships with students, most of the participants had positive and friendly relationships with their students due to the small age difference between them and their students. However, this age difference had both positive and negative effects depending on various cases. Positive effect was good communication, yet the negative effect was abuse by the students.
As the last research question, the participants were asked about how they overcome certain problems in their induction process. The categories emerged from the responses were a) personal effort; b) institutional effort; c) the effect of training; and d) other factors.
For the first category, the participants stated, in solving general problems, that they exchanged experiences with novice colleagues, discussed problems and possible solutions in small groups, helped each others, required help from experienced teachers, had consultation with teacher trainers, and applied different alternatives. Most of the participants were doing their masters and claimed this as a kind of personal effort. Almost all asserted that they attended seminars and conferences to get knowledge about practical issues.
During the analysis, it was seen that there was a variety of supports received from the university, the types of which were categorized under four: a) orientation program, b) intensive in-service training, c) action research, and d) participation in national or international conferences. The orientation program aimed to
make the novices familiar with the school in all matters, but it was reported as insufficient by most of the participants. In the intensive in-service training, the institution required teacher trainers to plan and implement an educational program for new teachers in which the novices were to read articles in relation to language teaching, prepare term projects on problematic issues, carry out classroom observations, and attend organized seminars and conferences, which included presentations of the instructors in and outside the institution. Most of the novices taught that weekly meeting, summarizing articles, reading research papers, observing other colleagues in the classroom, and being observed by the teacher trainer all were effective attempts for their professional development. The action research groups were to conduct a personal research on a problem they encountered during their in- class practice through individual consultation with the teacher trainer and share the results with the other colleagues in an institutional seminar. They carried out two action researches in a semester.
In relation to a teaching practice, Oleander shared that "Teaching Practice and School Experience courses did not reflect reality but remained just on paper."
Finally, there were other factors that affect the induction process. These were time and experience factors. As all the participants argued, as the time passed, they became more experienced and they had fewer problems. They induced into profession through trial and error. All agreed that time was the best solution, because their anxiety decreased as the time passed.
Conclusions. Teacher educators being the first leaders in teaching how to teach should adopt teacher training programs which are more flexible, adaptive, and responsive to the needs of the future foreign language teachers in the early stages of teaching profession. A field-based teacher-training program emphasizing teaching practicum experiences would release or at least decrease reality shock and have more positive effect on the induction period of beginning teachers. On the other hand, in-service teacher trainers have a critical role in the further development of the novice teachers. In view of the fact that learning how to teach is a career-long endeavor, they should design supervised, relevant, and field-based training activities and provide the new teachers with ongoing support, guidance, and feedback. An effective teacher induction program should include a detailed orientation program which facilitates a positive transition of teachers entering the profession from student teaching to novice teaching; an extensive mentoring program in which experienced teachers are matched with new teachers to guide them in all matters by focusing on the concerns of the beginning teachers; and supportive professional development courses in which the internal structure of the institutions organize a broad network of new teachers and provide opportunities for growth, socio-emotional support, collegial interaction, appropriate assignments, and adequate resources. All of these attempts would help to release anxiety among the future foreign language teachers and ease the induction process.
REFERENCES:
1. Brinton, D. & Holten, C. (1989). What novice teachers focus on: The practicum in TESL. TESOL Quarterly, 23 (2). - P. 343-350.
2. Davies, A. (2006). What do learners really want from EFL course? ELT journal 60/1.
3. Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English Language Teaching. - Pearson Education Limited.
4. Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as an International language. - Oxford University Press.
5. Littlewood, W. (2004). Structuring classroom interaction for task-based learning. Paper presented at the 38th annual IATEFL conference, Liverpool, UK.
6. Veenman, S. (1984). Perceived problems of beginning teachers. Review of Educational Research, 54 (2). - P. 143-178.
7. Wonacott, M. E. Teacher induction programs for beginning CTE teachers. - Columbus, 2002.
8. Zulkuf Altan, M. (2001). The theory of multiple intelligences: what does it offer EFL teachers? // Modern English Teacher. - № 10/1.
THE ETHNO-CULTURE OF THE CUBAN COSSACKS FOR THE GROWING GENERATION
Maltseva L.
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor, Kuban State University,
Art and Graphic Department
ЭТНОХУДОЖЕСТВЕННАЯ КУЛЬТУРА КУБАНСКИХ КАЗАКОВ ДЛЯ ПОДРАСТАЮЩЕГО ПОКОЛЕНИЯ
Мальцева Л.В.
Доктор педагогических наук, доцент, профессор, Кубанский государственный университет,
художественно-графический факультет
Abstract
Ethno-cultural culture of the Kuban Cossacks in the education of the sub-generation generates knowledge, skills in the field of culture. All this is done to ensure that the younger generation does not forget the roots, know the culture, traditions and traditions of their ancestors. Each of us should know our culture, history. Today, we need to mobilize all available opportunities to preserve the culture of our people.
Аннотация
Этнохудожественная культура кубанских казаков в воспитании подрастающего поколения формирует знания, умения в области культуры. Все это делается для того, чтобы молодое поколение не забывали корни, знали культуру, обычаи и традиции своих предков. Каждый из нас должен знать свою культуру, историю. Сегодня нужно мобилизовать все имеющиеся возможности для сохранения культуру своего народа.
Keywords: culture, customs, Cossacks, young generation, ethno-art culture, education, fine arts, decorative and applied arts and folk art.
Ключевые слова: культура, обычаи, казаки, молодое поколение, этнохудожественная культура, воспитание, изобразительное, декоративно-прикладное и народное искусство.
Воспитывая молодое поколение на этнохудо-жественной культуре кубанских казаков, способствует формированию знаний, умений в области культуры своего народа. Произведения изобразительного, декоративно-прикладного и народного искусства кубанских казаков, вызывают у молодого поколения эстетические эмоции, убеждают, доносят до их сознания необходимость уважительного, бережного отношения к культурному наследию своего края.
Знания в области этнохудожественной культуре повышают познавательный интерес, утверждают чувство гордости за искусство своих земляков, которые более двести лет тому назад засели этот благодатный край под названием Кубань.
Именно в этнохудожественной культуре кубанских казаков возможно успешное приобщение молодежи, обучение их основам художественного ремесла, что обусловлено положительными моментами:
1) формирование внутренней мотивации и развитие художественно-творческих способностей и собственного творческого потенциала;
2) учет возрастных и индивидуальных особенностей при выборе содержания, форм, методов и средств обучения;
3) тесная взаимосвязь теории с практикой;
4) изучение истории местного народного декоративно-прикладного искусства, живой контакт с художественными промыслами, народными мастерами;
5) рассматривание изобразительного, декоративно-прикладного и народного искусства в тесной взаимосвязи с народной философией, календарем, педагогикой;
6) выполнение изделий с опорой на народные традиции, обычаи.
Традиционная культура кубанского казачества, как и любое системное явление, представляет
