scholarly journals The Importance of Developing our Teaching Philosophy as EFL Professionals

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Jorge Luis Espinoza Campos

Creating our own teaching philosophy statement is an innovative practice, and it should be a meaningful part for teachers since it states the learning experiences, goals, beliefs, level of professionalism and self development among many other elements. Some teachers usually write a teaching philosophy statement just to carry out a school assignment or to complete their résumé. However, in real life, teachers do not often implement all the nice ideas that are stated in their teaching philosophy statement. The goal of this paper is to make EFL teachers reflect on the importance of developing this practice in the foreign language teaching field to show their learning and growth throughout time.

2017 ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Joaquín Gris Roca

One of the fundamental goals of Foreign Language Teaching might be the attainment of implicit knowledge, which underlies oral and written fluency. Textbook activities reflect different explicit and implicit teaching loads following the type of knowledge they are targeted at (explicit, implicit or both). EFL teachers’ implementation of activities can thus help or become a hindrance for the development of implicit knowledge. This study aimed to explore the explicit and implicit teaching nature of 100 activities taken from 10 EFL textbooks used in Spanish primary school teaching. The ultimate goal was to examine whether activities are designed taking into account young learners’ idiosyncratic way of learning. Findings revealed that most primary school EFL textbook activities tend to contain a lower number of activities mostly focused on explicit teaching.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-95
Author(s):  
O. A. Maslovets

The article represents an effort to specify the essential characteristics of the relationship between the intentionality of consciousness, language and culture, and on this basis to reveal the features of the process of foreign language teaching.The author considers intentionality as a phenomenon that defines and provides the content of consciousness, allowing one to commit an act of self-determination and gaining subjectivity. In the activity of consciousness, the author distinguishes intentional flows of both relatively objects and subjects, which is a prerequisite for comprehending another I, a different cultural entity, and at the same time a condition for self-knowledge and deeper penetration into one’s own culture.Culture is a complex semiotic text, it is a context in which the language being studied as a secondary modeling system acts as a means where various phenomena can be sequentially described and interpreted by students.The openness of the subject to the world, nurtured in the course of intentional teaching of language and culture, allows its utter uniqueness, and at the same time utmost universality, to manifest itself. Such an attitude actualizes the internal regularity of human actions, the possibility of self-development and the formation of a system of deferred actions, which allows a person to realize, take place, actualizes the intentional field of his capabilities.The author comes to the conclusion that the process of foreign language teaching should be interpretative, significative, semiotic in nature. Taking into account during teaching а foreign language the intentional conditioning of any action, including speech, will ensure the achievement of a coordinated consciousness.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Shiyong Jiang

<p>Foreign language teaching is a bilateral process in which both the teacher and students must play their roles effectively. However, lack of interaction is the problem many EFL teachers in China face. To make the teaching more effective, negotiation in the classroom becomes a must. This paper, based on the current situation of English teaching in China, probes into negotiation mechanism in EFL classroom and provides suggestions on how to apply negotiation mechanism in EFL classroom in China.</p>


Author(s):  
Dilek Tüfekçi Can

Whereas research on English as a Foreign Language Learning (EFLL) anxiety has been the focus of many researchers, English as a Foreign Language Teaching (EFLT) anxiety as a newly pop-up concept has gained lesser attention than EFLL. Moreover, the research on EFLL commonly focuses on the anxiety provoking factors. Yet again, there has been very limited research on how to overcome anxiety-provoking factors on both research areas. Accordingly, as this study was two of the three segments of a university-based project and the subject of anxiety-provoking factors was the issue of another study, the purpose of this study was firstly to explore how to overcome anxiety-provoking factors among pre-service EFL teachers while teaching English to young language learners at a real classroom setting as a part of teaching practicum. Secondly, this study also attempted to make a holistic classification rather than an atomistic one as it classified the findings of overcoming anxiety provoking factors into subtitles such as cognitive, affective, socio-cultural resolutions and some other official resolutions. In the study, 25 EFL pre-service teachers at Balikesir University were the sample group. The qualitative data was collected through background questionnaires, interviews and reflections. The study concluded that pre-service EFL teachers revealed their reflections on how to overcome anxiety-provoking factors as they experienced Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety (FLTA) whilst practicing teaching English to young language learners during teaching practicum courses. Some practical recommendations were given at the end of the study. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Patricia Gutierrez

<p>Foreign language teaching and learning is an issue of high relevance nowadays in Colombia. Unfortunately, language teaching has often been reduced to the mastery of language structures, disregarding the vast number of possibilities that language teaching provides to involve students in the discussion and analysis of issues that affect their everyday life. Shifting language teaching toward this goal, however, has to start in language teacher preparation programs. To gain a better understanding of the implication of this shift, this study explored the beliefs, attitudes, and reflections of three student-teachers, from a foreign language teaching program at a public university, towards the exploration of critical literacy theories, and the design and implementation of critical lessons. Data collected included audio-recordings of group discussions and individual interviews with the three participants, their reflections in different stages, lesson plans, and class observations of their lesson implementation. Results from this study suggest that exposing future EFL teachers to critical literacy approaches to language teaching can have different effects on their perspectives towards education and their teaching practice. Thus, their beliefs and attitudes towards Critical Literacy Theories can be continuously transformed as they face various situations in the exploration and implementation of these theories.</p><p>Key words: <em>pre-service EFL teachers, Critical Literacies, Language teacher preparation programs, Teaching practicum.</em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Nehal Ahmad

<p><em>It has been due on my part to share my own teaching philosophy with my colleagues in the University in general and other language instructors engaged in this noble profession. Needless to say, creating our own teaching philosophy is an innovative practice and it should be a meaningful part of us as second/foreign language teachers since it states our teaching/learning vision and wisdom, observations, experiences, goals, beliefs, level of professionalism and self-development among many other things. However, in real life situation, we do not often implement all our innovative ideas that we possess in our teaching philosophy. The main objective of the present study is to share my decades of experiences as a language instructor as a student of linguistics as well as an English language instructor. </em></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-206
Author(s):  
Isabela Anda Dragomir ◽  
Brânduşa-Oana Niculescu

AbstractWriting has traditionally been a neglected area of foreign language teaching, and most probably the least popular skill to acquire among students. However, it has lately emerged as an important element of the communication dyad, which also involves speaking, i.e. the oral manifestation of social interaction and exchange of information. When explaining writing in practical terms, the focus falls on showing that there should be a link between real-life needs and instruction, both from the perspective of the language and from that of the task. Understanding writing systematically not only guarantees successful writing outcomes, but also leads to the acquisition of a secondary set of language-related abilities: an informed selection of grammar and lexical structures; a logical pattern of organization in the development of ideas; an appropriate choice of register and style; an overall better approach to writing tasks and contextualizations. This article aims to discuss writing as a productive skill while proposing six different approaches that successfully marry both the linguistic dimension and the task-related awareness students need to acquire in order to successfully express themselves in written forms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Marion Grein

Abstract Modern language teaching is no longer grammar based, but based on authentic real life dialogues (dialogic speech acts) which enable learners to communicate or rather to interact verbally and nonverbally competent with native speakers. The conception of language teaching curricula, especially with regard to the development of textbooks, is in need of an applicable model of communication, based on regularities or principles of language-usage. Both, Integrationism and the Mixed Game Model (MGM) opt against segregational static approaches of linguistic analysis and – at first glance – could be considered suitable approaches within the field of language teaching. Yet, I will argue that the Integrational approach is hardly applicable here, whereas the MGM perfectly suits the needs of foreign language textbook authors and editors.


Author(s):  
Ольга Ивановна Васючкова ◽  
Татьяна Васильевна Коваленок

В статье анализируется образовательный контент предмета “иностранный язык” с точки зрения потенциала для развития гибких навыков. Обсуждаются возможности экстраполяции полученных навыков на реальные ситуации делового общения юриста. The article deals with the content of foreign language teaching at law schools. The nature of soft skills development in the course of cross-cultural business communication is discussed. The authors stress the possibility of extrapolating such skills on real life professional situations.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document