-
Chapter 1
What is
TEFL?
——
Introduction to the Course
?
?
?
?
The main topics in this chapter
What is TEFL?
TEFL methods in China
How do
EFL Teachers learn to teach?
The
teacher’s “personal theory”
1 What is TEFL?
1-1
TEFL,
an
acronym
(a
name
made
up
of
the
initial
letters
of
an
official
title),
stands
for
a
research area with
the
phrase “
Teaching English as a Foreign
L
anguage”.
In addition to TEFL, there are some
other terms
with different
meanings in this area:
TEFL
–
the process of teaching
English as a foreign language
EFL
–
the area / field of
teaching English as a foreign language
ESL
vs.
EFL
–
both
are
non-native
languages
but
the
former
has
official
status
within
a
country,
e.g.,
English
in
India.
Thus
L2
is
often
learnt
with
environmental
support
as
the
language is used more commonly in
people’s daily life.
L1
vs.
L2
–
they
are
different
in
acquisition,
proficiency
level,
and
function
of
social
communication.
1-2 TEFL is the
study on how to bring about effective English
learning as a foreign language in
particular teaching contexts.
According
to
“
the
general
model
for
second
language
teaching
”
designed
by
H.
H.
Stern
(1
983), there are 3 levels
of the research framework of language teaching:
the “foundations”,
“interlevel”
and
“practice”.
The
“foundation”
refers
to
the
relevant
subjects,
“practice”
refers to the activities directly in
relation to classroom teaching and “interlevel”
refers to the 4
most important
components of TEFL theory and
research
:
language
,
learning
,
teaching
, and
the
context
. The course
“
TEFL Theories
”
focuses on the 4 topics by linking TEFL
“practice”
to “theories” which is based
on the related fund
amental subjects and
theories.
2 TEFL Methods in
China
2-1 TEFL approaches, methods, and
techniques
The three confusing terms “approaches”,
“methods”, and “techniques” are widely discussed
in
the area of TEFL methodology for
they often be translated int
o the same
Chinese character “
法
”.
Actually they refer to different
domains in language teaching:
1) Approach:
the
theoretical assumptions
about how a language is effectively taught in
light
of the nature of language,
language learning & teaching (Anthony, 1972).
2) Method:
the
overall
plans or designs
of teaching a language
that is based on systematic
1
principles and teaching
procedures. The nature of a method is the
integration of
all elements in teaching
procedure including the curriculum design;
selection of
textbook;
scheduling
of
classes,
lesson
planning
and
classroom
management
etc. which are the decisions made by
both EFL researches & teachers.
3) Technique
the
specific
ways
/ strategies used in classroom in
different kinds of language
teaching
contexts.
2-2
TEFL Methods
In language teaching, the
three different-leveled components described above
are studied in
the
research
area
“methodology”
which
contains
the
practices
and
procedures
used
in
teaching, and the
principles and beliefs that underlie them. Among
the three, “technique” is
based on
“method” and all techniques can be chosen or used
by teachers to implement the
method for
different teaching purposes. “Method” is based on
the selected “approach” and
therefore
in
accordance
with
the
basic
principles
of
the
approach.
Thus
“method”
links
“approach” and “technique” in language
teaching. The main methods adopted in TEFL are:
Grammar
translation
Method,
Audio-lingual
Method,
Cognitive-code
Approach,
Total-
physical Response, Communicative
Language Teaching, and Task-based Learning etc.
The main
elements which can be used to identify a
method
are: the goal of
teaching/ learning;
the roles of the
teacher /students/ textbook; the characteristics
of pedagogical activities or the
nature
of
classroom
interactions;
the
students’
motivation;
the
teacher’s
focus
in
students’
learning and the assessment; the way to
deal with students’ errors in learning processes,
etc.
2-3 TEFL
methods in China
English has been
taught and learnt in China from Qing dynasty for
more than one hundred
years.
The main EFL methods proposed in the official
syllabus in China since the foundation
of
PRC
are
GTM
(1950-76);
ALM
&
GTM
(1977-80);
ALM,
GTM
and
eclectic
CTL
(1980-93);
the
eclectic
CTL
–the
“Five
Steps”
of
3P
Model
(1993
-2001)
and
TBL
(2001-present). Actually
GTM, as the classic one used by most of EFL
teachers in this country
for many years
until now, is a method which emphases the
students’ mastery of grammar rules
and
vocabulary through parctising and translating
sentences from English to Chinese and back
again
in
EFL
learning.
Wish
this
course
could
help
student
teachers
learn
more
about
the
different approach, methods and their
functions in EFL learning & teaching.
3
EFL Teacher
Education
3-
1 EFL
teacher’s
personal theory
How does a student teacher learn to
teach English? As we know that teachers make
different
teaching
decisions
because of
their
different
understandings
of
language
learning/
teaching.
We
call
the
understanding
teachers’
“personal
beliefs/
theories”
or
“schema”/
“knowledge
stru
cture” (Rumelhart 1980;
Hodkinson & Harvard 1994).
The following training model is an
attempt to build up student teachers’ personal
theories by
means of performing some
experience-
based tasks and “reflective
thinking”(“a state of doubt,
2
hesitation,
mental
difficulty,
in
which
thinking
originates,
and
an
act
of
searching,
hunting,
inquiring, to find material that will
resolve the doubt, settle and dispose of the
complexity.”).
According to Dewey
(1933), which will be a trigger in the process of
constructing the schema
–
understanding language learning &
teaching in one’s own way.
3-2 Test your personal theory
Every
EFL
teacher
has
to
decide
every
day:
what
to
teach
and
how
it
is
to
be
taught
effectively with a
strong belief in his mind about the way that how a
language is learnt. The
following
questionnaire will help you know your own beliefs:
Questionnaire
(1)
Teacher should try to
explain all the new language items in the lesson
clearly.
(2)
Students
should
just
remember
what
the
teacher
says
and
practise
as
more
as
possible.
(3)
Teacher should always set questions for the
students to answer and provide model
answers to any questions for students.
(4)
Teachers should praise
students for their right answers and correct all
errors in
students?
language.
(5)
The
textbook decides what the teacher should teach in
classroom.
(6)
Students
should use the language freely to learn to speak
it, even if they make a
lot of errors.
(7)
Students should ask
questions and answer questions collaboratively.
(8)
Difficult
questions
should
be
developed
&
graded
for
the
different
needs
of
students.
(9)
Teacher should assess
students?
performance not only on how
well they said but
what they said or
wanted to say.
(10)
Students
of all intellectual abilities can successfully
learn a foreign language.
It is obvious that the beliefs/
theories underlying the statements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
are quite different
from
those
underlying
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.
The
most
important
differences
are:
1)
What
should
students learn if they want to acquire
a language? 2) Can all the different-ability
students learn a
language well? 3) Do
students learn the language from the teacher/
textbook? 4) What is the best
environment for different students to
be more motivated to learn the language?
4 The building of TEFL
theories in teachers
–
The
aim, content, method and assessment of the
course
–
TEFL Theories
4-1 The aim of the course
The primary aim of this course is to
develop in student teachers a basic theoretical
framework
of the research area:
Teaching
English
as a
Foreign Language
. The fundamental
theories the
framework is based on are
linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology,
psycholinguistics, SLA
theories,
sociology, socio-linguistics, educational
theories, anthropology, and philosophy etc.
Actually the construction of the inner
framework or scheme in student
teachers
’
minds is a
very complicated and life-long process
of development. The
course
“
TEFL theories
”
is just a
part of the course-based
training and a start of LTE (language teacher
Education). It aims to
3