My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 1

My Philosophy of Teaching EFL

Hanyue Zheng/ Summer

University of California, Riverside Extension: TESOL, TESOL Portfolio

March 1, 2017
 My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 2

Its hard to say how many years I have been learning English. For most Chinese students,

they start to learn English at an early age. Even some of them may go to a private institution

before entering primary school. Nowadays, this phenomenon is becoming increasingly common.

Parents always put English in a very important position of childrens education because they

think learning English is necessary and useful for childrens future career. For children

themselves, I m not sure how many of them could realize the importance of learning English.

From part of my memories, to learn English only means to pass English tests due to the fact that

most of Chinese English classes are teacher-centered class. I have seen how students gradually

lost their motivation and felt bored about learning English. Instead of adapting to this general

learning situation, I started to think about being an English teacher when I was in my university.

At that time, I participated in an English club since English has been my interest for many years.

I still remembered how excited I felt to communicate with foreigners for the first time. Also, I

have realized that students should enjoy learning English and believe they could use English

skills in daily life. So I decided to be a teacher who can contribute efforts to English education

and developing a learner-centered environment where students could feel free to communicate

and study.

Teaching is much more than a performance by the teacher. Namely, a successful lesson

makes the learners-rather than the teacher-the focus of the lesson. (Practice Teaching 2011). In

order to establish a learn-centered class, I should consider a great deal of things. The first thing

which comes to my mind is understanding my students classroom participation styles. Especially

in China, we usually have over 50 students in one class. The class contains a mix of students with

different dispositions toward learning. According to Good Power (1976). Some of the students
 My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 3

are highly successful in completing tasks. They enjoy learning, and are active learners. On the

contrary, some of the students are used to setting themselves apart from others and escaping from

classroom interactions. Under this situation, I should definitely take how to design activities

reasonably into account so that each student could have equal chance and they must take part in

the activity. For example, team work is always a good idea to get everyone involved in. when

they have a competition that needs all the members in their team to finish, students are usually

willing to participate in. Besides, grouping students correctly is crucial to avoid them having

same group members every time. In addition, they must change roles, for example, they need to

take turns to present ideas for the rest of class.

Building motivation into my lesson comes as my second teaching goal. Obviously, this is

a prerequisite to make sure students feel independent to learn. Otherwise, it is easy for them to

feel they are forced to study, especially for passive students. There are several types of

motivation, like achievement, acceptance, curiosity, and rewards. Motivation could refer to

several parts of lesson. From my perspective, it should start with an interesting lesson. I would

like to let my class be full of creative activities and have all students be involved during the

lesson so that they will be attracted to the class naturally. Additionally, confirming that the

activities are at the right level is another way to improve their motivation. Once they feel they

have learned something after class, they will get a sense of success instead of failure (Richards &

Farrell, 2011), which keeps them passionate and supports them to learn more. Plus, I am willing

to utilize my sense of humor in class, and it is better to have the lesson involve interaction,

collaboration, and share of information.

 My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 4

Last but not least, I believe communicative language learning (CLT) (Charles Arthur

Curran) is an essential element for establishing learner-centered class. To be more specific, I

would like to apply

task-based language teaching (TBLT) (Rod Ellis, 2007) which has emerged as a major focal

point of language teaching practice worldwide. TBLT draws attention of teachers and learners to

tasks in the classroom. (Brown, 2014). For example, I will assign a reading activity by using

jigsaw technique. Students will be divided into three groups according to the text which contains

three sections. Each group needs to discuss and write a summary for their own part. After that, I

will mix students into new combination to make sure that each group has section1, section2 and

section3 student. In this case, they need to start communicating with other students in order to get

information of the reading section which they dont have. As we can see from this activity, its

based on TBLT skill and it emphasizes classroom interaction, learner-centered teaching, because

students will not complete the task unless they communicate with each other. Whats more,

creating a community of learners is another goal in my future teaching. The classroom learning

community influences student engagement and achievement, and it determines how a teachers

class will evolve from a collection of individuals into a cohesive group characterized by high

expectations, caring relationships, and productive inquiry. (Arends, 2004).For instance, I will

encourage students to share interesting experiences and stories. Moreover, I may help students

find learning partners and groups they are comfortable with. These kind of activities will bring

them a sense of big family. This also helps lead to a learned-centered class.

In conclusion, based upon my philosophy of teaching EFL, I aim to develop the full

potential of my students, them to learn effectively, and foster them to be active learners. In
 My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 5

another words, I will fulfill my teaching goal which mainly focuses on building a student

centered environment so that students could feel comfortable to communicate and study.

Reference

Brown H. (2014). Principle of Language Learning And Teaching. NY: Pearson Education.

Richards, J. and Farrell, T. (2011). Practice teaching: A reflective approach. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

 My Philosophy of Teaching EFL 6

Reference

Brown H. (2014). Principle of Language Learning And Teaching. NY: Pearson Education.

Halliday, M. A. K. 1973. Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold.

Richards, J. and Farrell, T. (2011). Practice teaching: A reflective approach. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

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Rubric for Written Assignments V4

Student Name: Zheng, Hanyue Date: 3/20/17 Instructor Name: Erin Butler Class: TESOL Portfolio Assignment: Philosophy of Teaching

Item No relevant evidence Unsatisfactory Needs Improvement Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations
(0 59%) (60% - 69 %) (70% - 79%) (80 89%) (90% - 100%)
Content & The assignment was not Ideas are not well developed Ideas are somewhat developed, and Ideas are developed, and Ideas are fully developed, and
Ideas submitted, or the or may fail to demonstrate demonstrate some understanding of demonstrate an accurate demonstrate a significant and
submitted assignment an understanding of the task. the task. Main point(s) and understanding of the task. Main accurate understanding of the task.
__59_/70 was not relevant to the Main ideas, or examples/details may be included but point(s) and supporting Main point(s) and examples/ details
task at hand. examples/details, may be not well integrated. examples/details are clear and are identifiable, clear, and engaging
obscure or missing. easily identifiable. for the reader.

Evidence & The assignment was not When required, outside When required, outside evidence When required, relevant outside When required, compelling outside
APA Format submitted, or the evidence may be missing or may be minimal or may not fully evidence is included. It supports evidence is included; it is
submitted assignment may fail to support claims. support claims. Paper may not follow claims. Paper follows APA format seamlessly integrated into the paper
lacked evidence from Paper may not meet basic APA format entirely or may have with few errors in citation/style. to support claims. Paper follows
_8__/ 10 outside sources and requirements for APA errors in citation/style. APA format with no errors in
APA formatting. format. citation or style.

Organization The assignment was not The organization is not
& Standards submitted, or the effective for the task, or
submitted assignment there is a lack of
organized in an organization. Errors with
__8.5__/ 10 appropriate or effective transitions and connectors
way given the task at interfere with
hand. comprehensibility. Paper
may not meet basic
requirements for title, word
count, spacing, etc.
Usage & The assignment was not Linguistic features of the
Mechanics submitted, or the writing (syntax, usage, word
submitted assignment form, tone/register, spelling,
was not relevant to the capitalization, punctuation,
_8___/ 10 task at hand. etc.) are not effective.
Errors are very distracting
and/or interfere greatly with
the comprehensibility of the
message. The writing is not
professional or academic.
The organization is somewhat
effective for the task, although it may
be loose or unclear. There may be
some errors with transitions and
connectors. Paper may not meet all
requirements for title, word count,
spacing, etc.
Linguistic features of the writing
(syntax, usage, word form,
tone/register, spelling, capitalization,
punctuation, etc.) are somewhat
effective. The errors may be
distracting and/or interfere with the
comprehensibility of the message.
The writing may not be professional
or academic.
The organization is effective for the
task. The organization is clear and
logical. Transitions and connectors
are used appropriately. Paper meets
most requirements for title, word
count, spacing, etc.
Linguistic features of the writing
(syntax, usage, word form,
tone/register, spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, etc.) are
effective. There may be a few
errors, but they do not interfere with
the comprehensibility of the
message. The writing is generally
professional/academic.
The organization is highly effective
for the task. Organization skillfully
and logically builds support for the
thesis. Transitions and connectors
are used appropriately and
seamlessly Paper meets
requirements for title, word count,
spacing, etc.
Linguistic features of the writing
(syntax, usage, word form,
tone/register, spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, etc.) are
highly effective. There are no
apparent errors. The writing is very
professional and academic.

Score: _____83.5_____/100 Letter Grade: ______B_________

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Comments:

Congratulations on the successful completion of your philosophy of teaching statement. You have a simple, clear thesis of a learner-centered classroom where
students feel free to communicate and study. The major supporting points you have chosen match your thesis and you do fine explaining and integrating some
evidence to support.

In places it would be good to provide more specific examples related to teaching. For example you mention that team work is good, but dont give any specific
activity or task that would involve what you describe. What roles might students take? What kinds of cooperative tasks would students participate in? This is same
on the section on motivation. What kinds of creative activities might you develop? Anything from observations or micro-teaching that you may have been able
to use as an example? In the section TBLT you do a better job of integrating in a specific teaching example the jigsaw technique. This is good.

There are some editing and word choice mistakes eg according to Good Power is an incomplete sentence, you are missing the Runnning Head (APA style)

Careful with word choice for example you describe TBLT emerged as a major focal...worldwide but this was more than 10 years ago, so emerged is not the
right word.

Overall this philosophy is good.

Very best wishes on your future teaching!

Erin Butler, MATESOL
UCR Extension TESOL Trainer