2016 Demonisation by the religious

One of the most disappointing things about 'religious' people is their  impoverished view of human nature.

For example, when they witness  'good works' by people, Christians and Muslims will not  fully acknowledge the people who carry out the acts-they give much of the credit to God or some other divine entity (not to the person who has done the good work)

The religious person thus  diminishes and dehumanizes me by not giving me credit where credit is due.

This could be why I have noticed that  religious people can not really form intimate friendships-their space for intimacy is already taken up by God. God is their only friend.

I believe this is one reason why the 'Christian' peoples of Europe where I grew up  are renowned for their coldness, their lack of ability to be intimate and hence their loneliness.

They are emotionally dysfunctional. How else can we explain that 50 percent of people by the age of 21 will have experienced a mental disorder in Australia? (I am sure the figure would be  similar in many of the so-called 'Christian' countries of northern Europe.)

The consequences of Demonisation

Because of this failure to acknowledge the good works of people, it is easier for the 'religious' person  to demonise others.

The consequences of demonization can be catastrophic...the next logical steps after demonization are enslavement, abuse and eventually murder..

There is a lot of false righteousness and shock regarding terrorist atrocities.

Isis should not be a surprise to us. We have been demonizing people in this part of the world for centuries. Now they are demonizing back with twice the ferocity!

The non-religious person gives credit where credit is due. He spends time thinking about others and his friends-and doing things for them - the religious person ignores people because he is always thinking about God.

If you are always thinking about God you will never be thinking about anyone else.

Give credit where credit is due.

Giving credit to God a very dangerous idea.

2016 Student false beliefs E Lateness to class

I don’t need to come to the beginning of the class

Students arriving late to class are a common and serious problem for teachers. The most important part of any class is usually the beginning and the end. At the beginning the class is set up by the teacher. He recaps what was done in the previous class and connects to his plans for the activities for the day. If a student misses the beginning  he generally doesn’t know what is going on in the entire class for that day. Eventually such a student may turn into a ‘problem’ for the teacher. He may become a complainer and invariably he blames everybody but himself for his poor performance!

It is difficult to know what to do as a teacher. I use a carrot and stick approach which varies according to the circumstances.  I generally try berating the latecomers with jokes and sarcasm etc-but sometimes this is not appropriate as not all cultures appreciate sarcasm. Sometimes sarcasm does not work and may even backfire badly!

If I have a persistent group of latecomers in a class I generally try to create an activity which is not essential to the days work. However, if this happens too often, the students who do come on time justifiable feel short-changed by this approach as they realise  I am  effectively ‘waiting’ for the latecomers to arrive. In the end , they too may start to arrive late!

I sometimes refuse to give latecomers the days instructions-although this may mean they are a pain in the neck for everyone including the teacher during the class. I certainly don’t repeat the instructions every 5 minutes as each cohort of latecomers arrives! Some teachers just ask the latecomers to get their instructions for that particular days class from their peers in the class. But this approach also can upset the law-abiding  peers!

It is a thorny problem for which I have really little more  to suggest except to play it by ear with each class.

Many cultures do not value punctuality in the way Anglo culture does in Australia.

Our initial reaction may be  to apply some form of sanction-but of course the managers of  programs in Australia are loathe to do that because they do not want to upset their paying customers! Students may complain to agents who put pressure on recruiters who then put pressure on managers etc. eventually.

It is easier for a manager to berate a teacher who is the subject of complaint than to take on (a group of)  recalcitrant latecomers with the agent.

Inevitably, like many other things–this problem is therefore often thrown back to the teacher. I have not yet found a universal method of dealing with it. To compound the problem teachers often won’t  admit to the problem because they think the latecoming reflects on their teaching competence.

Another reason for the persistent lateness is that many students believe that they don’t need to be in class to pass. One reason for this is that they don’t really want to be in the class (their parents want them to attend and / or are paying). Another is that they overestimate their language competence and think it doesn’t matter at what time they turn up–they will pass anyway.

It is easier with school-age students. In Colombia where punctuality was a notorious problem I was famous for locking the door five minutes after the class started. This caused a furore at the time but there was little the students could do about it as I was the Head of discipline and the Vice-Principal of the College! However, many schools would not permit such an approach by the teacher and/or don’t have lockable classroom doors.

One can never be too careful with regard to cultural sensitivities. I thought locking the door in Colombia  was a joke at the time (32 years ago) but I recently contacted a student on Facebook who I had taught and  one of the first things she brought up in our correspondence was me locking her out of the classroom one day!

 

2016 Student false beliefs E Generic

I need to write down what you say

I don’t need to listen to the teacher

Learning is writing

Homework is a waste of time

Experienced teachers will be familiar with the student who insists on copying down what the teacher has written on the board -often- precisely at the same time as he/she is presenting orally the next section of the lesson!

In the mind of such a student-and there are many of them-writing down what the teacher writes on the board proves (to himself) that he has  learned something important: this is much more important  in his view than listening to the teacher.

We teachers know better.

The only way to deal with this type of student is to stop talking and stop them writing.

"You can't write and listen a the same time!" is a useful intervention

The rationale for this behaviour is that the student believes  'If its not written down it is not worth learning'

In many countries this idea is strongly embedded in the learner: Speaking and listening are not important but reading and writing are. The reason for this is that writing is easy to test for the teacher. The pedagogy of many countries is therefore based on what is  convenient  for the teacher-not what is good for the learner.

The reasoning goes like this..

What do we teach?

Hmm...maybe this ...?

How do we know they have learned anything?

Well...we get them to read something and then give them a written test.

No need to listen to teacher - just read and and write: the instructions will be on the test

Another attitude that often goes in tandem with this is that homework is not important.

At the beginning of the academic course homeworks often involve readings and this type of student doesn't  do them. This slows down the pace of the class the next day.

Again this false belief stems form the lip-service which teachers pay to rules in overregulated and overly prescriptive systems in many countries. Teachers set homeworks because they are required to, not when they are necessary. It is the policy of the institution. The homework is often irrelevant and the student learns to do the minimum.

In some countries I set very little homework as only a quarter of the class would even attempt it!

I could not set homeworks, the completion of which was necessary for the next day's class. I fi did , a quarter of the class would have done it and the other three quarters would not-so I could not do the class which I had planned.

Later on in academic courses in Australia written assignments are set which attract some type of sanction if not completed so there is not such a problem.

I have tutored  many able and keen adult students as tutees who will not do homework because this false belief is so deeply entrenched.

Patience is required to restore the faith of the student in the need to do homework!

2016 Student false beliefs D Generic Pleasure and the perfectibility of competence

Learning is not pleasurable

Language learning is perfectible

Many students arrive in Australia with the false belief that after what seems to them a ‘reasonable’ period of time in Australia taking a number of courses they will be able to speak with almost 100 percent performance like a native speaker-all they need to do is study hard , take courses with a good teacher.  This unrealistic view includes the perception that they will be to achieve a perfect accent and perfect dominion of the prosodic features of communication, perfect grammar,  perfect reading, listening comprehension and writing skills!

The teachers job here is to let them down gently. After the teacher has gained the confidence of the student they should be able to replace their disappointment at not being perfect with a more realistic acceptance of what they will be able to achieve linguistically. Only a caring teacher who is committed to the personal growth and development of his students will be able to do this. If the issue is not addressed  the student will  feel  let down and discouraged and may even give up on the language ‘project’ altogether. Such students will end up mixing with their own nationality. ( which is not one of the KPIS of the language programs or of the Australian government)

Again the problem here is indoctrination by the school system in the country of origin. Students internalize the mistaken idea that everything of value must be taught to them in a formal school setting.

Students who are let down gently by a caring teacher can still have a vigorous and productive language and cultural experience in Australia without expecting to have perfect language performance.

Because of the lifeless pedagogy and rigid didactic pedagogies employed in many educational institutions in their countries of origin students may often arrive in Australia with the idea that Learning is not pleasurable

This is a problem for the teacher because many of the activities in language teaching–even academic English language teaching are interactive and pleasurable for the learner . Games can be used for vocabulary development and speaking activities often involve pleasurable interchange with both teacher and fellow students. There is a danger that the student will undervalue these activities and see them as a waste of time.

The teacher must persist here and eventually the reluctant learner should  learn to ‘let this belief go’  enjoy themselves in class. I personally felt towards the end of my career that if the students hadn’t enjoyed themselves in my class  that particular  class as a failure. To connect learning with pleasure is to simply do the obvious. Children love learning but somehow learning in schools has become so politicised and manipulative that there is  often little or no pleasure in it at all-especially in the countries the learners come from.

Although I was adequate academically, I myself rarely enjoyed a class as a child or teenager. I became determined as a teacher that my classes would be enjoyable. In fact, this is one of the main reasons I changed from Science to English teaching half-way through my career. The methodology of language teaching is so much more enjoyable for me than that of science teaching ever was. Real world issues can be discussed. Videos can be watched, debates and discussions can be had. Games and interactive activities can be employed. This is very different from teaching science!

The content of science may be interesting but the methodology is much less flexible. Vive la difference!

2016 Student false beliefs C Generic teach me grammar and only in class

                                                         I can only learn in class

                                                    I need someone to teach me

                                                               Language is grammar

                                                                 

These are some more generic general false beliefs I have encountered:

‘I need someone to teach me’.  This is very common in adults from Asian and African countries in particular. They have completely lost confidence in their own ability to initiate and sustain learning. Many students have been overtaught and overschooled so much so  that they have  completely internalised the false belief that they can learn nothing themselves–everything worthwhile has to be taught by a teacher. (Naturally, politicians are very happy with this. The role of the school as a political weapon to inculcate such messages is well recognized in the literature)

This type of student has to be told what to do by the teacher in great detail.

Again there is not much a teacher can do about this. It takes a lot of time for such a student to gain self –confidence to drive the car himself! However, again it is well worth discussing this with teacher trainees and their trainers.

This type of student often shares another false belief which is “I can only learn in class”. Although the student may comply with homework requirements they will only do the minimum required. Because they don’t really take it seriously. More importantly he doesn’t take recommendations that the teacher makes seriously to engage with the language outside the class. So..they mix with their own nationality outside class, don’t watch TV or listen to radio and don’t actively seek conversations with native speakers because they believe, falsely that this is not ‘real’ learning. Ral learning happens in class.

Another generic false belief  is the belief that language is basically  grammar –and little else. This type of student believes that Reading , Writing, Listening, Speaking, Pronunciation etc are not discreet skills of the language worth syudying. Really all that matters to this type of learner is grammar. They can become quite agitated if the teacher does not actually teach what he considers to be ‘enough’ grammar. What is happening here is that this type of student believes this because he can measure his progress –and his progress against others by testing himself or being tested on grammar by the teacher. This gives him a sense of achievement –whether or not his productive and receptive macroskills  are improving or not!

In one language college I used to try and pre-empt these grammar kings in the very first lesson  by requesting that they not interrupt the flow of the lesson by asking obscure grammar questions to me when I was in full flow. I encouraged them to see me afterwards. Those who didn’t just want to show off to their classmates sometimes did make the effort to see me. These were the ‘Grammar kings’ who wanted to impress me! Once they had shown me how much grammar they knew–they usually seemed satisfied!

 

2016 Student false beliefs B I know best

I know best

One of the greatest advantages of teaching adults is of course that their behaviour in class is generally much more easy to manage than adolescents. We all agree on that. They also are generally quite well motivated–at least extrinsically (if not intrinsically)  by the need to achieve an immediate goal–such as gain entry to University or pass a test to qualify as a Doctor or a Nurse (Occupational English Test  or the IELTS test)

However, there are also many, many disadvantages of teaching adults as they have so many misconceptions about the learning  process itself. Often these stem from the ‘learning’ experience they have had in their home countries both as a child and as an adult

Lets start with the most general misconceptions

‘I know how to learn best’

The new learner arrives in Australia full of enthusiasm and apparent cooperation and goodwill to everyone –including the teacher -. But, in my experience, if the student finds the learning difficult this can all evaporate quite quickly. When I have scratched below the surface I find things are different to how they first appeared: I  have found that many adults thinks they know better than I do how to learn English.

Neither the fact that I can speak English perfectly nor the fact that I have a list of  teaching qualifications as long as your arm., nor even  my 40 years of experience of teaching  seem to impress.  The human ego is so powerful it is quite unmoved by any of that.

‘I know how I learn English better than you because I know myself’  Its as simple is that!

This means that I have to waste a lot of time getting the new learners to trust me–to believe in me. It can take days, weeks, even months, and sometimes it never happens. Often they are only really beginning to believe in me as the course ends (after 3 months).

Even the strong students who pass easily don’t really credit me because they all think they know how to learn better than I do! When they pass–they think it is because of their natural ability–and little to do  with the teacher! In reality even many of these strong students don’ t have the necessary skills to be autonomous  learners because they still retain so many mistaken beliefs about the learning process. But a really major mistaken belief is that they know better how they can learn than the teacher does.

 Why is this? Well-it could be the subject of  research but I suggest that it is often to do with the way in which these students are taught-or perhaps not taught - in their home countries. The pedagogy is so dry and, methodology and style of teaching are often didactic and  passive .  Although they are obliged  to “respect the teacher’ to his face,  it is not a surprise to me that they arrive in Australia with a subconscious belief that teachers really don’t know what they talking about! Every human being has a bullshit detector!

Younger high school students are usually more humble and more trusting of the teacher-they actually believe the teacher can teach them. But adults are much more cynical: even though the teacher has  good status in many of their countries of origin, the  English teacher has relatively lower status than that of Doctors, Engineers  Accountants and IT professionals: their target occupations.

 There is little that can be done about this particular mistaken belief,but I think it helps the teacher to be  aware of it.

Student false beliefs: Preamble

Teaching Academic English: The Independent Learner 

This series of comments and posts is based mostly on my experience of teaching adult students at two Universities and one language college in Australia and in Schools and Universities overseas. I have also tutored adults on a one to one basis in Australia. The most numerous group of students might be Chinese-but there have also been significant numbers of South Americans-Brazilians in particular, Indians. Malaysians, Vietnamese, Japanese, Koreans, Saudis  and some  Europeans. I have also taught in schools in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa

These insights might form the basis of a series of workshops for teacher trainees or for the professional development of lecturers on teacher training programs

Most teachers  (who are not teaching just for the money)  would agree that one major objective of good teaching is to produce an autonomous learner-someone who is able to learn independently of the teacher. The Universities and Business College in Australia  which deliver much  Academic English unfortunately do not have this as a main objective: at best they pay only lip-service to it.  At worst, they covertly discourage independent learning. An independent learner by definition is independent of the teacher and the University-and as such will not pay more fees for tuition. There is a clear conflict of interest here between the interests of the University and the student.

Getting out of the passenger seat

I was teaching a friend how to drive recently. In fact she already is a qualified driver-but only for an automatic car. She wants to learn to drive a manual because they are cheaper  to buy. She is a refugee so this would be an important saving for her.

Basically, it has been difficult because she has completely underestimated the task. Although she has the road sense skills from her driving an automatic she does not know how tricky it is to manage the manual transmission.

After three long lessons she was quite depressed and I thought she was going to give up.

Today, at the beginning of the fourth lesson, I got out of the car and asked her to drive on her own around the car park area and along some deserted service roads in the deserted factory complex. At the end of the lesson she was so grateful. She said she felt much more confident and thought that some day she would learn to enjoy driving a manual car.

It is a similar situation with teaching English. At some point the teacher has to get out of the car and let the learner drive on her own.

Unfortunately the language ‘Industry’ has a direct vested interest in NOT letting this happen-they want the student to continue learning for ever –so they can keep collecting money from them. This is a conflict of interest for many Universities and language colleges. It is an issue I will return to again and again in this series of posts.

Only experienced teachers have direct knowledge about autonomous learning..Younger teachers  may have been told about it or read about it, but will not have direct experience of it. It is something which is appreciated only with experience.  

However, teaching programs in Universities and Colleges  will often recruit younger  teachers –as it is good for their bottom line..they are cheaper. This is just one of the many problems which have come about by allowing business and commercial interests  to  hijack the teaching  and  learning profession. Even the language has changed-teaching language is no longer ‘Education’ taught by ‘Lecturers’ –it is ‘training’ delivered by ‘Instructors’.  The focus of the language learning process  has changed  from being an empowering learning experience for learners into a commercial product to be sold to ‘customers’. Often, this product is sold  by marketers who don’t know the difference between language learning and a bar of soap.  The impact of business on Language goes well beyond this of course- the commercial imperative  has grossly distorted pedagogy and methodology –but that is another story entirely –perhaps for another series of posts

When the students take their final exam or test they either pass or fail. Most passes and now consider themselves good or even perfect users (and learners) of English.  They may carry this mistaken belief about themselves with them for the rest of their lives. While ot may be true it is not necessarily so. It is yet another mistaken belief they will add to the myriads of others they have about learning. We teachers know that only a few of these ‘successes’ are genuine autonomous learners. Most have simply learned how to pass the test-an important skill-but nothing to do with independent learning.

Those who fail are waiting for a better teacher to teach them a better course. This is another mistaken belief because there is really not that much difference between courses or teachers. It goes without saying that none of the failures are autonomous learners either.

I estimate that of all the students I have taught only about twenty percent were autonomous  learners after they exited the program-and many of these were autonomous before they even entered it!

This is a sad and sorry state of affairs for the teacher who wants  to produce autonomous and independent learners. It is also a  disgraceful state of affairs from the point of view of the Universities and Colleges who claim to be educating students to be independent learners.

The question is why is it like this?

One of the reasons students don’t become independent learners is certainly because of the commercial imperative as I have already explained. Basically the managers (not the teachers ) of the program don’t care about independent learning. Their KPIs are based on student input numbers. Bums on seats. 

However, another reason  is because of the  mistaken beliefs and preconceptions the students bring to the course. These preconceptions and mistaken beliefs come from their own personal educational history –and to some extent from their own personalities. They bring these to the course and they wreak absolute havoc with their progress towards  autonomous  learning.

This series of posts will look at some the misconceptions and mistaken beliefs adult students bring with them to Australia. However, the general theme of commercialisation of language delivery will never be far away!