As an English teacher, apart from teaching, I am also
sometimes involved in developing and refining of syllabus as well as modules
for IKM students. As what I have been
doing for about three years in developing module, I have to admit that I have
never really referred to any learning method, approach or theory in order to
get it done. Although I have learned about these methods and theories
previously, yet I did not apply it in my practises as a teacher, which I feel
very bad about it, especially now, after I have been re-introduced about these
in TSL 751 (Practices and Reflections in TESL) course.
The very first thing that made me realize my “incorrect”
practice before is regarding the needs of my audience for the module.
Objectives Model of Curriculum Planning emphasizes on the needs analysis that
should be done in order to know what the audience need, what are the important
skills or content to be focused, as well as the aspects to be enhanced in
developing the module. According to Finney (2001), needs analysis is seen as
the logical starting point for the development of a language program which is
responsive to the learner and learning needs. As what I have been doing in the
process of developing a module, I somehow ignored the critical needs of my
audience, where I only focused on finding the materials and creating activities
to suit the topics or sub-topics to be covered in the syllabus. Henceforth, I
will always bear in mind that needs analysis is crucial in order to develop
module which meets my audience necessities. Nevertheless, in terms of writing
the module objectives, I feel that I somehow conform to the Objectives Model as
what Mager (1962), as cited in Finney (2001), proposed the behavioural objectives, which is having the essential
characteristics that the objectives must describe the behaviour to be
performed, the conditions under which the performance will occur and a standard
of acceptable performance must be stated. This is what I have been
practicing where I constantly write observable and measurable objectives, as
suggested in Behaviorism Learning Theory.
Generally, semester 1 and 2 students in IKM are compulsory to
take English courses. In IKM, the broad aims of English courses are to
enable the
students to communicate in English in various social contexts using appropriate
expressions. Started last year, Bahagian Kemahiran dan Teknikal (BKT) MARA
instructed the teachers to implement Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in teaching
English among IKM students. I agree with the idea of this implementation
because “in the teaching world, there has
been a move towards the learner-centred curriculum (Nunan,1985, 1988 ;
Candlin, 1984). PBL is very closely related with autonomous learner as
according to Holec (1981), learner autonomy is
“the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”. In developing a PBL
module, I would think it is appropriate to use The Process Model of Curriculum
Planning because the model focuses on the concepts of learners’ needs,
interests and developmental processes which enable the individual to progress
towards self-fulfillment. Hence, in developing the module, I will suggest the ‘scaffolding’
technique to the teachers, in order to guide and assist the students to be
autonomous learners.
Furthermore, in developing a PBL module, I think the suggested
activities in the module should be based on the Communicative Approach. As I
stated earlier, the main goal of learning English in IKM is to enable students
to communicate in various contexts. Thus, Communicative Approach (CA) is the
best to suit the aim because the principles of CA suggest the learners to learn
to communicate authentically, communication involves the integration of
different language skills and learning is a process of creative construction
which involves trial and error. As one of the users of this module later on, I
really hope that activities integrated in the module will emphasis on the
skills needed by the students, whereby the teacher will act as facilitator.
To sum up, I hope that TSL 751 course will help me in
improving myself as an English teacher, because there are many elements in this
course that somehow give me a clearer picture on how to become better, both in
and outside the classroom. As what I believe, learning is an ongoing process,
which it will never come to an end. We, as human will always learn either in a
formal or informal way.
Reflective Journal #2
In the second part of TSL 751 course, I have gained much meaningful knowledge from the class discussions as well as the shared experience from other classmates and P.M. Dr. Faizah herself. Throughout all the discussions, there are many things that I have reflected upon; especially on how did I do my teaching all this while.
I have been teaching English subject in IKM for about six years now. Most students enrol in IKM are among the low achiever students, with the aim to equip themselves in an advanced hands-on skills, in order to get good future employment. In IKM, as what has MARA proposed, the objective of learning English subject is to enable the students to communicate in various contexts upon graduation. Hence, the syllabus that I have to deal with the students is basically more on to improve and enhance their communication skills. For example, for both Semester 1 and 2 syllabuses, the assessments given to the students are more on on-going assessments, which are 80% coursework, meanwhile another 20% is for the final examination. From the 80% coursework, 50% of the marks are for the presentations. In my personal opinion, I do not think that these assessments are relevant to the students, as most of them hardly passed the English subject in their SPM examination.
However, as how the syllabus demands, I need to carry out the assessments, regardless on how the students’ backgrounds are. In this particular circumstance, I really feel that I somehow have victimized my students because they are actually forced to complete the presentations, whereby they actually are not ready for it. How come they are ready for the presentations, for in fact that they DO NOT REALLY KNOW how to pronounce correctly, how to write even simple sentences, the rules of tenses, and many other basic aspects in English language. In the English subject syllabus that we implement in IKM, the aspects of grammar are not emphasized, which means that we, the teachers have to make own initiatives to integrate them into the topic. As the time allocated for English lesson is only two hours per week, and the meeting is only once a week, there is not much that can be done.
Nevertheless, in order to help the students to become better, I will not let myself find any excuses to not get the right things done. I will try to carry out more task-based teachings, so that the students will have more collaboration with each other in completing the classroom tasks. Task-Based Language Teaching is relevant to be carried out as according to Hsu, T.C. (2007), “it encourages frequent interactions and positive involvements, which are crucial for reinforcing motivation”. With good level of motivations, I indeed hope that my students will be more engaged in learning English as a Second Language (ESL).
As most of these students are low in academic performance, particularly in English subject, they basically have a low self-esteem, in which they are at most of the times are reluctant to speak up, as well as to participate in classroom activities. All this while, I have never asked the students how they would prefer to have the lesson carried out. Usually, at the beginning of the semester, I just showed them the syllabus, topics to be covered as well as the assessments that they have to complete throughout the semester. During the discussions in TSL 751 course regarding the Conceptual Basis of SLTL, I came to realize that it is not fair for the students to have to deal with the matters. I have to apply a lot on Humanistic Tradition, which I think is a decent thing for the teachers to do in dealing with students, especially low achievers students.
Besides, for the next and coming semesters, I will change the way I start the semester with my students. Despite showing them the topics and giving them the fixed way on how the class is going to be conducted, I will use negotiated curriculum instead. First, I will show them the topics that they will learn for the whole semester, and then I will ask them how they would the class to be conducted based on the weekly topics. I really hope that we can discuss, and the students can give their opinions about the matter, so that the learning of ESL will be effective both for me as well as my students. For me, I think that this is an applicable way to be practiced because I have experienced this method with P.M. Dr. Faizah during TSL 751 course, and I am really contented with it. In addition, I think that this is one approach that the teachers should do in order to build a good rapport with the students.
Kabilan (2000), indicated that “teachers should develop a mutual relationship with their learners”. In my opinion, a good rapport is crucial in order to make the classroom comfortable and enjoyable enough for students to learn positively from the teacher without any hesitation. As I have been teaching these low-achiever students all this while, I always hold the belief that they are not really motivated to learn English language. It is based on their attitudes in the classroom, the result of English language in SPM examination and the most outstanding reason is they enrol in IKM just to focus on their technical skills, not academic subjects. To be honest, sometimes I felt demotivated as well, as there were many times my students did not responded as how I hoped they would respond during the lesson. Thus, in order to create better rapport and classroom environment, I will vary my teaching methodology, as well as I will always bear in mind that teaching is a profession, in which I should be professional in it all the times.
In order for me to improve my teaching in the future, I will need to do classroom investigation, so that I can always reflect on my teaching. Even though I reflected on my lessons before, but after competed TSL 751 course, I feel that I did not reflect sufficiently. After this, I will try to do an action research to my own teaching, with the hope that I will reflect deeper and improve better in my teaching. Basically, these are the questions that I will ask myself in order to do the action research :
i) What is working in your classroom, in your teaching?
ii) Who is learning?
iii) Who is being left out?
iv) How does your curriculum provide opportunity to learn?
v) When do you feel like you’re “losing it”?
Adapted from: Teachers Network Leadership Institute (p.5).
By answering closely to these questions, I sincerely hope that my teaching will be better and better each day.
Other significant aspect that I will improve regarding my teaching is I should always do “reflection in action”. As the time allocated for English lesson is two hours per meeting, and I am dealing with low-achiever students, I need to reflect and evaluate myself throughout the lesson. Even if I thought that I had already prepared an interesting and interactive lesson, I still need to stop a while, to reflect on the lesson, first by observing the students’ participations and feedbacks, and then, I can ask them to give opinions by providing them a piece of paper to write about their comments (2-minute paper). If I get positive feedback and responses from the students, I will carry on with the plan I prepared, but if the responses are not quite pleased, I will apply “interactive decision-making”, where I have to think of another plan to get them engaged in the lesson again. In my opinion, teachers usually comprehend new events by reflecting on our own personal experiences, particularly in the classroom. I think that it would be more effective if I can develop a personal method in this “interactive decision-making”, based on my own perceptions as well as my students’ perceptions towards my teaching.
Finally, in terms of my role as an English language teacher, it is essential for me to be as flexible as possible to my low-achiever students. I should play the role as facilitator, apart from being just a teacher. For example, in my lesson, I apply Problem-based learning approach in order to trigger critical thinking skills among the students. Student-centered learning comprises a teaching/learning framework designed to promote deep understanding of subject-matter content in conjunction with the development of higher-order thinking skills (Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx. Soloway, 1994 ; Newma, Bryk & Nagaoka, 2001). As I am dealing with poor English learners, I would play the role as a resources provider, in which I will as much as possible provide relevant information to the students to enable them carry out certain tasks. Besides, I will also be as one of the team-players in any group tasks. Other than I only facilitate them, I will also try to give any possible solutions to solve the problems so that they can observe and imitate on how is the right way to think of a solution in order to complete any tasks given.
To sum up, I somehow hope that I will become better English teacher, as that is one of the reasons I pursue this Master of TESL program. I am very thankful and blessed to have learned a lot from TSL 751 Practices and Reflections in TESL course. For me to becoming better, I should always observe and reflect on my own teaching, because by observing and reflecting, it can bring a change in me and I believe that teacher who explores his / her own teaching through critical reflection can develop changes in attitudes, as well as can improve the kind of support to provide our respective students.
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