One of most important job as a teacher is perhaps to create the condition in which learning can take place. The skills and managing a successful class may be the key to the whole success of a course. An important part of this is to do it with attitude, intensions and personality and teacher's relationships with the learners. However, teachers also need certain organisational skills and techniques. Such items are often grouped together under the heading of "classroom management".
The topicality of work is in the fact that managing the foreign language classroom is key optimize student learning and achievement and to successfully engage students.
The object of the project work is managing the foreign language classroom.
The subject of the project work is using the right variants of management for items such as activities, grouping and seating, authority, critical moments, working with students.
The aim of the project work is giving general characteristics to the issues of classroom management and ways of using activities effectively.
The objectives of the project work are:
- to define the function of the classroom management;
- to study the certain organisational skills and techniques;
- to find examples of usage of the some classroom decisions and actions.
The theoretical significance of the work is based on the work of Jim Scriviner, Simon Brown and Zhangozy Ongarbay. Following their works it is noticeable that the managing of the foreign language classroom is very important in teaching process to create positive learning environment, form an interpersonal relationship between teacher and student, reduce the disciplinary problems, manage an effective routine, and to encourage desired behaviour from the students.
The Practical significance of the work is that, practical result and all the given examples can be used in lessons.
Material under analyses: Researching methodical literature, the essential guide, official preparation materials for methodology test; textbooks and books, educational magazines, and internet.
The structure of the project work consists of content, introduction, theoretical part, practical part, conclusion, appendix and bibliography.
I. MANAGING THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
1.1The concept of classroom management
Classroom management is a term used by teachers to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behavior by students. The term also implies the prevention of disruptive behavior. It is possibly the most difficult aspect of teaching for many teachers; indeed experiencing problems in this area causes some to leave teaching altogether.
By Seitgalieva A, classroom management is organization of lessons, competence to direct the equipments and teacher's practical attainment. [1, 14]
According to Vasiliev, classroom management is equipping teachers with the skills they need to succeed in the classroom, like subject matter and pedagogic knowledge and a lot of teaching practice. [23, 7]
By Tuleeva, Classroom management is the main thing for the teacher. Because it is include plan of the lesson according to what teachers achieve the aim, equipments and supplementary materials. [2, 1]
According to Ongarbay, there are two parts of the classroom management: first, basic organization of the classroom, such as equipments and materials; second one is the teacher's preparation for the lesson. [3,1]
Classroom management according to David, involves a positive classroom environment, appropriate standards of behaviors for students, effective management of daily routines and instructions, and engaging the students in classroom activities throughout the lessons to ensure quality secondary education. The emphasis on classroom management therefore is dependent on components such as, an engaging curriculum, the teacher as a role model, students as responsible citizens, classroom management skills, robust instruction and working with resistance, conflict and stress. [5, 58]
Classroom Management is "the actions and strategies teachers use to solve the problem of order in classrooms" [9, 397]. Effective teachers also use rules, procedures, and routines to ensure that students are actively involved in learning . In essence, they use management not to control student behavior, but to influence and direct it in a constructive manner to set the stage for instruction
By Robert J.Marzano classroom management is defined as an organization and how a teacher controls the students' behavior so the teaching and learning process can happen effectively.[9, 177]
By Alberto&Troutman classroom management is a skill which requires the teacher to manage the time, space, resources and students' behavior in preparing a conductive learning environment.[15,223]
1.2 Teacher and student interaction in classroom
Teachers need to behave in different ways at different stages of a lesson to manage the classroom and to successfully guide learners through the lesson. These different ways of behaving in and managing the class are called teacher roles. Teachers adopt (use) a number of different roles in every lesson. Teacher roles vary depending on the teaching approach used and on the teachers' and learners' preferred learning styles and learning needs. In order to achieve a high level of classroom management, teachers must be:
Role |
The teacher: |
Planner |
prepares and reflects on the lesson before teaching, anticipates problems and selects, designs and adapts materials. |
Manager |
Organizes. the learning space, makes sure everything in the classroom is running smoothly and sets up rules and routines (i.e. things which are done regularly) for behavior and interaction. |
Monitor/Observer |
goes around the class during individual, pair and group work activities, checking learning and providing support as necessary. |
Facilitator |
provides opportunities for learning, helps learners to access resources and develop learner autonomy. |
Diagnostician |
works out the causes of learners' difficulties.
|
Language resource |
can be used by the learners for help and advice about language. |
Assessor |
evaluates the language level and attitudes of the learners by using different means of informal and formal assessment. |
Rapport builder |
tries to create a good relationship with and between learners. |
The teachers can be planners before the lesson, rapport builders during the warm-up and lead-in phase, language resources during the language input and practice phase, monitors during role-play, pairwork activities or writing, and assessors during the lesson, both formally and informally, and after the lesson when teachers are correcting learners' work.
Some common types of student grouping in the classroom include:
In any one lesson, teachers may include work that involves a number of these different arrangements. Varying grouping is one way of enabling a variety of experiences for the learners.
Seating
Teachers should consider what grouping, seating, standing arrangements are most appropriate for each activity they do in class. Changing seating arrangements can help students interact with different people, change the focus from teacher when appropriate and allow a range of different situations to be reacted within the classroom, as well as simply adding variety to the predictability of sitting in the same place every time. It's difficult to sit still for a long time; it's worth including activities that involve some movement, even if only to give people the chance to stretch their legs. Students might not like it if there is a consonant movement every five minutes, but some variety of working arrangements is often helpful.
In some cultures, students may have clear expectations as to what is acceptable. For example, asking students to sit on their desks may be taboo; a teacher who sits on the corner of his desk may be considered unprofessional. Respect cultural constraints, but don't let them put you off experimenting a little. Teachers should be clear about what is genuinely unacceptable and what is merely unknown or unexpected.
Fixed, semi-fixed and large seating
Teachers could ask students to:
Figure 1 shows an original seating plan. They can be used in rows because, although only lightly fixed, there seemed to be no other way to arrange them.
Moveable seating
Some ideas for investigating and exploring the possibilities of moveable seating:
Giving instructions
In multilingual class teachers have to use English for instructions. But, in monolingual classes teachers have a choice: English, native language - or some mixture of both. It is certainly possible to use only English (and it's often really helpful in creating an ‘English' atmosphere in the classroom), but it's often problematic because of the quantity and over-complexity of language used.
How to get learners' attention
One important reason why learners may not successfully follow activity instructions (or understand teacher's explanations of something) is that they didn't actually hear them, perhaps because they were not fully paying attention when they were given. Whereas teachers often invest energy into finding better ways to word their instructions, they may overlook the need to win attention before the instruction is given. An instruction given over student chatter, or when students are looking the other way, stands little chance of working.
If this has been a problem for the teacher, here is one strategy for getting learners' attention that teacher might wish to experiment with.
In general, teachers need to establish their authority and use it appropriately. Project their voice clearly, but speak rather than shout. Control the quantity and complexity of what they say. Say what they need as simply and clearly as possible.
Monitoring
There are two steps
Step 1: The first 30 seconds: are they doing the task set?
Immediately after a teacher has given the instructions for a task and students start doing it, there is often an immediate need to check to make sure that students are doing the activity that the teacher asked them to do and have understood the basic instructions and the mechanism of the activity.
The teacher could do this by quietly and relatively inconspicuously wandering around the room, listening in briefly to snatches from many groups and assuring yourself that students are doing what they are supposed to. We could call this ‘monitoring to check the mechanics'.
Step 2: The task itself
In many activities, the prime aim is for learners to get a chance to work on their own, speaking fluently and trying out things without too much interference and correction. If they are doing the task correctly, then possibly they don't need a teacher any more once the task is under way. Teacher's presence might actually be an interference. If teachers are around and very visible, students might look to them for language items and help whenever the students hit a problem, whereas it might be more useful for them to struggle a little and learn to make use of their own resources. So once an activity is safely under way, teacher's options often boil down to the following choices: monitor discreetly or vanish.
In some tasks- especially those in which students might not move forward quickly, but need ongoing advice, support, input and encouragement- the teacher may find that some kind of more active roles is called for. In these cases, teacher's best options are probably monitor actively or participate.
Monitor discreetly
Discreet monitoring is when teachers maintain a presence in the room, but do not overtly offer help, interfere, correct, etc. Teacher's aim is that students know teachers are there, but teacher's watching and listening does not in any way disturb them. They will not feel tempted to call on teacher unless there is a significant problem- and when they do ask for help, teacher should do this swiftly and effectively, then return to the discreet monitoring role. Teachers are sending a message that teachers are interested, but that the main task is for them to do using their own resources as much as possible.
Vanish
There are cases when any teacher presence can actually interfere with and diminish the usefulness of work being done. Sometimes the best option for you is to vanish, i.e. get out of immediate eyeshot. Teacher could go into a corner of the room and sit quietly.
Monitor actively
Teachers should be more visible and allow students to be more aware of teacher's presence and of the possibility of calling on teacher for help and advice. A teacher who is actively monitoring will be walking around, viewing and listening in too many different groups and frequently offering spontaneous advice and corrections, as well as responding to requests and questions from students.
Participant
A teacher may sit down and join a group (temporarily or for the whole task) and take part as if the teacher was one of the group, offering ideas, helping with questions, joining in discussions. The teacher could quietly move on to another group. By the end of the task, teacher might have worked with a number of groups. Of course, while the teacher is monitoring or working with one group, he or she will need to remain alert to what others are doing and if there are any problems.
Gestures
Try to develop a range of gestures (and facial expressions) to save yourself repeating basic instructions and to increase opportunities for learner talk. Teachers should remember that learners will need to learn the meaning of teachers gestures; they will not magically know that teacher's pointing means ‘Use the past tense', but if teacher give the oral instruction a few times while also gesturing, they will soon associate the gesture alone with that instruction.
Using the board
Organisation
One resource that almost every teacher has is a board, whether it is a small board on an easel, a wide chalk board, a pen board or an interactive computer board. Although it is possible to write randomly on the board as things occur in class, teacher will often find that it's worth paying a little attention to organising items.
At the start of the lesson, draw a few dividing lines on the board, e.g. from three working areas, like this:
Review section (for key points from last lesson) |
Scratchpad for drawing, displaying words as they come up, etc |
Key vocabulary and grammar |
Using these areas can help teachers organise different content as they write it up, keeping different kinds of things to separate sections of the board, for example:
Here are a few more board thoughts:
Board drawing
Teachers must not say they can't draw! No matter how un-Monet-like teacher's artistry, one picture is often worth many unnecessary words. For the quick explanation of vocabulary items, for setting up a discussion, a dialogue or role play, for story-building, teacher need pictures.
Clearly the basic skills is to draw people in some form, and stick people are in many ways better than detailed figures because they're so quick to do.
Eliciting
‘Eliciting' means drawing out information, language, ideas etc from the students. It is a technique based on the principles that:
There are three steps to eliciting:
1. The teacher conveys a clear idea to the students, perhaps by using pictures, gestures or questions, etc.
2. They then supply the appropriate language, information or ideas.
3. The teacher gives them feedback.
Teachers can elicit: language, ideas, feelings, meaning, context, memories, etc.
Teachers can't elicit: things learners do not know.
II. PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
2.1 Organizing learning in the classroom
Classroom interaction
When working in a whole-class stage, a large amount of interaction tends to go from teacher to student and student to teacher, as shown in Figure 2. How could teacher get more student-student interaction?
Some ideas for maximising student interaction in class:
Standing and sitting
1. Why might a circle or horseshoe shape be more effective for language teaching than straight rows?
2. What difference does it make if the teacher sit in a circle with the students rather than standing in front of them?
Commentary
1. In a circle or horseshoe, learners can make eye contact with everyone else in the group and thus interact much more naturally. There is also a much greater sense of equality. Weaker students tend to hide away less and stronger students to dominate less.
2. Having teacher in the circle helps to clarify teacher's role as an equal rather than as someone separate and different.
Complex instructions
Why did the class have problems with the following instruction?
‘OK, everybody, would you, Maria, sit down. Now what you have to do is, when you, you take this sheet of paper that I'm handing out now and keep it secret, and some of you are ‘A', it's written at the top, and some are labeled ‘B'. OK, can you see that? Don't show your paper to anyone and then you have to describe to your partner; sit face to face. Could you move your chairs around and describe what's on your paper so that your partner can find out what's different, and you must agree; when you find something, draw it on your paper? OK. Do you understand?'
Commentary
This may sound like a joke, but in fact it's quite typical of an unplanned instruction. Teachers are often unaware that they are talking in this way until they stop and try to listen to what they are saying. A video (or audio) recording of them in action can be very helpful here.
It is clear that this type if instruction is very hard for students to follow. The essential information about what to do is embedded in confusing and unnecessary babble. An essential simple activity can become impossible, not because the students couldn't do it, but because they didn't understand what to do. Often students are judged to have failed when it is actually the teacher who failed to clarify what was required.
Teacher's role in pair and group activities
What could be teacher's role if they had set up an activity in which students will mainly work on their own pairs or groups?
a. Sit down and read a book?
b. Go out of the room and have a coffee?
c. Wander round and look at what students are doing?
d. Sit down and work with separate groups one by one, joining in the tasks as a participant?
e. Listen carefully to as many students as possible, going over and correcting mistakes when you catch them, offering ideas when students get stuck, etc?
Commentary
All answers are possible because it all depends on the nature of the specific activity and on its aims.
Gestures
Some of gestures teachers can use for the following instructions:
1. Stand up.
2. Work on your own.
3. Five minutes left.
4. Quieten down.
5. Listen to me.
6. Listen to her.
7. Give a longer answer.
8. Please stop talking now.
9. Stop a noisy student talking (to enable somebody else to speak).
Practice in quick board sketches
1. Teachers need to draw quick pictures (single images or a sequence) to illustrate some of the following: swimming pool, London, happy, escalator, mouse, exhausted, robbery, whale, planet, overtake.
2. Then they should think about the questions they can ask their learners about the sketches to establish that they actually see what the teachers intend the learners to?
Planning questions to elicit specific things
The teacher should consider the next lesson he or she need to teach. The teacher can write down one specific item of factual information that the students will need to know: maybe a grammar rule, a fact about the topic, what a picture on the board represents, etc. Then teacher writs a sequence of questions that the teacher could use to lead the students step by step towards finding out that same information for themselves.
If possible, the teacher can work with someone else to try out teacher's sequence of questions. Teachers should practice drawing out the information rather than explaining themselves.
2.2 Activities on ‘teacher- student' interaction
There are different ways in which teachers can organize their learners in the classroom. For example, learners can work on their own, as a whole class, in pairs, in terms, in groups. Organizing learners into different working patterns is what we mean by ‘grouping learners'.
When teachers organize and plan their lessons, he or she decides which way of grouping learners or interaction patterns to use. The interaction patterns depend on the learners and their learning styles, teacher's style(s) and preferences, the teaching approach, the learning context, the type of activity, the aim or learning purpose of the activity and the stage in the lesson. There are many different interaction patterns to choose from, e.g. whole class (the teacher leads the class and the learners focus on the teacher), individuals, open pairs (two learners do a pairwork activity in from of the class), closed pairs (learners all do an activity at the same time working with a partner), groups, teams, mingles. Very often, the activity itself suggests a particular interaction pattern.
Here are some examples:
Activity |
Interaction pattern |
Reason for using interaction pattern |
Brainstorming |
1 Groups or pairs: students working with other students. 2 Students to the teacher (feedback). |
Reviews and shares students' knowledge of vocabulary and/ or structure and the topic or context; develops learning strategies; energizes the students and gets them all involved. |
Bingo game |
1 Whole class: teacher to the students. 2 Student to the teacher. |
Reviews students' understanding of vocabulary; gives a change of pace; gives the teacher feedback; energizes. |
Reading and filling in a chart |
1 Individuals (students complete the charts on their own). 2 Pairwork: student to student. 3 Open pairs (checking answers). Student to student with the teacher facilitating. |
Calms students down, allows students to practice scanning in their own time; enables students to check their work together to give confidence before the class check. |
Class survey |
1 Mingling activity: students move around the classroom asking questions of other students. 2 Groups or pairs (students compare and discuss their answers). 3 Teacher asks different students in the class what they found out (feedback). |
Gives students practice in all four skills and in managing their learning; gives opportunities for large amounts of practice; gives a chance of pace; develops learner autonomy; every student in the class is active and involved. |
CONCLUSION
Working on this project work we draw a conclusion that the classroom management is the moment-by-moment decisions and actions concerning organisation of the classroom and activities, e.g. seating and grouping arrangements, starting and stopping activities, dealing with unexpected problems, etc.
Effective classroom management, i.e. organising the classroom and the learners, is dependent on the teacher adopting appropriate roles. For example, when learners arrive late in class or misbehave, the teacher needs to with the situation appropriately to ensure that the learners understand that this is not acceptable behaviour. In this situation, the teacher's role is primarily to maintain discipline. If, on the other hand, the teacher adopts inappropriate roles, this can have a negative effect on their classroom management. Imagine a situation where one learner is dominating the interaction in the classroom, resulting in other learners becoming annoyed and being unwilling to participate (take part in something). If the teacher lets the learner continue in a dominating role, he or she could lose the respect of the other students and will be less able to facilitate (make easier) their learning. However, if the teacher sets out clear classroom routines and codes of conduct in which learners take turns to participate and listen to each other's contributions, he or she build rapport with the class and provide the learners with a more supportive learning environment.
BIBLIOGHRAPHY
1. Seitgalieva A, (2013) Organisation of conclusion at lessons, Report
2. Tuleeva Zh, (2015) 45 minutes of the lesson, Report
3. Ongarbay Zh, (2015) Teacher's preparation for the lesson, Report
4. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
5. Crandall, J. (. (2000). Language teacher education. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.
6. Cassell, C., & Symon, G. (2004). Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research. London, United Kingdom: Sage publications.
7. Elder, C. & Kim, S.H. (2008). Target language use in foreign language classrooms: Practices and perceptions of two native speaker teachers in New Zealand. Language, Culture and Curriculum.
8. Scrivener, J. (2011) Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching (3rd Edition), Macmillan Publishers Limited
9. Spratt, M., Pulverness A. and Williams M. (2013) The TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) Course (Modules 1,2, and 3), Cambridge University Press
10. Johnston, J., Myers, J., Pollock, K. and Zoet, C. (2007 Draft document) I am the Teacher: Effective Classroom Management for Occasional Teachers, ETFO Toronto
11. Rhode, G., Jenson, W.R. and Reavis, H.K. (1992) The tough kid book: Practical classroom management strategies
12. Seeman, H (2000) Preventing Classroom Discipline Problems: A Classroom Management Handbook 3rd Edition Scarecrow Press Inc. Langham, Maryland.
13. Shapiro, S. and Skinulis, K. (2002) Classrooms that work, Practical Parenting Inc.Toronto
14. Smith, G. (2002). Substitute teacher handbook: Proven professional Management skills & teaching strategies. Longman, UT: Utah State University.
15. Sprick, R., Garrison, M. & Howard, L. (1998). CHAMPs: A proactive and positive approach to classroom management. Pacific Northwest Publishing.
16. Webster-Stratton, C., & Reid, M. (2006). The incredible years classroom management teacher training program: Content, method and process. Seattle, WA: University of Washington
17. Cakmak, M. (2008). Concerns about teaching process: Student teacher's perspectives.
Education Research Quarterly, 31(3), 57-77.
18. Chambers, S. M. (2003). The impact of length of student teaching on the self-efficacyand classroom orientation of preservice teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 477509)
19. Chastain, K. (1988). Developing second-language skills (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
20. Clements, B., Emmer, E. T., Evertson, C., Sanford, J., & Worsham, M. (1984). Classroom management for secondary teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
21. Crichton, H. (2009). ‘Value added' modern languages teaching in the classroom: An investigation into how teachers' use of classroom target language can aid pupils' communication skills. Language Learning Journal.
22. Curran, M. E. (2003). Linguistic diversity and classroom management. Theory into Practice.
23. Vasiliev, K. (2014). Systems Approach for Better, Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group