Different Roles of the Teacher and Students in College English Teaching

梁平

【Abstract】English teaching in our age is getting challenging. English books and tapes， English programs on TVs and radios， Internet resources are everywhere. Moreover， elementary English teaching is developing quickly. Most children start learning English before the age of eight. And parents have a wide choice of training institutions to help their kids with their English study. All the changes have pushed the present college English teaching to be different from twenty years ago. So in the new situation， both teachers and students should play new roles in class.

【Key words】roles； teacher； students

English teaching in our age is getting challenging. There are tons of English books and tapes in the market； English programs are available on TVs and radios at any time； and Internet also provides abundant resources for English learning. Moreover， elementary English teaching is developing quickly. Most children start learning English before the age of eight. And parents have a wide choice of training institutions to help their kids with their English study. All the changes have pushed the present college English teaching to be different from twenty years ago. So in the new situation， both teachers and students should play new roles.

Interaction is a dynamic process in which different factors interact with each other. In college English teaching， lack of interaction will lead to poor effectiveness. And if the teacher still adopts the teacher-centered approach and ignore the interaction in class， the teaching itself will fail. So the idea of interaction should be reflected in the teacher and students new roles.

1. Students Roles

In an effective college English class， students should take the central role， and all the teaching activities are centered on their needs. On one hand， they are expected to actively interact with each other as well as with the teacher. One the other hand， they should have more chances to study autonomously. In general， the students take the roles of both the cooperator of teaching， and the organizer of their study.

1.1 Cooperator of the Teachers Teaching

Students are expected to cooperate with the teachers teaching. First of all， they should provide practical information for the teacher. At the beginning of the term， they should be encouraged to write down their problems and needs. For example：1） their problems in English study 2） what kind of knowledge they are interested in 3） what they want to benefit from the course 4） what kind of classroom activities they prefer， etc. Based on the information， the teacher may adjust his teaching plan and strategies. In such a way， the students are made participants of the teaching， from which they can gain responsibility and initiative.endprint

Secondly， the learning and teaching process should be conducted through the students cooperation with their teacher. In class， they are both listeners and questioners. Off class， they also have many chances to talk to their teacher. In addition， their cooperation is especially important to the teaching. They should be encouraged to solve the problems together with the teacher through discussion.

Thirdly， the students may evaluate the teacher at the end of each semester. Such a measure has been adopted by some universities. Usually， students are asked to evaluate their teachers on the university website， when they finish a semesters course. And mostly， the results are fair. Such results are used for the teachers reference， so as to help him to improve his teaching.

1.2 The Organizer of Their Study

In addition to the cooperator of teaching， students should also be the organizer of their study. Firstly， it would be better if they can have more choice as to what they are going to learn in class. As what we often say：“Interest is the best teacher”. Making the class more interesting is also good for students learning. In preparing the next class， the teacher can let students decide part of the topics and ask them to collect useful information. It is also a good way to encourage students to give presentations in class. Thus， interaction between the teacher and his students is improved.

Secondly， students should make study plans for each unit and the whole semester. Just like the teachers preparation for the teaching， students are also expected to prepare for their study. In their plans， they should set general goals for the semester， and list the work to be done for each unit， including their study strategies. Such plans are similar to regulations， placing restriction on the students and giving them more motivation. Besides， that also makes it possible for the teacher to supervise his students in carrying out their plans.

Next， during the course， the students should also be active in both teaching and learning activities. In classroom， they may organize various group activities under the teachers instruction. In the computer room， they should be granted more rights to arrange learning procedures according to their different needs.

Last but not the least， students are expected to do self-evaluation. At the end of each semester， every student is asked to write a self-evaluation， based on his study plans and performance. Then， it is the teachers job to judge and make comments on it.endprint

1.3 The Adviser of the teacher

Teaching and learning can always complement each other well. If students are granted more right to participate in the teaching process， their learning will be more motivated. They work harder when teachers give them a role in determining the form and content of their schooling — helping them create their own learning plans and deciding the ways in which they will demonstrate that they have， in fact， learned what they agreed to learn. So students can be the teachers adviser. For example， the teacher can offer them different topics and let them choose the favorite one to be discussed the next class. Even more， students can partly decide how the class is to be organized. They can vote for their favorite way of teaching of the next class， for example， discussion， role play， or debate.

2. Teachers Roles

With the impact of Cognitive Theory and constructivism， too much emphasis has been laid on the study of students position， which might lead to the tendency that the teachers role will be neglected. Actually， along with the shift of teaching pattern from teacher-centered to students-centered， the requirements on the teacher are greater， not less.

2.1 Resource Provider

Students need the teachers help as a resource provider in grammar and vocabulary. But new technology has made this role more complicated. The old model of instruction was predicated on information scarcity. Teachers and their books were information oracles， spreading knowledge to a population with few other ways to get it. But todays world is awash in information from a multitude of print and electronic sources. The fundamental job of teaching is no longer to simply provide facts but to help students select information and teach them learn how to use it.

Thanks to new technology， both teachers and their students are spoiled by tons of information. We live in an age of information explosion in which all kinds of information floods in to the newspaper， magazines and computers. To a large extent， teaching is， in essence， sharing. Teachers help their students by sharing instructional resources. These might include Web sites， instructional materials， readings， or professional resources as articles， books， lesson or unit plans， and assessment tools. Although students also have access to most of the resources， the teachers sharing can save much time for them. And it is the teachers job to find good and valuable materials for the students which are well adapted to their capacities. Whats more， faced with diversified resources， it is challenging for the teacher to give students right guidance and help them sift through different information and get what is correct and useful.endprint

2.2 Investigator

The teacher should be an investigator and analyst of his students. Kumaravadivelu （2001：537） has ever said， strategic language teachers spend a considerable amount of time and efforts reflecting on the specific needs， wants， situations and processes of learning and teaching. The students specific needs and wants should be much considered by the teacher.

In fact， inquiry is very important to the teachers interaction with his students. At present， the communication between teachers and students is still limited. So， if the teacher does not directly inquire of his students， there are surely some misunderstandings and barriers in their communication. To achieve an active interaction with the students， the teacher must know them well and adjust his strategies accordingly. So he should make inquiry at first， collect the information provided by the students， and make an analysis of the information， so as to work out specific teaching plans and strategies.

We have mentioned above that students are expected to write down their needs， problems， and expectations at the beginning of each semester. The teacher should also encourage them to do that， or design the questionnaire first. Thus， he may get to know the students soon， including their individual characters， strong-points and weak-points， their needs， interest， and goals. Furthermore， through the process of teaching， the teacher can keep inquiring and analyzing the students needs in different ways. When they become more and more familiar with each other， free talk or chatting is a better way for their communication.

Based on the information got from investigation， the teacher is expected to make a detailed and overall analysis， and adjust his teaching plan accordingly. In addition， he is also supposed to analyze the students individual information， paying attention to every student. As a result， the teachers teaching can be fairly flexible. For example， according to the students different levels， he can offer more than one sort of exercise books and assign different homework and tasks.

2.3 Learner

In the new age， an important role teachers should assume is that of learner. Teachers should model continual improvement， demonstrate lifelong learning， and use what they learn to help their students.

Training is necessary for teachers. They should constantly take classes and attend professional development sessions to learn the latest best practices and strategies for effective teaching. Language has also accelerated its development in the fast-paced era， and language teachers have to keep up with it. Communication and cooperation between teachers are also efficient ways of learning. Teachers can regularly collaborate with one another， exchanging ideas and seeking inspiration. On the other hand， teaching itself is a process of learning. Through studentsquestions and answers， they get the opportunity to reevaluate their stock of knowledge and gain fresh ideas. So in the classroom， the teacher is still learning. Students are more creative than we expect. And discussions are good ways to inspire ideas. Even a sentence of a text can lead to different interpretations and thoughts. Teachers who give repeated lectures often do better in the second one. That is because at the same time of teaching， they are， often subconsciously， reflecting on their performance， strategies， language， etc.endprint

2.4 Organizer

As Harmer said， “the best teachers should be those who think carefully about what students should do in class and how to organize teaching and learning.” That is to say， the teacher should be an excellent organizer. The success of many activities depends on good organization that can stimulate students enthusiasm and potential. As an organizer， the teacher should organize the teaching process in a more effective way. Such classroom activities as pair work， group work and role-play cant be implemented effectively without the teachers careful planning and organizing.

Effective interaction in the classroom greatly depends on active teaching and learning activities. In order to help students achieve language proficiency， there should be various class activities. All of them call for design and organization. Even for the simplest activity as discussion， the teacher still needs to group the students and control the process. Generally， to design and organize an activity， the teacher should take into consideration the subject or topic， the size of the activity， facilities and props， setting of the classroom， and the time needed.

However， it must be pointed out that the teacher should not do everything alone. Instead， he just plans and organizes the activities on the whole， leaving more freedom to the students and offering help when necessary. For example， he can just group the students， and give them the right to decide the topic； or he gives them an idea， and just helps them to organize a role play.

In addition， in the activity designing， two important factors deserve attention. First， there should be activities communicating English or American cultural information. Second， there should also be some activities aiming at real practice， such as negotiations， presentations， meetings， or other simulations of possible activities in the students future work.

2.5 Assessor

It is the teachers job to grade his students and offer feedback. But assessment here is more than finding out problems and correcting mistakes. It should consist of three parts：the evaluation of students， the teachers self-evaluation， and assessment of class effectiveness.

The assessment of students is based on two parts：the results of the final exam and the students regular performance which may include students regular presence in the class， performance in various activities， and initiative showed in learning. Besides， it is suggested that the results of the two parts should be recorded separately， in order to show the difference and enable the teachers analysis.endprint

The teacher is also expected to evaluate himself at the end of each semester. In his self-evaluation， he should take into consideration the teaching activities that he has designed and organized， his interaction with the students， students performance in the final exam， and their willingness to interact with him. The teachers self-evaluation will be compared with the students evaluation of the teacher.

Different from the two types of evaluation mentioned above， the assessment of class effectiveness is not done at the end of each semester， but in the middle. The purpose is to find problems of class teaching. Penny Ur （2002：219） ever made criteria for the evaluation of class effectiveness：

1. The learners were active all the time.

2. The learners were attentive all the time.

3. The learners enjoyed the lesson， were motivated.

4. The class seemed to be learning the material well.

5. The lesson went according to plan.

6. The language was used communicatively throughout.

7. The learners were engaging with the foreign language throughout.

In terms of these criteria， the teacher should evaluate the teaching and adjust the strategies accordingly.

2.6 Cultivator

Since the aim of teaching a language is to cultivate students communicative competence， which is creative. The teachers responsibility lies not only in teaching a language but providing his students methods to improve themselves. In such a sense， a modern language teacher should be a cultivator， to guide students to learn properly and provide theme methods to improve themselves.

For example， to make knowledge more understandable by using cognitive principles is a good way to achieve efficient teaching. There is connection between our existing knowledge and what we are going to learn. In teaching， if the teacher can apply this principle， learning can be a more efficient process. Generally， there are two major points in the teachers implement of it.

First， he is expected to connect the new knowledge with the students existing knowledge， so as to enable the students to easily understand and remember. Simon Mumford of Lzmir University of Ecnomoics suggested in his article Explaining Grammar with Metaphor that teachers can help the students to learn by finding metaphors for language points. In the article， he gives examples. One of those is using twins to explain apostrophe “s” （s ）. We know that there are two uses of the apostrophe “s” in English， one for possessives （Peters car）， and the other for contractions （Peters happy）. In order to separate them， Simon Munford suggests the use of metaphor like this：although identical twins look exactly the same， they have different characters， and the only way to tell them apart is by their friends， the people who they are found with —— the possessive is followed by a noun， whereas the contraction is followed by a verb or adjective. The example is simple， but it reflects a complete new idea of teaching， which is useful for the teaching process.endprint

Second， the teacher is supposed to help the students to develop such a way of learning as linking the unfamiliar to the familiar. Ausubel （1978：519–564） argued that the effect of discovery learning depends on the meaningfulness of the discovery experience. If the students could foster such a habit of learning， and tend to adopt their existing knowledge to facilitate their learning， they will learn English more effectively and efficiently.

During the process of designing， organizing， cultivating， and evaluating， the teacher is also expected to do some research and make further explorations based on the experience and data that he has acquired. As English teachers， we should adjust our roles with the change of the world and would find ourselves accomplish more by assuming these roles well.

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