“Culture, identity, and motivation are inextricably linked” (Diaz-Rico 66)
“Language teachers must be unafraid to be risk takers and innovators in their teaching and must actively apply teaching and learning strategies using a broad, interdisciplinary approach” (Diaz-Rico 35). We as educators must realize that we are teaching the “whole person”. This involves their beliefs, body, brain, emotions, and culture. Our personal philosophy shapes and underlies the classroom environment. An educators attitude will be reflected within his/her student on a daily basis. Today, we see the classroom being run in a very behaviorist setting, however I would love to experience a cognitivist classroom. It would be so invigorating to see the students actively involved planning, organizing, problem solving, and truly becoming their own facilitator of education. Along with the cognitive learning, you need it to be affective (emotions) as well, the head and the heart. “Positive emotional factors such as self-esteem, motivation, and proactive attitudes help language acquisition to take place” (Diaz-Rico 51). The classroom environment has such an impact on the outcome of student learning. I have personally witnessed the impact that an educator with a negative attitude had on her students and I vowed to never allow my students such disappointment in my classroom.
I found a paper that focused on the problem of students who are reluctant to speak in the English classroom and it suggested a range of techniques that can be used to address the problem. The main ideas were to: (1) reduce the level of task difficulty, (2) promote positive attitudes among students, and (3) to build a supportive learning environment. Within each of these three techniques were examples of how to incorporate into your daily teaching.
“Encouraging Reluctant ESL/EFL Learners to Speak in the Classroom”
by: Nguyen Minh Hue.
@lindsyhughes
“Since we, as educators, are frequently on a time constraint to progress through the material I wanted to find some information about how to incorporate this active learning into my classroom. I found an article called Hands-on Activities. It describes this constructivist-based learning environment and talks about the benefits to ELs. Find the article at: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/13352”
I agree with much of what you said about our education today and the struggles we face. I also always try to find ways to incorporate the idea of “active learning” and following the constructivist view of teaching. Thank you for the website that you provided, it gave me some excellent ideas as well!
@joetapia
“Another interesting topic the chapter talks about is the humanistic perspective on learning. The attitude that a student has about himself and his environment has a big influence on learning. I feel that this is true because learning has to be staged in an environment that is inviting and safe for the pupil. We cannot expect our students to learn if they are not comfortable within their environment or feel threaten or incompetent. As teachers we can control most of these variables and enhance learning”. As I was reading your ideas of the humanistic perspective I found myself nodding my head in agreement. The students classroom environment is such an important variable on what they will achieve through their education. The more we hear this, tell others about this, and remind educators about its’ importance, the better our students experience will be!
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