4.2 Case Two: Olivia
4.2.2 Factors Influencing Olivia‟s Cognition
4.2.2.4 Summary of Various Factors Formed Olivia‟s Teaching
influence on her teaching. She emphasized grammar heavily in her class because of the exam-oriented instructions from her high school English teachers. However, since grammatical instruction was not interesting at all, she tried to create a relaxed and friendly classroom atmosphere by distributing candy, joke-telling, and high toleration.
Additionally, her teaching experiences played a significant role in her current teaching. Since she was a little bit overwhelmed by the theoretical methods about teaching instructions in textbooks, she learnt how to teach from the accumulated
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experiences of teaching. The major influence from her previous teaching was the classroom management. She treated students leniently because she believed that the direct conflict between students and her did not benefit her teaching. During the data collection, she compared and comprehended her teaching methods from the two remedial classes in the elementary and junior high schools and then learned how to teach in the different contexts.
As a novice teacher in the institution, she got the affective and teaching support from the administrator and gained some efficient instructional methods from
colleagues to teach aboriginal students. Furthermore, students‟ suggestions would make Olivia re-think and modify her instructions. As a result, in Olivia‟s class, those factors influenced her teaching and cognition.
4.2.2 Olivia’s Teaching Practices 4.2.3.1 Classroom Managements
Establishing classroom routines and maintaining classroom disciplines
The data collection was Olivia‟s first year of teaching in the remedial program.
She
self-reported that she was overwhelmed by classroom management in the beginning of the semester. She said,
I felt that what was difficult was not coping with all of the teaching materials, but dealing with students‟ issues and giving lectures at the same time. How to
discipline students‟ behaviors and attitudes in class were the major issues, which may influence my teaching practices and processes.
(Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010)
Every time before the class started, Olivia started the routines of managing general
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classroom businesses, such as checking the attendance of students, reporting the absence to the administrator, distributing worksheets to each student, preparing learning materials, and waiting for students‟ arrival. It usually took her at least fifteen minutes before starting her class. When students were late, she asked their reasons and advised them not to be late next time. As she mentioned,
I did not want to scold them because I did not want to ruin the classroom atmosphere. If they were angry at me for bringing attention to their behaviors and felt depressed, I was certainly sure that they would be unwilling to pay attention to my course. That was not my intention.
(Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010)
Olivia tried to use soft management to influence her students‟ behaviors.
However, the advices Olivia gave to students seemed seldom to show much effect until the end of the semester. For example, those students who tended to be in class late still made similar blunders. Once, when Olivia entered the classroom at 6:00pm, only two students out of the 12 showed up. She just sat there, waiting for other students‟ coming and talking to the two students about their daily life. During the period of time, one student left the classroom. At 6:05p.m., only one student and she were at the classroom. At 6:30 p.m., there were seven students in the class. Olivia decided to start her class. (Class Observation, April 28th, 2010). It was hard work for Olivia to discipline students to be punctual by using this type of lenient management.
During the period of waiting, some students would take time to eat and drink in the classroom where the administrator did not allow students to eat dinner. Olivia did not discipline those manners, which were not allowed in the remedial program.
In addition to the classroom routines, Olivia was aware that classroom
disciplines may influence her teaching and students‟ learning outcomes. She said that,
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“students could not pay attention to my words if the class was noisy. Their learning outcomes would decrease. Also, if students spoke too loud, the noise would distract my attention on my teaching.” (After-class interview, April 28th, 2010). Therefore, Olivia tried her best to control the class. If students talked loudly or walked around the classroom, she always patiently reminded them, “Please stop talking. Please respect others. Some of you may want to study English. Don‟t interrupt others‟
learning.” (Class Observation, March 10th, 2010). “Go back to your seat. OK?”(Class Observation, May 5th, 2010). Sometimes, she would rearrange students‟ seats to control the class. However, re-arrangement was seldom successful because students would beg the teacher not to do so. Then, Olivia would give them another chance.
Once, when one student misbehaved, all her attention focused on that student and the rest of the class was neglected. As she said,
Today, a mischievous student kept interrupting my teaching. I decided to discipline his behaviors. But when I put emphasis on him, I found that other students started to talk and play with each other. The class was out of control.
What‟s worse, he was rebellious. Finally, I asked him to see the administrator immediately. You know, most students were afraid of her. Then, it worked.
(After-class Interview, May 5th, 2010)
After one and half months of teaching in the remedial program, she felt that the classroom management was a tough task. Furthermore, she could not rely on the administrator all the time. To improve the learning environment, she thought that she ought to be firmer and more serious so that the class would not get out of control again. Nevertheless, most of the time, she ignored the noise and focused on her teaching instructions throughout the semester. As she said,
I knew students would like to talk in class. It was inevitable. I would not ask
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them to be concentrated on my words all the time. For me, if students paid no attention to grammatical concepts, I did not mind. Because I knew they would encounter difficulties when they practiced exercises, I would like to teach them again. On the other hand, I would use different kinds of exercises to explain the same concept again and again so that they could learn the concept before the class dismissed. (Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010)
Even though Olivia wanted to be strict to students in the middle of the semester, she still seldom harshly disciplined students‟ behaviors. She hoped that her teaching flow could be smooth. It wasted time if she needed to ask students not to talk as soon as she heard the voice. While teaching, she could tolerate noise. However, Olivia used to ask students to do exercises, and then she came to the mischievous students and warned them not to talk in class privately. Olivia thought that strict discipline did not guarantee high quality classroom management so she tended to maintain gentle discipline and manage a light classroom atmosphere.
Encouraging students‟ learning motivation
Olivia believed that students‟ language learning motivations were important and she was responsible for students‟ learning achievements. Compared to the students she taught in a public elementary school, those aboriginal students in the remedial course had low interests in her class and were not willing to answer her questions. As she stated,
I found that students were afraid of reading and speaking English. The reason that they did not want to study English was because they lacked confidence in learning English. I thought that getting good grades could help them find their confidence back. With enough confidence, they could have high learning motivation in language learning. (Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010)
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To enhance students‟ grades, Olivia designed worksheets from three different versions of textbooks for every class. She said that, “some students told me that worksheets helped them learn English easier. Also, they liked doing worksheets with clear instructions and lots of exercises, so I tried to design well- organized worksheets with clear formats.” (Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010). In addition to preparation of systematic worksheets, she tried to divide grammatical structures into several parts, which made it easier for students to understand grammatical rules and for her to explain materials step by step. Then, different types of drills, such as fill-in, multiple choices, and translations would accompany immediately. When reviewing exercises, Olivia often explained grammar explicitly to make sure that most students acquired the rules. For Olivia, this was an effective way for students to learn because of students‟ positive feedback. Also, every time, when students got better grades on exams, this proved that her teaching method did work.
In addition to the systematic worksheets and instructions, Olivia in particular designed worksheets for low-achievers in class. As she stated,
Some students were not concentrating on my teaching. The reason may be that they could not understand what I taught. They would sleep in class, play games, and listen to music on their cell phones. I observed that phenomenon. I did not like my students coming to my class, sitting there and procrastinating. Even so, I would not force them to study because I did not want to ruin our relationship and classroom atmosphere. After teaching a few classes, I came up with some
strategies which could at least let them do something about learning in my class.
I started to design vocabulary puzzles which aimed to help students get exposure to English and memorize some words.
(After-classroom interview, April 28th, 2010)
Olivia tried different teaching methods with the hope to motivate her students‟ interest in English learning.
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In terms of classroom management, she encouraged students to participate in the classroom. As she knew, many students hated English because they lacked confidence and were frustrated with low scores they got at school. In the remedial course, she used many teaching methods and strategies to help them learn English and develop their confidence and interests in English. Example 4.6 and example 4.7 showed how Olivia encouraged students to learn English.
Example 4.6
T: 聽不懂嗎?真的假的!你們學校教過嗎?
(Did you understand that grammatical structure? Really! Did you learn it at school?)
S: 我想睡覺 ( I almost fell asleep.)
(Olivia gave the vocabulary puzzle to the student.) S: 老師，我們學校老師已經放棄我了! 我不想做這個
(My school English teacher had already given me up. I did not want to do that.)
T: 我還沒放棄你啊! (I had not given up!) (Classroom Observation, May 19th, 2010) Example 4.7
(During the class session, Olivia gave students candy. Those who answered questions could get more. She also gave candy to the student who was sleeping.) S: 老師，你給我糖果是為了怕我睡著嗎？
(Why did you give it to me? Preventing me from sleeping again? ) T: 對! (Yes!)
(Classroom Observation, June 9th, 2010)
Instead of blaming these students, Olivia used encouraging strategies to treat students‟
misbehaviors. As she mentioned,
My intention to give him candy was not to correct his misbehavior. I just wanted to let them know that attending my class and learning English were not boring and difficult. Also, I would not dislike you and label you as a bad student based
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on your behaviors and scores. (Formal Interview 3, June 24th, 2010)
Moreover, Olivia gave students a lot of opportunities to get involved in the learning context. For example, she provided different patterns of questions from easy to difficult and asked students to write their answers on the blackboard. Then, students and Olivia worked together to correct answers together. From peer-corrections,
students‟ comprehensions could be reinforced. As one of the students in her class said,
At school, I dared not to reply to teachers‟ questions because if I answered wrong, my classmates all teased me. I did not like that kind of feeling. In Olivia‟s class, I could have lots of tries until giving correct answers. She was always patient to our mistakes. I felt comfortable in her class.
(Students‟ interview, June 21st, 2010)
Olivia believed that students with high learning motivations could learn better. In order to assist her students to enjoy learning in the English field, she used a lot of methods, including worksheets with clear a format, systematic teaching, and encouragements.
Building rapport relationship trust
In the beginning of the semester, believing that developing a close relationship with students was as an important aspect of classroom management, Olivia cared about her students a lot. She was not an authoritative teacher. Every time before the class started, Olivia would listen to her students‟ talking about their lives and share snacks or her dinner with her students. From classroom observations, she paid attention to each student‟s life, friendship, and learning. For example, she nicknamed a boy as Auntie based on the male student‟s personality in the middle of the semester.
The student was not angry at the nickname. Instead, he was very happy because he thought it indicated that he and the teacher became good friends. He loved Olivia and
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her teaching very much after getting along with her. So, he did not mind this nickname. (Classroom Observation, April 7th, 2010).
Although students were still noisy and were not able to concentrate in class, they gradually regarded Olivia as part of their group and started to trust her. One day, two students showed their dancing competition videos on their cell phones to Olivia.
(Classroom Observation, June 9th, 2010). Since cell phones were regarded as the second life to middle school students, the event indicated that students trusted the teacher. Because of the reliance, students were encouraged to ask questions, even some simple questions in class. They were not afraid of making mistakes because they knew Olivia would tolerate them.
From classroom observations and interviews, it was found that the interaction between students and the teacher was based on mutual trust. Before teaching in the remedial program, she thought that being strict and stern was necessary to manage her class. However, her practice did not reveal this cognition. Instead, she was seen by students as their friend who they felt free to ask questions in class and could turn to when they had personal problems. She said, “I was aware of being a leader to control over students, but I observed that my teaching practice was not consistent with what I wanted to be at the beginning of this semester. Instead of being authoritative, I was more like their friend who cared about their worries and guided their learning softly.”
(Formal Interview 2, June 3rd, 2010). Olivia‟s classroom was full of laughter and happiness.
4.2.3.2 Enactment of Curriculum Teaching Objectives
As Olivia followed the textbooks, her aim of teaching was mainly to help students understand the vocabulary and grammar in the textbook. In terms of
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language skills, she emphasized the grammatical rules and prepared many exercises for students to facilitate their language capabilities and further enhance their grades on exams. She thought that, “once students got good scores, they could have more
confidence and interest in language learning.” (Formal Interview 1, April 15th, 2010).
On the other hand, students in Olivia‟s class were from different junior high school, which used different types of textbooks in each school. To deal with three different types of textbook versions, she, based on her knowledge and prior learning
experiences, selected main grammatical rules and vocabulary for students to learn. As she mentioned,
There were three textbook versions with different foci for each lesson, but all students would learn those grammatical rules sooner or later. So, my work was to integrate and re-organize those for my students.
(Formal Interview 2, June 3rd, 2010)
In her class, she required students to memorize words she picked up and to understand grammatical rules.
Lesson Planning
Before the semester started, Olivia roughly planed her course. She wrote down the dates of the students‟ school exams and arranged her teaching syllabus. As she said,
In the first semester, I did not do so. Once, the administrator advised me that I could design my course in advance so that I could pace my teaching to meet students‟ exams. I found that it was useful. Because this was my first time teaching junior high school students, I did not comprehend what grammatical rules they needed to learn. Through this way, I could have a whole picture about their textbooks. (Formal Interview 2, June 3rd, 2010)
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In Olivia‟s lesson plans she did not write down detailed lesson plans and activities because she thought that she did not have much time and may alter her activities based on students‟ learning situations in the prior class.
Worksheet Designing
The worksheets Olivia designed were usually based on the textbooks and English learning websites. She claimed that the layouts of the worksheets must be clear and simple, enabling students to learn English easily and efficiently. One to two
grammatical rules with fill-in blanks allowed students to write down the rules by themselves. Then, simple sentence examples of the grammar were followed to enhance students‟ understanding of the grammar. Finally, all various drills were implemented to review the concept introducing in class. In the last page of the
worksheets, words with three textbook versions were offered, respectively. For Olivia, this kind of arrangement of the worksheet was useful for students‟ language learning.
4.2.3.3 Classroom Instructions Instruction 1: Grammar-focused teaching
In practice, Olivia adopted a more traditional way to teach grammar. In her class, she spent nearly the whole class time emphasizing sentence structures. She preferred to arrange sentences by dividing them into pieces, giving rules, and providing short sentences for students to practices (see Appendix I). Secondly, she mainly used Chinese as the medium of instruction and devoted most of time translating words and sentences into Chinese (see Appendix J). In the worksheets, she always provided Chinese translations for English sentences. Olivia spent the whole class hour discussing worksheets that contained grammatical rules and various drills. She believed that teaching students grammatical rules step by step would help them learn
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sentence structures. Through the intensive practices, students could connect grammar with the concrete language use.
Instruction 2: Repetitious practices
After the explicit grammar instructions, Olivia usually provided many drills including fill-in, multiple choices, error corrections, substitution, and Chinese-English translations for students to practice. To raise students‟ willingness to do drills and to promote an active classroom-learning atmosphere, she offered various candies as rewards. When students did exercises by themselves, they asked Olivia those
unknown words in the worksheets and she was willing to tell them those answers. As she said,
Since students did not memorize many words, it was hard for them to read the questions or translate sentences. With the teacher and peers‟ assistance, students could have patience to try to answer the questions. Otherwise, if you did not tell them those keywords, they would give up easily and lack interest.
(Formal Interview 2, June 3rd, 2010)
Example 4.8 showed how Olivia assisted students to finish drills.
Example 4.8
(After Olivia introduced the sentence structure, that-clause, students were doing Chinese-English translations and were assigning to write down their answers on the blackboard.)
S1: “贏得那場比賽”怎麼說？(How to say “win that game”?) T : “win that game” (Write down on the blackboard)
S2: “花了”怎麼寫？(How to say “spent”?) T : spend on
S2: “一萬元”怎麼寫？ (How to say “ten thousand dollars”?) T : ……
S3: 10 個 1000 啊！(Ten thousand la!)
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(Classroom Observation, May 19th, 2010)
As shown from the examples above, Olivia provided students keywords when they
As shown from the examples above, Olivia provided students keywords when they